The haphazard jingling of keys filled the air as they were yanked from Arty's pocket and then slammed into the storeroom door's keyhole. The young man letting out a short, triumphant laugh as a 'click' sounded out from the door as the locks moved firmly into place and blocked off the only exit out of the storeroom.
'And they thought that giving me these keys would be a mistake.' Arty grinned as he stuck the keys back into his pockets, which had been given to him after becoming part of Freddy's cleaning crew. Giving a set of master keys that allowed him access to every door in the building had been something that the janitors were reluctant to give a teenager of. However, Rick had deemed it essential for Arty to have his own set. Though he wasn't allowed to take them anywhere outside of the pizzeria, not that he would anyway as he had no intention of ever stealing anything from Freddy's.
While Arty himself was unsure why anyone would even want to steal from the restaurant, the current situation that he'd found himself in was giving him the chance to find at least one answer to that question.
Once he was certain that he'd secured the keys in his pocket, Arty turned back towards the rows of shelves with a trepidatious grin. With the doors now locked, there was no way for the person in the suit to get out. It was now just them and Arty in the room, which didn't do anything to quell the still uneasy feeling that was lurking within his stomach.
But with his shift already so close to ending, Arty didn't want to spend a thousand years looking for the thief. This needed to be as quick as possible so he could go home and let Rick dole out whatever punishment he saw fit to give the thief.
A plan of action began forming in his head, one that would make the search quick and also prevent the thief from getting the jump on him. After taking a deep breath, Arty pushed off the wall and launched himself into a manic sprint across the room. The sound of his frantic footfalls echoing about as he quickly ran along the width of the rows of shelves. His eyes quickly scanning each aisle for any signs of the suit, but he found no signs of it upon finishing his dash to the other side of the room. He didn't even bother to slow down, choosing to use his hands to push off the nearest wall to get a start on the next lap along the shelves.
This time, he moved a little bit slower so he could get a better look at each of the rows. But once again the search turned up nothing. After reaching the other end once again, he pushed off the wall but continued on at a slower pace than before.
Each step causing further unease to creep into his chest as the search once again turned up empty. The unease was quickly joined by anger as his jaw and fists clenched up as he walked up next to the older animatronics.
'Where the hell could that thing have gone?' Arty shifted his body to try and loosen up. His mind drawing a blank on what to do next, there weren't a lot of places to hide in the storeroom. With the only possible answer being up in the offices, but he'd kept an eye on the stairs the whole time to make sure no one was trying to sneak up there.
The thought did occur to him to try using it as a vantage point, but the stairs always made quite the noise whenever someone used them. It was a terrible idea since the noise would no doubt alert the thief to his intentions and give them time to find a way to hide from him.
Arty ran a hand through his hair while making an angry grunt. What happened next was born out of a sense of tiredness and desperation that was fueled by a constantly simmering anger. Arty cupped both hands up to his mouth and shouted,
"Hey, I don't know if you heard Mr. Taylor but you'd better return that suit right now or else you're gonna be fired!" His call was meant with total silence, though It wasn't all that shocking to Arty. If the thief really was this committed to stealing the old rabbit suit, then there was no way they'd give up just because of a threat from one of the cleaning staff. Arty ran his hand across his face as his mind scrambled to think of another approach that wouldn't require too much more effort on his part.
"Okay... threats not working...let's try being a bit the "nicer"." He whispered, before cupping his hands back to his face to call out to the thief once again. "Look, man, I don't want to have to get Mr. Taylor involved in this. So please just come on out, put the suit back and we'll sort things out."
His voice took on a slightly pleading tone despite his attempt to keep it neutral, not wanting to give away the fact he was lying out of his rear to the thief. He took a few slow steps towards the shelves, continuing to call out into the seemingly empty room.
"You've got my word that no one else is going to find out. It'll be our little secret okay?" Arty lowered with hands with a content smile, hoping that his reassurance at the end would do the trick. But to his disappointment, the thief seemed to have caught onto the fact he was lying.
"Alright fine, I gave you a chance to do this peacefully," Arty shouted while trying to keep the fear and anger from his voice. "I'll make sure Mr. Taylor finds out about this immediately! He's probably going to send you packing right to the police station for touching that suit."
Deep down, he was hoping that the threat would elicit a last-minute reaction from the thief despite the other failed attempts. But this time, he was going to back up his words with actions. Arty began making his way back across the storeroom for a final time. Stomping his feet loudly to the thief would be able to hear where he was going.
"Sorry to have to do this man, but I don't have any other choice!" Arty shouted. "You had plenty of chances to come out, but now it's time to face consequences."
He stopped mid-step as an unfamiliar sound approached him from deep within the shelves. They almost sounded like feet crunching their way through heavy snow, which sent all of his bravado spiraling down the metaphorical drain. Fear latched onto him like a parasite as he looked in the direction the noises were coming from, only to immediately regret the decision when the yellow rabbit stomped out from around one of the shelves. Being freed from the pallet allowed the suit to stand at its full height, which meant it towered over the young man even from a distance.
But despite the imposing presence created by the rabbit's silhouette, it also gave off an air of curiosity. Its head was tilted to the left, with the large ears on its head swiveled in the same direction. The half-closed eyes gave off a look of inquisitiveness, as though it'd never seen anything like Arty before.
Such things went unnoticed by Arty, the younger man staggering back. Both his body and voice trembled as the suit came to a stop only a dozen feet away from him. It's jaw opening up further as if it was going to speak to him, even though no words came out.
"Y-y...you actually put it on…" Arty whispered, looking the old suit up and down as a raspy, incredulous tone "I-I can't believe you actually did that! Didn't you hear Mr. Taylor call that stupid thing dangerous? What part of that didn't you get? You're gonna get yourself killed in that thing" He looked at the suit's eyes, but then quickly averted his gaze.
The uneasy feeling he'd gotten while looking into the suit's eyes earlier was now intensified by its presence. The suit's head rolled further to the side as if asking for clarification on what Arty had said to it.
Arty felt his jaw go slack, but he mustered up a few ounces of courage to address the suit once more. "Can you knock off the Easter bunny act? It's getting late and I want to get out of here without getting fired."
The suit became motionless, though its eyes remained fixated on Arty. Despite how unnerved he was becoming, Arty decided not to play into whatever game the wearer of the suit was playing. He let out a shaky huff before then reaching out and grabbing the suit by the neck hole. He'd barely touched it for a second before the suit once again moved. This time, its head looking down to stare at Arty's hand with an air of nonchalance as it seemed more curious than offended by the sudden touch.
Every hair on Arty's body rose when the suit turned its head back up to face him. Its head rolling even further to the side, which allowed its mouth opening even wider than before. Arty quickly withdrew his hand and stepped away from the suit. He only realized that he was shaking when he instinctively grabbed onto the arm that had been touching the suit.
He'd barely begun collecting his thoughts when the sudden groan of old gears filled the air around him. The suit's left arm jerked up and outwards, moving directly towards his neck.
Arty screamed before scrambling back but in the process hit one of his ankles with the back of his foot. The sudden jolt of pain combined with the frantic movement sent the young man sprawling to the floor. He let out a sharp cry of pain, which caused the suit to come to a sudden stop mid-movement. Its head turned down to look at him as its mouth creaked open wider than it'd already had been, making it look as though the suit had taken some delight in watching him fall over.
Arty wheezed angrily as he pushed himself back onto his feet. His back hurt a little from the fall and the air had completely left his lungs thanks to the impact. He looked back at the suit and took in it's delighted looking grin before responding to it with a sneer.
"Oh, so you found that funny, eh?" He asked angrily. The suit remained perfectly still, but from within Arty could make out a faint metallic rattling that to him, almost sounded a bit like laughter.
Arty's face contorted into a look of pure rage and he stepped towards the suit as his anger overrode any rational thoughts that might have stopped his next actions. "Since you think it's so funny, then let's see how you like it!" He said before running forward and shoved his hands hard against the suit's chest.
The rabbit lurched back violently, the old gears in its legs scraping loudly as the suit fumbled about for some traction. But its padded feet just slid on the floor until it tipped backward and hit the ground with an almighty crash. The withered limbs splaying out and rattling the mechanical components that lay hidden deep beneath the artificial fur. Arty watched it fall over with a satisfied grin and started to laugh at his small victory over the thief.
"Aww, that's the matter big guy? Not so fun when the shoe's on the other foot is it?" He let out another bout of laughter that was cut off when a noise that sounded like a backfiring car came from within the suit. It was then followed by several more of the backfiring like sounds as the suit jerked around violently on the floor. Arty quickly covered his ears and watched on with a sense of unfolding horror. The realization hitting him that he might have just hurt a fellow employee out of anger. Arty shook as the suit finished its wild jerking and fell still. The only sound now emanating from it being the clicking of its settling gears.
He ran over and knelt down next to the suit while cursing under his breath. More towards whoever was in the suit then at himself for letting his anger control him once again. He grabbed hold of both ends of the suit's jaw and started pushing them apart. Using as much strength as possible to try and open it to see whoever was inside.
He hoped that they weren't hurt too badly, at most just knocked out so he wouldn't have to explain what had actually happened. But if they were dead, then he'd have to deal with the dead body. Which was a bigger problem then he was willing to face.
The gears within the mouth protested for a bit before eventually giving up and opening to reveal…
"It… it's empty?" Arty sat on the floor and placed a hand onto his face while staring down at the suit's mouth in shock. Indeed, all that he could see inside were the robotics that made the suit an animatronic with no sign of a human having worn it in ages. The only thing of note was what he took to be some bits of plastic that fell out of the mouth and onto the floor.
"Shit…" He swore and then took another look into the head, knowing it was impossible for this suit to have moved on its own. At least, it was if Rick had been telling him the truth about it being inactive for almost two decades.
But now he didn't know what to think and it just made him more freaked out then he'd already been. Swiftly rising to his feet, he got ready to just run out of the storeroom and leave the suit on the floor but stopped himself at the last second. If he just ran out it would no doubt prove his guilt to Mr. Taylor, which would then result in his termination from two jobs in less than a month.
Arty sighed in defeated resignation and stooped down to loop his arms around the suit's shoulders. It took a great deal of effort to lift the suit high enough to be comfortable, but once it was at the right height he was able to begin slowly dragging it along the floor.
It took almost ten minutes of breathless struggling, but he soon had the yellow rabbit back over with the other old animatronics. Arty stood up and gasped as sweat rolled down his arms and face. He stepped back and let the suit drop to the floor before leaning up against the blue rabbit's pallet to try catching his breath before beginning the next part of his plan. After a moment's rest, he walked over to the fox animatronic to start lifting the yellow rabbit's pallet back up against the wall. Which proved to be surprisingly easy when there wasn't a giant animatronic strapped down to it. He shuffled it around until it was back to where it had originally been sitting, or at least as close to it as Arty could get from memory.
He hoped that Mr. Taylor wouldn't mind that it was now off-center by a couple of inches, though he figured if asked the simple excuse of accidentally bumping it would clear up any problems. But when he stepped back to reach out for the straps, he suddenly realized that he had another problem to contend with.
"Oh...right...I forgot these things were busted." groaned Arty as picked up and then dropped one of the broken straps. "How the hell am I going to get this thing tied down now?" He followed up the question by angrily kicking at the pallet, which nearly sent it toppling back to the ground.
Arty yelped in shock and ran to catch the pallet before it was damaged any more than it already had been from the last fall. But right as he put his hands out to catch it, something strong slammed into Arty's side. The young man was sent flying towards the blue rabbit and struck it hard enough to send it tipping onto the floor with another violent crash. The blue rabbit jerked about before falling lifeless as its yellow counterpart had earlier.
Arty stumbled away from the pallet and was unable to finish taking in what had happened before the same force grabbed hold of his shirt. It jerked him back violently before slamming his back hard against the nearest wall. His cry of pain becoming a startled, desperate gasp for air as pain shot through his already sore back.
"What the hell?" He coughed before looking down and then up at the now standing tall again yellow rabbit. Its hand was firmly pressed against his chest while also staring down at him with lifeless, yet malicious eyes. The other hand quickly rose up with a mechanical clatter and then began reaching up towards Arty's face.
Arty screamed and threw himself forward and shoulder-checking the rabbit's chest. It didn't send it back far, but it was enough to knock it off balance again. Forcing the rabbit to pull away to try and prevent itself from taking another spill.
Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Arty charged it again but the rabbit was a quick learner. It stepped to the side just as Arty was about to hit it again and reached out to grab his back. Arty was jerked to a stop before then being tossed away from the rabbit-like a toy thrown by an angry child. Arty was just barely able to finish turning his body mid-air so he wouldn't smash his face into the floor before he landed hard on his right arm.
Pain surged through his arm as it smacked into the floor, but it was nothing compared to his still stinging backside. Other than the pain, he was otherwise unharmed, allowing him to laugh as he turned back towards the rabbit.
"Nice try cottontail, you throw worse my cousins!" He let his breathing evened out for only a second before scrambling to his feet and making a run for the other end of the storeroom.
There was one thing that he hadn't counted on though, after everything that he'd been through so far tonight, his energy was more than spent. The pain dulled into aches that spread out across his whole body, significantly slowing down his pace. Arty grit his teeth and continued trying to press onwards just as another sound came echoing out from behind him.
Angry padded footsteps boomed out as the rabbit raced after him. He looked back for only a second and had to hold back a scream when he saw how quickly the suit was moving. While not very fast on its own, Arty's currently spent state meant that it was able to start catching up with him rather quickly.
Arty gathered up whatever energy he had left to move just fast enough to try and outpace the rabbit. But it wasn't nearly fast enough as it started speeding up in an attempt to match Arty's own speed.
"As soon as I get away from this thing, Mr. Taylor can shove this job where the sun doesn't shine. I'm not coming back no matter what dad says." He hissed between gasps as his breathing still screwed up from being slammed against the wall and floor. The fact he was now running for his life didn't really help much either.
Getting over to the door was going to become rather pointless once the rabbit caught up to him. But trying to lose it amongst the shelves was an even worse idea since he then risked burning out completely. It was then his eyes found themselves focusing on the stairs that he'd been climbing before this whole mess started.
It was a long shot to be sure, but if we could make it up the stairs then he could maybe lock himself away in the offices. Hopefully long enough to buy him some time to regain a little strength. Perhaps then, someone might notice he hadn't clocked out and come looking for him. At least then, they could distract the rabbit while he got the heck out of dodge.
The thuds from the rabbit's feet started to become louder, but he kept himself from looking back. He hoped that the rabbit wouldn't be able to follow him up the stairs as he made a sharp turn towards them. The rabbit's padded feet shuffling about in surprise as it tried to change course to keep up the chase.
Arty managed to reach the stairs and began ascending them quickly despite his tiredness. Adrenaline rushed through his body, pushing away the pain so he could focus on his escape up the stairs. He'd just about made it halfway when the rabbits' footsteps reached the stairs and then suddenly stopped. Arty paused only momentarily, but then continued his ascent up with a slightly triumphant feeling rising up amongst the fear that quickly turned into a smug thought at the idea of the rabbit being unable to climb the stairs after him. But that was momentary victory was quickly killed when the entire stairwell violently rattled with a thunderous "boom" rising up from the bottom step.
The sudden movement of the stairs knocked Arty off balance, his feet catching and sliding through the gap between the steps. He was unable to refrain from letting out a scream as cold metal slammed into his already sore ankle. Only by grabbing onto the railing did he prevent himself from falling back down towards the now approaching rabbit.
The weight of its steps shook the stairwell as it began slowly catching up to the prone Arty, who was struggling to pull his foot out due to the pain that was now shooting throughout his leg. The young man let out a string of curse words that were directed down towards his ascending opponent as he freed his foot and tried to continue onward.
But the pain in his leg stopped all plans of him managing to outrun the rabbit. The second he put weight onto it, an intense, almost tear-inducing pain sent him falling back over. He clutched at his ankle and cursed loudly as the rabbit's shadow cast itself over his body.
"Shit…" Was all Arty got out before the rabbit's hand snatched the collar of his shirt. Yanking him up high above the railing and face front into the rabbit's unblinking white eyes. A hot air that almost felt like a breath passed through the suit's mouth and sent an awful stench right into Arty's face. The young man gagged, which only served to infuriate the rabbit even further as it twisted about and slammed Arty into the side of the stairs that were attached to the wall. Pinning him down as Arty's tired eyes met the rabbit's own.
Arty too tired to even consider putting up a fight against the rabbit and he briefly wondered if the suit had planned on tiring him out before deciding to attack him. He coughed violently and forced a tired smile onto his face.
"O-okay buddy...you win. I've been caught so...game over right?" His voice was quiet and pleading, becoming feebler as he continued on. "I'm sorry for...shoving you over and all the mean things I said."
The suit's expression remained unchanged as it leaned forward, the old fabric that made up its body crackling as it pressed its face up to Arty's. Another rush of air blowing into his face as the suits head tilted to the side. As if it were mocking his half-hearted attempts at placation.
Arty went to speak again but found that he was unable to say anything while so close to the rabbits face. The only sound that did come out of him was a quietly pathetic whimper. The suit leaned back and threw its head up before looking back at Arty. The maliciousness returning along with a sense of mockery that sent chills throughout his whole body.
It moved a little to the side, the arm still pinning in place began to develop a tighter grip on his back. Arty watched the suit move away and then looked out at the storeroom. They were just past the halfway point of the stairs and very high up above the storeroom floor. He felt the rabbit's fingers move, one by one in silent anticipation for what it was about to do.
It took Arty less than half a minute to figure out what it was planning. The rabbit's face taking on a more ghoulish quality the moment he figured it out and his face went pale. Reveling in the realization of what was about to happen.
The young man threw his hands back and began feebly trying to clamp down on the railing just below him. But the rabbit just raised his arm higher and moved the railing just out of Arty's reach. Terrified tears began streaming down his face as the rabbit took a step towards the other side of the stairs. His head shaking as he managed to find his voice to0 begin pleading with the rabbit for his life.
"Don't please! I'm sorry about the throwing comment!" Was all Arty was able to choke up before the suit swung its arm forward and sent him flying over the railing.
In an instant, everything seemed to go numb as Arty's His mind scrambling to find a solution that might save him while wildly moving his body in a way that could safely absorb the impact when he hit the floor. But fate had dealt a rather cruel hand with how the rabbit had thrown hi, rendering him unable to correct his trajectory before his head slammed into the cold, unforgiving floor below the stairs.
Upon impact, he'd felt a searing white-hot flash of pain. But then everything faded away like snow melting in the sunshine. Blackness descended upon Arty that left him adrift in a sea of nothingness that he was unable to escape and from which he would never return.
-
A deathly hush fell over the storeroom, muffling out any sound that came from within the room which had now been tainted by a touch of death. Even the footsteps of the yellow rabbit seemed muffled as it descended down the staircase to examine what it had done. Arty's body had come to rest fairly close to the entrance of a row of shelves. His neck twisted at an angle that could only de described as unearthly, with a look of shock eternally etched on his features.
It was something that brought out a bit of delight from within the worn old rabbit. Though it didn't know exactly why seeing the broken form brought such a feeling. The suit looked him over with uncaring, yet satisfied eyes. Despite what the now-deceased young man had claimed, the rabbit had ultimately proven to be the victory.
But then came the question of what to do with his "prize." It stooped down to pick up the body by the arm, hauling it's limp form up so it's lifeless eyes matched the rabbit's own. Eternally staring out at everything and yet nothing at the same time. Clouded over with a deathly veil that had it not been for his face, would have masked all emotion.
The rabbit hadn't long to ponder though, as a sudden whisper of a voice filled its head. The murmurings of an identity that it no longer knew or would even answer too if it did, that told him that the boy's body needed to be hidden away from anyone else. It was his prize and his alone to admire.
There was a sense of fear in the advice given to the rabbit, from a worry that was forgotten to time. But with no other ideas presenting themselves, the rabbit decided to follow along with the whispers advice. It silently those Arty's body over its shoulder before then heading back off into the aisles of shelves. As the sound of its footsteps faded amongst the boxes, the storeroom fell as silent as a tomb.