"A cop? Are you sure?"
"I mean, I haven't had any run-ins with the Brookhaven police myself, but it sure looked like a cop," John said as Charlie spun around to see for herself, but found that Rick and the supposed policeman had already disappeared. She looked back to John questioningly, but he merely pointed towards a hallway that wasn't far from the main doors.
"They were heading towards that hallway when I saw them, Rick looked like he wanted to get the cop away from the other guests," he whispered. Charlie turned her gaze back over to the hallway and then bit down onto her lip as the dread she'd been feeling earlier returned with a vengeance. Despite her brain's attempts to quell it with a few rationalizations, it failed to calm her down. But this didn't stop her from trying to pick out the most logical explanation for the cop's presence that she then spoke aloud to John.
"Do you think that...he could just be here for some kind of demonstration or a last-minute inspection?" She knew it was a reach, a desperate grasp at the normality which had begun slipping through her fingers. Hoping that perhaps her gut feelings were wrong, but John's answer would only unintentionally reinforce her fears.
"Hate to say it but I doubt it was the case. Rick looked pretty upset when he saw the cop walking in. Besides, any sort of safety inspection should have been done long before tonight." He squeezed Charlie's hand a little tighter in an effort to provide her more comfort. Though with her growing anxiousness it was only a symbolic gesture at best.
"Did you manage to catch anything they said?" She asked, despite knowing the question was a stupid one. As expected, John's reply was a slow shake of his head in the negative.
"I'm lucky enough just to hear you over all this, let alone someone halfway across the room. Though I didn't need to hear them know that Rick was pretty upset about something."
Charlie looked away and anxiously bit her bottom lip while trying to fight off her once again growing curiosity. Constantly reminding herself that whatever was going on with the new Freddy's was Rick's business and his alone. This wasn't the original Freddy's where she had an almost free roam of the place because due to being the owner's daughter.
Now she was just Charlie Emily Baker, another face in the crowd of people milling about the showroom. Anything that went on behind the scenes wasn't her problem, even back in Hurricane it had never been her problem. She'd always been happy to leave the boring work that made Freddy's a magical place to the adults while she enjoyed the outcome.
'But if that's true then why are you so worried about it?'
For once, her mind seemed to be on her side in this matter. Something that Charlie would have normally been grateful for and yet she couldn't shake the awful feeling that something was wrong. She'd had a similar feeling back in the original Freddy's where nothing seemed wrong on the surface, but deep down there'd been something that was poisoning the very ground that the restaurant stood on.
That didn't mean there was anything wrong in this location. Yet, she couldn't help but feel like there was something pulling at her mind. A faint voice calling out, begging for her to investigate, so find out what was going on. But... the thought felt... strange. Like it wasn't her own, but it fed off her growing curiosity and spread through her mind like a fog, reaching into every corner until it was all she could think about.
Her curiosity ate away at her resolve until she finally caved to it and recognized that she wouldn't just be able to walk away from this without checking it out. Her mind going back to her first conversation with Rick and what he'd said to her about the truck driver. How' he'd driven all the way from Utah with what she'd assumed was her father's animatronics.
While Charlie doubted that they were still active after what she'd done to Dave, she felt as though she needed to know that the cop's arrival had nothing to do with the original animatronics. Perhaps that might allow her to get over the curiosity and move on with her life knowing that whatever happened with Freddy's wasn't her problem anymore.
After a reluctant exhale she tapped on John's hand to get his attention. Once he looked at her again she gave him a nervous smile while tilting her head towards the hallway.
"Wanna play Hardy Boys and find out what's up?" she asked, forcing out some uneasy laughter along with the joke. John raised an eyebrow but gave her an unsteady nod.
"Sure, though I always saw you as more of a Nancy Drew type rather than a Hardy Boy."
"Well, I found the Hardy Boys to be more fun than her."
"Nancy Drew's fun too…" John mumbled before looking away, causing Charlie's smile to become a genuine smirk as they started across the room. Keeping close to the walls so they wouldn't have to go through the tightly packed crowd and attract unwanted attention by needing to push their way through it. But the further they trekked along the more nervous Charlie became, especially when she noticed that the hallway Rick had gone down was nearly shrouded in darkness. There were only a few scattered lights illuminating the hallway, like torches lining the walls of some ancient castle.
A quick look at the showroom revealed that all the other hallways in the restaurant were equally dimmed. Though Charlie could faintly make out a few employees working their way through the darkened areas. No doubt trying to prepare them to open later on in the night.
'There might be some down this hallway too.' Charlie thought to herself before pulling John closer to the crowd of people near the buffet. Once they were immersed into the throng, she turned and gestured to the dim hallways.
"I don't think the rest of the place is open yet…" She whispered while John looked around with a surprised look.
"Huh...I guess so but. That's pretty strange given it's supposed to be a 'grand opening."
"Well...maybe they're planning on opening the rest of the place up once everyone's done stuffing themselves with pizza," Charlie said and quickly looked around for any employees that might notice them. Aside from the ones she could see in the other hallways, there were a few idling around the show area. Almost all of them were too preoccupied with customers to notice them though. But that still didn't rule out the possibility that there were more around than the ones she was seeing.
"If we're going to do this we need to move as quickly as possible..." She didn't look back to see if John had heard her. The increasing pressure from him squeezing her hand was more than enough of an answer. She looked around at the closest employees before holding up her free hand to begin counting down with her fingers. Slowly lowering each one so John would know when she was ready to move.
Once the employee's attention was diverted elsewhere, she closed her hand before pulling John away from the crowd. Hurrying as quietly as possible over to the hallway and ducking into the darkness before anyone could see them.
Charlie pressed herself against the nearest wall and exhaled in relief. The nervously half-hearted smile was now replaced with a full one. It felt fun to do that, running around and playing detective like they were kids again. Even if it had only been for a brief moment, she sensed that l John felt the same way. Despite their faces now being shrouded in darkness.
They both sighed and Charlie looked back to do a final check before they started off along the hallway. Doing their best to keep close to the walls and in the shadows as possible as the sounds of the party became fainter with every step they took away from the showroom. Soon it all became little more than a background noise, covered up by the sounds of their own footfalls echoing along the hallway. After a couple of minutes, Charlie slowed herself to a crawl.
"Oh boy...here comes the hard part." She sighed while realizing that wasn't any sign of life in the hallway. Almost as if it had never been used by anyone before them. All that she could see ahead was an expanse of tiles that stretched out into the seemingly unending gloom.
Although she could make out a few doors and what appeared to be the entrance of another party room. The area around them was almost as lifeless as the original Freddy's. The only sound is the creaking of a little sign that hung above the entrance to the Party Room. Charlie squinted, but was able to make just a single word, "Corner."
She went to move closer but suddenly went stiff as she heard a voice coming from the door nearest to the party room. It was faint, but she was able to tell that it was Rick Taylor's voice. Now completely devoid of happiness he'd earlier displayed and filled with anger.
She looked back at John and led him over to the door. Positioning them so they could hear the conversation without letting Rick know they were there. Just as they'd gotten settled, they both jumped at the sound of Rick slapping something down onto his desk with a lot of force.
"It's hardly your fault Mr. Taylor," said an unfamiliar, yet reassuring voice that they assumed belonged to the cop. "Given what we discovered it's no wonder he'd omit his previous employment."
"That's something I should have found when I hired him," Rick said disparagingly. "It either means that he was really good at covering his tracks or I'm a terrible judge of character"
"Well until he does something else, I'm afraid that there's not much more we're able to do," The cop said. "As far as we know he's vanished from the face of the earth after the robbery,"
The sound of a chair scooting back made Charlie and John stiffen. But it was followed up by the sound of Rick slumping down, his clothes rubbing loudly against the leather "You said that he was fired by his last employer for "assault?"
"Well, from the way Mr. Fitzgerald described it was more like a temper tantrum that had been preceded by a lengthy period of harassment. The culmination being the 'assault', which consisted of him, throwing store products at the employee he'd been harassing."
Charlie went pale at the cop's words and had to hold back a shocked gasp. 'They're talking about Arty.' the last part of her thought almost slipped out into words, but she stopped herself by biting down on her lip. John looked at her worriedly but she tried giving him a dismissive wave to show she was alright. Despite both of them knowing it was a lie.
"So...they didn't report him to you guys for this?" A slightly more frustrated Rick asked.
"According to Mr. Fitzgerald, the employee in question didn't want to press charges. No reason was given as to why."
"Maybe if they had I wouldn't be in this mess," Rick grumbled with an annoyed huff, his remark unknowingly causing Charlie to feel guilty. She could feel John's worried eyes glancing her way and she did her best to ignore them.
'I'll be fine.' She lied inwardly, before then whispering it aloud to John.
If Rick had indeed hired Arty then that was his problem and not hers. She was already regretting the decision to come and this new tidbit about Arty having been working here only furthered her desire to leave. But before she could relay that desire to John, the officer said something that made her heartbeat come to a jarring stop.
"Now when you made the initial report you said that the suit he'd stolen was dangerous. Can you clarify how dangerous it is?"
"Oh uh… well, the thing is that Spring-Bonnie is only really dangerous if someone is wearing it because of how it works and its overall age." Rick said. Charlie suddenly tensed up, her senses slipped away and being replaced by numbness. She withdrew from the door and the conversation and closed a hand over her chest. Her breaths became shallow as thoughts scattered about her head. Rattling around like a jar of marbles being shaken by a child.
'Spring-Bonnie… that was Dave's suit… Arty stole Dave's suit...' The thoughts slammed into one another and intensified as the negative emotions brought on by Arty's actions meshed with her memories from the year prior. They then mixed in with her lingering fears and anxieties about the new Freddy's until it all formed into a wave of negativity that struck her unawares. Everything seemed to be happening all at once and sending her mind reeling back from the shock. All her senses firing off at once, trying to alert her to some all-encompassing danger. She was afraid of everything yet couldn't identify one source in particular. She told her body to grab John and run out of the restaurant but it refused to listen. Rooting her into place in a now uncomfortable kneeling position. Each breath that she took became more sharp and shallow than the last.
Charlie?" John whispered as he watched Charlie suddenly collapse to her knees. Her body shuddered violently before she placed a hand to her head as the shakes became more frequent with each breath.
"Shit." John cursed and started glancing about the area. He knew from past experiences that she needed fresh air and a calm atmosphere. But he doubted there was anywhere they could go in Freddy'sthat would suit their needs.
His eyes settled on the room they'd spotted earlier, marked with the little sign above the door that read "Corner" As with the hallway there were no lights in the room, John could just barely see some chairs that had been already set up sitting alone in the dark. It was far from ideal but it would be better than dragging her back down the hallway. Trying to move Charlie that far during one of her panic attacks would make it even worse.
"Hey Charlie, do you want to go sit down?" John asked while moving his arms slowly around her shoulders. Despite the intensity of her shakes, Charlie managed to give him a rather jerky nod. John then fully wrapped his arms around her and slowly helped her stand up. Keeping his arms around her as they began moving into the Party Room. Occasionally, he'd make a quick glance back to Rick's office door. Attuning his ears to try and see if they'd heard them but that was abandoned when he felt a sharp pain in his arms.
John didn't even need to look to know that it was from Charlie's fingernails digging into his skin. He didn't try to pry her away either and instead, he pulled her even closer to his body. "Easy Charlie." He said soothingly and tucked her head underneath his.
They entered the room and John carefully guided his girlfriend towards the closest chair. Her shakes were becoming shorter, but increasing in number as he helped her sit down. When he'd gotten her to sit down, John kneeled so as to be at her eye level. But once he'd done that he felt his heart sink upon seeing her terrified expression.
There were tears spilling down her pale cheeks as her breathing became more rapid and harsh. Her arms pulled from John's and wrapped themselves around her chest. Her fingernails dug deeply into her shoulders as she began partially curling up in her seat. Seeing her like this always broke John's heart. But experience had thankfully taught him what to do to make it better.
"Charlie, look at me please," he whispered. Charlie didn't move aside from her shakes but then she slowly turned her head in his direction.
He reached out to carefully pull her hands away from her body and took hold of them in a manner that allowed him to stroke her wrists with his thumbs. Charlie's own hands clenched tight around his, squeezing them until her knuckles turned white. Despite this also hurting his own hands, John pushed through the pain and continued speaking softly to her.
"Focus on me, Charlie." He whispered while continuing to stroke her wrists. The intensity of her shakes seemed to decrease, but they didn't stop altogether. John looked up into her eyes and breathed slowly.
"Follow my lead, can you do that?" He asked and then took another deep breath. This time she was able to give a slight nod before making a very quick inhale of her own. But it was too deep and John shook his head before motioning for her to exhale. "Gotta start slow, don't go too quick."
"Okay," Charlie quickly said through a raspy gasp.
John once again started leading her through the breathing routine, though it was a very slow process. But every time Charlie failed, John would only whisper encouragement before they started again. After What felt like an hour, Charlie's breathing began to finally even out.
Although she was still shaking, it was more of light shivering than a violent shudder. As her vision un-blurred, she found herself looking into John's supportive face, to which she gave him a weak smile before burying her face into his shoulder.
She wanted to say something, to thank him but she found herself unable to make more than let out a barely audible wheeze.
"Just take it easy," John whispered as he started stroking her back. Charlie sighed before suddenly letting out a groan as she realized how sore she was now feeling. It was something she'd experienced after almost every panic attack, but it was never easy to recover from. After a minute of comfort, she felt well enough to pull away from John. She leaned back in her seat and then slumped downward. Wincing from the pain as she did so.
"Ah, I hate those things." She hoarsely mumbled. John placed a hand on her knee and tilted her head back up.
"Hey, this one wasn't as bad as some of the others so you're getting a little better at coming out of them." His encouragement only received a weary smile that was accompanied by a humorless laugh.
"Only thanks to you being here." She looked to the side and squinted at the darkness that surrounded her. Her eyes needed to adjust to the sudden lack of light. "Speaking of here… where did you take me?"
"We're in the party room that is a bit down the hall from Rick's office. It was closer than trying to run you all the way up front," John said as he looked around the room as well.
Charlie glanced in the direction of Rick's office before looking down at her feet. "You don't think they heard us do you?"
"It's been about," John looked down at his watch and then sighed, "sixteen minutes since your panic attack started. If they did notice then they're waiting a long time to come out and bust us.
"Sixteen…" Charlie whispered with a wince. "I thought you said it wasn't as bad as the others…"
"It wasn't nearly as bad as the others though so that's what's important to me." John comfortingly rubbed her knee before standing up. Let's just take a quick breather before trying to get out of here. Best to wait until Rick and that cop leave so they don't spot us."
Charlie silently nodded in agreement and watched as John walked to the edge of the room to watch Rick's door before taking a look around. Though it was dark, she was able to see that the room was filled mostly with tables. But littered about it were a few curious items she couldn't quite see.
Several of them looked like a bunch of scattered boxes, maybe a few game cabinets as well. But what quickly got her full attention was what looked to be something covered in a cloth tarp,
From her glances, she guessed that it was another animatronic. But due to the covering, she was unable to make out any more details. Though she could see what appeared to be some kind of accordion laying on a nearby table next to a toolbox.
I wonder who that's going to be...?' She went to start guessing, but pulled her mind away from doing that, The last thing she wanted to do was dredge up even more old memories and cause another panic attack. Nothing about this place felt right to her, it was all mostly cheap imitations of her father's works that seemed to mock his memory more than honor it. Not to mention that just being here seemed to have increased her anxiety tenfold.
"This whole thing was a mistake." She didn't know if her words referred to the restaurant, or her choice to come but it didn't matter. It was all one big mistake and because of it, she had been nearly drained.
Charlie leaned back and closed her eyes in an attempt to relax. But she quickly found herself needing to force them open as the faint sound of a music box began drifting through the air. Charlie jumped in her seat and caused the chair to make a loud scooting sound from the sudden movement.
John looked back at her in alarm and was about to say something when the door to Rick's office suddenly swung open with force. He pulled himself back into the shadows as Rick exited out with a look of curiosity and frustration etched across his face. His gaze hardened as he peered into the darkened room, trying to look for something as the music began increasing in volume. The officer soon followed out and looked more puzzled than Rick.
"Is something wrong Mr. Taylor?"
"Yeah, this room isn't supposed to be open for another few days…" Was all Rick was able to say before the cop began to reach for something on his belt. In the darkness, John and Charlie both simultaneously mouthing their own expletives.
Charlie was the one who acted first by jumping up from her seat and hurrying beneath one of the tables. She was too far away from John to run to him without being seen. As such, she pulled down one of the tablecloths so it was almost covering her entire body. Hoping that it would be enough to hide her from sight.
Consequently, she wasn't able to see what John was doing to hide. But there was little time to think about that as the beam from the cop's flashlight shone into the room. Passing over her tablecloth cover like a lighthouse warding away a ship in a storm.
Charlie pulled back and did her best to avoid bumping the table. Not that it would matter all that much as the increasingly loud music could probably cover up even the loudest infants wailing. She watched the beam steadily move about the room as Rick and the cop slowly made their way around the tables. The sound of the officer's belt jingling mixed with the music caused Charlie to begin developing a massive headache.
She heard Rick say something inaudible over the music before the flashlight beam moved across the room to focus on a giant gift box that was sat in the farthest corner of the room. On the side of the box was a large crank that was slowly rotating around as if moved by an unseen hand.
The cop and Rick moved past Charlie's table, unaware of her presence. The pulled back tablecloth on the other side allowed her a clear view of both them and the box. The officer looked ready to say something before everyone in the room jumped as the gift box's lid suddenly flew open. Charlie covered her ears when she saw the officer's hand grabbing onto his firearm. He upholstered it and then pointed it towards the box as they all watched an impossibly lanky figure rise up from it.
Charlie was more than a little shocked when she laid eyes on the slim black and white animatronic that was revealed by the flashlight. Although calling it an animatronic was generous as it looked like none she'd ever seen before. It had striped patterns going down its arms and legs along with a row of white buttons that were nearly hidden by a brilliantly red vest that was accentuated with a little red bowtie. But the most striking feature was the face, which while made of plastic like the ones out in the main area. Yet it was also much older looking than even the ones from the old Pizzeria. It's rosy red dimples and the purple paint streaks looked somewhat faded in the light. Although that could have just been the angle at which she was seeing it.
But angles did nothing to diminish the fact that the animatronic was casting quite the loom over the entire room. It hung in the air from unseen strings like a lifeless corpse, face lowered down with an almost judgmental glare. The sight of it made Charlie both sick and yet… intrigued.
It was then she suddenly heard the little voice from earlier again. The one that had called out for her to investigate in the first place. It was louder this time...but that loudness only revealed a small scattering of words. As if whoever was speaking to Charlie was unable to speak properly. She pulled herself away from it and back to the situation at hand as Rick spoke up once again
"Ah, figures it'd be this one that would malfunction," Rick said in a weary tone.
"How do you know it's a malfunction and not an attempted theft?" The cop asked with his gun still trained on the slumping animatronic.
"Well uh… unlike Spring-Bonnie, this one's value is really just sentimental." Rick began walking towards it with a reserved simile. "Uh...at least for me it is but we've been having a few problems with it here and there. At this point though we've all just learned to get used to it by now."The statement was finished with some dry laughter that quickly trailed off into something of a groan. Rick reached down into his pocket and pulled out a small two-way radio.
"Um… Let me just call someone to fix it and we can get back to our conversation." As soon as the words left his mouth, Charlie knew that she and John had to leave now. She did her best to quietly slip out from under the table and move towards the entrance. The little voice in her mind calling out once more, begging her to stay. She tried to ignore it while keeping an eye out for John. Thankfully, he hadn't gone very far from where she'd last seen him.
His back was pressed up against the wall and his gaze was set firmly on the two men in the corner. He didn't even notice that Charlie had moved until she came up and tugged on his arm. His head swiveled around to face her but had little time to reply before Charlie pulled him back out into the hallway.
"What the heck was that thing?" John whispered, unable to stop himself from asking the question on his mind. Charlie didn't reply, not that she had anything remotely close to an answer anyway. Seeing the animatronic had brought about another emotional surge along with the voice, but she wasn't entirely why it caused such a reaction. It wasn't anything like the feelings she'd had seeing the other new machines or thinking about the older ones. No, the feeling she got from looking at this animatronic was a sense of...familiarity. As though she'd seen it somewhere before and recognized it. But she knew it wasn't like any of the ones she'd been before. Despite a few gaps, she could recall nearly everything her dad had crafted in his workshop.
There had never been anything like that animatronic either in the old Freddy's or as one of her toys. But once they were out of its sight Charlie felt a sudden sense of release. As though it's eyeless gaze had somehow kept her prisoner. But the connection was still there even as they got further away. Only being broken when they snuck into the main room and exited out the pizzeria.
To Charlie, the cool night air almost felt like a welcoming hug after an incredibly stuffy day in school. She did her best to quietly drink it in; something John seemed to be doing as well as he looped an arm around her shoulders.
They walked away from the pizzeria; alone save for a few workers that were taking apart the stage and speakers. Not a word was spoken until they were out of the parking lot, almost as if they were afraid the building itself might hear them.
"That was certainly a… interesting experience... '' John finally said and then hesitated before asking again, "Do you have any idea what the heck that thing from the box was?"
"No..it looked old but my dad would have never made something like that. Not for the Pizzeria and especially not for me..." She trailed off, realizing that the topic of Arty's supposed theft of the spring-lock suit was something John was doing his best to avoid bringing up, Not that it wasn't warranted given her reaction to finding out about it. Charlie wasn't even sure how to begin dealing with it herself, so she opted to stay quiet about it. Pushing it to the back of her mind for later,
They continued walking in total silence, letting their thoughts run wild in their heads until the rumble of their stomachs brought them back to reality. Charlie looked down and then up at John.
"Do you want to get something to eat? I'm more than a little hungry after not getting any pizza." She said, attempting to lighten their dour mood.
"Sure, fast food or a place to sit down?"
"I'm good for whatever at this point." Though her thought of 'I just don't want to be anywhere near Freddy's' went unsaid. After that, nothing more was said between them as they power walked back to the car. Their feelings become tangled up like a spider web that was being blown in the breeze. But through it, all Charlie could still hear the little voice in the back of her mind. Faint, yet continuing to call out to her. Calling her back to the party room and that bizarre animatronic.
A distant call that she knew one day, would have to be answered.