"Thank you for shopping at Saver Saviors, have a wonderful day!" Charlie called out to her customer while also forcing a cheerful smile across her tired face. Hoping that her pleasantness would serve as a decent mask that hid her lack of sleep from those around her. But that overly cheerful grin paired with her unusually loose and unkempt hair painted a very clear picture of her sleepless weekend.
To Charlie's relief, it seemed as though the customer hadn't noticed Charlie's off-kilter appearance, although they hadn't been paying that much attention to her in the first place. Which was something they continued on doing as they snatched their bags from her and walked out of the store without even acknowledging Charlie's existence
Normally, such behavior would have incised Charlie enough to mutter a cynical remark under her breath, but today she couldn't even bring herself to roll her eyes. The only thing she allowed herself to do was to rest her elbows onto the countertop and brush away some loose strands of hair. Once she was settled, she let out a disgruntled sigh before looking around the store for any more customers that might be headed her way.
Cash register duty was one of the most soul-sucking parts of working in Jeremy's store and her lack of sleep was only making it worse. More than once she'd found herself entertaining the thought of laying down behind the counter and taking a quick nap. But even in her dead tired state, she knew better than to even try pulling something like that.
Even if she'd been willing to try it, her experiences the past couple of nights had shown that there was no chance of her getting any sleep. Her visit to the new Freddy's hadn't given her or John any peace of mind, for while their initial curiosity had faded, it also raised more questions then either of them had anticipated. Not only that but the event had also increased the ferocity of her nightmares about the place.
She was still unable to recall much about them aside from the fact that they all took place at the old Freddy's, but what was concerning to Charlie was how she'd suddenly been alone in every single one. The presence of her friends had been something of a comfort in the earlier nightmares that had been replays of the previous year's events, but the isolation of these nightmares had left her feeling more vulnerable than ever. She felt as though her life had become bound to the restaurants through the tragedies in her life. Preventing her from being able to ever fully escape its shadow.
Charlie twisted herself around so her back was now resting against the counter instead of her chest. Her hands crossed over her abdomen as she exhaled deeply into the air above her head, ignoring the sick feeling that was beginning to grow within her stomach.
'Just try and forget about it,' had been her internal mantra the whole weekend after the trip, only to realize simply forgetting it was an impossible goal in and of itself. There was no way to just "forget" about Freddy's and hearing about both Arty's disappearance coupled with the knowledge that Rick had Dave's suit in the restaurant had allowed it to cement a permanent place in her mind. Her worries had been compounded by realizing just how secretive Rick was making the whole situation.
She'd gone looking through some of their old newspapers to see if they'd said anything about Arty's disappearance and supposed theft of the suit. But any and all talk about Freddy's had either been talking about it's on the community or advertisements that offered only the barest of discounts with no mention of their missing employee to be found anywhere. Rick was trying to hide what had happened from the public, no doubt to ensure that the restaurant's reputation remained untarnished until they knew everything about the "theft"
Though, Charlie had her doubts that Arty would be found. Even if he was, Rick would no doubt sweep whatever happened to him even further beneath the rug until Arty was just a memory to him. Just like those that had gone missing before him back in Hurricane.
Charlie winced and pulled herself out of her thoughts as a headache began to form. She quickly moved her hands upwards and let out another frustrated sigh before she pressed her fingers to her temples to try begin rubbing them in an attempt to mitigate the pain. It was the only thing she could do to ward off the headache that didn't involve raiding the store's stock of Tylenol.
While working her fingers over her temples, Charlie caught a quick glance at someone walking past her register. She turned around to see Millie moving behind the counter to begin her own workday at the other register. As she got herself settled in, the other girl took in Charlie's disheveled appearance with a perturbed expression.
"What's up with you today? Not to sound mean but you look half-dead." Millie asked bluntly. Charlie rubbed her face and silently huffed at her co-worker's attitude. But then again it was Millie she was talking to, the girl who always wanted to get directly to the point of the conversation without beating around the bush.
"I'm just tired, had a bit of a rough weekend," Charlie mumbled back before going back to standing upright at the counter. The rising headache dulling, although not going fully away.
"That's an understatement if I'd ever heard one," Millie replied as she settled behind the cash register next to Charlie's. "Did you get enough coffee this morning?"
"I don't like to drink coffee but thanks," Charlie said dryly while scanning her eyes around the store in a futile search for approaching customers. Millie wasn't someone that she knew all that well and the most they'd ever spoken before now had been an exchange of pleasantries. Her bluntness was a mask for her somewhat aggressive nature which normally pushed Charlie away. The two of them operated in their own separate worlds, only brought together due to working in the same store.
But it seemed that today, Millie was in a bit more of a talkative mood than normal. Perhaps it was boredom or just frustration that made her feel like wanting to open up to Charlie, but whatever the reason Charlie quickly found herself in the midst of an unexpected conversation.
"Well, I guess that just means more for the boss then. Not like he isn't the one buying half the store's stock for himself already." Millie said, laughing a little at her own remark as she leaned down on the countertop with her chin resting in her hands. The remark did give Charlie a reason to smile, that was the most she could bring herself to do.
"By the looks of things, it sounds like you've had a pretty wild weekend, If it helps I heard drinking a lot of water in the morning can be good for clearing your head." Millie gestured towards the direction of the break room. "Rebecca keeps the fridge back there stocked with tons of water bottles. I'll cover if you want to go back and grab a few..."
Charlie looked over at Millie quizzically while her tired mind tried to sort out exactly what she was implying. Once it clicked into place, she bolted upright while vehemently shaking her head.
"Oh. No, John and I aren't the drinking type. We're not even old enough anyway to do it anyway…"
"Heh, that little fact doesn't really stop a lot of people in my school from doing it." Millie joked. "Or, at least that's what I've gathered from watching them try to hide their hangovers before class." She looked up and off into the distance for a moment with a slightly annoyed expression.
"Regardless if you do or don't at least you've got someone to hang out with that isn't a screaming kid." Charlie cocked an eyebrow and turned back to Millie with a quizzically tilting head.
"Screaming kids? Were they your siblings or are you doing some kind of babysitting job on the side?" She asked. In response, Millie cracked a lopsided smile and shook her head before then letting out a short bit of sarcastic laughter.
"Nah, it's my cousins. It'd be wonderful if I ever got paid for putting up with them, but because it's "for family"...well, you know."
Charlie attempted to nod along understandingly, even though the experience wasn't one she was able to relate with. Most of her extended family had consisted of kids much older than she was and her mother's side hadn't been all that present, to begin with. While she had attempted to babysit a couple of times in middle school it had quickly fallen apart due to her lack of patience with the kids.
Much like the workshop class that she'd taken in middle school, it wasn't something that Charlie was looking to try again. Even if she was more mature now then she'd been at thirteen. She'd never had much interest in interacting with anyone that was more than three years younger than her.
All that she could think to do in response was give her co-worker a sympathetic nod right as Millie launched into a rant about her family.
"It's honestly amazing how much my aunt and uncle don't seem to actually want to be parents and they just keep ditching them on me and Grandpa. Of course, he doesn't really mind since he adores the little terrors." " Millie said and threw her hands upward in a series of dramatic gestures that Charlie could only assume were somehow related to the individual members of her family.
Charlie continued nodding along, murmuring a few "mmmhmms" in reply. She wasn't all that interested in what Millie was saying but it was clear that she'd been holding her emotions in for a while. Something that Charlie knew from experience to be a bad idea, so she was more than happy to just let Millie get it all off her chest.
"But then oh, then they promise that they'll take the boys to that new pizza place without bothering to check their schedules first. So guess who gets to take Hayden and Cameron there on what's supposed to be their day off because they can't break a promise to their boys?"
Charlie quietly gasped, her breathing stopping momentarily as she let Millie's words sink into her brain.. Her mouth fell open as she struggled to quickly think of a response before Millie changed the subject.
"Y-you're taking them to Freddy's?" She asked cautiously, earning her a bemused look from Millie.
"Unless you know of any other newly opened pizza places around here then yeah." She said in a sarcastically cheerful tone before leaning her back against the countertop so as to mimic the position Charlie had taken earlier. Her arms folding across her chest as she looked down at her feet and grumbled something to herself.
"I get to sit there and watch them play on everything that I'm too old for while being bored out of my mind. They have all the fun while leaving me stuck on the sidelines." Her grumbles trailed off into a series of angry unintelligible murmurs before Millie fell silent and just stewed in her anger.
Because of this, she didn't realize that Charlie hadn't taken what she'd heard all that well. Her hands balled up into fists as a few memories from the weekend raced to the forefront of her mind.
She knew that Millie wasn't wrong in her opinions. Outside of being able to have a bit of pizza, she'd not seen anything that might hold the interest of an average adult, let alone an easily bored teenager that was forced to go there with her cousins.
Had it not been for her and John's little investigation, they probably would have left after they'd gotten done talking to Rick. Once more he thought of Arty and Dave's suit came into the forefront of her mind. But carried along with those thoughts was an idea that made Charley's blood run cold.
Her body tensing up as the idea began taking root form in her mind. An idea that, given what had happened, was probably up there in her list of horrible ideas. She didn't want to put herself through that again because this time she would really be alone. With no one, she actually trusted there to help her in case something went wrong.
'This isn't something that you can ignore. Not after what you and John overheard Rick saying about Arty.' Charlie shut her eyes and took several deep breaths to relax. It was all she could do to drown out these thoughts. But they refused to be silenced by her efforts, in fact, her refusal to listen to them only made them more powerful.
She knew that if Arty had wanted to do something with the Spring-Bonnie suit then he would have done it already. Especially if he'd intended on exacting some kind of revenge on her, there was always the possibility that he was waiting for the heat over the theft to die down. But knowing just how hot-headed and reckless Arty was made that idea rather improbable.
There was only one real possibility as to what happened to him, the one that had kept running through Charlie's head all weekend whenever she wasn't thinking about her nightmares. Centered on the man who took away so much from not just her, but almost everyone in Hurricane. The man who betrayed her father, killed her brother, and then tried to do the same to her and Carlton before she'd triggered the spring locks within his suit. Putting what she'd hoped would be the final nail in Freddy's coffin.
The suit that was now "missing" along with Arty. The nightmarish memories of that man quickly overrode all of her attempts to push away the idea that had formed. Her thoughts seeming to possess a will of their own as she turned to Millie and said,
"Well, if you want I could take them to Freddy's for you." As soon as the words left her mouth, she immediately began wishing there was a way for her to stuff them back into her head. But it was far too late for that. Millie looked at her with a mixture of surprise and hopefulness on her face.
"Y-You'd really do something like that for me?" She asked quietly. Charlie felt like a prisoner within her own body as she gave Millie a sincere nod.
"Of course, since John's got a big project this weekend so I'll have nothing to do besides sit around being bored by myself." A lopsided smile forced its way onto her face. "It sounds like you're well overdue for a break anyway, so why not kill two birds with one stone?"
Charlie watched as Millie's expression changed from a look of shock into one of nervousness. Her face seemed to brighten as she looked down at the counter and traced her finger in idle circles.
"I-I mean...that's...it's an amazing offer but...I can't leave them with someone I barely know. Not that I think you're a bad person or anything but my family would kill me if I just let you walk off with my cousins." Millie said before falling silent and switching into a more professional demeanor as a customer wandered over to her register with a cart full of items.
Charlie quietly watched on while internally debating her next move. Going back to Freddy's so soon was a terrible idea and she spent the better part of Millie's interaction with the customer trying to talk herself out of it. However, she did recognize that the sooner she could solve the ever-growing mystery surrounding the new Freddy's, then the sooner it could all be put to rest.
'Hopefully, it'll be forever this time.' She thought impatiently as Millie continued trying to ring up the customer's items as fast as possible. Charlie knew that her mind was more than made up now about what she had to do. Even if she hated the mere notion of going anywhere near the place
As soon as Millie finished with the customer Charlie looked over and began speaking to before the aforementioned customer had even collected their bags.
"How about this? You could ride along with me there and check in on us every so often while browsing the shops." She said quickly, racing to get the words out before Millie could provide a counterpoint. "That way you're not trapped at Freddy's all say."
Millie stared silently at Charlie, a little startled by her sudden enthusiasm. Yet there was also a sense of thoughtfulness in her gaze as she quietly mulled over Charlie's offer.
"Well...I...I guess so...as long as I stop in It should be okay.…" She said quietly, her gaze lowering back down towards her shoes. "You're sure that you want to spend all of Saturday stuck with me and my cousins?"
"Absolutely," Charlie said affirming before then being cut off by a customer arriving at her own cash register, followed by another one going up to Millie's register. Their conversation came to an abrupt end as they both fell into their normal work routines.
But even as the store began getting busier, there was a change in both their attitudes. Millie seemed to have regained a lost spring in her step, a small bit of youthful energy peeking through her usually sour attitude. But It wasn't a feeling that Charlie could share in. What she'd just promised could allow her to make things better and finally put all her demons to rest. But it was also possible that by doing this, everything could become worse than it already was.
She pushed away from the dueling thoughts and tried to put her focus back into her work. But in the back of her mind, the memories lingered on and built as she silently made out a plan of action. One that, if her suspicions were found to be correct, would make her more determined than ever to put an end to the bloody shadow Freddy's cast once and for all.
Utah
The harsh, shrill chirp of an alarm clock broke the darkened room's silence as the early morning sun began creeping its way through the curtains. From beneath a haphazardly stacked clump of blankets shot out a hand that forcefully pressed down on the alarm until it had ceased its chirping.
The person beneath the blankets let out an angry groan before they started kicking and shoving aside the covers to free themselves from the bed. After a minute of struggling, they managed to throw the mound of blankets onto the floor. The dim light exposing the tired face of Carlton Burke to the world.
He groaned once more and shielded his face away from the light. Keeping his eyes trained on the floor, his expression becoming less angered as he stared into the tangled pile of blankets.
"One of these days I should probably try and actually make this thing look decent." He murmured but knew full well that the words were empty and hollow. He'd said them almost every day since the bed first got messy and yet nothing had ever come from it. Empty words meant to make him feel like everything was alright, much like the reassurances he'd been given by his family in regards to the current...situation between his parents. Brought on by both his light night escapades and misguided trust in an old friend.
Carlton lightly slapped his cheeks to force his mind away from that particular topic and pulled himself up into a sitting position. A stifled yawn passing through his lips as he rubbed his eyes and then looked a bit closer at the time.
"Hmm, it's only 6:15. I actually managed to get almost five hours of sleep in today." A sarcastic grin formed on his face as he arched upward and stretched. "Maybe tomorrow night I can go for a whole six."
A small row of quiet, pained laughter followed the statement before he stood up with another stretch.
"I'd better get to the bathroom before either Mom or Aunt Cynthia need to use it." He started walking over towards the bedroom door when he noticed something hidden in the shadows where the morning light had yet to reach.
The already forced smile quickly changed into a thin frown as he eyed up the now-familiar yellow bear. The one that he hadn't seen, at least willingly, since his failed expedition to Freddy's. Carlton crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway while meeting the bear's gaze. His face further hardened upon hearing it start to whisper in his head.
"I can't really say the feeling is mutual this time." He grumbled while wiping at his eyes "Considering how mad everyone's been at me lately, I'm surprised you're not mad at me too."
He closed his eyes as the bear continued whispering to him. The voice echoing in his head while trying to provide some reassurance, but Carlton just responded with an angry sneer.
"That doesn't really help much Michael. Especially since your plan is what's gotten my family into this mess." His anger flared up when the whispers came again and he pointed an accusatory finger in the bear's direction. "I don't even get why you needed me to do that. Freddy's isn't my thing and it shouldn't have been my problem to deal with in the first place!"
The whispers went quiet after the outburst, the silence becoming almost deafening to the already stressed out Carlton. The sudden lack of noise created a slight ringing sensation in his ears as the yellow bear cast sorrowful energy throughout the room.
"Sorry, I'm just…" Carlton looked away from the bear and scrunched up his face. "I don't want to talk to you right now Michael. My life's already screwed up enough without my dead best friend dragging me into some paranormal bullcrap." He threw open the bedroom door and moved into the hallway while giving the bear a final, downcast stare.
"Hasn't Freddy's ruined our lives enough already? He's dead anyway so I'll doubt that he'd be much of a problem even if he does come back like you. It's not my fight anymore!" He blinked as the light from the rising sun spilled further into the room and chased away both the darkness of night along with the ghosts of his past.
He stared somewhat for lonely at the corner where the yellow bear had been sitting, Carlton exited the bedroom. His outburst feeling both heartbreaking and yet cathartic. With a sigh, he shut the door behind him and walked away from the bedroom. Leaving Michael, wherever he was, alone in the dark.