Charlie jolted in surprise as Millie's cousins let out a cheer from the backseat of her blue honda. They had only just come into view of the new Freddy's and the boys were already excited. Said excitement did not extend to either of the older girls as Millie silently slumped down into her seat and covered her ears as the boys craned their necks to get a good look at the restaurant
Despite her outwardly put-together demeanor, Charlie found herself wanting to follow Millie's example as the boys continued to cheer. She sighed and tried to put her focus on finding a parking spot close to the entrance while also doing her best to not let her negative emotions chip away at the mask she'd created. The internal nervousness was already ebbing away at her outward appearance even as she put on a stern face when she noticed that the boys were frantically prying at the door handles in an effort to try escaping the blue honda and get into Freddy's before either she or Mille could stop them.
Charlie slowed the car down and was just about to ask them to stop only to see that Millie was already whipping around to face them. Her face morphing into an expression of anger that Charlie had previously assumed only an angry parent was capable of giving.
"If you two don't knock that off right now, I'm going to have Charlie turn around and take us back home." Her words were calm, barely even registering as a shout but her angry face got the message across and the boy who instantly settled back down. Hands glued to their sides with heads hung low, though Cameron definitely stuck his tongue out at Millie before joining his brother in looking at the floor mat.
Millie just rolled her eyes at the display before turning around to face out the windshield again with a dramatically aggravated sigh. Doing her best to avoid looking at Charlie, out of concern that the older girl might be judgmental of her behavior towards the boys.
While Charlie said nothing outwardly about it, she didn't see anything wrong with how Millie corrected her cousin's behavior. The response wasn't unexpected as Millie would speak ruefully about anyone even remotely related to her whenever she had the chance. Charlie had heard a lot of similar complaints from her peers back in high school so she was more than understanding of her position. Which was why she'd already decided that it wasn't her place to interfere in Millie's family affairs, especially since she had her own things to worry about while at Freddy's. But for now, she just had to focus on getting everything in place so she could go about that business.
No sooner had Charlie swung the car into an empty parking space then the boy's excitement began returning, more subdued than before but still very present. Millie glanced up and manually unlocked the passenger side door. As she climbed out of the car at the same time as Charlie, Millie whistled sharply to get her attention before tossing the duffle bag into Charlie's arms.
"Don't forget this thing." Was all that Millie said before she opened up the back doors to let the boys out. Her fingertips sank into the backs of their shirts as she pulled them out of the car as Charlie walked around to face them. But not before taking a moment to put a fake smile that would hopefully hide her already fraying nerves.
The two boys stood at attention albeit with shared winces of pain as Millie leaned down to whisper something into their ears. Charlie wasn't able to understand everything that was said, but she managed to understand the basic gist of what she'd said. It basically amounted to an order from Millie to behave and not cause her friend too much trouble before she began pushing them over towards Charlie.
Once she'd gotten them in front of their "babysitter" Millie stood up to face Charlie once again. The younger girl crossed her arms and looked down as she spoke in a rather timid voice.
"Thanks again for doing this… I'll come back around lunchtime to check on you and the boys okay?"
"You don't need to do that-" Charlie began but was cut off by Millie giving her a sharp nod along with a stern face.
"I do. Because if I don't help you at least part of the time then these little terrors will tattle on me to their mom and dad." The boys looked up at Millie before flashing Charlie the most innocent smiles that they could create on short notice. Charlie wasn't sure what they were trying to pull, but unfortunately for them, it failed to have any effect on her.
She swung the duffle bag over her shoulder and took hold of the boy's shoulders just as Millie had to begin guiding them over towards Freddy's. Millie watched them walk towards the entrance for only a moment before she then turned away and headed off in the direction of some of the nearby shops.
Charlie didn't watch her go, not only due to her own nervousness about going into Freddy's with only two little boys for company but also because Millie's absence had an instantaneous effect on the boys. The energy that Cameron and Hayden were displaying earlier was now returning in full force as they started trying to excitedly run over to the restaurant. With Charlie's efforts to maintain a firm grip on their shoulders being the only thing preventing them from getting away from her.
She gripped hard and squeezed their shoulders like she'd seen Millie do before. It seemed to work as both of the boys' paces slowed to a crawl, though neither of them seemed particularly happy about needing to wait a little longer to get inside. Charlie let out a sigh as she thought back to how Carlton and Michael had behaved in much the same way back in Hurricane. They'd always be the first ones out the door of whatever car that had taken them to the pizzeria. With John usually tailing not far behind them and herself either racing to catch up or waiting for them inside.
She looked up at the giant, cartoon bear still hanging over the front entrance with a banner stretching across it that read "Now Open" as a way of attracting people during the day when the lights were off. While the boys had been entranced by the giant Freddy, Charlie found herself needing to repress a shudder as she passed beneath its seemingly all-seeing gaze through the front doors of the Pizzeria,
To her surprise, the front entrance was very different from what she'd seen on opening night with John. Blocking the hallway leading to the main dining area was a large desk with a set of turnstiles attached to either side. Behind that desk sat a pair of employees who didn't look that much older than her that were both less than enthused about having to be here.
Charlie walked the boys over to the right side of the desk, the employee there giving her a disdainfully tired glance before he straightened up to give off the appearance of professionalism. Charlie watched him wearily look over the three of them before typing something into an unseen computer keyboard.
"Party of three?"
"Yeah, just the three of us, though a friend of mine should be coming by later," Charlie said, the employee looked up at her before glancing around the room and then back down at his keyboard.
"Well, they can pay their own way in once they get here. For now, it's a party of three." He said in a slightly harsh tone. Charlie grimaced but said nothing as the employee finished punching everything into his computer and then read off the price of admission for all three of them.
It was a lot higher than Charlie had expected, but the money that Millie's relatives had given them proved to be more than enough for covering the entrance fee. After she'd handed the cash over to the employee, she was startled upon being handed a set of bracelets instead of her change.
Two of them were colored in a rich purple while the other one was bright green. She stared down at them before looking up at the employee with a confused glance that was met with an unenthusiastic explanation.
"All patrons of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria and Family Entertainment Center must wear these bracelets while inside of the establishment. Children get purple and adults get green. You cannot exit the restaurant or any of the play areas without getting a scan to confirm that the adult bracelet matches up with the child's. This ensures that no child either goes with the wrong person or is left behind."
Charlie looked down at the bracelets again with a thin frown. It hadn't taken her very long to realize that this was Rick's attempt at avoiding what had happened in Hurricane so many years ago. But even if this system had been in playback then, it wouldn't have done any good in saving those that had gone missing, it wouldn't have taken her dad's partner long to find some way around it.
Despite her hang-ups about the bracelet system, Charlie decided against arguing with the restaurant's rules. She looked down at the boys and motioned for them to hold out their arms. As before, Hayden was more than happy to follow the rules but Cameron was rather reluctant.
"Those things look dumb." He grumbled as Charlie wrapped one of the bracelets around Hayden's Wrist Before looking at Cameron with an exasperated sigh.
"You can't get in without one, Cameron, so if you don't want to put it on then you can go shopping with Millie." She ended the sentence by spinning Cameron's bracelet around her finger, the employee that had served her watching on with an unfazed expression at Cameron's reluctance.
Cameron only spent a few seconds thinking about Charlie's threat before he then quickly snatched the bracelet from her hand and began wrapping it around his own wrist.
"I can put it on myself," he grumbled. Charlie smirked before setting to work on her own bracelet and then made sure that all three of them were secure on their wrists, the employee half-heartedly pulled out a handheld scanner and held it over each of their wrists. The nearby turnstile unlocking with a "clank' once Charlie's was scanned.
"Have a wonderful day at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria and Family Entertainment Center, where fantasy and fun come to life." He said while waving them through the turnstiles before then turned his attention to the next group coming through the doors. As Charlie led the boys through the turnstiles into the pizzeria proper, she felt the now familiar feeling of dread wash over her. Accompanied by the same voice that she'd heard before rising up from the depths of her mind. As though it had been lying in wait for her to return to Pizzeria proper before trying to communicate with her again. Calling out to her in half-formed words like a child screaming for a parent to save them from some dreamed up monster.
It was hard for her to ignore the voice's pull, but she couldn't just leave the boys on their own so she could answer it. Not yet anyway.
The boy's excitement returned once they caught a whiff of pizza mixed in with the sounds of upbeat music filling the air as they entered into the main dining area. Charlie's grip on them tightening as her gaze settled on the show stage, where Rick's animatronics were finishing up their latest performance. The boy's attention turned to the stage as well, their eyes wide with excitement at seeing the larger than life machines dancing before them. It may have been the boy's first time hearing the performance, but Charlie already had it almost burned into her memory.
While the initial shock had worn off, Charlie still felt uncomfortable seeing these new creations performing for crowds of patrons that were unaware of Freddy's bloodied legacy. But how could they know? It had happened before most of them were even born, in a place that none of them probably even cared about. The only way they could know is if someone told them, but even then they probably wouldn't care. For the people enjoying the new Freddy's, it'd be like driving past a memorial on the roadside. While some of them might acknowledge the tragedies that had happened, but most of them ultimately just wouldn't care.
The whole group watched as the show finished with all of the animatronics singing a high note before the curtain abruptly fell over and cut them off from the rest of the restaurant. The lights brightened up to reveal dozens of cheering and applauding children. Only a few people didn't join in the clapping and that included everyone in Charlie's group.
"Is that it?" Hayden asked while making a disappointed face.
"No, that was just the ending," Charlie replied softly as she turned her focus on the newly hung sign next to the stage. It was a simple square with checkered borders and the word "SHOWTIMES" at the top in big white letters. Below it was several sets of numbers, which Charlie assumed to be when the animatronics would be playing next.
"They'll be doing another show in a little over an hour from now," She said after quickly pulling her arm away from Hayden to check her watch. She took hold of his arm again and looked down with a subdued smile. "How about we all go find something to do until then? I'll order some Pizza while you play so we can have it during the show."
The idea seemed to please Hayden, though Cameron was a bit reluctant to accept it as he peered quizzically about the room until his eyes fell upon another hallway that was just left of the stage. Charlie looked in that same direction and saw a hanging sign that proudly bore the words "Playtime Cove!" in bright colorful letters. She glanced down at boys questioningly and found that Cameron had the same idea as her.
"I want to go to the Cove." He said firmly, to which Hayden backed him up with a silent nod.
"Alright, let's go to the cove then," Charlie said.
The three of them moved quickly down the hallway, the voice inside of Charlie's head becoming a little fainter the further away as they moved away from the main area until finally being pushed aside as her thoughts became centered on the large room that the hallway opened up into.
Had she been a child, the sight of the large indoor playground would have thrilled her as much as it thrilled the boys. A large structure sat in the center of the massive room, stretching up towards the ceiling, with several smaller structures for the kids too small for the big one circling it. All of it was generic playground equipment that was now themed around the restaurant's characters with children, running, climbing, and sliding around with screams of joy.
All in all, Charlie had to admit that it was rather impressive; despite it being full of screaming children. The two boys began dragging her over to the play area, practically begging to join in the fun. An employee waved them over to a small gate and then scanned the boy's wristbands before opening up the gate to allow them inside. Charlie finally let up on her grip, allowing the boys to run off into the play area.
"I'll come back when the show's about to start okay?" Charlie called, only for it to be drowned out by the excited chattering of the other children. She sighed again before turning around and walking out of the room back towards the main area. Quickly checking her watch to make note of how long she had to do her snooping.
'Got just an hour to pull this off.' Charlie inhaled and straighten her back as she entered the showroom; doing best to keep the worry from showing in her face while making a beeline for the booth closest to the hallway leading to Rick's office and scanning the room for any employees that could be looking her way.
Once she was confident that they were all busy, she took off the duffle bag and set it onto the booth's table as a marker before taking off down the still dimly lit hallway. Keeping her footsteps light, she jogged along until she spotted the entrance to the room she'd had her panic attack in. The tiny voice in her head became louder the closer that she got and urged her to go into the party room.
But neither the room nor what it contained was what Charlie had come to see. She slowed her jog down to a walk as the door to Rick Taylor's office came into view. The reluctance and worry grew within as she reached out to grab the door handle; only now realizing that she could have almost screwed up her entire plan by not factoring in the possibility that Rick was in his office.
Better check to see if he's in there.' She reminded herself and froze with her arm still outstretched. She lowered her hand and dropped her gaze to the floor in an attempt to see if she could make out any light peeking through the bottom.
When that proved to be somewhat unfavorable, she knelt down so as to be eye level with it; the crack between the bottom of the door and the floor showing nothing more than darkness beyond the threshold. Satisfied that Rick wasn't in, Charlie stood back up with a deep sigh. That was one part of sneaking into the office down, now came the part that would either make or break her little mission.
Her hand moved over towards the doorknob and this time she took hold of it with an almost vice-like grip. After a few more seconds of hesitating, she twisted the knob hard to the left. To her amazement, the knob turned without any resistance. She slowly pushed open the office door as what little light the hallway gave off began illuminating the darkened room. Charlie momentarily held her breath as though she expected Rick Taylor to come rushing out of the darkness to demand to know why she was poking around where she didn't belong. But there was nothing aside from her own breathing and the faint sound of a playing music box. Charlie quickly stepped through the door and turned on the light before quietly shutting it behind her.
Rick's office was much different from the rest of the pizzeria, to the point where it almost looked out of place. The floor was carpeted as opposed to tiled, with light grey walls that gave off a somewhat homely feel to it. Placed along the walls were various pictures of Rick and the various people that had been important to him throughout his life.
As Charlie slowly moved across the room, her eyes caught a glimpse of a photograph behind Rick's desk that contained a couple familiar faces. She went closer to it and stared into the eyes of her father for the first time since she'd moved to Brookhaven. The picture was of him, Rick and William Afton standing outside of the old Freddy's in Hurricane during its own grand opening..Rick had his arms wrapped around his partner's shoulders with a grin that seemed to be shared by both of them. But further, inspection showed that Henry and William weren't fully sharing Rick's enthusiasm.
As always, Henry's mind seemed to be somewhere else. His eyes trained off in the distance, looking at something that only he could see. William on the other hand seemed to be totally in the moment yet simultaneously, not be there at all.
Charlie felt sick to her stomach and tore her gaze away from the picture before she could look any closer. She hugged herself tight as a shudder ran through her body and it took several deep breaths to calm herself down before she was able to head over to Rick's desk, trying her best to avert her gaze away from William's emotionless stare.
Rick's desk, much like the man himself, was in a state of orderly chaos. From a distance, everything appeared to be organized in a professional manner. But a closer look revealed that all of the professionalism was just a mask, with everything being compiled into a system that only made sense to just one person. Finding the information she needed wasn't going to be easy, but she'd come too far to back out now.
She bit her lip and frustratedly exhaled before beginning her trek through the mess of a desk. Carefully going over every paper and then setting it back exactly where she'd found it. But with each paper she overturned, the more frustrated Charlie became.
After a couple of minutes of fruitless searching, she decided to give up on the desktop and instead decided to try her luck going through the drawers. She knelt down and quietly slid open the top drawer. But to her dismay, the drawer looked to be just as cluttered as the desk if not more so.
The only advantage that set it apart from the desktop was that the folders had been labeled, with one, in particular, sticking out to her. It was close to the back and was colored a dark grey as though Rick had wanted to hide it while keeping it distinct from the rest. She reached out and plucked it from the drawer. The quickly made label saying only two words, but those two words told her that she'd found exactly what she'd been looking for. Written on the little tag in sharpie were the words "Police Reports."
A mixed wave of both relief and satisfaction washed over Charlie as she opened the folder. The very first paper was a copy of the statement that Rick had made about the supposed spring lock theft, with several attached photos taken of an area of the restaurant that Charlie had never seen before. All of which were focused on a broken pile of wood on the floor.
She looked closely at the pictures, trying to discern what details she could when her eyes came to rest upon a figure looming in the background. Charlie audibly gasped as she realized that she was looking at the original Freddy Fazbear. Strapped down to a wooden palette like a wild animal.
'It's them...he really did bring them all here.' Charlie hurriedly flipped through the other photos to try and see if she could spot any of the others. Although the camera's focal point had been on the broken wood, she was able to see what looked to be Bonnie's legs along with most of Foxy's body in several of the pictures. She shivered and resisted the urge to clutch her arm when she saw the pirate fox's infamous hook before turning her attention back towards the report that Rick had made.
"Suspect was last seen working in the Storage Room in the back of the restaurant by owner and proprietor Rick Taylor on the night of the 21st." Charlie read over the sentence under her breath and then closed up the folder before stuffing it back into Rick's drawer. She finally had what she'd come for, Arty's last known location before he'd gone missing. It wasn't much to go off of, but it would help give her a bit of a start. Though she knew that the cops had probably already picked over the whole area, she hoped that she'd be able to find something that they missed. Especially if what she suspected about Arty's disappearance was indeed true.
She stepped away from the desk, doing her best to try putting everything back where it'd been when she came in. After she was satisfied that Rick couldn't tell that someone had been in the office, she made her way back out into the hallways. Taking care to once again close the door behind her without a sound.
Finding the storeroom wouldn't be an easy task, but she didn't have any time to look for the restaurant's floor plan. Though, she had a pretty good idea where she could start. Her mind going back to that fateful conversation with Rick in the parking lot and the truck that had nearly run her over.
She stopped and closed her eyes in an effort to both better focus on the memory and also orient herself so she could head in the right direction. She did her best to recall every detail that could be useful to her; Replaying it until she was certain which side of the building that the truck had driven off towards. After this, she opened her eyes and turned towards the hallway past the "Prize corner."
"It has to be somewhere around this way," she said while letting her sentence trail off into a quiet murmur before she quickly checked her watch.
Her searching through Rick's office had eaten up almost twenty minutes of the hour that she had to search, meaning that she had to make every following minute count.
Charlie looked up from her watch and then sprinted down the hallway. Continuing to keep footfalls light as she raced past the prize corner and off into the almost all-consuming near darkness. Not noticing that the strange animatronic that she and John had seen a week ago was once again out of its box.
The animatronics blacked-out eyes appeared to follow Charlie as she ran down the hallway. Silently observing her progress and waiting for her to return. As it had been doing for what had seemed like a lifetime.
Discovering where the storeroom was located proved to be a lot more difficult than Charlie had initially thought. As she'd moved further into the back area of the restaurant, the number of employees that were moving about had increased dramatically.
It was expected since the restaurant was active and not abandoned like the original Freddy's but it still caught her a little off guard. She'd had several close calls, nearly getting spotted because of her urgent carelessness. The time that she had allotted herself dwindling away faster then she'd have liked.
Ironically, it was one of those close calls that had ultimately led her to where she'd wanted to go. While rounding a corner, Charlie had nearly come face to face with a pair of employees walking in the opposite direction. Her reflexes had been the only thing that kept her from being discovered as she ducked back around the corner and pressed her back up against the nearest wall.
Her intent had been to just hide and wait for them to pass before continuing her search. But instead of moving past her, they turned towards a pair of large doors that were set into the nearby wall.
Charlie held her breath, eyes widening as she watched one of the employees pull a ring of keys out to unlock the doors. She wasn't able to pick up on what they were saying, but given that the one without the keys was pulling a hand-trolley told her that she'd once again found her mark. She winced as the doors let out a squeal while opening, then watched impatiently as the employees entered the storeroom. Waiting until the one with the keys had let go and followed his companion to make her move.
As the door began swinging shut, Charlie raced across the hallway. The squeal masking her footsteps as she grabbed onto the door handle. Nearly gasping as the heavy door continued on inching its way back into place despite her grip on it.
Luckily, her sudden movement had managed to slow it down enough that she was able to slip around it and into the storage room itself. The heavy door closing behind her with a bone-rattling sound as it slammed back into place. The noise of it nearly caused Charlie to leap out of her skin, but thankfully it wasn't enough to draw the employee's attention as they had already disappeared behind one of the nearby rows of shelves.
After waiting another minute to ensure that no one would be checking out the sound of the door closing, Charlie took in the full immensity of the storeroom. Part of her was unable to believe that a place like Freddy's needed such a huge storage area, but then she remembered that Savior Savers' own storage room was just as large despite being a smaller building then the restaurant. Charlie quickly cut off her thoughts when she heard the sound of the employees that she'd followed in coming back towards her. Instinctively, she darted away from the door to stay out of their sight. Moving quietly along the outer edge of the aisles while keeping her eyes peeled for her father's old creations.
It was only when she reached the very end of the room that she saw them. All of them now propped up against the wall with a few rows of caution tape stretched in front of them to keep unauthorized employees away.. Almost like they were animals in a zoo despite being positioned like soldiers standing guard over a treasure.
The sight of them made Charlie shudder as she looked them all over. Their plastic eyes seemed to stare out at nothing and yet everything all at once, As though they were waiting for something that only they knew was coming.
Charlie just hoped that she wasn't what they were waiting for and cautiously, began walking in front of them. Her expression turned sour as she met the animatronics' gazes. Each one looked as though they were trying to avoid having to acknowledge her presence. She stopped at the end of the row and turned herself to fully face the red fox that lay before her. Unlike the others, his gaze had leveled itself to stare directly at the space where Charlie now stood.
She crossed her arms and stared at the fox's with a furrowed brow in an effort to prevent the sight of her old enemy from intimidating her. Her right hand squeezing her left arm as she thought back to what the fox had done to her. When it's struck her arm, Carlton had blamed himself for touching its controls. But that explanation had become unsatisfactory to Charlie after everything else that had happened at the old restaurant.
Because of this, Foxy had moved down from Charlie's least favorite to the only one that she outright hated. A fact that she'd been more than vocal about whenever the subject had been brought up. But her hatred of the machine didn't get rid of the fear that the memories created for her.
Which was why she nearly screamed when the fox's head violently tilted to the left with a startling "thunk." As though it had been forcibly shoved in that direction by an unseen hand. Charlie jumped back from the animatronic and snapped her head in the direction he'd looked in. Almost expecting to either see an employee or even Rick himself coming towards her.
But instead, she found herself taking note of an oddity in the way that the nearby shelves had been placed. The section that the animatronics were facing appeared to be closer than it should have been. A quick glance back up the row revealed how the whole assembly had been bent in a way that it wasn't meant to. The little voice in her head chose to return as she took this in, urging her onward in her curiosity.
After taking in a deep gulp of air, Charlie stepped over to the shelves to continue her investigation. The little voice becoming more and more excited with every step she took. Her attention was drawn to the floor as she noticed several scuff marks that lead to where the shelves currently stood.
The scuffs had been made in an arcing angle, as though the shelves had been pulled outward like someone opening up a door. She walked along the length of them, looking back every so often to make sure that no one, human or animatronic, was sneaking up behind her.
When she reached the back wall, she took notice of another oddity with the shelves. Where the last support pole met the wall, there were grooves in the metal. As if something powerful had grabbed hold of it and unintentionally bent the metal in the process. But didn't make a lot of sense to her as to why someone would need to grab the shelves like this to move them aside.
As she leaned in to get a closer look at the groves in the metal, something that lay just behind the shelves caught her attention. She reached out and began moving aside some of the boxes in order to get a better view and quickly found herself staring into what looked to be a doorway. Charlie stepped back, becoming confused than satisfied by the discovery as her curiosity began to overpower her once more.
'Was this accidental, or intentional?' She asked herself before walking back over and gripping the dented metal in an attempt to pull the shelves aside. But after a couple of tries, she came to realize just how strong whatever had moved them had to be in order to do this. Which only resulted in the nerves within her building up to a near boiling point.
After one final effort, Charlie let go of the metal and tried to think of a better way to get to the doorway. Her brain wracking with ideas on how to get a look into what lay in the darkness. The thoughts in her head seemed to be planted by an unseen presence that was determined to force its will upon her.
It was then that Charlie had what normally would have been a terrible idea, but in her determined state seemed to be a smart move. Kneeling down, she began to shove aside the numerous boxes that were blocking her path. Her gut screaming at her to stop as her brain pushed her onward.
Before long, Charlie had managed to make a clear path to the doorway. It wasn't much, but she figured it wouldn't be too tight of a squeeze. After taking another deep inhale of air to suck everything in, she began crawling her way across the bottom shelf.
Moving around the boxes had indeed given her some legroom, but it was still a rather cramped experience for her. Every part of her body except her head seemed to constantly bump into something that she couldn't quite see. But despite the pain and reservations, she couldn't give up now... Not when she was so close to whatever the little voice in her mind was urging her to find.
With one final push, Charlie managed to squeeze herself out from the shelves and through the doorway. Falling onto the floor with a relieved gasp, the strain of moving through the boxes having taken its toll.
But as she took in a few gulps of air, a rather pungent odor began filling her nostrils. One that was strong enough to activate her gag reflex and force her to cover her nose. As she slowly stood up and began looking around the darkened room she realized that it was little more than a broom closet. Unintentionally sealed away when they'd put up the shelves.
As Charlie turned her head to the wall nearest to her, the source of the smell made itself known. Her eyes widened as they fell upon Arty's disfigured visage. A panicked shriek rising within her that was quelled only by her own shock as she looked over the corpse. Arty's head and neck had been forced into an angle that could only be described as unnatural. His withered, rotten face had a last look of horror etched onto the decayed features. His body was slumped against the wall like someone had attempted to prop it upright but the weight of the body had caused its collapse.
Charlie took a step away from him, her whole body shaking violently as tears began to well up in her eyes. Never before had she so regretted being right in her assumptions.
'Rick was wrong, he never even left the Pizzeria….' The hand over Charlie's mouth and nose began to squeeze down tighter in an effort to keep herself from screaming. While she'd seen Officer Dunn's body back in Hurricane, he'd only been dead for a couple of hours. It was nothing compared to a corpse that had been laying out for what Charlie knew to have been almost a whole month.
While stepping back, she felt something hard to get caught underneath her shoe. Charlie froze in place with her eyes still trained on the corpse as though it might come to life and attack her. But the little voice in the back of her mind once again began encouraging her curiosity. Calling for her to inspect what lay beneath her feet.
Stiffly, Charlie knelt down while continuing to keep her gaze firmly on Arty's remains. Refusing to break eye contact even as she lifted her foot to snatch up whatever she'd stepped on. But the jingling of metal on metal finally drew her gaze down to the object that she'd picked up.
Her hand slowly rose to her face and revealed that what she'd stepped on was a set of keys. Each one with a little label that had been written in sharpie, though she couldn't make out what was written on them in the dark. She looked from the keys and back over to Arty's body, going numb as she realized that she was holding his work keys in her hands.
Everything blanked out at the same time and she took another step away from the corpse. Every choice that she'd made leading to this moment flashing across her mind like lightning as though it were replaying to show her where she should have backed out.
The thoughts came to a sudden end as something fell upon her shoulder and squeezed it tight. Her blood ran cold as she heard the crackling of ancient, plastic fur. Charlie spun around and finally let out the scream that she'd been holding back as she laid eyes on the yellow rabbit.
It's awful white eyes staring down at her in a mixture of annoyance and curiosity. The simile etched into its face becoming smaller as its lower jaw clamped up against the upper part of the suit's face. Charlie jerked back and tore herself from the animatronics' grasp. Her stomach heaving as she desperately gasped for air but then locked up as the suit stepped forward with a clank of metal and a rattle of plastic.
The arm that had grabbed her stretching outwards to take hold of her once again. The rotten fingers unfurling like a claw ready to grasp its prey. As it got closer Charlie's body began to move once again, adrenaline pumped through her as she spun around and dove back into the pathway that she'd made. Trying to quickly push herself through the boxes in an effort to get away from the suit. But before she could pull herself all the way through, she felt a hand grasp tightly around her ankle.
Charlie didn't look back to see what had grabbed it, she already knew that the suit had caught her. Her free leg kicked out and she felt it strike against something. But it wasn't enough to deter the rabbit from trying to pull her back into the little room. Twisting her body around, Charlie looked back at the creature and kicked out once more. This time landing a strike against the rabbit's lower jaw and causing it to reel back from the force. Immediately the pressure eased up as the hand fell away and she began continuing her way through the boxes.
Just as she'd managed to reach the aisle that she'd entered in from, the entire shelf assembly began to rattle. Charlie had halfway climbed out when it started and she could only yell in surprise as the movement sent her spilling onto the floor.
Despite the pain shooting through her body, Charlie didn't let it slow her down. She scrambled to her feet and began sprinting away as the shelves behind her began to scrape along the floor. Boxes full of various items clattering down r and bursting open. Their contents spilling out like a dam that had broken open in a storm.
Before she even reached the end of the aisle, Charlie could hear the sounds of angry, padded feet charging after her. Her father's old creations letting out electronic screeches as the rabbit suit ran past them. Either in an attempt to warn Charlie, or to cheer on their newest band member.
Charlie raced on, not looking back as she rounded the corner to begin a desperate sprint towards the storeroom doors. The little voice urged her to turn back and face the rabbit, but this time its pleas went ignored. There was no way she'd be able to face that thing on her own and survive. The angry footsteps grew louder, moving faster than Charlie had thought possible for the older suits.
Thankfully, she managed to reach the doors before the rabbit could catch up with her. She seized hold of the door handle and pulled it open with all of her might. The squealing masking the sound of the rabbit's footsteps as she dove through them and into the back area of the Pizzeria. Not waiting for the door to shut before she continued on running away.
The voice in her head made a final plea for her to turn back, but it was quickly shoved down by her fear that she was still being followed. A feeling that was only intensified by the sound of the storeroom door suddenly impacting against the wall. The sound gave Charlie a final burst of energy that allowed her to outpace the rabbit before it even had the chance to follow her.
She tore through the hallways until she'd made it all the way back to the main showroom. Stumbling out of the hallway, the initially hurried pace slowing to a half-hearted jog as she slipped into the thankfully still unoccupied booth that she'd set the day bag into. Both her head and chest were throbbing while her stomach somersaulted as the adrenaline began draining out of her system.
Sinking into her seat, Charlie inhaled sharply as she let everything that had just happened to her sink in. Her hands shook violently despite her attempts to calm down. Her entire body aching and throbbing from all the exertion. She was hurt, not just physically but emotionally as well. It was beginning to prove too much for her to handle on her own, her worst fears being confirmed in one, quick, awful moment. Already she could feel the world around her beginning to melt away as her chest began tightened up. Several guests turned in her direction to see what was going on, but their stares went ignored by the young girl who had become lost in a nightmarish reality that she was desperate to wake up from.
She wanted to wake up back in bed with John, to listen to him talk about his projects while also unwinding from the long work week. No new Freddy's, no Arty, and no rotten suit from her past trying to tear her apart. A silent sob escaped her lips as she covered her face and closed her eyes. Wishing desperately for that hopeful dream to become a reality,
But she was quickly brought back when she felt something metallic touch her skin. Charlie pulled her hand back and looked at it in surprise upon seeing that she'd brought along Arty's keys. Her eyes widening as she slowly turned them over in her hand, examining each key as though they were a precious treasure that would melt away when she took her eyes off it. But before she could examine the keys any further, her watch began beeping.
She jumped up and flicked her arm a way that allowed her to see her wrist. To her mixed relief, she'd made it back just in time to pick up the boys from the play area. Leaning back in her seat, she closed her eyes and tried to compose herself. Not wanting anyone, especially Millie or the boys to know that something was off.
After taking a minute to relax, Charlie shakily rose to her feet to begin her trek back to the play area. All the while looking over her shoulder to make sure that she wasn't being followed by the monster that she knew lived inside the restaurant.
A monster that she'd created and unintentionally released back into the world.