For all the children that entered Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, the restaurant seemed like it had come out of some sort of fairytale. Full of colorfully bright animals that would welcome their guests into a world that made every kid's dream come to life. A place where they could run and play to their heart's content without any worries or care.
But for those who worked behind the scenes creating that wonderland of fun, it was something of a different story. Every employee had to do their best to keep up the appearance of Freddy's "magical nature," with the most important part of that being the animatronics' maintenance Each one had to always be in their best possible shape, which was why Rick had invested in a team of dedicated technicians to ensure that they all stayed in perfect working order. After spending the whole day hanging around the stage, most of the technicians would go home before the final show. With one or two of the, staying behind to do a final post-show check. With anything that couldn't be done alone getting passed off to the morning crew.
Many of them considered the final check over one of the most unnerving jobs in the restaurant. Even though Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica had been shut off for the night, the idea of having to poke around them in the had dark scared away more than a few from working late altogether. But Lena Anderson wasn't as easily scared by these plastic animals like the other staff members were.
Despite her colleagues' apprehensions when it came to working around the animatronics, the thirty-six-year-old had become endeared to the friendly-looking machines despite their initially putting appearance. This fondness is what had led to her being unofficially assigned as the person in charge of performing the final post-show checks. While she didn't mind the extra work, she always made sure to deride the other technicians for being so easily scared off by a group of cartoonish animals.
As she carefully moved around each of the animatronics, she noticed that several wires had gotten caught in the joints of Bonnie's upper left arm. While not an immediate or very noticeable problem, If it was left unchecked then the joint would eventually break the wires and cause the whole arm to lock up in whatever position it'd be in at the time. Leaving the poor bunny, and everyone on the technician crew, in a very awkward position.
Lena set her toolbox onto the ground and quickly flipped it open with a loud clank sounding out as the metal lid struck the stage floor. Before the noise's echo had begun to dissipate, it was replaced by the sound of her rifling around for the tools that she'd need for the job.
Once she'd found them all, she carefully laid them out at the rabbit's feet and then pulled out a heavy-duty flashlight from her belt. Even though the backstage lights were some of the most powerful that Lena had ever seen, they weren't very helpful when it came to doing repairs. Poking around the interior of the animatronics required a steady light that could be moved around as needed. Hence why she personally preferred using flashlights over the giant lights hanging almost twelve feet above her head.
As Lena stepped over to the blue rabbit with the first of her tools in hand, she took a quick glance towards its face and waved her finger in front of his bright green eyes.
"Stay still." She commanded, her voice becoming that like that of a mother scolding her child.
She then looked back at the arm and carefully took hold of the ends. Her fingers moved around until they came across a pair of hidden switches that opened up the arm's plastic shell. Her fingers slid around the switches and carefully flicked them open, taking time to make sure that they didn't snap back into the plastic. Lena gripped hard as the arm casing split open and dropped into her hands. Doing her best to make sure that it didn't crash to the floor and causing an even bigger problem than the one she'd been trying to fix.
After checking the casing to make sure that it hadn't cracked from all the movement, Lena set it aside and looked over the arms' now exposed internals. To her delight, she discovered that the pinched wires weren't too damaged and thus didn't need to be replaced right away. Meaning that all she had to do done was simply push everything back into place and then tighten up a few bolts.
She could barely contain her glee at the job's simplicity as she set to work, happy that she didn't have to stay as long as she'd initially planned.
Unfortunately for her, fate had its own plans for how she'd be spending the final hours of her shift. Because just as she was preparing to put the plastic casing back on, a crackle of static burst out of the radio attached to her belt. Lena stopped and set the casing back onto the stage floor as she heard a crackly voice come over the radio.
"Hey Lena, are you still working backstage?" Asked the tired, sounding voice on the other end of the radio. Hearing the voice of her supervisor caused Lena to groan inwardly before she seized the radio and gave the man a rather curt response.
"Yeah, I'm still back here Jeff, just finishing up some repairs on Bonnie's arm."
"Oh," Her supervisor briefly paused before asking, ", what the heck was wrong with him this time?" his tone indicating that he didn't care what the answer was as long as it ended with the words "problem solved."
"Nothing we have to worry about, least not for a long time," Lena replied, already annoyed by the sudden interruption to her work. "Whatcha need?"
"Well, I just found a note from the boss. He says that we've got someone coming down to dump a bit of extra programming into the animatronics before the morning show. So he wants all of them ready for when the programmers show up and do their thing."
Lena looked from the radio and over to the animatronics with a questioning look. Confused as to why they'd run the morning shows right after they put in some extra programming. She'd gotten to watch them test out the animatronics before opening day and they'd spent several hours on just the opening speech alone. Sending them out so soon afterward seemed like it'd be asking for a disaster.
"Did he mention what exactly they'd be doing to them?" She asked cautiously, hoping that the question wouldn't set off Jeff's already short attitude.
"Nope, but then it's not really our business to know what they're doing either." He said, "They just asked us to open up the heads and leave him like that for the crew tomorrow morning."
"Uh-huh…" Lena trailed off and looked at the floor. While the request was innocuous enough, there was opaqueness to it that left her feeling uncomfortable. But it was Jeff's addendum to the already worrying order that caused her stomach to drop through the floor.
"Hey uh, one more thing I gotta add. The note says that in addition to the ones on stage, Mr. Taylor wants you to prep that Fox in the back party room too." Lena felt her breath hitch and became glad that Jeff couldn't see the disdain rush over her face.
"O-Okay. I'll get right on that after I'm done up here" Lena didn't wait to see if Jeff heard her dismayed tone, opting to just slide the radio back onto her belt and ignore anything else that came from it as the frown on her face slowly morphing into a hateful scowl.
While she loved almost every part of her job, she was rather apprehensive about going into the infamous party room. The general sentiment amongst all of the employees was that there was something about the room's atmosphere that made it an uncomfortable area to work in. She'd heard all of the stories about strange happenings going on in that room, with almost all of them saying that they'd felt an extra presence in the room with them. As though the room itself was alive and angry at everyone who entered it.
A couple of people had been quick to suggest that the Puppet was causing all of the uncomfortable feelings, even going so far as to claim that it was cursed. Despite the outlandishness of the claim, Lena did have to admit that being around the Puppet was not a pleasant experience.
She'd helped install it after Rick brought it back from Utah and it had almost seemed like it had a mind of its own. It'd taken almost a whole week to set everything up, mainly because all of their hard work would get undone in rather mysterious ways once their backs were turned. The experience had been enough to make Lena swear off ever performing maintenance on it ever again.
This was why the prospect of being around it after hours left her unnerved enough to briefly consider stalling both the repairs on Bonnie as well as the prepping so that the morning crew would have to deal with prepping Foxy. It wasn't like she was ready for the stage anyway so what was the use of doing anything with her.
But ignoring a direct order from the CEO wouldn't reflect well on her employment records, especially since she'd just told Jeff that she was nearly been done with Bonnie's repairs. Stalling for that long would have raised some questions that she'd preferred not being asked in the first place.
"I should've just ignored the radio..." she sighed before scooping up the casing and snapping it back into place over Bonnie's arm. After doing a last-minute check of her work, Lena gave herself a mental pat on the back for a job well done before then moving around to begin prepping the animatronics to receive their new programming.
Much like with Bonnie's arm, the process required the removal of some of the animatronics outer casing, though it thankfully wasn't as nerve-wracking. The manufacturing company had decided that instead of removing the animatronics heads, they'd just have a small panel on the back that could be popped on and off with relative ease.
Once she'd finished up prepping the three on stage, Lena closed her toolbox, walked out the stage's side door, and reluctantly began making her way over to the party room. Her stomach continually twisting up in knots with almost every step she took.
'Just get in, do your thing and leave.' Lena's grip on the toolbox tightened as she made those words repeat in her brain. But that didn't stop her legs from feeling like they were made of lead the second she saw the party room's entranceway.
She stopped mid-step and stared up towards the sign that announced the room's name. The small part of her that wanted to stall returned and suggested that she just turn around and clock out for the night. It'd be easy enough to pretend that she'd forgotten about prepping Foxy. Almost everyone else had forgotten she'd existed anyway.
"No…" Lena straightened her posture and tried to steal her nerves... ", it's just a piece of cloth and plastic. It can't hurt you."
She willed her legs into action, pushing herself over to the entrance and felt some relief wash over her when she noticed that the Puppet's box was still firmly shut. But upon stepping through the threshold, she was greeted by an immediate wave of negative energy. Almost as though her mere presence had offended whatever was in there.
Lena set her gaze upon the cloaked animatronic in the corner and kept it there as she strode across the room. Refusing to turn her head in the direction of the present box, lest she let her fear override her. Doing her best to keep herself focused on her job l despite the room's heavy atmosphere.
She jogged across the room and stopped right in front of the covered up fox animatronic, exhaling heavily before reaching up and pulled back the tarp that had been hiding the fox from view. Because everyone had been focusing their time and effort elsewhere in the restaurant, completing Foxy had fallen rather low on the list of priorities.
While most of the animatronic had been put together, there were still quite a few pieces missing from the outer framework. Most notable being her lack of tail and arm coverings, leaving huge chunks of her endoskeleton exposed to the outside world. As she looked over the incomplete frame, Lena found herself feeling sorry for the poor thing The initial fear of the party room quickly getting replaced by an urge to stay and complete the fox so that she would be able to finally sing and dance in her full glory.
But those thoughts were quickly dispelled by the energy in the room suddenly increasing in hostility, the sensation causing goosebumps to appear all over Lena's body. As though the room had been able to read her thoughts and was making it known how unhappy it'd be if she spent more time than necessary within the confines of its walls.
Lena frowned and had to stop herself from trying to see where exactly the negative energy was coming from. But as soon as her gaze wandered away from the animatronic fox, she felt the first pangs of intense fear begin rising up within her. But when she turned her attention back towards her goal, the fear began to dissipate. As though the energy was content to let her do the work required, but anything other than that was strictly forbidden.
Ordinarily, trying to push her around like this would have resulted in Lena letting them know exactly where they could stuff their demands. But a seemingly sentient room wasn't something that Lena could start an argument with. Even if she tried, it probably wouldn't do much aside from making her seem like a crazy woman.
Without any other options, she moved around the animatronic as quickly as possible and got to work. Keeping her head hung low so as to avoid further angering whatever force inhabited the room more than she already had. Fortunately, Foxy's incomplete state meant that the workload was even lighter than it had been for the ones on stage. In no time at all, she'd had the back of the fox's head exposed and ready for the programmers. Even though Lena had the feeling that poor Foxy would wind up forgotten and left unprogrammed.
In a small act of defiance, she made a mental note to come back to the room and check over Foxy before she left work tomorrow night. Regardless of what the room thought about it. But as this thought passed through her head, she was surprised to feel the air in the room suddenly become still. Devoid of the emotion that it had been displayed previously. As though it was holding its breath in anticipation.
Lena snapped her eyes to and fro to try seeing if someone else had joined her but found nobody. At least, nobody that she could see anyway. Even though the overbearing energy had vanished, the room felt more uncomfortable than ever before. Now, it almost felt like she was in an unsafe area of the town on a moonless night. With nobody around to hear if she screamed for help.
Lena's fingers curled tightly around the handle of her toolbox as she started making her way back over towards the entrance. But as she moved closer towards the hallway, she was startled by a couple of soft thuds echoing out to her right. The suddenness of it shocking her so badly that she jumped back in fright.
While she'd normally have blamed the noise on someone walking around with very large boots, there'd been something about them that seemed off. Despite sounding like footsteps, Lena could have sworn that she'd also faintly heard the accompanying sound of clanking metal.
Just as she began to cautiously move towards the hallway, the distant thuds started up again. Now making their way towards the party room in a slow rhythmic pattern that made Lena's blood run cold. Each step seemed to add more sounds to her ears. In addition to the clanking metal, she could now hear what sounded like old pistons moving in tandem with the thuds. Having spent so much time working around various machines, Lena knew all too well that whatever was approaching her was not human.
Her panicked mind quickly came up with a few solutions to get out of the current situation. With all of them came to the same conclusion that she needed to try outrunning whatever was out in the hallway. But even with her mind urging her to run, her legs remained locked in place. Too frightened to move, almost as though they already knew that trying to escape this thing would be a futile effort.
By the time she was able to get her legs moving, the noises had made their way over to the party room's entrance. Each step sounded like the angry beating of a war drum as the hallway lights began to silhouette the approaching figure. Lena stared at the shadow and took note of all its features. Its bulk, its height, and what appeared to be rabbit-like ears protruding from the top of its head.
"I-Is that a… rabbit?" Was all that she could bring herself to say before her heart stopped. For just as the figure began to come into view, the top of the puppet's box exploded open. She whirled around and felt a rush of energy fill the room as the Puppet rose into the air. Its strings twisted about and pulling its limbs in several different directions while its introduction music blared with the intensity of a siren until it crescendoed into a frantic wail.
The toolbox fell from Lena's hands and smashed open on the ground as she tried to cover her ears to block out the sound. Unable to hear her own thoughts over the Puppet's wailing. If that hadn't been enough to finally drive Lena out of the room, the commanding energy finished off whatever willingness to stay that she had left.
Turning away from the Puppet's contorting body, Lena raced out of the party room and down the hallway. Her eyes stinging with fearful tears as she focused on getting away from that horrible room. But even over the sounds of the puppet's screams, she could faintly hear the thudding footsteps following her example. Running away from the party room in fear of whatever lurked inside of the Puppet.
In spite of her own fears, Lena took a quick over her shoulder to get a glimpse at what had been approaching the party room. Only just making out a flash of yellow fabric and glowing white eyes before they vanished from each other's sight.
It was only when she'd made it to the dining room that Lena realized she'd dropped her toolbox and left it behind. But for once, she didn't give a damn about it. If the morning crew actually made their way back there then they'd be able to grab it for her, because Lean was never setting foot in the party room ever again.
"Carlton!"
Carlton winced and tucked himself further beneath the table. Taking note of the mixture of harshness and concern in his father's voice. Whatever was stressing him out at work had begun seeping into his home life. and made him act way more protective than usual.
But Carlton didn't care about that, this might be his last trip to Freddy's after all and he wanted to make every minute of it last. At least, that was the impression he'd gotten from his mother when she dropped him off earlier in the day. She'd seemed rather nervous about letting him go to the restaurant, but today had been Charlie's birthday and there was no way he'd miss her party. But the idea of this being his last visit to the pizzeria had made him more determined than ever to spend the night within its walls. Just to see what went on after dark.
"Carlton, I'm not in the mood to play games right now!" Clay's snapped again. More angered then he'd been previously. Already reaching the tone of voice he used whenever he was ready to give Carlton a very long time out.
But despite fearing his father's anger, Carlton stayed put beneath his table. He was determined to stay in the restaurant no matter what his dad did. However, he soon realized his mistake in his choice of hiding space as his father's footsteps soon drew near to the table. Carlton scooted away from the edge as his father came into earshot, grumbling worriedly beneath his breath before he began pulling at the tablecloth. Upon realizing that his hiding spot had been blown, Carlton raced out from underneath the table in a mad dash to get away from his father.
"Carlton! Get back here right now" Clay bellowed.
Like his previous orders, this too went ignored by Carlton. Who was now racing towards the arcade in the hopes that he'd be able to lose his father amongst the rows of arcade cabinets. His little legs pumping so hard that he felt they might burst.
Yet despite all odds, Carlton found himself managing to outpace his father and get into the arcade before him. Racing behind a row of machines and then planting himself firmly behind the largest one he could find. Hoping that his father hadn't seen where he'd ran off too and would be delayed long enough for him to at least enjoy a couple of hours alone.
Because of this line of thinking, he wasn't very suspicious when his father's footsteps faded away like the way an early morning mist gets chased off by the sun. If anything, he was ecstatic at the possibility that he'd finally gotten his wish to spend the night at Freddy's.
After waiting a couple of extra minutes to make sure that the coast was clear, Carlton moved out from behind his makeshift hiding space. Keeping his movements slow so that his dad wouldn't hear him creeping about. He'd learned rather quickly how sneaky his father could be and was not eager to let himself get caught. Not when he was so close to finally reaching his goal of spending a whole night in the most wonderful place in Hurricane.
But as he approached the middle of the arcade room, a familiar voice hit his ears. A faint whisper that drew his attention over towards a pair of double doors that he'd never seen before.
"Michael?" He asked, looking around to see if indeed his friend had finally decided to join in on his efforts. But the only reply that he received was the sound of a scream coming from behind the doors. The young boy jumped back in terror as the scream reverberated throughout the arcade area. It was then Carlton decided that he'd made a rather poor choice in trying to stay overnight at Freddy's. But that was overridden by a sudden sense of familiarity.
He'd heard the scream before, even though it sounded a lot older than it should be. But deep down he knew who had made the scream, Charlie's voice was unmistakable to him no matter how different it sounded. He raced over to the double doors, not noticing that he'd returned to his current age until he'd started pulling at the door handles.
But those thoughts were tabled when he heard the sound of Charlie gasping for air on the other side of the door, accompanied by the distant clanging of metal footsteps on tiled floors. Without pausing to take a breath, Carlton yanked open the heavy doors and found himself nearly being run over by his friend. Her face flushed red as terrified tears streamed from her eyes.
"Charlie!" Carlton called out, only to stop when he realized that something was wrong with her appearance. He could faintly make out string-like lines attached to various points on her body, tugging at her limbs in an effort to draw her back into the room she'd just escaped from.
Thankfully, Charlie was able to resist the pull and kept running until she'd left Carlton far behind her. But as he watched her go, he found his attention being drawn to the thing that'd been chasing her.
The distant metallic thuds became nearly deafening as Carlton spun around and laid eyes on something straight out of a nightmare. Dave's suit, running towards him at full speed with its awful white eyes piercing through his very soul. He tried to move but found himself glued to the spot as the suit bore down on him. Its jaw opening wider than the suit's mechanisms should have allowed as an awful screech bellowed from deep within its rotten core.
A scream that was joined by Carlton's own terrified cry as the suit smashed into him and everything instantly turned black…
It took almost everything Carlton had to avoid screaming when he woke up from his nightmare.
His chest heaving as he struggled to keep his trembling from rattling the bed frame. But after a moment of deep breathing, he managed to bring himself down from the shock and take stock of his surroundings. He was in bed at his aunt's house, not back in the old Freddy's, and certainly not being chased by Dave's suit.
But even with this reassurance, he couldn't shake off the feeling that the dream had been trying to tell him something. The first part had been a memory, but the rest of it had felt as though he'd been watching a replay of someone else's life. A warning of either what was to come, or what had already happened.
Part of him hoped that it'd just been that, a dream. Nothing more than a scattered nightmare caused by his overworked and tired mind.
But the presence of the yellow bear sitting in the corner told him all that he needed to know. Unlike the last time that it'd appeared to him though, Carlton did not blow off the spirit of his long-departed friend. Instead, he quietly leaned forward so he could listen to what it had to say to him, each word filling him with equal amounts of dread and resolve.
Something was horribly wrong in Brookhaven, something that had managed to sink its claws into Charlie's mind and prevent Michael from helping her through whatever was going on.
Once the bear had finished telling him of what had transpired over in New York, Carlton leaned back in bed with a disdainful sigh. While he didn't want to get involved with this again, the information that he'd just learned couldn't be ignored.
All that really mattered to him now was that his friends were in trouble. Regardless of how he felt about it, helping them out of this situation was the least he could to return the favor for their efforts to save him from Dave's clutches over a year ago. But first, he needed a couple of train tickets...