Author's note:

Bad English grammar and mispelling incoming!!!

Sorry for the delay, I blame homework and online studying.

Chapter 10

Close-up Encounter

After the two got to know each other, both of them took a seat in the security office. The office though, kinda weird since it didn't have any doors, just a big hallway attached to it, with two vents on the wall and opposite of each other. In the middle of the room was a desk with a fan and a tablet on top of it, as well as some papers, lots of papers.

"Wow, you really is investigating something huh?, Lily said, while looking around the office.

"Yup, I've been doing this for a while now.", Mike said, as he sat down and started tidying the papers. "So, Lily.", he said, "You have any clues about The Accident?". Although Mike had already knew what happened, but he had only been told, not witnessed by himself, so it's better to know what really happened in The Accident.

"Let me remember...", Lily said, eyes started to focus. What clues and evidences she had found when she started investigating? Lily thinks for a while, but she couldn't seem to find any, she had just started investigating a year from now. But she only had little time to investigate, since school and homework kept her from doing it. I didn't find anything. What am I gonna tell him? Lily nervously thought. Sometimes your memory just messed up at the time you really need it.

"Hm? You don't have any?", Mike asked. "It's ok."

"Sorry...", Lily quietly said. "I've just started investigating just a year from now."

"I've been doing this for years now", Mike said, winking. This gives Lily an uncomfortable look too. "Would you stop winking? It's kinda annoying."

"Nope.", he responded, winking again.

Lily just rolled her eyes, before looking at one of the paper ok the desk. "Five Missing Children At Fazbear's Pizzeria." it titled. I've heard of it. It happened a month after The Accident. Does it relate to this somehow? As Lily having a thought, Mike started checking the cameras, as well as informing papers.

"What are you doing?", Lily asked, she took a glance over the paper Mike was informing.

"Oh, it's nothing. You don't have to care. Adult stuff.", Mike responded, hand kept writing.

"Ok.", Lily said and kept looking at the papers, most of them are pretty useful, they can help her get more clues for her investigation. "Fazbear's Pizzeria getting backlashes for it's dark past.", one paper said. "Local polices are investigating the five missing children case.", another one said. "Children corpses found in the animatronics at Fazbear's Pizzeria!", the next one said. This suprised Lily, as she never know about the missing children case much, but when people found out they were in the animatronics themselves, rotten, odorous, flies and maggots covered their bodies. Who could've done of all this? Lily thought, as she kept looking at the papers, one by one, until she reached the final paper.

"The Culprit cannot be found. Polices are still investigating."

The Culprit, he's still out there. Lurking in this town, this states. Although being wanted all over the country, he couldn't be found. As years passing by, people forgot about him, polices stopped tracking of him, no one had ever reminded of him since. The Culprit. That word, that cursed word, always bothers Lily so much that her hand started shaking, almost teared the paper apart.

"Hey, you ok?", Mike asked, he noticed Lily strange behaviour.

"W-what? O-Oh, sorry. Just stopped focusing for a moment. Sorry.", Lily said abruptly, before calming down. "We have to find out who The Culprit is."

Mike looked at her for a moment. "You're really determined huh? We're partner now, you remember? I'll help you find The Culprit. Don't worry.", he said, winking his eye again.

"Yeah...Sure.", Lily frowned, narrowed her eyes. "And would you stop winking for once?".

"What? I've just stopped you see?", Mike said, mockingly, but winked again.

"You gotta kidding me...", she muttered, before letting out a sigh.

"So, I far as I can know.", Mike said, he done informing the paper. "Only four children were discovered, all of them "stuffed" inside the animatronics, but...", he suddenly stopped.

"The fifth one was still missing.", Lily corrected.

Mike just nodded. "Yeah...I couldn't find that kid yet, but if I found the them now, they would've left nothing but bones...", he said, head faced the table, he looked guilty.

"Well, since we're working together, we'll help each other's investigation. Am I right?", Lily said, tried to cheer him up.

"Yeah... Yeah..."

"Wait...what?", Jack asked confusedly, as standing up and started following Quinn. They headed into the small hallway, Jack thought Quinn'd head upstairs, but she didn't, she opened the door to the basement.

"Where are we going...?", Jack asked. Around him started getting darker, the stairs seemed to lead to another room which has no door. Quinn stayed silent, she signed Jack to wait at the entrance for her to get prepared.

What the hell is this? Jack thought, the room, which looked the same like upstairs, but there's nothing, no furniture, no drawers, no orb, just lots of candles and a weird patterned wall cover. The walls looked like it were written with some strange looking alphabets on it, as well as symbols that Jack can understand some of it. There's one looked like a person but with cubic body parts, hand holding a sword. One looked like a giant fist. One looked like another cubic humanoid but more... muscular. What the... Jack thought, while staring at the symbols, only to be interrupted by Quinn.

"Exorcism.", she said. "Is a practice of casting out or getting rid of demons. You may sit down.". Quinn pointed at the place for Jack to sit down. There's a big white pentagon in the middle of the room, which inside a circle with lost of symbols on it, at the end of each point of the pentagon placed a candle. It reminded Jack of the exorcist movie he had watched long ago, it looked the same, but still far different from this one. This one, looked like it was drawn perfectly, like it was stained on the floor, it wasn't paint, it wasn't even on the floor, Jack felt like it was separated from everything.

"There's different types of ghost. There's the Vengeful, the Following, the Moaning, the Haunting, the Nightmares, th-.", Quinn didn't finished her word, as she got interrupted by Jack.

"W-what about the Nightmares one?", he asked.

"Ah, the Nightmares you asked? The Nightmares are beings that mostly appeared in the dark, it also appeared in your dreams, causing them to become a bad dream, or what you called, nightmare.", Quinn explained.

Nightmare. Jack had them before, every night since then. Each of them contain pure pain, pure hatred, sadness, depression, stress, anxiety. Each of them, they totured him, by making him hear unbearable sound, by making him see things that shouldn't be seen, by making him falling into the dark, deep, bottomless void, for hours and hours straight. If he somehow could wake up, his body would froze, he couldn't move, he couldn't speak, and in the corner, they're watching him with their nightmarish shadow, terrifying eyes. But he didn't have them now, now, they started haunting him in real life.

"The Nightmares don't have any specific form, they only formed from their host's worst fear, or anything that they can form depends on what the host's feared to be mentioned. They fed up all their host's fear, or any negative feelings."

"Their host's worst fear." This got Jack attention. Those things, they don't looked like what he would've scared, but their appearances are what made him scared. He didn't know why they looked that way, why they looked like robotic animals, two bears, a bunny and a chicken. They seemed familiar, especially the golden bear one. But he couldn't remember, he just couldn't. Maybe, maybe they are the Nightmares.

"The only way to know what ghost is haunting you, is by doing a Summoning.", Quinn continued.

"Summoning?", Jack asked, head slightly tilted. Isn't this like calling them to appear? He thought.

"Summoning, a way to waken, to call out a ghost being. Only the ghosts that got summoned will appeared. We will be protected by staying inside this circle.", Quinn said, as she gestured her hand down to the floor, where the circle was laying. "Now, shall we?", Quinn said. Quinn sits down in front of Jack, both of them are now sitting in the middle of the circle. Jack nodded, after that Quinn put her hand out for Jack to grab, and started mumbling.

"Here lies the between of Hell and Heaven"

Just as Quinn started whispering, one of the five candles started to lit up by itself, which made Jack felt nervous.

"Where the spirits come and pass its entrance"

Then, the second candle lit up.

"For I, calling out the deceased being"

Then the third one.

"A ghost, a spirit, reveal your existence."

And the fourth one is next. But the fifth one remain unlit.

"Now, we wait.", Quinn whispered. "Unless a ghost, or a spirit appeared, the fifth one won't be lit up. You can close your eyes if you want".

Then everything went silent, for again.

Jack closed his eyes, tried to remain calm. But his heart couldn't stop pounding, as if there's an entity nearby. Silence ruled the room for a few moments, before a voice spoke behind him.

"Impressive."

10:22 AM

"So, tell me about your research, Houser.", Rudy said, as well as with her granny tone.

Houser looked up to see her, Rudy can see his anxiousness. Normally, he would have do his thing without interruption, but Rudy kept talking to him, asking him questions. Of course Rudy cared about him, she too, worried. She wanted to help him with his shyness, like Jeremy, not knowing how hard it is to talk to him. He's a very smart boy, but too shy, and that's the weakest spot. She had been doing this since like Houser started going to this library.

"Uh, um, I...", Houser tried to make up a sentence, although he is acquainted to Rudy, but he still had hard time speaking with other people, as Jeremy is an exception.

"What were you looking for back there? Those were not even school project for your age. Even schools don't do that! You know that you don't believe in superstitious or paranormal right?", Rudy calmed her tone, as if she helped Houser not to be too panic.

"I...I...", he tried to make up the words, "P-Please just...let me do it. I-It's fine...".

"I know dear.", she said. "But I think you need some socializing, I can help you with that." Rudy put her hands to Houser's hand. "Please, let me help you."

The quiet kid just kept looking down the ground, as if he's showing respect to elders, or he's just shy, very shy to look at her.

"I...um", Houser whispered. "O-ok."

Rudy widened her eyes a bit, "Thank you.", she responded. This relieved her also, somehow. Maybe she doesn't know Houser as well as his friend Jeremy, but as old as she is, experiences can be used to help him.

"B-But, on one condition.", Houser suddenly said.

"Hm? What is it dear?", Rudy looked confusedly.

"Y-You will help me...", Houser started blushing, as he looked away to another direction. "G-Get along...w-with...m-my...my...", then he stopped.

"Your crush?", Rudy completed his words, and let a grin on her face. Of course! Even as shy as Houser is, no one isn't able to not have a crush. Everyone had their crush, some ended up loving each other, some still remain a crush, and some just getting friendzoned, which is the worst possible outcome. Oh, and this also jumped Houser a bit, shocked how Rudy knew what he was trying to say.

"W-Wha... H-How do you..?", Houser asked with shock and confusion, but flattered anyways. "P-Please?".

Rudy did nothing but smiled, then that's mean it's a yes. When come with love and confessions, Rudy is an expert, guess who helped Houser's father to get along with his mother? You know who.

"Well, what's her name then?", Rudy asked.

"I-I... W-We've met a long time ago. I d-don't even know i-if she even remember me...", Houser responded.

"Mhm. Can you tell her name?".

At this moment, Houser couldn't say anything, anymore, looks like shyness has consumed him, maybe next time he'll tell her. No. He thought. Have to overcome it! Tried his best to fight back, as he managed to spoke out a few letters...

"L...L...L...", but he gave up, letting out a high sigh. What a let down, but at least he tried.

"Hey, don't be too harsh to yourself, you can tell me later.", Rudy reassured him.

Things got silent a bit.

"Your father had been like you too, you know.", Rudy said.

"W-What...?", he looked up to Rudy, his mind quickly changed to curiosity.

"Your dad, your dad was just like you back then. He even asked me for advices. I've told you before, haven't I?".

Houser just nodded.

"I can tell you about your parents, if you want to.", Rudy bargained.

Without any hesitation, "S-sure...", Houser immediately responded. About the research, Houser put it aside, making his parents a priority. He may not see his parents ever again, but at least can hear their stories through Rudy.

"Well that's a deal. Deal?", she asked.

"Deal."

That voice, Jack may have not heard of it before, but just by hearing it already chill the spine out of him. Jack shut his eyes tightly, clenched his fists, which now started vibrating. He can feel its presence nearby, it's cold, it's breezing, it's hollowness, it's fear. He can even feel its heavy breathing, it must be really near him, or maybe it's already behind him. After every inhale, he felt like he's going to be swallowed by its sharpened teeth, by its fearful jaws. After every exhale, he felt like it's mouth is just above his head, ready to bite, ready to be eaten.

But if the Nightmares only absorb their host's fear, then what happened it there was no fear? Will the fear rebounded back to them, making them the one to feel fear, making them the one who will be scared, making themselves become the victim? Jack thinks about it, but lost concentrate every time that thing breathes, fear overcome him.

"Hey, you.", a voice said, it's Quinn, it sounded like she's not afraid at all. "Stop making the kid scared, they have nothing to do with you.".

Even she speaks English, will it even understand? Or it'll just silent? Jack still kept his eyes shut, still clenching his fist, while the heavy breathing created a small wind over his head.

"Fear."

It spoke again. But this time, it came from just slightly above him, it was near, it was very close to him. Wait... Jack thought Doesn't the circle protect me from those things? If it didn't, he might have been dead now, or worst, at least that what he had thought. Jack is still scared, but he wanted to open his eyes, so he did. Slowly opens his eyes, the first thing he sees is Quinn of course, she seemed to look at something behind him, big and tall. Next is the fifth candle besides her, it has been lit up, then that's mean...

As soon as Jack turned around, he widened his eyes, slowly looking up to the big figure standing in front of him. He had never been this close to it. Its giant foot is even bigger than his head, which can easily crushed him. Its giant claws is even bigger than his own fingers, which can easily tear him apart. Its giant jaws is even bigger than its foot, which can easily swallow him up effortlessly. And finally, its red and bloody eyes are what really terrified the soul out of him. Since it is the only thing that can be seen the dark and somewhat endless hallway in his house. That thing, it would just stand there, ready to march at him. But why? Why wouldn't it just destroy the doors? Just by examining its body, only a simple punch would knocked out the door without effort. So easy, too easy. But why? Why it didn't do it?

Holy shit! What had Jack's mind come to. It's not like he used to see it, it's just scary, that's it. Like I mean, would you be scared if you saw a real ghost? This is just a simple fanfic, imagine this happened to you in real life. Yeah, you're still scared when you turned of the lights and started running for your life on the stairs to your room, knowing the ghosts are just myth, unscientific, unreal, but not impossible. But hey, you still believe it would catch you if you don't run, right? After all, who's here to take away the fear inside us? Not by making us less scared and more brave, but by making us more and more and more and more scared, until we just simple give up on life. That's their purpose, maybe, maybe not.

"It is what had thrived us to keep scaring, to give the people their worst nightmare."

The thing spoke again, its voice sounded like a damage robotic voice, but more deep, and more human. After that, it slowly put its hand but stopped by somewhat a invisible wall, looks like it's the barrier that was made by the circle that Jack is sitting inside. It looked down to him, smiled, is it even a smile?

"Us?", Quinn remarked, raised one of the eyebrows. "So, there's more of you?".

It chuckled, sounded like what Jack have heard back then. The laughs will echoed through the hallway, passed through the door, and finally filled his room. It will at least laughed three times every night, giving the its most nightmarish evil laugh.

"You don't know how much PAIN and SADNESS this boy had gone through.", it said, seemed like the golden bear isn't answering her question. "Such...almost perfect example of STRESS and DEPRESSION. Although it hasn't been this much since...", then it stopped. "...The Accident."

"Well, you will be exterminated nonetheless.", Quinn seriously said, still keep her tone low. "You ghosts are still ghost after all.", after than, she slowly stands up, confronting the robot standing in front of her.

"B-Be careful Quinn!", Jack abruptly alerted her, who can only sit and watch the scene as it played itself.

Quinn, only just few a few inches (centimetres) anyway from the robot, as well as the outside of the circle. While tensions build up in Jack, Quinn's expression is just plank, giving out her best causal one.

"Hoh.", the robot bear grinned. "You're approaching me? You think that expression of yours would SCARES me?".

Didn't care what the robot bear just said, Quinn kept walking slowly, towards it.

"You think so?", she asked, arms crossed. Quinn is now outside the circle.

Who is hell is this human!? The bear thought, somewhat uncomfortable in it. I can't feel any fear inside her! "Haven't seen any witch like you before, it's been a long time huh."

"Witch". "W-Wait...WHAT?!", Jack shouted in shock and confusion, "I-I thought witches were just some kind of an urban legend?". From ghost, to witch, now what? More crossover of this story? (I'm gonna think about it later ( ͡ ͜ʖ ͡) ). Things just got more complex and Jack could catch up all of it, as stress started growling inside him. Both Quinn and the robot bear got distracted a bit, but got back to the scene anyways.

"So, where was I anyways? Ah, yes, I was about to exterminate you."

"Heh! Just who do you think you're, human?", the robot said with skepticism, doubt that Quinn can do something to him, since he can just vanished away.

Quinn silent for a moment, candles around the room started flickering, as if it's Quinn is making them doing it. Jack got startled by this as well, since he didn't know that Quinn was not also a fortune teller, but also a witch. Too...complex! Woah, she can do this? Jack thought in admiration, he looked up to Quinn, who's now confronting the robotic bear.

What the hell? She can do this? I thought mankind had lost their magic abilities? Unnerving, he didn't know what to do, but vanished away, leaving Jack and Quinn confused, somewhat surprised a bit.

"Well, that's unexpected.", Quinn said, arms still crossed.

"You didn't scared or anything! H-How?!", Jack said, as he was amazed by Quinn's plank expression back then. How can a person not afraid of ghosts, even so, how can she do calm! Jack really wanted to know how.

"To be honest, I've already encountered endless of their kind. Most of their appearances were even worst than that thing before, darling.", Quinn said, winking, now back to her normal gentle tone.

"So do you know what kind of ghost they are?", Jack asked.

"The Nightmares.", she causally responded, as well as gestured Jack to follow her back to the room.

Huh, I was right then... Jack gets up, both started going back upstairs, as he noticed the five candles around the circle had been unlit, back to their neutral state. He took his last glance around the room, before going upstairs.

11:12 AM

Houser is heading his way back home, walking, since he forgot his lunch box, might as well as going home to have lunch with his aunt and uncle.

Thinking back when he's talking to Rudy, she reminded him of his grandma, who's also a very caring person, just like his mother, because she is his mother's mother after all. But since the space between them are so far, it's a rare occasions to visit her. But he will get to see his grandma again, just a matter of time, and it's summer now, so why not?

Houser's eyes focused on where he's going, only to be bumped into a girl, who's going the opposite way. The collision didn't hurt much, except for his nose, wearing a glass that took all of the force and transferred in to the nose hurted him a lot. The curse of people who wear glasses.

"Ouch!", said a girl voice, "Sorry. I was in a hurry".

"I-It's okay...", he responded. In front of him was a girl, who has shoulder-length hair as well as a pony tails, who wears a simple blue T-Shirt with a blue striped white skirt, who as tall as him, maybe has the same age as well, but who knows, she's in a hurry, so he couldn't examined the girl very well.

That girl...She looks oddly familiar. Does she? If Houser had met her before. Thought asides, what he has to do right now is head home, have lunch, and go back to the library again.

"I might not be there, but I can feel what is happening right now."

For you information...

The Nightmares: A ghost being that shaped by their host's worst fear, since they don't have any specific form.

•Special abilities: They suck all the negative feeling from their host, but that doesn't mean they're helping you. Instead of that, they'll keep scarring you, haunting you, torturing you, and suck all of the pain, the stress from you, until you die. Note that they don't attempt to kill their host, sometimes the host just couldn't take all of it, and killed themselves in the end.

•Weakness: Bravery, courageous, valiant, lionhearted...or simply, fearlessness.

As always, stay tuned!