Memory 2: How to get a nickname
April 1983
"Dah? I'm noh suhe thih ih a goo ihea." With a wide-open mouth, a nervous 8 year old Sean peered down his nose at his father, who was currently knotting a piece of dental floss to a wonky upper canine. The family of four was together in their tiny yet cozy living room, not quite enjoying the sunny Saturday afternoon outside their apartment.
"Don't be scared little man." comforted the 32 year old man enthusiastically, looking up at his older son with a smile, "Your grandfather used to pull my teeth this way and it never hurt a bit!" He then looked sideways awkwardly, sucking air between his teeth. "But, there was one time when a teeth wasn't quite ready, so he pulled and pulled and pulled…"
"Ben! Don't scare your son like that!" Clara glared daggers at her husband, her arms tightly crossed and her feet firmly planted on the floor to make a confident pose; but that couldn't hide the hint of nervousness in her eyes. Sean only rolled his eyes sideways to look at his mother, then let them go back to his father.
"I'm kidding you two!" laughed Benjamin with a hint of mischievousness. He looked down for a second, and laid both of his hands gently on his older son's shoulders. "Sean, don't be afraid." whispered the man lovingly, looking up at him. "I would never do anything that could hurt you. You know that, right?" The young boy nodded hastily as the corners of his opened lips curved up ever so slightly.
"Same thing to you private." continued Ben, turning his head to look at his younger son, who was sitting on the floor with crossed legs and staring at his brother's opened mouth with nervous eyes. "Your brother won't feel any pain, I promise. And when you're big like him, you too won't feel any pain when I pull out your teeth."
"You plomise?" questioned the 4 year old unsurely.
"I promise." repeated his father with that same loving smile. "And I also promise that we will go to Freddy's after this. Sounds good?"
The two brothers chorused a merry "Yes!" as their mother rolled her eyes and sighed.
"It's a deal then." replied Ben enthusiastically, "Now hold tight Sean, you will feel a little pop but nothing else. Ready little man?" The 8 year old boy nodded in response.
"Okay then. One…"
The older son closed his eyes nervously, clenching and unclenching his fists.
"Two…"
Brandon covered his eyes with his hands and turned his head around, not daring to look.
"Three!"
Later that afternoon, Sean was marching ahead of the rest of his family to his favorite restaurant, proudly showing off the gap in his smile to the rest of the world. The four eventually arrived at Freddy Fazbear's before five, ready for the afternoon show. After buying tickets for pizzas and sodas the family found one last free table near the back of the dining area.
"How do you feel little man?" asked Ben as they seated down.
"Very good Dad." replied Sean energetically, pushing the tip of his tongue through the small opening in his teeth. "It feelfs fleshy fough." Brandon giggled at his brother's speaking, and the latter smiled back at the toddler.
Some minutes later the curtains parted, signaling that the show was about to begin. A round of applause followed as the lights dimmed and an overworked teenage waiter served four slices of pepperoni pizza to the family.
Meanwhile, a man in his middle twenties with a Freddy Fazbear bowtie and top hat climbed up the stage. Clearing his throat and plastering a smile on his face, he recited in a mechanical joyful tone "Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, thank you for coming to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza! A magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life. On stage we have Freddy the bear, Chica the chicken, Bonnie the bunny and Foxy the pirate, here to perform just for you. So sit back and enjoy the music while you chow down on our award-winning extra-cheese pizza. Now, without further ado, put your hands together for the Fazbear band!"
The small crowd did like they were told, with the kids showing much more enthusiasm than their parents, and Brandon and Sean being the most fanatical of all. Soon, the man climbed off stage and the show began. The two brothers hummed along with the cheesy yet catchy songs of the animatronic band, while their parents smiled at their happiness and took occasional bites off their pizza.
When the show was about halfway through, the songs played by the band were replaced by a music box version of My Grandfather's Clock. Meanwhile, a big present box was dragged to the middle of the stage by employees tugging on ropes just outside the view of the customers. With surprisingly good synchrony to the music, the lid of the box was pulled off with yet another rope. Once it was done, Pop Goes The Weasel replaced the last tune.
Some kids smiled, others watched the display with confusion and intrigue. But Brandon was definitely not happy. After all, he had gone to Freddy's with his family many times and he knew what the music and the present box meant.
"P-P-P-Puppet!" he stammered in panic, pointing a trembling finger at the show.
"Don, he's just a sock monkey." sighed Sean in mild annoyance, "He can't even move on his own."
"It's alright private." affirmed Ben, "He can't hurt you."
"He's cleepy!" pouted Brandon stubbornly, holding back tears of fear, "I don't like him!"
While Sean tried to calm down his brother, Ben leaned himself towards his wife, and whispered in her ear "He's kinda right. That thing creeps me out."
"You're not the only one." whispered back Clara.
When the short music box melody was done, the puppet rose up from his box with the help of more ropes. Soon, half its body was out, and Brandon was bawling his heart out.
"Don, please calm down." whispered his father tenderly yet urgently as a couple of parents looked at them in distaste. "He can't hurt you! Right little man?"
"What?" mumbled Sean in confusion, before realizing what he was supposed to say. "Y-yes Dad, that's right!" said the older brother in an overly-cheery tone, "He can't move here or hurt you Don, it's okay!"
"I d-don't like him!" cried an angry and afraid Brandon, "I w-want him t-to go!" Without any warning, the 4 year old grabbed his barely-gnawed pizza slice from his dish and pulled back his hand in a throwing gesture.
"Umm, sweetheart?" asked Clara uneasily, "What are y-"
Before she could finish, Brandon threw the pizza slice with all his strength at the show stage. Grease and pieces of pepperoni oozed from it as it traced a glorious arc high above the heads of the other customers. Benjamin, Clara and Sean followed the trajectory of the thing with opened mouths as it spun around wildly, reached its highest point, lost momentum, and began to go down in the direction of an unsuspecting marionette. Against all odds, the slice hit the performing puppet flat on his face with a wet smack and stuck to his porcelain-white mask.
For a couple of seconds the shell-shocked family stared at the bizarre image with opened mouths, just like the rest of the audience. Then, a child turned around to look at the culprit and his family with wide open eyes, along with his mother. Another parent and their children did the same thing, and soon every single member of the public was looking at the Williams family with the same incredulous expression on their faces.
Meanwhile, the show continued like nothing was happening: the band kept on playing their respective songs and move accordingly to the music, while the puppet remained upright in its normal pose, as if it didn't have a piece of pizza stuck to its face. With everyone in the silent audience looking at him, Ben felt someone tap his shoulder behind him. The man turned around to see a guard slightly younger than him wearing the purple uniform and yellow badge that had become symbols of the establishment.
"Hello sir!" greeted Benjamin uneasily yet friendly, "I was wondering how you were doing today. Everything alright?"
"Uh, I'm doing fine, thank you." replied the guard with similar uneasiness, slightly taken aback by the man's question. "Did… did your son just throw a slice of pizza at our character?"
Ben turned around to see that the slice was still stuck to the puppet's mask, but was beginning to slide off slowly. "Listen… Dave," he said with a negotiator's smile, picking up his name from his employee badge. "I'm sorry for the mess, but kids are just kids after all. We promise that nothing else will happ-"
"That was awesome!" cheered a child from the front of the dining area, putting both fists high in the air before erupting into a round of applause. Infected by his enthusiasm, two twin girls smiled and clapped at the confused Brandon. Soon enough, around half of the kids began to clap and whoop at the 4 year old's prowess, while Sean and his mother just looked at the spectacle with raised eyebrows.
Dave leaned in a bit closer to Benjamin, and said flatly "I will have to ask you to leave."
"Can you please talk about it with your superior?" replied Ben calmly.
"I am the head guard, so I am my superior." was Dave's dry answer.
When Benjamin was about to reply Clara laid her hand on his knee gently, signaling her husband to just let it be. The father then nodded at the head guard after a short silence. Brandon was beginning to enjoy his short-lived blaze of glory, waving at a few smaller kids who still whooped and cheered, when his mother's hand clamped down on his arm and pulled him along towards the doors.
"Shame on you Brandon!" nagged Clara as she dragged her son away from the dining table, following Ben and Sean in front of her, "I didn't expect that from you!"
"But… he's scawy Mommy." replied the toddler meekly, head down in shame. "I was scawed."
"You need to learn to control those emotions, especially in front of other people." Putting on the most serious she could muster, Clara finished sternly "We're not going to Freddy's until your brother is done with school."
"But Mom!"
"Butts to your buts young man." interrupted the woman with a warning tone, letting the boy know that the conversation was over. Brandon held back his tears and pouted angrily, looking down at the floor as he was dragged outside the restaurant. "Let's see what your father has to say about this."
They both sped up their walk until they were next to Sean and Ben. Clara was about to speak to her husband, when he saw that he was holding an opened hand flat over his laughing face, looking at the sidewalk through his fingers. Meanwhile, Sean was visibly and forcefully holding back a giggle as he stared at his father. "Argh! Help me! There's pepperoni in my eye!" screeched the man jokingly with a high-pitched tune. "Security, that kid threw pizza on my face! Get him out, I want him out! OUT!"
Sean couldn't hold it back anymore and he burst out in loud laughs, holding his belly as he struggled to keep himself from rolling on the ground. Meanwhile, a confused Clara tapped her husband on his shoulder, and asked "Uhh, honey? Don't you think there's something you need to say to Brandon?"
"But off course. Private, come here." replied Ben with apparent seriousness, beckoning Brandon to go closer to him. The small boy obliged and shuffled himself to his father, head still low. "Don… that was hilarious! And what a launch!" The toddler looked up at his grinning dad with surprise, who then scooped him up in his arms and gave him a rib-breaking hug. "My son has a golden throwing arm!"
"Uh, honey? Are you sure that's what you want to tell him? I mean, they did kick us out." reminded Clara.
Ben put down a chuckling Brandon as he said with a sheepish smile "I'm sorry honey, but that's too funny for me to be mad."
"It's not funny." rebutted the mother seriously, looking at her feet with crossed arms.
"Aww, c'mon. You have to admit it was just a little bit funny." Ben went next to his wife, lowering his head to find her gaze, and smiled pleadingly at her. "Please, admit that you found it just a bit funny."
Clara bit her lips, then let out a small snicker. Shrugging and sighing, she finally murmured with a smile "Alright, it was funny."
With those words, the family walked away from the pizzeria to their home under the orange afternoon sun, making silly jokes on what had happened and thoroughly enjoying themselves with each other.
They were happy.
It was close to midnight in the dark and silent Freddy Fazbear's. Without its employees the place was completely alone, except for a single furious presence.
Marionette growled angrily as he wiped off the last bits of cheese and grease from the inside of his eye sockets with a napkin. The employees barely cleaned the outside of his mask, leaving nasty residues from the pizza stuck to the other side of it. With an irritated sigh, the puppet tossed aside the used napkin before beginning to walk up and down the backstage area.
"Stupid, spoiled, disgusting brat." he hissed spitefully. It wasn't the first time that he felt like this; after all, that family of four was a regular client of Freddy's for a long time. In many ways, he hated everything about them: from their appearance to their behavior, they were a constant reminder of the life that he never had and never would. In another time, he would've felt depressed and hopeless at this realization, but he took pride in having outgrown that phase. Now, anger replaced what used to be sadness and envy, and he liked it that way. He was eternally thankful to his only friend for putting him upon this path of liberation.
The puppet stopped walking abruptly and stared blankly at the featureless wall in front of him, envisioning the boy with his pizza and his family. As he felt anger flare up inside him once more, Marionette wondered if he'd ever see that child again. The puppet then took comfort in one undeniable truth, one which he had learned the hard way in his old, miserable life: happiness never lasts. Fantasizing about the boy suffering under this inescapable rule appeased Marionette, and soon he was chuckling to himself happily as these dark dreams coursed through his mind. The boy would suffer, sooner or later, and he felt good about this.
"Happiness never lasts." whispered the puppet giddily as he sat down against his box, relaxed and satisfied. "I wonder if you'll ever find that out, Pizza Boy. If you don't, I'd be happy to teach you."
A/N: Hello guys, hope you enjoyed this one. As I said, this chapter... uh... memory has a more lighthearted tone to balance off the first one. Humor is something I don't consider myself good at, and with this little exercise I kinda wanted to improve on my weaknesses while giving you a bit more backstory and hopefully a few smiles and giggles :)
If you want to, please let me know how you liked it and if you saw any mistakes. As some of you might've guessed the MC's speech was loosely based on the intro of the song "Bonnie's Mixtape" by Griffinilla and multiple collaborators; congratulations if you managed to catch that. In any case, thanks for reading, and see you next time!