The next few weeks were uneventful and the pizzeria remained vacant for quite some time. Few customers dared to associate themselves with the now "dangerous" pizzeria, as the owner predicted would happen after such a tragic and mysterious occurrence. Marie-Hellene Wade Jr., Marcus Wade Jr., and Smith Wade - an entire family, apparently - were the last of the people to go missing at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza; at least, the last known to have gone missing. The last people whose disappearances were noticed and reported. Who's to say that others haven't wandered around here and gotten lost somewhere in its seemingly infinite halls, but were never found because they were merely never missed? Just how many people in all could have gone missing here, and where could they have possibly gone?
These were the questions that the curious one asked herself, sitting uneasily in the pizzeria's party room beside her older, more professional sister as she took in her surroundings most nervously. The walls were peeling, the floors were scratched up and unplolished, the tables appeared to have had tomato sauce stains and grease smears older than herself. There were splatters of what looked to be cheese and ...pizza sauce?... absorbed into the yellowing wallpaper. The list of hygiene problems and sanitary issues alone made the whole place seem very disgusting and cheap. No wonder the rating went down. The owner obviously doesn't know how to run things here, she thought.
She thought back to what her friend, Michael, had said about the place. "It's a horror story come to life," Mike would tell her, rambling on about danger and children and gold, she thought it was. She couldn't remember all of what he'd said, as she was busy working on her own animatronic projects. He was mostly nonchalant about the whole thing, though, as if he'd gotten used to the supposed "horrors" that he endured here.
She never told him that she and her sister were coming here for reasons concerning their employment; she figured he wouldn't want to get caught up in this place again after quitting it so unexpectedly. Perhaps it was just too scary to handle?
Out of the corner of her eye, a lanky teenager with a black Freddy Fazbear employee uniform and a clipboard in his hand walked into the party room. He looked ragged and careless about his appearance, and for some reason the curious and rather unimpressed girl felt as if she knew him from her school. Oh, yes! Robert! The one that dropped out and went back to live in his mother's basement. That's why he was vaguely familiar to her. The fact that he was working here didn't make her feel as confident about getting a job here with her sister anymore.
"Miss Jacobs?" he mumbled, staring at the clipboard and not at the person he was talking to.
"Yes sir." The older sister spoke. The older sister (whose long bouncy blonde hair and expensive complimenting suit and perfect complexion) made her younger sister (the one who had short boyish black hair and baggy cheap clothing and sickly face) look homeless in comparison. Miss Jacobs thought optimistically about job opportunities and associates herself with beauty queens and business, whereas her younger sister thinks mostly about missing persons and associates herself with people like Mike. Their appearances were polar opposite, and their thoughts were even more so. But if there was one thing that was similar about them, it was their eyes. A bright, vivid green that almost seemed to glow in the dark.
Robert the lanky dropout teenager mumbled to the sisters again. "I understand you brought someone along with you to talk with the boss? A... Miss Duvek?"
It was ironic that her eyes looked so similar to Miss Jacobs, seeing that she was adopted.
"I'm right here." She muttered back, hoping that he wouldn't recognize her from previous classes they used to have together.
"Hmph... How do you pronounce your first name, kid?"
Well, he didn't. That was a good thing. The bad thing was that he completely forgot about her existence, not to mention believed himself to be higher in authority than she was, which pissed her off to no end. Miss Jacobs stifled a snicker as her younger sister was forced to sound out her name.
"It's Uh-Ma-dree."
As if he'd been zoning out, Robert focused his attention back onto the clipboard and gestured toward a name, lowering it so that she could see it as well.
"Is that it there?" he asked impatiently. "That funky one?"
The name he was pointing to read 'Amadreigh', a seemingly difficult name that wasn't really as hard to sound out as it looked; Robert the lanky dropout teenager was simply lazy.
"Yup. That's me." Amadreigh Duvek confirmed, trying to fight back the overwhelming urge to tell him, "I'm the one who helped you spell out the word fish in tenth grade." But with this kid, there was no telling whether or not it would ring a bell for him.
Robert sighed at her. "You got any nicknames? That's quite a mouthful. One that I'm not too good at pronouncing." he spat.
"I-it's just Amadreigh, if you don't mind." Jeesh, what a jerk.
"Mmm, but I do mind. Right this way newbies." Asshole.
Amadreigh stood up and walked beside her sister as they walked up to the stage. Her older sister wasn't too keen on seeing just how creepy they were going to look, whereas Amadreigh was all for anything mechanical and couldn't wait to see the characters that she cherished from her childhood. Robert the lanky dropout teenager pulled back the curtains (newly installed above the stage to keep kids from climbing onto it while the band wasn't playing) and revealed three dirty, eerie animatronics that have ultimately lost their luster since Amadreigh saw them as a kid. It was safe to say their child-like magic had died off with the rest of her childhood, which, much like the animatronics, was depressing and disappointing in and of itself.
"Emile!" she whispered to her older sister sternly as Robert went to get the owner. "You told me this place wouldn't turn out like Al's!"
Emile Jacobs, with a perfect laugh and a perfect smile, just looked up to the animatronics optimistically.
"Oh come on," she said. "It's nothing like that crappy old place. Their animatronics were literally falling apart. These ones are in good condition, just like when we saw them as kids!" she turned to look at Amadreigh's fierce gaze.
"...Uhrm... Fair condition, I meant." she quickly corrected herself.
"Why hello there!" a loud male voice boomed behind them, and the sisters spun around to see a short stout man with a giddy smile standing before them.
"Why," he said looking up at Emile happily. "You're Emile Jacobs aren't you? Or should I say, Miss Outstanding Teen Beauty? Congratulations on the title, Miss! It's all over the town newspaper."
Upon hearing that they've gone into a discussion concerning Emile's recent prizes and titles, Amadreigh scoffed and turned to look at the animatronics further. They were pretty disgusting actually, layered with dust and smeared and scratched and simply poorly taken care of. They could've used a thorough cleaning, and a polish, too. A dark, thick grime had built up around their eyes, something Amadreigh herself couldn't pinpoint the reason for. Oil maybe? It had a dark red tint to it and a crusty texture. Rust?
She looked at each of them individually, analyzing them, inspecting what could be fixed up and enhanced and taken away. And while she was looking at them, they almost seemed to be looking back, doing the exact same thing to her, summing her up, what could be fixed and taken away...
"Oh, I hope you don't mind that. She tends to drift off." Emile prodded Amadreigh's arm.
"Not at all! Admiring the stars, are you?" the small plump man asked eagerly.
Amadreigh tried to find something to say that wasn't along the lines of, You take horrible care of these guys and I hope they hate your guts for it. "Yeah, they uh... They bring back good memories."
"Haha! Of course they do!" he chortled in a jolly manner, throwing his arms up in the air. "That's what Freddy Fazbear's Pizza is all about! Oh, forgive me, I'm forgetting all about pleasantries here." He shook each sister's hand individually and firmly. A business man.
"I'm Mr. Fazio, owner of this here pizzeria and makers of these here animatronics. I suppose you two are here for the night guard job, eh?"
"I am, Mr. Fazio!" Emile exclaimed proudly, thrusting her arm up in the air and smiling proudly. Which left Amadreigh standing awkwardly beside her. Mr. Fazio glanced up at her inquisitively. "What about you?"
"Um, actually I'm not interested in the night job." she said awkwardly before regaining her confidence. "I was just wondering if I could take a closer look at the animatron-"
"Sorry miss, but I'm afraid that's a no can-do."
That's alright, Amadreigh thought bitterly, it's not like anyone has touched them in years anyway.
"The only people authorized to go near or touch the animatronics are the janitors,"
Well it's obvious they've been slacking off quite a lot, haven't they?
"And occasionally the night guards are authorized to get near them too, haha!"
She would've thought of a witty remark to say there as well, only the way he laughed made her feel uneasy, and she didn't fully understand what he was implying.
"Speaking of animatronics, Sanders!" He shouted at Robert. "Where's my technician?"
"I'm right here, Mr. Fazio." Amadreigh stated dryly. One would think he would have caught on to this by now.
He shot her a funny look, one mixed with fear and shock, before he let out a hearty laugh and patted her on the shoulder."Haha! Now's not the time for jokin', miss, time is money. These animatronics, they need a tunin' up a.s.a.p."
"I'm not kidding, sir. I came here to fix them."
Again, he shot her a funny look."...How old are you, girl?"
"Sixteen, sir."
"Sixteen!? Bah! You're only a child! How could you possibly-"
Emile stepped in, a confident (perfect) look upon her face and a firm, indisputable voice you couldn't refute even if you tried: "She graduated early at the top of her class, Mr. Fazio, with all honors and advanced placement classes. Amadreigh's headed for college here soon, and as a matter of fact, she builds these things for fun every day. Even has a couple back at home that do her chores for her!"
Now Emile wasn't exaggerating. Amadreigh occupied herself with blueprinting, building, testing, painting, and even selling her own animatronics; they weren't perfect, but they most certainly weren't what someone was expecting from a sixteen year old. She had three in particular she liked the most: Wally, the one she built to mop the floors (so named because he always fell over and ended up mopping the Walls instead), Waruii, the one that fed her dogs (named after combining said dog's names: War and Ruii), and Pooper, the one that cleaned up the dog poo (the name is pretty much a giveaway).
After a moment of contemplation, Mr. Fazio, an expression equivalent to disapproval occupying his features, crossed his arms and spoke.
"Hmm... Alright then, Audrey."
"Amadreigh."
"Yes yes of course- I called for an experienced and mature-"
Unable to contain herself any longer after enduring Mr. Fazio's unimpressed gaze, spoke up with a determined tone of voice.
"You specifically asked for, on all of the stage animatronics, a costume cleaning and polish, a new voice box, an interactive audio chip with age recognition, hydraulics maintenance inspection, and a check up." she readjusted her long, baggy t shirt as she continued. "You never specifically asked for a regular from the company, so they suggested that I go since I'm more lenient when it comes to the prices, which I assume would be right up your alley. Now, seeing how that was going to cost quite a lot of money for all three of them, I decided to cut the price in half, so long as I get to repair Foxy for free. I understand that he won't be used, but should you change your mind, he'll be ready."
Amadreigh was, in her opinion, a brilliant liar. She knew that Mr. Fazio had no intention of using Foxy any time soon, but she'd heard rumors. He's basically falling apart! It looks like his jaw might fall off! She didn't take kindly to the mistreatment of expensive equipment like that, especially when it came to some of her favorite childhood idols. So yes, she was serious about cutting the price in half; who could leave an animatronic in such a sad, battered state?
The look on Mr. Fazio's gaze was nothing short of astonishment. For a second, he couldn't figure out just what he should say. No sound escaped his agape lips until after a few more seconds of surprised silence. He was awestruck.
"...Wha-what? You- I can't thank you enough, Miss Duvek! Bless your soul!" he cried, grasping Amadreigh's hand and shaking it firmly. "You understand how difficult is for sinking businesses to work their way back up the chain. When do you think you'll have them done by then?"
Again, Amadreigh looked up to the animatronics on the stage, whose heads have slightly tilted to look down at them back, but no one aside from herself appeared to notice.
"Ehh, Bonnie, Chica, Freddy, Foxy... should take me about a day, after the pizzeria closes dow-"
"Would you be able to finish them by midnight tonight?" Mr. Fazio asked hurriedly.
Amadreigh shot him a confused expression.
"Uhh, s-sure, I guess so-"
"Perfect!" he exclaimed. "Thank you so much, Miss Duvek! Tell you what? I'll get you a coupon for a pizza next time you visit! 50 cents off a slice, how's that sound? I'm sure Freddy and his friends are delighted that you're going to be tunin' em up!"
Amadreigh noted the animatronic's faces. It was almost as if they had their own expressions, despite the fact that it was impossible. Chika seemed annoyed with them, but aside from that, not very hostile. Bonnie seemed almost angry, very aggressive, and Freddy... Freddy was giving her a fairly unsettling, dark stare. Not aggressive or annoyed or angry, but... Just that stare...
"I hope so." she muttered. "They don't look too happy."
Mr. Fazio looked up at them as well. He did not notice their expressions; that or he had, in fact, noticed them, but chose to ignore it. "I don't think so." he said, a little more serious this time. "I think they've taken a liking to you."
In her head, Amadreigh scoffed, but asked away in order to amuse the poor old man. "...How can you tell?"
"Their eyes are surprisingly human, don't you think? I mean, sure it's only an endoskeleton, but I see... Hope. I see eagerness. They've been in poor condition for a long while, you know. They're glad you're here."
And she couldn't quite say why, but she was suddenly uncomfortable with how all of the animatronics were staring at her. She was glad that Mr. Fazio felt that they were 'happy' upon her arrival, but something in their surprisingly human eyes said otherwise.
"I'm glad to be here." Amadreigh lied, breaking eye contact from the band and looking back to Mr. Fazio. "These guys were my childhood."
"Umm, excuse me Mr. Fazio." Emile said, a little upset that she'd been ignored for quite some time now. "I have another job interview coming up in half an hour or so, can we speed things up here? I also want to get a pedicure tonight, Adreigh, so don't be asking for rides anytime soon."
Mr. Fazio asked in a concerned and slightly unnerved tone of voice, "Another job? I don't suggest making that commitment yet missy."
"Why not?" Emile questioned curiously.
"Why, uh..." Mr. Fazio struggled to pull together his thoughts before a light bulb went off over his head and he gestured toward Emile. "Well look at you! Beauty queen, student, volunteer, night guard and day worker? You'll overwork yourself!"
At least now he's making a little more sense, Amadreigh sighed.
"No, I suggest that Amadreigh here takes the night guard job and let you take that interview."
That flash of common sense didn't last too long at all. Her eyes widened.
"Um, Mr. Fazio, I'm really sorry, but I can't." Amadreigh said, wondering why he was trying to pin this whole job thing on her instead of the girl who actually came here to apply for it.
"Why on earth not? The fellas will love it!" he remarked giddily.
"I..." Amadreigh, now loads more uncomfortable than she was before, began frantically wringing her hands. "It's not the animatronics, sir, it's just..."
"She's afraid of the dark, Mr. Fazio."
Thanks Emile. Way to help me make an impression. Amadreigh thought as she glared holes into Emile's eyes. She realized her mistake and quickly attempted to correct it, hoping that Mr. Fazio would disregard her stammering. "Um, I mean, she's not necessarily used to- I mean, she's not one for... Look, the point is she can't. I'll be just fine, sir. I can-"
At this point, Amadreigh was fed up with both her sister and her interrogator. She flipped around and stuffed her hands into her pockets.
"I'll be right back." she said coldly. "I'm gonna wheel Foxy out here with the others."
When she was out of sight, Emile sighed heavily and rubbed her temples.
"Mr. Fazio, this might seem a little too personal, but Amadreigh's deathly afraid of the dark. I mean, not the dark itself per se, but what could be there, you know? She's scared of being alone, and she won't be able to function properly as a night guard. I understand your concern for me, but I'll manage! I've been busier before, and Amadreigh's working on a big biology project with the machines that'll need some time to put together..."
Emile would have kept on, attempting to convince Mr. Fazio that this certain project required a good portion of time out of Amadreigh's every day life as it is. But just as she brought the subject up, all three animatronics simultaneously swiveled their heads around to look at her.
"What is it, Miss Jacobs?" Mr. Fazio urged.
"The, uh," Emile pointed at the Fazbear Band. "The characters turned their heads."
"Hm? Oh, haha! Don't mind that, Miss! Their cervos'll lock up on stage if they don't look around. It's all in their programming."
Amadreigh stepped into the party room, wheeling behind her a rickety animatronic that looked like it's been to hell and back. Granted, while she was still angry at her older sister for embarrassing her like that, she figured that she could let it go for now; at least until the animatronics were clean and functioning properly.
"Anywho, I have a suggestion for both of you." The heavy man stated with an upbeat smile on his face.
He cleared his throat and stood up a bit straighter, as if attempting to tower over the tallest woman in the room, and of course, failing. The animatronics kept staring.
"What if Miss Jacobs here took the day job we have open for the pizzeria (Robert never needed it anyway, haha!) and Amadreigh can take the night job, provided you have plenty of power and Robert accompanies you? That sound fine, eh? Of course, I understand your situation Amadreigh, and Emile and I will talk more about it, but I think you'll make a great night gua-"
Bonnie's guitar slipped from his hands and the base of it smashed against Mr. Fazio's head, producing a loud thunk sound that echoed in the room as the owner winced and nearly lost his balance, barely catching himself on the edge of the stage before ultimately toppling over.
"Mr. Fazio!" Emile shouted as she rushed to his aid and lugged him up to his feet.
"I'm alright, Miss. Just have to go shake it off, haha! You two just think my offer over while I go get an ice pack, okay?" he gently pried away from Emile and slowly made his way to the kitchen.
Amadreigh grabbed her bag and leapt onto the stage. "I think I'm gonna start up on Bonnie's repair while he's gone." she said plainly. "Might have to modify his grip on the guitar-"
"Get away from that thing, Dreigh!" Emile screamed. She reached up to pull her off of the stage but Amadreigh stepped back.
"Whoa, what's your problem?"
"Did you see what it just did? It smacked Mr. Fazio in the back of his head with it's guitar! And before that, I was talking about your project, and they all turned and looked at me- they were glaring at me!"
Amadreigh deadpanned.
"...The guitar fell out of his hands because the cervos are locking up, Emile."
"And the glares?"
"...You're an imbecile." she concluded coldly as she dug through her bag. "I know what I'm doing."
Emile scoffed and flung her hair back behind her shoulder. "I'm still not comfortable with you being so close to those things."
"I spend more time with animatronics like Bonnie than I do with humans like you. Besides," Emile glanced in the direction of the kitchen. It's not the animatronics I'm worried about..."
Following her sister's gaze, she turned around and squinted at the kitchen before swiveling back around and shooting Amadreigh an inquisitive look. "What? Mr. Fazio?"
"I see the way he looks at us. Particularly the way he looks at you, because you're more physically appealing than I am. Who knows? Maybe the pizzeria's closing down because the perv's staring at all of the customer's children?" She chuckled uneasily, reaching down for a new tool.
"Look, I know he's a creep, but I need this job." Emile spat. "And why are you so worried about it, given your preferences?"
"Just because I'm asexual doesn't mean I don't see what's happening around me. And don't give me that 'you need this job' crap. You have another interview. Go to the other one."
"And what about you?" Emile cut Amadrigh off, placing her hands on her hips dramatically before motioning to the animatronics. You probably need this job more than I do. They need this more, and he most certainly wants you to take him up on all these offers. What's wrong with working here part time?"
Bonnie's head tweaked out, twitching to the side before locking up in a strange sideways position.
"Oh stop, Bo, you're fine. No, I don't want a job here. I just want these guys fixed up."
"Bo?" Emile questioned in a disbelieving tone of voice. "Bo? You dont' want to stay and you've already given them nicknames? You're sixteen years old!"
Amadreigh rolled her eyes. "That's what I called him when I was little, remember? I couldn't say his full name. And Freddy here was Fray, and Chika was..." Amadreigh paused her repairing and glanced back at her sister. "Hey, what was Chika?"
"Uhm... Chia! Oh I remember now!" A look of rekindled thrill and enjoyment lit up in Emile's eyes and she hopped up to join her sister on stage with a ridiculous smirk on her face. "You and I would always run up to the edge of the stage and tell them to tell us his best joke! And every single time, Freddy would tell us that same cheesy line. You 'member? What did the teddy bear say after dinner?"
Amadreigh couldn't help but snicker. How easily amused she was as a child, she though as she set her bag aside and pondered these fun childhood moments with her sister."Yea, those were good times. Although I can't remember what the answer to that damn riddle was for the life of me."
With a sudden whir of mechanical parts and an unexpected spur of movement, the animatronics seemed to come to life. Amadreigh had to duck and crawl off stage to keep from getting thwacked in the face with Freddy's microphone.
"What did the Te-Te-Teddy bear say after di-di-dinner?" His low voice box skipped and crackled. "Can-can-can any of you guess it? ...I'm st-stuffed!"
Chica let out a shrill clucking laughter."That was a good one, Fred-Fred-dy! Here's mine: What do chickens eat?... Egg plants! Bwahahaha!"
For a second Amadreigh expected Bonnie to say something as well, but he didn't move around much. He just glared at her.
After about a minute or two, the whirring died down and the animatronics relaxed in their default positions.
"Sorry about that, girls!" Mr. Fazio said, stepping out from behind the stage with an ice pack pressed firmly against his cranium. "I don't know what happened, they were supposed to have been shut down."
Amadreigh awkwardly shuffled. "I, uh... I might have accidentally triggered them with that joke. Sorry."
"No worries!" the jubilant man gestured towards the band. "See? I told you they liked you. You must bring back old memories for them too!"
"Thanks, but I'm not a night person sir, I can't-"
"No worries. I think it's best that we let Emile finish her interview. I've ensured that the animatronics are completely shut down. If you like, you can begin fixing them. Just be sure to finish up and be out the door by midnight! Otherwise, haha," he had that funny tone in his voice again. "They won't want you to leave! Hahaha!"