Elena

Night shift once again.

I was torn between two different thoughts..

The first...

Maybe it won't be so bad now that I know how the night guard position is...now that I've experienced it.

The second...

Maybe it will be worse.

I sat in the desk chair rigid, the incessant buzzing of the fan on the desk droning, deafening in my ears.

The phone rang soon after my arrival, after four rings going to the recorder.

"Uhh, Hello? Hello? Uh, well, if you're hearing this and you made it to day two, uh, congrats!"

Gee thanks...

"I-I won't talk quite as long this time since Freddy and his friends tend to become more active as the week progresses."

My eyes widened at that statement.

"What?" I asked the machine, then leaping up and feeling around for it, shaking it when I got my hands on it. "You're joking? You have to be joking!"

The man on the phone did not answer me however, just continued to give me instruction.

"Uhh, it might be a good idea to peek at those cameras while I talk just to make sure everyone's in their proper place. You know..."

Well I can't check the cameras so please just get on with it...

This place was already making me antsy...my thoughts didn't even sound like my own...

I sounded so rude and impatient...

"Uh... Interestingly enough, Freddy himself doesn't come off stage very often."

Freddy...which one was that...?

"I heard he becomes a lot more active in the dark though, so, hey, I guess that's one more reason not to run out of power, right?"

More active in the dark? So...that must mean the carnival music...was him.

"I-I also want to emphasize the importance of using your door lights. There are blind spots in your camera views, and those blind spots happen to be right outside of your doors."

I have blind spots everywhere, it seems you have not researched your new employee, my friend.

"So i-if you can't find something, or someone, on your cameras, be sure to check the door lights. Uh, you might only have a few seconds to react..."

I sighed.

"Uh, not that you would be in any danger, of course. I'm not implying that."

Yes you are... I thought. You wouldn't be telling me this if I wasn't in danger of these robotic animals...

"Also, check on the curtain in Pirate Cove from time to time. The character in there seems unique in that he becomes more active if the cameras remain off for long periods of time. I guess he doesn't like being watched. I don't know. Anyway, I'm sure you have everything under control! Uh, talk to you soon."

The sound of the recorder playing clicked off and I was left by myself, alone in the dark.

My watch beeped, telling me it was eleven p.m.

There weren't any noises yet, no heavy footsteps or soft humming...

No pots or pans crashing.

Not even the sounds of cars on the street could be heard outside the building.

It was deathly silent.

Peek at those cameras...just to make sure everyone's in their proper place.

I could not see the cameras...not what they portrayed, I could find the tablet that put the feeds all in one small place for observance, but the most I could do with it was click the different spots on the screen until I heard a split second of static, indicating that the camera feeds had switched.

Also, check on the curtain in Pirate Cove from time to time. The character in there...becomes more active if the cameras remain off...he doesn't like being watched.

I clicked through each of the cameras, at least as close to all of them as I could manage, I already experienced one of these animatronics and I didn't want another one on my hands.

Then the groaning started.

Yet again low agonized cries sent chills down my spine, and I immediately felt dread pooling in the pit of my stomach.

I instinctively went to hide, but there was only one place to do so without leaving the room, and the one spot that was available I had already been caught in once before...

So it was best I supposed if I just stayed where I was, clicking through the camera feeds and hoping that they didn't sneak in the doors.

I could hear them moving.

Feel the changes in the atmosphere as they drew nearer and nearer...

The droning of their mechanical bodies painfully apparent, painfully near...

I just had to ignore the fact that they might kill me tonight...

Tapping...

Is someone tapping?

It sounded like there was someone was at the window, looking at me, asking to come in...it was on the right side of me...

This was a new sound that I did not recognize...

And it frightened me to no end.

I rushed to that side of the room and felt around for the button to close the door, and when I found it I pounded on it furiously until the satisfying whoosh of air and the metallic slam of the industrial barrier sounded.

I turned and slid down the door, back pressed firmly to it, and i covers my face, not that it would block anything out.

I quickly switched my hands to my ears instead, trying not to lose my sanity right then and there...

It was only my second night.

This couldn't POSSIBLY be the end of...so soon...

How...

And why...

Both good questions.

I was understanding Jay more and more as the hours slowly and agonizingly scraped by.

Suddenly I heard a loud screech...

It sounded so close but sounds were deceiving sometimes...

Either way I shuffled to the opposite door, trying to close it, but it kept giving me a click and a very disheartening error noise.

"No..." I whimpered pathetically. "No. No!" I continued to hit the button but soon realized that it would not close...

I retreated to my cubby beneath the desk with the fan and sat in silence...

Or as near silence as I could come.

I shook violently, possibly shaking the table, making it rattle, but the fan whirring was still no less deafening than it was hours ago...

A loud groan sounded before me, it was in the room, whatever it was, whichever animatronic it was...

I heard the whoosh of the opposite door...

It had reopened the damn thing!

I was going to die.

This was inevitable.

I heard a thud, the thing in my office was crawling, as indicated by the shuffling, I held my breath as the sounds drew neared and nearer...

Then the noises stopped.

Feebly I reached out, trying to find something to grasp so I could uncoil myself and leave the cramped space from under the desk, but instead my hand touched something soft and fuzzy.

And a little sticky too...

My hand jerked back instinctively, because it surprised me, but then I reached out to touch it again, this time sort of feeling along the shape of it...

I'd cleaned the animatronics a choice few times since customers complained of the smell, and I knew that this one was...

"Bonnie!" I called softly, taking my hand back once again.

"Wh...why..." I released a shuddery breath. "Why haven't you killed me yet...?"

He made a deep, guttural noise, sounding like the sigh of an old, dying man, and I curled in on myself, weeping like a child.

I felt the same fuzziness lightly brush my face and I wailed in terror, trying to huddle back further into the tiny space, whilst swatting at the hand of the large animatronic.

He made a noise of surprise, one of the same depth and intensity as the groaning that he and the other produced, but he also sounded kind of...sad...

My watch chimed six times, indicating the end of my shift.

I could tell Bonnie was standing upright, and I heard the footfalls he emanated as he slowly left the office.

And my question to him was still left unanswered.