Chapter 18: A Close Call

Disclaimer: I don't own FNAF. In this chapter we through Mangle's eyes as she is ripped apart by yet another child, has a memory-filled chat with Chica and watches the Purple Guy nearly get slaughtered. Don't forget to review (I want to know what you think) and enjoy!

DING DONG DING DONG!

I smiled thankfully as the heavenly noise chimed 8pm; I had been in a spot of bother with a 4 year old who was insistent on taking off my mask and wearing it to scare his friends. I quickly retreated behind the counter as the horrible boy burst into tears; his mother carried him off, apologising to the staff:

"Sorry, Nathan has been experiencing some digestion problems."

I grinned. Finally, another day gone. After all the staff had managed to put my leg back on (not correctly, obviously) they left, and I left Kids Cove just in time to see the arrival of the original animatronics on the other side of the room. They were the only ones who knew how it felt to be ripped apart, and as Chica was the only girl there, I had instantly warmed up to her.

"Hey Mangle!" She called as I approached her.

"Hey," I said happily. She gestured over to the corner on the left side of the stage, so we went to sit there. For some reason, she looked up at me and frowned.

"Come and actually sit down on the floor." She said.

I sighed, but grudgingly dropped down from the ceiling and collapsed in a mess of parts next to her.

"Why do you like hanging up there anyways?"

"When I'm on the ceiling, none of the kids can take me apart," I informed her.

After a rush of understanding, we began to talk about our daily lives.

"...It's quite boring in there actually," Chica says. "Foxy just paces the room, Bonnie tries to keep us all positive and Freddy just stays silent all the time."

"I wonder what it's like inside his head." I wonder, staring over at Toy Bonnie talking animatedly to him. After a while I told her about the kid Nathan, then the topic changed somehow.

"Don't you ever want to attack the Purple Guy?" I ask.

"Of course!" She replies. "It's just that he thinks we are deactivated, and we don't want to arouse suspicion."

As she didn't meet my eyes when she spoke I didn't think she was being entirely truthful, but I changed the subject because she clearly didn't want to talk about it. After a while we got back to the Purple Guy though.

"What are the plans so far?" Chica asks.

"Well, I think that we are going to springlock some endoskeleton teeth, attach them to the inside of Old Bonnie and stuff him inside." I informed her.

"We could have a cool codename for the project!" Chica exclaimed. "How about Project Springlock?"

"Or Project Spring-Bonnie?" I suggested.

"I know!" She suddenly yelled. "SpringTrap! Project SpringTrap!"

"Nice." I nodded. "Because it's a trap involving springlocks! I'll talk to Mario about it after the Security Guard leaves."

She nodded approvingly, and after about half an hour, our talk got to our past lives.

"What was yours like? Did you have any friends?" Chica asked.

""""""""""""""

"Hey Emily!"

As I turned round, the books I was carrying toppled out of my arms and flopped all over the floor. I sighed as the bookmark fell out of my favourite reading book, but I brightened up instantly as I saw who had called.

It was Elliot, who was, in my opinion, the hottest boy at my Secondary School. His brown hair shining in the sun, he bent down to help me with my books. I was your average nerd, long ginger hair, wide-framed glasses, loved reading. That's why I liked Elliot, as he was also a geek with his handsome hair, dark green eyes and tall body structure.

"Sorry," he said cheerily as he picked up "Year 7 Science Dictionary."

"I was just wondering if, you know..." He suddenly looked all awkward. "You wanted to come to this new pizza place, Freddy's, on my street with me and maybe watch a movie afterwards?"

After my mind had processed what he had said, it seemed to melt with happiness. I pushed my glasses further up onto my nose, and, realising that I was blushing, opened my mouth and said

"I'd love to."

"Great!" He grinned, going from awkward to cheerful in one millisecond. "Meet outside school after the bell?"

I nodded breathlessly, but after he left I heard a laugh. I whipped round.

"Emily and Elliot, sitting in a tree..." It was Tegan, who seemed to have been born to torment me. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

She laughed, and I sighed. I made to walk past her blond, frizzy-haired head, but not before she shouldered me into the wall of the English block. She walked away, laughing, as my books made a pile on the floor again.

I thought the date would have been wonderful, fun and exciting.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

"""""""""""""

I looked at Chica after this surge of memories, and replied

"Just one. He was called Elliot.." I looked over at the very table we were sitting on and remembered him laughing and telling jokes. I shook my head as I could not continue speaking. Getting the hint, Chica changed the subject to something I could talk about, but after a while Freddy called for the originals to go back to Parts Service early.

I climbed up onto the ceiling again, and remembering about the codename, I made to go towards Mario who was rummaging around in the Backstage area.

"Hey Mario," I said, poking my head around the door frame.

"Oh hey Mangle!" He turned and I saw endoskeleton teeth in his hands. "Just looking for some teeth to dig into the Purple Guy."

"Talking of Old Bonnie," I continued. "Me and Chica came up with a cool codename for our revenge."

"Really?" Mario looked interested. "And what's that?"

"Project SpringTrap!"

"That's great!" Mario nodded approvingly. "We can use that from now on."

I climbed through to help look for teeth, but I didn't have much time before Toy Freddy walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt but it's 11:58pm, the Security Guard will be here soon."

So we left, Mario towards his present, Toy Freddy to the Stage and I went to Kids Cove where I collapsed in a mess of parts in the corner. Everything was quiet.

Until loud music blasted through the loudspeakers put Mario to sleep.

""""""""""""""""

2am, and I decided to go and explore. I didn't dare to any other night, but after 3 nights of doing nothing I wanted to do something exciting for once. I cautiously poked my head through the door and surveyed the room; BB had gone from the Games Area, everything was quiet at Prize Corner and only Toy Freddy stood at the stage. Making my mind up, I slowly crawled across the ceiling towards Mario's Present. When I was dangling right over it however, I heard the whirring of a camera near me. As I was used to the sound and the flash of light from three nights of it in Kids Cove, I wasn't that bothered but I still found it creepy.

After a few minutes I saw BB return to his stand on the other side of the room; he looked lonely so I nimbly crawled over to talk.

"Hey BB." I called down.

"Oh hey Mangle." He looked up, but his expression was downcast. "I just tried a quick attack on the Purple Guy."

"Did it work?"

"Obviously not." He sank down into a sitting position and put his head into his arms; I barely heard the whirring of a camera behind me. "Can you leave me alone for a bit please?"

Thinking it best to leave him to his thoughts, I sadly crawled back across the ceiling, but not to Kids Cove. No, BB's fail had inspired me to not just attack the Purple Guy, but kill him. I wanted to impress BB, and I also wanted him to feel happy for once, so I crawled right out the door and into the Main Hall.

Mind blank with rage for the Purple Guy and compassion for BB, I clanked down the hall, not caring about how much noise I was making, and I almost didn't stop when Chica emerged from Parts Service at the end of the hall.

"Chica?!" I exclaimed when I noticed her, confusion wiping away anger for the moment. Her expression looked as if she had been caught stealing a diamond!

"Oh hey Mangle.." She said guiltily. "I was just going to..."

"It's alright, you don't need to explain anything," I told her. She nodded to show her gratitude, then hurriedly retreated back into the sorrow-filled room.

Luckily the fact that the only proper friend I have in this hellish place told a horrible lie to me rekindled the rage inside my robotic brain, and I marched into the branching hallway dead set on letting out my fury on the person who took away everything I loved. When I got to the entrances to Party Rooms 3 and 4 however, a lot of noises disorientated me; the first thing I heard was the pound of robotic feet on tiles, as if an animatronic was running. Before I knew it a light shone directly from the end of the hall, and Foxy skidded to a halt next to me.

"Damn it," he muttered, as he jerkily walked back to the main hall. I was momentarily confused, but after a second I continued on my path into Party Room 1 where I met Bonnie standing next to the vent entrance as if he was going to get into it.

"Oh hey Mangle," he said awkwardly as he stood up to his full height. I opened my mouth to speak but a camera turned on in the corner; after it flashed at us and turned off, I continued.

"You know, it's hard to keep your secret when both generations are wandering around," I commented. "I've already seen Chica."

"Oh," he gave a nod of understanding, then stood back from the vent. "You want to go first?"

"No it's ok," I said. I may be a dead child inside a creepy animatronic with way too many teeth, but I still have manners. "I'll use the one across the hall." And with that, I nimbly travelled to Party Room 2 without the flashlight catching me once.

I surveyed Party Room 1 from the left hand corner of the room for a few seconds, and after the camera had flashed and whirred, I dropped to the floor and into the vent. Every single movement I made, a loud clanking noise of metal on metal sounded throughout the vent; I knew the Purple Guy was watching, but that made me even more determined to be the one who finally defeated the infamous child killer. When I came to the corner a light flashed and whirred at me, but that was the only time I stopped as I wanted to do this quickly.

After what seemed like an eternity of slow movement and loud metal sounds, I got to the office. It was a small place, much like my dad's at McDonalds, but I wasn't interested in the workplace; I was interested in the piece of dirt sitting behind the desk in his smart blue uniform that wasn't fooling anyone. After a spell of flashing light down the hallway he looked at his cameras, so I made to get out but at the same time Bonnie climbed out of the other vent and stood in front of his desk.

It was scary; Bonnie really looked menacing and to add to the effect, as soon as he stopped looking at his cameras, the lights flashed. It was like a creepy horror movie, but the Purple Guy wanted to be annoying so he put on the famous Freddy mask (BB had ranted about it last night) and Bonnie jerkily walked down the hall just as Foxy had done.

Satisfied, he returned to the cameras. My gaze wandered over to the clock in front of his creepy Toy Bonnie plush, which read 5:55am. Had I really been that slow in getting here?! Panicking, I made to get out again but BB got there first; he quickly climbed out of the vent and reached for the flashlight. He succeeded! I watched in amazement as he took the batteries out of that horrible thing and stood up in the middle of the office.

BB

I did it!

I had finally, though it had taken endless work, gotten rid of that horrible, system-restarting torch. I looked round at the hallway. Where was Foxy?! So whenever he wanted to get inside the office I wasn't ready, but whenever I was, he was nowhere to be seen! Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of movement in the other vent; Mangle was giving me a thumbs up. I grinned back, but she seemed to have noticed something behind me so I turned. A clock resting on the chest of drawers read 5:58am. Where was Foxy?! I had to get his attention so I laughed the same laugh that he commented on as creepy so he would know I was here.

HEH HEH HEH!

Nothing.

HEH HEH HEH!

5:59.

HEH HEH HEH!

Mangle covered her eyes in the vent.

HEH HEH HEH!

Is that some running footsteps in the hall?

HEH HEH...

DING DONG DING DONG!

The clock struck six and I had deactivated before I hit the floor.

Mario

I woke up in what was possibly the worst position ever. Quickly righting my narrow limbs, I carefully opened the lid of my present and looked out; the clock on the wall said 6:00am as always. When I got out to do my morning walk however, I realised something was wrong. The Toys were on the stage as normal, but BB was nowhere to be seen at the Games Area; after a quick check of Kids Cove I realised Mangle was gone too. Where on earth could they have gone? I had an hour to find them, so I searched the toilets, Backstage and the storage cupboard but they were nowhere to be seen.

I was really starting to panic now, as they had deactivated away from the main room. Worried, I travelled into the Main Hall to find nothing; after a visit to Parts Service I knew that all of the Original generation were there except Foxy. When I reached the Party Room hall however, I was greeted by a bizarre sight; Foxy was sprawled on the ground about 1 metre away from the office as if he had leaped towards it. Confused, I entered the office where I thankfully found BB on the ground in front of the desk with two batteries in his hand and Mangle in the left vent, head hanging out of the blind spot.

It took about half an hour to drag them to their proper spots, which left me to think about old lives and brothers and friends for 30 minutes before another day of child-pleasing awaits.