Mrs. Garen returned to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza every day, and when it reopened, she went back to table 14 to wait. It had been a week since Robbie, Will, Lucy, Greg, and Peter had gone missing. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the manager at the front desk looking disgruntled that she was there, but no one told her to leave. At noon, the animatronics all came out from storage onto the stage. Mrs. Garen was the only person they were going to perform to. Business had dried up ever since the children had gone missing. The Freddy animatronic opened up.
"Hey kids! You ready to have some fun?"
"I know I am!" Chica said.
"Count me in guys!" Bonnie added.
"Alrighty than, let's string up the band! One…two…"
The three animatronics broke into a song that Mrs. Garen didn't pay attention to. She only watched, remembering how much her sons loved those corny machines. The animatronics finished their first song.
"Hehehehe! That was fun!" Chica said.
"Yeah, can we do another song Freddy?" Bonnie said.
"Well sure guys…wait…hold the phone…" The Freddy animatronic put its hand up to its head and scanned the store. "Uh oh…"
"What is it Freddy?" Chica asked.
"Look's like we've got pirates…"
"Ah, darn it!" Bonnie said.
The curtains on the Pirate's Cove at the back left corner of the room opened up and revealed the Foxy animatronic.
"Hahahahargh! Not just any pirate, mateys! I be the piratiest pirate on the seven seas! You be dealing with none other than Foxy the Pirate Fox!"
The Chica animatronic's eyelids drooped in a condescending look at Foxy.
"The 'piratiest'? Did you really just make that up?"
The animatronics continued a back-and-forth routine that devolved into more singing that Mrs. Garen didn't pay attention to. She stared onto the main stage, at a loss with what to do with herself. She didn't notice the sound of the front doors of the restaurant slamming open, the manager's frightened protests, or the angry footsteps coming toward her until she was pulled up out of her seat. Dan Tenor, Greg's father was holding her by the front of her shirt, looking daggers at her. Mrs. Garen had enough time to notice Dory Tenor, pale and clammy, Terry Everett, Lucy's father, with bloodshot eyes, and John and Ruth Isaiah, Peter's parents, clenching each other like they were on a life boat behind Dan, before Dan started to and spit and shout into her face.
"You were supposed to keep them safe, Carol. You were supposed to keep them safe!"
Mrs. Garen could only stare and sputter. Terry tried to put his hand on Dan's shoulder.
"Dan…just calm down…"
Dan ignored Terry and pointed at Mrs. Garen's face.
"We were supposed to have our kids back home three nights ago. You never brought them. You never called us. Do you know what it's like for us to go through with that, and not being able to call you? Do you know what it's like to be waiting by your phone all night, but when you pick it up, it's not the woman you trusted your son with, it's the police telling you that your son's missing?"
"Dan…we…we don't know for sure what happened."
Dan looked at Terry as if he wanted to kill him. Terry looked away, but then at Mrs. Garen. She wished that he wouldn't, the way he was looking at her, panicky and only just holding himself together made Mrs. Garen feel even worse than Dan shaking her.
"Carol…h..have the police told you anything? Has the guy they got told them where my Lucy is? I…just want her back…there's got to be something you missed…"
Mrs. Garen looked hopelessly at Terry
"Terry…I…I…"
Terry just got more agitated and panicky.
"Y…you must have some idea where they are…?"
"Terry...I…I don't know!"
Terry began to shiver. He put his hand over his mouth, muffling something that sounded like a moan, and took his hand away, trying to smile.
"Well…we don't know what happened to them for sure…the police could find them soon…" Terry waited for Mrs. Garen to say something, anything to reassure him, but Mrs. Garen could only stand there stupidly, distressing him more and more. Terry began to pull at his hair, trying and failing to calm down.
"She's…she's my little girl Carol…she's all I have…"
The animatronics finished their songs and began to file off of the stage as they entered into free roam mode. They approached the only customers still in the store to fulfill their protocol.
Ruth was clenching John, who was speechless. Mrs. Garen looked to them, hoping that they could say something to help her.
"Where were you? Where were you when you were supposed to be watching my son, Carol?"
Mrs. Garen sputtered, breaking down. "I…I was just getting my purse from the car…I was only gone for a minute!"
"You left them alone." Dan accused her. "You left them alone where they could get hurt."
"But they were in the middle of the store! They were supposed to stay there where it was safe!"
"You're blaming our children?" Ruth said incredulously.
"No…I just…I…"
Dan let Mrs. Garen go, disgusted.
"You know what you are? You are a worthless excuse for a parent. I'm done wasting my time with you." Dan turned around and began to walk away, only to walk into the Foxy animatronic. It reached out to Dan.
"What's that matey? You want a hug?"
Dan snapped completely and swung his fist into the animatronic's jaw. The force of his punch dislocated its jaw and pushed it to the floor. It continued to speak, further damaging its jaw.
"Best you not be running maties, or else I'll have you walk the plank!"
The manager ran up to Dan as he was walking out.
"Hey, you can't do th…" He was cut off as Dan shoved him out of the way. Dory looked to Mrs. Garen one last time, shocked. She looked after her husband and ran after him in tears, refusing to look anyone else in the eye. The Foxy animatronic spoke to her as she was leaving.
"Argh! What's with the long faces, crew? Your captain's here!"
Ruth clenched her arms around John, sobbing into his shoulder and refusing to look at Mrs. Garen. John gave her a look, opening his mouth as if to say something but was startled by the Bonnie animatronic.
"Hey there! I'm Bonnie, what's your name?"
John stared at Bonnie, grimaced, and walked out, supporting Ruth crying on his shoulder. The Bonnie animatronic stared after them as they left.
"Have fun kids!"
Terry watched this go on between the animatronics and the parents until he realized that the Chica animatronic was behind him, looking at him in the eye.
"Looks like we've got some new guests!"
Terry and the Chica animatronic stared at each other.
"I'm really glad to have you here!"
Terry began to moan and clench at his head.
"We're going to be fast friends!"
Terry averted his gaze from the animatronic to Mrs. Garen. He gave her one last pained look.
"I've lost my little girl, Carol. I've got nothing left now."
He began to walk out, but the Chica animatronic tried to follow after him with clunky robotic footsteps.
"Aww…don't leave now! There's still so much fun we could have!"
"Just…just shut up!" Terry shouted as he started to run. The Chica animatronic followed him to the door, where it stopped, holding its hand up as if trying to wave.
Mrs. Garen was left sitting at table 14. She stared after the people she could use to call her friends, all thanks to the friendship of her sons with their children. She hadn't really registered the animatronic's presence or their actions; to her they were just part of the restaurant. When the Freddy animatronic came to her table, she didn't look at it.
"Hey there, are you having a nice time?"
Carol looked at the floor, thinking about her life, and what she was supposed to do now.
"You look like you could use a nice slice of pizza."
Carol thought about her sons. She remembered past birthdays, their first days of school, changing their diapers when they were babies, giving birth to them.
"Did you and your friends enjoy the show?"
Carol grimaced as tears started to come out of her eyes. She leaned her head against the Freddy animatronic's stomach and began to whimper.
"Oh, do you want a hug?"
The animatronic bent over and wrapped its arms around Carol, whose whimpering had turned into outright moaning.
"I hope you haveI hope you a great timeI hope"
Carol had buried her face in the animatronic's cheap imitation fur.
"I hopeIIIIIIIIIIIII you're going to lovelovelove"
"Ma'am?" Someone said to Carol.
"I hope youyouyouyou…."
The animatronics' sputtering stopped as it was shut down. Carol looked up from crying into the animatronics' fur at the manager.
"Ma'am, you need to leave now. We need to fix these animatronics."
The manager's mouth was in a thin line. Carol had only been a disturbance ever since the children had gone missing, and now because of her and the other parents, two animatronics were in need of repairs. At the very least though, the Freddy animatronics' sudden vocal bug gave him a reason to finally get rid of the woman.
Carol looked blankly at the manager, who remained where he was, waiting for her to leave. Her tears stopped. She got up from the table and walked out.