Tough Day?

Drip.

Drip.

My eyes cracked open. Everything around me flickered in and out of sight. Where am I? My eyelids drooped wanting only to shut my eyes, slip back into that blissful sleep. I dreamed of myself as a child again playing doctor with my parents. They lifted me onto the couch, their hands surprisingly cool to the touch. They checked my pulse, felt for a fever. All the stuff doctors do. I had a habit of pretending to play dead, always trying to hold my breath and keep still to fool them. Cold water smacked my cheek suddenly bringing me back to reality. Slowly turning my head up towards the ceiling just in time for another drop to fall and peck my nose. I saw now the flickering was due to a faulty light bulb that hung from a wire. I stared blankly at it, my mind felt sluggish, What am I doing here? Why do I feel so tired?

Suddenly I felt something brush across hand, to big to dismiss as a bug. I held my breath. feeling it again this time I knew it was unmistakably a hand that grazed over my knuckles. Then a sharp pain like a pinch. I yelped and threw my weight in the opposite direction hoping to escape. hands grabbed at me, one secured on my arm the other hooked on my leg.

"Calm down, It's just me." My attacker spoke. Wait. I knew that voice. I turned and sure enough stood the smiling face of Vincent. Although at the moment his smile was forced his brow scrunched tighter than usual. "Are you still trying to leap off the table or are you good?" He said slowly releasing his grip. Looking to my side realizing for the first time I was laying on a small wooden table about three feet off the ground. It wouldn't have hurt too bad to fall but I was grateful he had reacted quickly enough to stop me.

"What are...Where are we-sschh" hissing my hand flew to my burning shoulder. My palm came back smudged red. My mind recalled the events of that night.

"The fox! Where is he?" My voice cracked slightly as my eyes darted around the room. Vincent knelt down grabbing a bowl of water with napkins and placing them carefully next to me.

"Don't worry, he can't get to you in here. None of them can." He reached forward lifting the hand he had been touching before. I felt the pinch again.

"Hey." trying to pull away but stopping when I saw he was peeling off the torn skin. Must have happened when I ripped my hand from underneath Foxy's foot. I hadn't noticed the pain till now. He dabbed it gently with a wet paper towel, cleaning it before grabbing a cloth to wrap it in.

"Why can't they get in here?" I asked quietly to relieve the silence. His lips were pressed together as he focused intently on wrapping my hand, probably the first real expression he has let me see since I've known him.

"They can only travel where they're programmed to, this room was never added as a safety measure. To them, it doesn't exist." He looked up his lips stretching back into a grin. "Lucky for us hmm?" I couldn't share his carefree nature at the moment, my eyes shifted nervously towards the entrance. There was no door but the hallway outside was brightly lite. No animatronics to be seen.

"Alright, time to look at that shoulder." Vincent stood fixing his ponytail, in his hand he held a pair of sharp scissors. He chuckled lightly, probably from seeing my expression.

"I figured I would just cut off the sleeve, unless you needed it for your next shift of course." Now It was my turn to laugh. Who would be bat shit crazy enough to stay working here after that?

"Go ahead," turning so my back faced him and with my good arm pulled my hair out of the way. Keeping my body still my skin tickled as he start cutting. He took his time being careful not to touch my injury. Just as the final cut was made a crash sounded in the other room, like someone dumping a box of silverware. I flinched,

"Vincent…" I whispered not daring to take my eyes off the door.

"Sounds like Chica. She tends to wander into the kitchen." He said nonchalantly as he dunked some napkins into the water. "Foxy got you pretty bad." He continued. I felt his finger slide the length of the cut. I suddenly became aware of his other hand holding onto my shoulder to steady his movements. My stomach twisted in embarrassment, I still wasn't accustomed to people, namely those I don't know well touching me.

"You-uh must be one of those people that isn't bothered by blood huh." I said trying to distract myself.

"You could say that," He began dabbing the napkin against my skin. The cold helped ease the pain slightly. Watching from the corner of my eye he tossed a bloodied napkin onto the table and replaced it with a fresh one. My gaze shifted away not really wanting to see.

"Vincent...why did Foxy come after me? I mean he's just a machine…do they all do that." Stopping I waited for an answer.

"In a way, yes. Although most of time you're not caught out in the open with them. Unless you know how to handle them they can be very dangerous. Oops, Sorry" He said when I flinched. He had pushed the napkin the wrong way against the cut pulling the torn skin painfully.

"It's okay." I gritted my teeth, having to tough it up until he was done. He dabbled lighter than before trying hard not to make it hurt.

"So, what exactly happened? Or at least what do you remember?" He said. I closed my eyes and let the memory play out in my head.

"I had finished early, and wanted to see what Foxy looked like. I didn't know we had a fourth animatronic so I was curious. But after I touched him he started moving and screaming this awful noise." Shuddering at the memory. "I ran from him and hid in the play set but he climbed up after me."I skipped over the details trying not to think about it too much. I could already feel my heart pounding faster as if I was still stuck there, in the tunnel. "I was able to escape and got into the kitchen where I tried to short him out with water." Vincent stopped and leaned over the table to look at me face to face.

"So the water on the floor, that was you?"

"Yeah, from the fridge. The jug."

"You threw a jug of water...to stop an animatronic." He questioned again his mouth half quirked in a pre-grin. I nodded confused. A snicker built up to a laugh, his hand clamped against his mouth to quiet it. He proceeded to shake his head at me.

"What? I panicked okay. When you have a giant fox thingy coming after you, you can't really think clearly." I said trying to sound sour, but I couldn't help my lip quirk up. Some people had contagious laughs.

"They're not electronic they're pneumatic. They run on compressed air,"

"Well,.,I didn't know that." I said pressing my lips together.

"Most people don't, It would be so much easier if they were electronic though." he sighed kneeling down to grab a grubby looking medkit. He pulled out small butterfly stitches, my eyes widened slightly.

"Don't worry these will be good enough to hold you together, you probably won't need real ones." All I could see was the moment Foxy's hook dug into my skin. I was glad the wound was on my shoulder. It would be easy to cover up and I didn't have to look at it all day.

" Anyway, I wasn't able to stop him and that's how I got that," Pointing to my shoulder where the edge of the cut could be seen. Foxy's hook wasn't sharpened for safety reasons leaving the skin jagded and ripped

"And then…" I paused. I could have sworn I saw...but that doesn't make any sense. Maybe I imagined it.

"And then?" He pressed starting on the third stitch.

"I don't really remember. I thought I saw someone. I mean someone had to be there to stop Foxy or I wouldn't be here…right?" I looked at him expectantly. He paused, his warm hand pressed to my back.

" I couldn't say, I walked in the door and heard you scream and what sounded like metal scraping and a crash. Then I came in to find you passed out on the floor with blood all around you… Had me worried there for a second. You haven't been the first person I've seen attacked by those things."

"Oh god. How is this place still in business?"

"Well, I've also seen it go out of business a few times as well...Someone always brings it back though." his reply was interrupted by a sudden noise erupting in the room. A grandfather clock? Vincent quickly dug around in his pocket and pulled out his phone ending the ringing.

"Well, look at that. Six o'clock already. And perfect timing, you're all patched up." He started for the door but stopped halfway when I wasn't following.

"They shouldn't move for awhile now, you'll be fine." I wasn't reassured.

"Okay, I'll go out and check. If I come back you'll know for sure. Alright?" He said. I gave a small nod.

"Just, be careful."

"Always." He smiled before disappearing down the hall.

I bided my time checking my bandaged hand and tested my shoulder's mobility which was close to none. I counted the drops of water dripping next to me. Three. Four. Five. I wish he had left his phone. What time was it? How long had it been? I leaned off the table being careful not to make too much noise. Those things could be listening. I inched towards the hall. I didn't want to go anywhere near it. At least not alone.

"Vincent." I called quietly. No response. Moving closer so I could peer down the hallway. I could see down about ten feet before the a light was burnt out, the next one down a fuzzy orange color as it reached the end of its life. After that the hallway turned into one of the party areas and there was no way in hell I was going down to check.

"Vincent where are you?" I called again a bit louder. Where the hell was he? Did he, no he wouldn't leave me here alone. Trying to push my doubts away but as the minutes dragged by it got more difficult. I was about to head back to the table when I saw something move at the end of the hallway. Holding in my sigh of relief, whoever it was it wasn't Vincent. My eyes narrowed trying to make out the details but no matter how hard I tried from this distance it just looked like a black blob. Maybe I was seeing things again. Closing my eyes I counted back from ten. You're safe. They can't get in here. Repeated in my head. Safe. I'm sa- something pressed against my cheek lightly. My eyes snapped open to the sight of a bright red bowtie. A shriek escaped my throat as I stumbled backwards immediately regretting using my left hand to catch myself. Biting my lip to ignore the pain and froze staring right in the face of Bonnie. Like me he wasn't moving. His hand was outstretched halfway, his finger where my face had been seconds ago. My eyes locked onto his half lidded gaze, unlike Foxy, Bonnie didn't look so angry. More tired than anything. Why is he just standing there? Was my only coherent thought. Then I realize it. I looked more closely and saw his joints were shifting back and forth like he was trying to move but couldn't. Vincent was right. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Bonnie took a step back finally accepting he wasn't getting in. His jaw cracked open three inches and I shut my eyes with my hands posed over my ears waiting for what I could only assume would be a scream like Foxy.

"Penelope!"

Huh? I opened my eyes to see an empty doorway Bonnie nowhere to be seen, down the hall Vincent turned the corner nearly running right into the wall. He slowed slightly upon seeing me.

"Are you alright? I heard you shout." He said a bit gaspy, having ran from god knows what end of the building. Pushing myself to my feet wincing slightly as I put pressure on my shoulder.

"I'm okay, Bonnie showed up out of nowhere and scared me."

"Bonnie? That sly asshole. He wasn't behind the stage with the others so I was looking for him, should have known he would come here. He didn't hurt you right?" He said his expression flipping from frustrated to concerned.

"Um" was all I could say my hand went to cradle my freshly ignited shoulder. Vincent placed his hands at my sides signally me to turn around. I complied. I could practically feel him frowning behind me.

"You popped two of your stitches and it's bleeding again a bit."

"Sorry…" I mumbled looking towards the ground.

"Hey," His fingers lifted my chin to face him making blood rise to my cheeks. "Could have been worse." There it was. The grin that made everything seem fine. Like there wasn't giant robots out there that wanted to tear me apart. Like everything was going to be okay.

"We should leave before the morning shift gets here, they are never happy to clean up, and I have a feeling this morning will be particularly bad. We can go to your place and fix up those stitches." he said moving out into the hallway. He paused when I didn't move. I twined my fingers together nervously. Vincent reached his hand out,

"You trust me, right?" I met his eyes. He seemed so confident like there was no one in the world who could beat him. Like there was no risk at all. I reached out slowly placing my bandaged hand in his.

"Okay.,,just please get me the hell out of here."