A/N: Happy Friday guys, and welcome back. First of all, thanks for taking the time to check out this chapter after so long. I'm sure you're tired of hearing this by now, but here it is again: I'm very sorry of the massive delays, and thanks for putting up with them. Living on your own and going to college kinda doesn't leave a lot of time for writing, but this story is going strong in my mind, and I will not give up on it.
Quite the opposite in fact: I'm done with classes, so expect more frequent updates. I will not promise that I'll put up chapters every week like I used to, but I'll try ;)
Without taking more of your time, I present to you what has been the most thought-of, revised and re-revised chapter so far. Why? Well, you'll see...
To you who are still here: thank you so much for your patience, and I'll see you all next week... hopefully. And now, happy reading! (I really missed saying that!)
Chapter 31: Four seconds
When a day begins, there is absolutely no way to know how it will turn out. The most memorable of days start out in pretty much the same way as the most forgettable ones. What makes a certain day burn its mark into your mind usually happens after those initial moments.
Thursday, November 12th 1987 was no exception.
"Good morning!" sang Jeremy as he opened the door to the service room, before stepping into it with big steps and inspecting us with beaming eyes. TB, Junior, Mini and Balloons were leaned against a corner, power cables connected solidly to their back panels as they slept happily, while Sean, Ferny, Sarah and me stared back at my cousin in amusement from the opposite wall. Jack, who was still in a deep sleep by my side, let out a tiny, well-timed groan as Jeremy waved a little piece of paper in front of us.
"Payday?" asked Ferny in a teasing voice, making it clear to everyone that he knew the obvious answer.
"Yup!" chirped Jeremy, "I love the smell of minimum wage in the morning. This is why you kids go to college!" The start of a laugh was beginning to write itself on his face, then it disappeared when he realized his mistake. We remained silent as he looked down at the checkered floor, swallowing awkwardly as he mumbled "Sorry, it slipped out of my mouth. I... I forgot that you... can't exactly go to school."
"That's okay." reassured Sarah calmly, before looking at my brother with mischievous purple eyes and adding casually "Sean was always skipping classes anyways."
"He was?!" A bewildered Jeremy stared at my brother with angry expectation.
"Traitor!" growled Sean, leering at Sarah with electric blue eyes while she, Fer and I failed to conceal our laughter. It was then that a short childish yawn made us turn our heads to see TB stretching his arms and ears, his eyelids shut tightly as he let out a sleepy groan next to the other three Toys.
"Wh-what?" My counterpart looked around the service room in confusion, then his green eyes flashed with realization and alert as he stared at me with worry. "Mr. Bonnie, what happened last night?!" he demanded with a panicked voice, "Is Mr. Jeremy alright?!"
Without saying a word I pointed at my cousin standing by the doorway, who waved casually at the embarrassed light-blue animatronic.
"Oh... Hi Mr. Jeremy!" squeaked out TB, rubbing his elbow awkwardly, "Glad to see you're okay. Uh, how late is it?"
The young man dressed in purple threw a quick glance at his watch, then looked back at my counterpart and answered casually "Half seven, so the place is about to open. You guys should probably go to your spots: you have a birthday today!"
"Really?!" All sleepiness seemed to instantly leave my counterpart as he sprang up on two feet, ears high up in joy. "Junior, Mini, Balloons, wake up! We have a birthday today!"
The other Toys groaned in perfect unison as TB shook their shoulders hastily, and to their great displeasure, he didn't stop until they reluctantly opened their bright and colorful eyes. "What do you want Bugs Bunny?" grunted Balloons, standing up with his companions.
My counterpart only pointed at Jeremy, who in turn tapped his wristwatch and smiled condescendingly at the trio. Shrugging, he said "It's show time guys. If you're not on the stage by the time Erik comes, he will make me wish I was stuffed in a suit."
Balloons, Junior and Mini smiled in relief when they saw that their newest friend was alive and well, and soon the four Toys were walking out of the service room, waving at us. Without any warning TB, who was the last in the row of four, turned around quickly and hopped by my side. "Mr. Bonnie, why hasn't Mangle come back yet?" he asked weakly, holding his elbow in nervousness.
"I'm sure she's alright." was my calm answer, "She went into the vents when Jeremy shut us off, so she's probably still there." Seeing that my counterpart let his unsure gaze fall to the floor, I asked "Are you worried about her?"
"A little." answered TB with a shy little nod, avoiding our stares.
"Don't ye worry lad," added Ferny, taking up his pirate persona effortlessly, "If the lass can handle all the wee lil' ones every day, I bet'ya she'll do fine on her own fer a while." TB sighed, closed his eyes, and nodded.
"Just enjoy your party." continued Sarah with a breezy tone, not quite managing to smile with her broken jaw.
Staring into the bright green eyes of my counterpart, I told him "Take care little me. See you later."
TB opened his chest, pulling out his beloved plastic rose. As he handled it to me, he replied "Take care Mr. Bonnie." He then walked out the door, followed closely by my cousin.
It was almost midday. The air was filled with loud and happy childish voices; even from our little secluded corner, it was quite obvious that the pizzeria was packed to full capacity, perhaps even more.
"It's funny." I chuckled with clear irony, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled between us, "Do they even remember what happened to us on my birthday? Or the murder of the kids that became the Toys?"
Sarah sighed, and whispered "You can't expect the whole world to cry over us forever Brandon. But we have our families to remember us." A sting of guilt went through me as she stared at Ferny, my brother and me, ignorant to the secret I was keeping from all of them.
"Private, these kids have the right to be happy, to enjoy their lives." continued Sean, "Don't forget what we said the very first day. No matter what happens…"
"We will never let this change who we are…" I chorused mechanically, turning my head to see the unconscious body of Jack. Sighing, I finished "And what we are to each other."
Then, the grey door of the room swung open almost violently. Remaining completely still, we stared at the silhouettes of Erik, Fritz, Dave and Jeremy standing in line at the doorway. Taking advantage that he was the last in the row, my cousin smiled and winked at me discretely, while I resisted the urge to greet him and blow our disguise for the three other employees.
"That damn fox isn't here either." muttered the irritated manager in his formal white shirt after scanning the room quickly.
"Should I get the remote Erik? Then we can bring her to us." suggested Fritz timidly.
"She's probably in free-roam, so I'll stay here in case she comes." added Jeremy in a confident tone.
Erik answered with a nod, turning around and tapping Dave's shoulder, gesturing him to follow. Soon, the three men that were not my cousin were walking down the hallway, while Jeremy stepped into the middle of the room. He sat down on the floor with a long, tired wheeze.
"It's been a long morning guys." he mumbled as he laid himself down on the checkered tiles. "By the way, your little friends are doing a great job keeping the kids happy. Those three poor fools think it's because of their programming." Chuckling to himself, he shook his head and stared up at the blank ceiling. "To be fair, I'd probably think the same thing if I hadn't met you again."
"Don't worry Jerry, you're almost done." comforted Sean.
"True, true…" The young man raised his head to look at my brother. "Not like I have a choice anyways; Mom and Dad would not be happy if I don't see Saturday Night Live with them." We all chuckled at his running gag, before sharing a few seconds of pleasant quietness.
Jeremy eventually stood up with a sigh, stretching his arms over his head before walking to the door. "I'll see you later guys." he promised. "Stay here, and if Mangle comes back tell her to wait for me." We nodded diligently as he opened the door, just as Dave was about to come into the room. The two proceeded to greet each other with a smile like long time colleagues and chat casually by the doorframe. I would've listened to their words, if not for a banging noise coming from the service room's air vent between Sarah and me. The constant medley of childish voices masked the sound of a disfigured white fox slowly opening the panel of the vent with a twisted arm.
"Hey Mangle." whispered Sarah, low enough for Ferny, Sean, Jeremy and Dave to not hear her words parroted by the cassette recorder, "Keep still. Jeremy is talking to someone."
"The guard?" she asked back in a flat tone, not looking at any of us as she dragged her body into the room. Sarah nodded. "No problem." As the white animatronic said this, she climbed unto the ceiling on top of me. By now, my brother and Ferny noticed her, but they only made slight hand gestures for her to get down, surely afraid of being heard or seen by Dave. Luckily, the head guard was looking away from the inside of the room.
I raised my head slowly to the hanging figure above me, and whispered anxiously and nervously "Mangle, what are you doing?"
She slowly turned her neck to face me; rows of sharp metallic teeth curved ever so slightly into a proud grin. "I'm about to win this game for us." she whispered coldly and slowly, "Aren't you happy?"
"What do you m-" My voice cut off as she stared at me with dead and frigid yellow eyes. They weren't the warmly glowing eyes of a shy girl; they were still possessed by the empty gaze of a single-minded killer. A killer that was beginning to swing herself to the doorframe.
I remember the following four seconds like a badly-edited montage of images: a fast-paced flash of different pictures without sound where so much is happening, and everything that is not in the middle of the frame is a blurry, hazy mess.
Everything goes mute at the beginning of the first second. My eyes meet Sarah's, and she looks back at me with fear when she comes to the same conclusion I made. In the hazy corner of the picture Sean and Fer seem to be staring at Mangle, still not knowing what's happening, while two frozen purple blurs by the doorframe are still facing another, ignorant to what's going on.
I begin to stand up as the first second ends and the next one begins, and realize that Mangle is already just outside my grasp; she's currently right above Sarah, who is starting to stand up as the white fox zooms above her. Instinct takes over me and for one instant of this second, I don't mind letting the whole world know what we are as long it can stop what's about to happen. With all my might, I scream my cousin's name, and by the time I'm done the third second is about to begin.
But my cassette recorder needs time to rewind and make my voice audible to Jeremy. It's now the third second and Sarah is standing up in front of me, but I can still see that Mangle is three-quarters down the path to the door; she was never so fast. Ferny and my brother must've realized what was about to happen, but the borders of the picture get darker and hazier with all my attention focused on Mangle on the ceiling, and Jeremy with Dave by the door. Three and a half seconds had passed when the voicebox inside of me wails out the name of the only living friend I have left.
The third second is almost over when the voicebox finishes the last vowel. As Mangle stops a few feet behind the doorframe and opens her jaws full of glistering canine teeth, she lets her head and torso swing toward my cousin. The two men in purple uniforms slowly turn their heads towards me when my scream reaches them: Jeremy first, then Dave. The fourth second is about to begin when my cousin's eyes meet mine for the shortest of moments, then his entire face is suddenly covered by Mangle's gaping mouth.
My body becomes cold as ice when the jaws of the white fox close down on Jeremy's forehead. When the fourth second arrives, so does that gut-wrenching, sickening sound. At first, it was the rough and crisp crack of a shattering skull. Think of an egg that breaks, or a soda cracker that's split in two. It then turned into a lower, more liquid and dirty noise, like a boot that gets stuck in the mud or a wet sponge that's squeezed above the drain.
Or a frontal lobe that gets crushed by two metallic jaws.
Jeremy's body twitched for just a moment before going completely limp; his arms hung from his shoulders like dead weights, and the only thing keeping him on two feet was his head lodged inside Mangle's mouth. She slowly opened her red-tainted jaws, allowing my cousin's body to freefall to the floor; his whole forehead was now a dark crimson stain that ran down over his eyes, nose, mouth, and neck, until it dyed the collar of his purple shirt to near black. As Jeremy hit the floor with a short and dry thud, Dave threw an incredulous glance at me before running away from the room, down the hallway towards the birthday party.
Mangle, still out of herself, stayed above my cousin's body for a second or two, admiring her handiwork with furious pride in her lifeless eyes; but then this glow flickered off for just a moment, and it was replaced by that innocent stare of a little girl. Horror and disgust instantly took hold of her gaze when she realized what happened, and not one second later her eyes shut off completely, right before her body fell down next to an unmoving and blood-drenched Jeremy.
My brother and Ferny stood up instantly from their corner of the room and rushed next to the body, blue and yellow eyes beaming with anguish and terror. Meanwhile, Sarah shook her head in hopeless denial and I sank to my knees as our minds began to fully understand what we had seen. Sean was shaking Jeremy's shoulders roughly, yelling out his name, while Fer inspected the crushed forehead with horror.
My cousin had survived five nights, thirty hours, with ten of us. But all that was needed were four seconds and a bit of carelessness. Some time would pass, but eventually these four seconds got a catchy, infamous name: The bite of '87.
"Jerry!" Sean cried our relative's name one more time as he shook his shoulder anxiously, "C'mon J-Jerry, please! P-please… just move d-dammit!" My brother's movements became slower and weaker with each moment, and so did his voice. "Just m-move Jerry… don't g-go … please. W-we can't lose y-you as well, please." He shook the young man's shoulder one last time, before whimpering out "Please… p-please…"
I was still on my knees, trying to grasp what just happened, when I got that familiar sensation once again: the feeling that everything was just a nightmare, that this was simply too horrible for real life, and that I'd wake up in my bed, hug Mom, and go to school with my brother.
But I haven't woken up yet.
Numbed by what happened, I barely registered that Dave was at the doorframe once again. He clutched the remote control from the previous location tightly in his hand as he glared at Ferny and Sean, then Sarah and me with confusion and anger. "You're supposed to be off." he hissed, shaking his head. "What are you?"
Not bothering to wait for an answer, he laid his thumbs on the controls of the remote, and soon my brother and Ferny took some poorly-coordinated steps away from the bleeding Jeremy until they were against the nearest wall, before sliding down to the floor. It was then that Erik and Fritz speed-walked into the room; the young technician had another remote in his hand.
"Jesus Christ..." gasped Erik at the sight of the bloody body, "The… the fox did this?" Dave answered with a solemn nod and Fritz' mouth dropped open at the morbid display.
As the manager and technician tried to process their shock, the head guard went on his knees besides Jeremy's body. "He was twenty-four." mumbled Dave in disbelief, but everyone in the room went completely quiet as my cousin let out a weak, painful groan. The baffled guard then put his palm on Jeremy's forehead, applying pressure as he shouted "He's still alive! Call an ambulance Erik! Fritz, get all the costumers out of here, now!"
Startled awake from his trance, Fritz nodded with uncertainty as he ran away from the room, in the same direction as Dave had a moment ago: towards the celebrating children and the unsuspecting Toys.
Erik stood still for a second, then he slowly unclipped the brick-like white device from his belt with a serious expression on his face. He held the mobile phone in his hand for one second, seemingly unsure of what to do, before stating matter-of-factly "We're close to the hospital. If I call 911 now, the ambulance will arrive before the clients leave."
"So?!" questioned Dave anxiously, uselessly wiping his blood-soaked hand on his shirt before laying it on Jeremy's forehead once again.
"This will ruin us." hissed the manager through clench teeth, "It'll kill the business."
"Kill the business?" repeated the head guard in a dry tone as he faced his superior with a deadly glare, "Kill the business?! Fitzgerald is dying you bastard!"
Both men shared an expression of surprise after Dave said these words, but the head guard turned around quickly, allowing us to see that same furious expression he had a moment ago. Erik then turned his back to his two employees and us, dialed the number on the impractical device, and with a tone that seemed to lack life or emotion, made the call.
When the paramedics hoisted an unconscious Jeremy on the plastic stretcher and carried him away into the hall, Dave and Erik stayed in the service room without saying a single word. After the medics questioned the manager, he only replied: "It was a malfunction. We're not sure what happened"
A few seconds later, we heard the screams. The same children that were laughing in joy only minutes ago were now shrieking and crying at the sight of the bloody body. If seemed like that painful chorus of wails would never end.
But when it finally did, a chilling silence settled over the building; the calm after the storm. Erik and Dave were still in the room, still quiet, still not looking at each other. In all that time we didn't move or speak. We had become silent and useless spectators of a morbid public display, and this feeling of powerlessness only made the anger and pain inside me grow. With these dark thoughts racing through my mind, I let my gaze fall on an unconscious Mangle. She was still sprawled on the floor, her maw and teeth now dark red from the drying blood, when we heard light footsteps approaching. Fritz stepped inside quietly with a lowered head, avoiding the gaze of his coworkers.
"Is everyone gone?" asked Erik in a low tone, ending the solemn silence abruptly.
"All the other employees are out." affirmed Fritz dryly.
The manager nodded slowly, before stating flatly "First of all, this place will be shut down. God knows for how long, God knows if we will ever open again, but for now it is over." He let a few seconds pass to let his words sink in, then turned to Dave and told him "You were right when you said that they shouldn't walk around freely and interact with kids."
"This didn't happen because of that." replied the head guard without pride or sympathy.
Erik let out a small sigh and shook his head. "What the hell was she doing in the vents Dave? What did the kid that came before Fitzgerald see?" The manager stared at us with a broken expression, before looking down at Mangle. "You were right. All this programming and interaction with the kids is unsafe, it always was. If we ever reopen, we'll use these older models." Once again, Erik looked at our group with hopeless eyes.
"What will we do with the new versions?" asked Dave after a while.
Erik pulled out the silver box of cigarettes from his shirt's pocket, opened it, and put one in his mouth while he listened to his employee's question. As soon as Dave had finished, Erik took a deep sigh, holding the cigarette with the corner of his lips. "You mean the… what nickname did the maker give them?"
"The Toys." chimed in Fritz with a small voice.
"The Toys…" repeated the manager thoughtfully. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, opened them, raised his unlit lighter to the tip of the cigarette, and answered matter-of-factly "As we said, they're too unsafe." For a second there was an orange flame, then a puff of smoke. "They're all going to the trash. Balloon Boy and the fox first, then we'll get rid of the other three."