"I can't see a goddamn thing in here!" Shouted the very audible voice of James as he walked into the Kitchen, the swinging door closing behind him.
There has to be a switch somewhere in here…" April stammers, following the boy into the pitch-black, windowless room. She slowly reaches out, touching the tips of her fingers to the cold tiled wall and feeling her fingers run through a thick layer of grime. "Eew! Don't the employees ever clean this place?" April wipes her fingers on her blue jeans, slipping the sleeves of her grey hoodie over her hands and continuing to move her hand along the wall.
"Aha! Found it!" Pipes M as he flips a small light switch and illuminates the dark room. Upon even the laziest of inspections, it is very apparent that the kitchen hasn't seen any modicum of thorough cleaning in quite some time. Clean dishes have been laid out to dry beside the restaurant-size sink, though the basins and drains themselves are stained with hard water and pepperoni; it is as though the staff left in a hurry. In the far corner of the room sits a white box, accented with a red bow beside the industrial-sized refrigerator. The flamboyant teen walked to the center counter, placing his palms on it and lifting his body up to sit atop. "This place is gross…they actually serve food out of here? No wonder they're getting shut down!"
"Whatever, let's just see if we can get this oven tray going." James says, motioning to the large pizza oven on the wall. He begins messing around with the buttons, before pulling back before noticing that the power cord has been unplugged. "Who the hell unplugs an oven at a pizza place? What cheapskates; it doesn't even use up that much power." He mutters to himself as he bends over to plug the oven back in
"That boy has a nice ass." M whispers to April, who in response bursts with laughter.
"You're such a slut M!"
"What? I can't help it if the guy's got a nice ass; I could grab it all night long; and what did I say about my name girl?"
"Sorry Ken, it's hard to change when you call someone something for so long." April looks around the kitchen once more, this time her eyes fixing on the dirty white box in the corner. "Is that a present?"
"Present? Where?"
"There in the corner." April says, jumping from the counter and walking over to it. "This box."
"I don't know about any boxes, but I know of a package I'd like to get ahold of." M says with a snicker.
April just rolls her eyes, before a slight sense of fear sets in. She isn't sure why, but a deep, terrified feeling takes over. With a false sense of bravado, she cautiously places her hands on each side of the box's lid, hesitating for a moment and slowly pulling up, flinching as she rips the lid from the container. After moments of sitting still, the girl lets out a sigh of relief upon recognizing a familiar face.
"Oh my God it's been forever since I've seen this thing!" she says, reaching into the box and pulling out a 6-foot figure. Its black body lay jumbled in her arms, white; tear-painted face looking up at her with hollow eyes. "It was always my favorite since it always gave me my favorite toys at the Prize Corner in that old location! That's odd though…this location doesn't even seem to have a prize area; why would this be here in the kitchen of all places?" She wonders aloud.
"What the hell is that creepy ass thing?" James asks, walking up to April.
"It's the puppet who used to hand out toys back at the old location; I always liked the lines under its eyes. I asked the manager what they were once, and he said they were 'tears of joy'. I just don't understand why it would be in the kitchen though."
"Well it's really creepy."
"It is not, how's the pizza coming along anyway?"
"Yeah James, how is the pizza coming along?" Ken says, standing up off of the counter and strutting his way to the other two teens. "You know, I always prefer mine with…sausage." He finishes, turning to bend down and tie his shoe, perking his butt out toward the boy in a painfully obvious attempt at flirting, and making him look around in discomfort.
"Anyway…" James stammers, reaching into his sleeve and pulling out his pack of cigarettes, grabbing two and offering one to April, then Ken, both of who deny. "I always thought that shit pizza places like this one used frozen pizzas, but it seems that, surprisingly, this Fazbear place uses actual dough and fresh ingredients. I don't think it'd be a good idea to turn on the dough mixer, oven, and prep ingredients, nor do I want to, so it looks like we'll be stuck eating plain pepperoni.
"Don't even think of smoking in the kitchen of a fucking kids pizza place dude." Tobie says, walking through the swinging door with Hunter following him. "We need to leave as little evidence possible that we were here."
"Goddammit…fine!" James mutters, placing both cigarettes in his pocket with a groan.
"So what's with the pizza situation?" Asks Hunter, wiping his finger on the wall then onto his pants. "This shit would never pass at my dad's Subway."
"Jesus this place is filthy; how in the hell have they managed to stay in business this long?"
"I know right?" James asks, taking the puppet from April's hands with a sigh. "As I just finished telling them, no pizzas tonight unless you want to learn how to make dough, prep ingredients, use a dough mixer and an oven."
"That sucks, wait, why is the Prize Corner Puppet here?"
"Dunno, all I do know is that I need a smoke, I'm going outside." James places his spare cigarette in the puppet's mouth and tosses it towards its box; narrowly missing the five foot toss and letting it land halfway in, its limbs limply dangling on the edges, and its face towards James. "The thing looks like it could use one too; maybe it'll stop crying."
April looks at the smoker with a pissed off expression, cursing under her breath as she walks back to the Puppet, curls it back up, and sets it in the box as her friends leave the kitchen.
"Sorry about that asshole." She says, closing the lid and following the others back to the lobby; the image of the pale, gaunt expression of the puppet and still lingering in her mind as she pushes the doors open. It was odd, almost as if it had been watching him before she went back to put it away. If only she had known sooner, if only any of them had known what a truly terrible decision they had all made that night…Hunter brought them in, and James had sealed their fate.
…
A heavy breeze flows through the air outside the pizzeria, making the short, redhead standing in front of it shiver. To her right is a scrawny worm of a boy, his thick glasses accentuate his almond eyes and are the same color as his very short hair: black. He stretches his hand out at his hip, waving it side to side before closing it around the girl's and looking at her with an uneasy smile. Beside the two teenagers stands a tall light brown-skinned kid about their age, if not a few years older, his sheer height dwarfs the dark-haired girl standing beside him; an ever-cheery expression painted on her face. The four teens stare at the formerly renowned Pizzeria; each with their own goals to accomplish for the night. The Asian boy takes the first step forward, walking further in the parking lot; his gaze fixing on the eight bicycles sitting in the parking lot.
"Looks like someone else had the idea to come here…" He says, looking the red-haired girl timidly. "We should go…"
"I don't know, we did just bike all the way here, do you really want to go home after all of that?" She responds, disappointedly.
"You guys biked, I had to walk." The darker-skinned boy interjects, opening the door to the pizzeria. "Bro, you've got to man up some more. I don't know about you all, but I'm going to get my game on. "Where all the white women at?" He shouts, walking inside.
"Ha, Drew you crack me up." Says the dark haired girl, looking at the redhead and the Asian boy. " You guys did come all the way here, I'm sure if other people snuck inside they won't have any problem with sharing. What are they going to do? Call the cops?"
"This is true…come on Joey, let's just go inside already; we can just go backstage for a bit."
"Fine…but only cuz you're kind of forcing my hand here." Joey remarks, passive aggressively as he follows the girls inside.
As the four teens walk inside, memories of the pizza place's operating hours flood Drew's mind; he has spent many an hour in the restaurant's arcade. They make their way into the showroom, finding it rather difficult to navigate the restaurant's dark inside. Drew arrives first at the stage, placing his hand to his chin and taking in the strange ambiance in the air. Eyes locked on the eerily still big, brown bear in the center of the stage; Freddy Fazbear himself. The bear's cold, dead eyes and slightly open mouth give off a very creepy vibe; tearing into his bravado and giving the boy a slight sense of fear. On each side of the illustrious Freddy Fazbear stand his two best friends in the world: Chica Chicken and Bonnie Bunny, each looking creepier than the last. Bonnie always had a weird way of being the only animatronic that ever really made Drew uneasy until tonight; despite being the most "cartoon"" of them all. In his awful stupor, he doesn't notice as Tobie sneaks up behind him."
"What the hell are you doing here Drew?" The blond asks, folding his arms as Hunter and the crew from the kitchen follow en suit.
"Ah!" Drew yelps, turning around. "Jesus you scared me Bro-bie. I'm just here to play some games in the arcade, what are you guys up to?"
"We're ghost hunting!" April chimes as she exits the kitchen. "I don't think I met you before, are you a friend of Tobie's?"
"Well, Tobie you want to tell the story?"
"Nah, you can do it Drew."
"Well, back in 7th grade we hated each other and I wanted to, and almost did, kick his butt so hard." Drew says with a smile, "But we got stuck in quite a few detentions together this year and we're on much better terms."
"That's pretty much it." Agrees he blond, high fiving Drew.
"Nice to hear, I'm happy we have a bit of dark meat to spice things up." Ken smirks at Drew and licks his lips. "So did you walk all the way here by yourself Drew?"
"No, he walked with us." Joey says, grabbing the redhead's hand once more. "Hello Tobie."
A flash of anger crosses Tobie's face for a moment before he begrudgingly pulls a false smile and waves. "Hi Joey, Allie, What brings you two and…sorry do I know you?" He asks, looking at the dark haired girl.
"No, but I didn't know these guys beforehand either; I just like to sneak out sometimes, and your friends here were the first group I saw and talked about going here; I decided to tag along. I'm Krystal." The girl says, toying with her hair before holding her hand out to the group to shake.
"Well it certainly is nice to meet you." Hunter says, accepting her hand in a shake. "My name is Hunter, and this is James, April, M…"
"It's actually Ken now."
"Huh? Really? But I've been typing M in like every story ever for the past year and a half, including this one, and now it's suddenly Ken?" Questions Tobie; exasperated.
"What are you talking about? What stories?" Ken asks, confused.
"And what do you mean by 'this one'?" James joins, just as confused.
"Nevermind, Ken it is I suppose." Tobie groans, "And I am Tobie."
A loud crackling can be heard before the cool, collected voice of Keanu goes over the intercom.
"I'm Keanu, you're Krystal, now we met. Well, not really…but you know what I mean." Keanu clears his throat, "Um Tobie, guys, you may want to check this out. I found something you may want to see."
The teens all look at one-another, shrugging their shoulders.
"Well Allie and I are gonna leave you guys to your business." Joey says, grabbing her hand and pulling her arm in the direction of the arcade.
"Hey Joey, why don't we ask Hunter to join us?" Allie asks, checking out hunter's husky frame. "He looks like he'd be fun." She whispers to him, dragging a finger along Joey's chest.
"What? Why? I thought this was just going to be you and me…I thought after we started dating you'd stop suggesting we bring more with us."
"Come on Joey, pwease? Just this one time?" Allie pouts.
"As much as I want to say no…fine. He can join us."
"Yay! You're coming with us hot stuff!" The redhead cheers, smacking his butt and grabbing his arm.
The expression on Tobie's face goes dull, he clears his throat and grabs Hunter's other arm.
"Hunter, if you do this I swear to god we won't be friends anymore!"
"Oh come on dude, you know I'd never do that to you." Hunter says, pulling Tobie's arm away from his. "But tell you what, why don't I let them know that? In the arcade…bye."
The three teens leave the room, headed for the smaller arcade room; the only room in the building with any form of actual lighting apparently.
"Goddammit!"
"Sorry that happened Tobie, how about we go check out what Keanu wants?" James suggests, patting his friend on the back."
"Fine…" The blond says, disappointedly; walking with his friend through the hallway.
"Well, I guess I'm going to join your guys' ghost hunt or whatever since those controls in the arcade are probably going to be a little sticky after their little nasty dance." Drew says, following April and Ken to the security office.
Krystal looks around, thinking for a bit before heading down the hallway opposite of the other five teens. She takes a quick look around her as she walks, using the mini flashlight she brought with her to at least illuminate the few feet in front of her. She flashes it along the walls, making note of the grimy posters along the walls. She stops dead in her tracks, in front of a purple poster showcasing the illustrious Freddy Fazbear holding his signature microphone; the words "LET'S PARTY" at the top. The girl slides the sleeves of her hoodie up to reveal her baby blue watch and shines her light along it.
"Damn, it's really only 11:50? I could have sworn it was much later than that." She thinks aloud, looking back up at the poster of Freddy Fazbear, only to find something very, very wrong that causes her heart to skip a beat. Freddy is no longer holding his microphone, but instead has reached both of his hands up to his face and appears to be tearing his head apart. "Ah!" She yelps, her flashlight going dead upon hitting the ground. Quickly the girl drops to the floor, scrambling to try and find the small, black flashlight; she spends what feels like an eternity looking before feeling a hand on her shoulder. Once again she screams, turning around in a flash and punching the figure directly in the groin with all of her strength.
"Ah! Goddammit!" Keanu yells, falling to the floor in a curl.
"Oh my god I am so sorry!" Krystal exclaims, covering her mouth. "What were you doing sneaking up on me?"
"We heard you yell out here so I came to see what was up *Cough* Gave up a really nice chair to do it too. Why would you do something like this?"
"Well you scared me…you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Keanu says, staggering to his feet and trying to keep his legs apart. "Why did you yell anyway?"
"Oh right, well I was looking at that poster up there, the one of that bear with the microphone, when I glanced down at my watch for just a second and I swear to god it changed!"
"Huh? Really?" Keanu asks, flipping his own flashlight on and shining it on the poster, which has reverted to its normal state. "How so?"
"That's…that's not what it was like before; when it switched I mean." Krystal says, looking down and picking up her flashlight. "Well thank you for coming to check on me; sorry for hitting you again."
"Yeah, don't mention it…ever."
"So you're the guy who was on the intercom? What did you find?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, come inside, you should probably check it out."
'The two black haired youths head into the very cramped security office where they are greeted with James' smirking face sitting in the office chair.
"Saw Krystal here give you a hard cup check man; you okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Up out of my chair, now. I need to rest."
"Fine, fine. But you owe us a game of…kickball after this." James says, standing up and squeezing past April, Ken, and Tobie to allow the naturally tan boy to sit down.
"A game of what? Oh ha, she used her fist smarty." Keanu takes his seat and turns to face the monitors, opening the top drawer of the desk and pulling out a heavy, purple brick cell phone.
"Jesus I didn't think this place made enough money to afford one of those!" April stammers in disbelief.
"Looks pretty old, think it would fetch any kind of price?" Drew wonders. "Nah, probably not in that color."
"What's wrong with purple? Purple's cool!" Tobie states, defensively.
"No one wants a bright purple phone dude, not even The Joker."
"Can I just show you assholes what I found? Or are you going to continue arguing petty bullshit?"
"Petty bullshit." Tobie says with a smirk. "Alright, fine continue."
"Thanks, yeah thank you for that." He groans in response, pressing a few buttons on the phone. An audio file begins to play from the speaker.
"Hello, hello? Hey! Hey, wow, day 4. I knew you could do it.
Uh, hey, listen, I may not be around to send you a message tomorrow. *banging sound* It's-It's been a bad night here for me. Um, I-I'm kinda glad that I recorded my messages for you *clears throat* uh, when I did.
Uh, hey, do me a favor. *bang bang* Maybe sometime, uh, you could check inside those suits in the back room? *bang bang* I'm gonna to try to hold out until someone checks. Maybe it won't be so bad. *bang bang* Uh, I-I-I-I always wondered what was in all those empty heads back there. *chime plays*.
You know...*moan* oh, no - *noises followed by an animatronic screech and static*
All of the kids look at one another, all clearly uncomfortable and a bit disturbed by what they have just heard. Minutes pass by before anyone is able to even say a word.
"Um…what was that?" Drew asks, clearing his throat.
"I don't know…but maybe we should leave; we can't eat pizza tonight anyway; let's just all go home and find something to do…" James replies, looking to his left and seeing that Ken has latched onto his arm.
"You're going to be protecting me; I'm not letting go."
"Hold on guys, let's not be hasty; we made it this far already. I'm not leaving until we absolutely have to. Keanu, dude, how many times in your life can you say that you've done something as exciting as this?" Tobie asks, looking around at his cohorts. "What about you, April, James, Drew, any of you?"
"Well I've been shot before." Drew suggests.
"Shut up Drew, come on guys; we can pull through and last the night…play games, hang out, it's what we planned to do, and it's what we're going to do. We can and will make this work." Tobie cheers. His lazy, spur of the moment speech surprisingly being enough to motivate most of his comrades.
"Fine…but maybe someone should at least go grab Danny and Rose; let them hear the message too." Keanu interjects, setting the phone down and spinning the chair to face them.
"Yeah, I'll go tell them." Drew says, walking out of the room and down the hallway, followed by Ken and James.
"I really hope you're right about this Tobie." Keanu says, turning back to face the monitor and closing the office doors.
"I am, I know I am…this will work." Tobie looks down at his watch; the time reading 12:00 AM exactly.