Note: Oh man! Chapter 3 already! Before I get into it, I've got a few things to say. First of all, thank you for all the support I've been getting! Only a few kind words are enough to keep me motivated. Secondly, I think you all are going to like this chapter because this chapter is when we finally get into things. Be forewarned though, this chapter does bring up a lot of new questions that will be answered in due time! Bear with me. :)
After nearly avoiding being caught by a law enforcer, I carefully walked towards the exit of the storage room; still worked up from what just happened. I quickly and stealthily made my way to the office in the back of the store. Inside, I pulled on a rope which revealed a ladder going up to a room with a single door. I climbed the ladder, jiggled the door's doorknob, and kicked the door open.
There my brother was, chugging down our water supply as if he'd been lost in a desert for a solid week. "Where have you been!?" Asked Adam worriedly. "You're lucky I'm not being hauled away by a cop." I said, justifying my lateness. "You almost got caught!?" "Yeah. I hid in the backroom." I began.
"If it wasn't for that weird puppet and-" "Me," interrupted a young man in a Fredbear's uniform. "You!?" I yelled with a stunned tone to my voice. "Please don't tell-" "Don't worry. I just followed you here 'cause I was curious. That's it. I ain't gonna report you guys or anythin' like that, but what exactly are you doin' up here?" The man said calmly.
"Don't trust him, Jack! He's probably an undercover narc or something!" "Narcs are for drugs, Adam," I explained with a sigh. "What do you want from us!?" I asked apprehensively. "Nothin'...god...What's wrong with you? I just wanted to know who you were and why you were running from a cop." He said while trying to hide the fact that he was getting nervous. I can be pretty intimidating when it comes to protecting my brother. After all, he's all I got.
"Why did you help me?" I asked, still very apprehensive. "Alright... I guess I'll go first in this little question period we got going here," said the man sarcastically. "I guess you looked innocent enough. I know more than anyone else what getting chased by a cop is like…" The guy seemed to get lost in his thoughts.
"That doesn't seem like much of a reason." I said in order to break the silence. But don't get me wrong! I'm still very thankful!" I said with gratitude. "By the way, my name is Jack and this is my brother, Adam. What's your name?" I asked curiously. "It's Dave, but most people just call me Davey," said the worker.
"Now it's your turn to give answers! First of all, why were you running from a cop?" Davey wondered. I thought of lying to him, but I decided against it because he seemed like he was most likely a good person. He had saved my ass, after all. "Well….both our parents died. Ironically, they were a police officer duo…..they were killed on the job while dealing with an A-list criminal…," I said while recalling that horrible phone call that delivered the news when I was only 5. " And since we had no known relatives, my one year old brother and I were put into the foster care system. We hated it there. We knew there had to be something more to life. So one day we escaped the orphanage and ended up here. We'll be taken back to a home if one of those officers catches us. We live up here for now," I quickly summed up.
"Wait a second! Are you the mystery employee we keep seeing sneak into the kitchen and come out with tons of food?! The guys and I called you Scruffy. We've been trying to figure out who you were for a while now!" Said Davey as if he had found a cure for cancer. I thought I had been a bit more sneaky than that, but it seemed the Fredbear workers recognized me on more than one occasion.
"So you've been living up here!?" Asked Davey with slight concern. "...Yeah..." I said, feeling kind of embarrassed. "Well why didn't you come see me!? Said Davey with a "duh!" expression on his face. "If you'd a just showed yourself, Hector woulda taken you both in." Davey continued. "Come, I'll introduce you to the guys! They'll flip when they learn Scruffy and his bro 'ave been livin' on the damn roof the whole time!" Davey said with a slight chuckle. "Who's Hector?" I asked. Instead of answering me, Davey signaled for Adam and I to follow him.
He brought us down to the employee's lounge. The lounge had a circle shape to it. It had a round couch hugging the wall to the right and a bar in which Davey was already fixing himself a drink at to the left. Behind the bar, I saw what looked to be a bed, which I found to be a strange furniture choice for a lounge. The room also had a big empty rack on the back wall, where I assumed employees would hang their uniforms at when the end of the day came. The rest of the room's decor consisted of randomly placed bean bag chairs.
My brother and I took a seat in the middle of the round couch, when Davey walked across the messy, yet cozy, room and rung a bell hanging next to the door. Suddenly, a bunch of young-looking guys came stampeding into the room, quickly filling up the space. Davey shouted for everyone to get quiet as he took a seat next to us. "I'd like you guys all to meet Jack and his brother." Davey said to the room filled with around thirteen guys.
"Wait a sec…..Scruffy, Is that you!? Davey, you actually found him!?" called out a guy sitting on the far right of the couch. "And to think you ever doubted me, Scraps!" Davey said with the notorious grin he had on ninety percent of the time. "Well, damn!" Cut in another guy sitting in a bean bag chair to my left. "Guess I'll get you that money tomorrow, Nightly," said the guy while sinking in the chair defeatedly.
"Sunnly, you bet on whether or not I could find Scruffy?" Davey said. "But I had your back, man," said Nightly. "So who exactly is Scruffy and his bro?" Said Scraps. "Well they're orphans who've been livin' on the roof of this place for a while. Jack and his brother 'ave been sneakin' in and stealin' our food. But I don't blame 'em. They were just tryin' to survive," said Davey.
"You should take 'em both to see Hector. He'd know what to do with 'em." said someone who was mixing himself a pretty complicated drink at the bar. "I was gonna do that after you guys introduced yourselves like polite new friends would do." "Oh yeah! Umm… I'm flash!" Said the guy at the bar. "We call 'em that cause he can't shut up. You know, like thunder in a lightning storm," whispered Davey to Adam and I.
"And I'm Scraps. All you need to know 'bout me, is that if I'm talked to when I'm working on my machines, I will kill you," said Scraps darkly. "He's serious about that one," added Davey. "I'm Sunnly and the one who won the bet is….. Nightly," said Sunnly while pointing at Nightly from the opposite side of the room. Using what I gathered from their names, I figured Sunnly and Nightly were polar opposites.
After Davey introduced me to everybody, most of the guys cleared out of the room to get back out and do their jobs. "Hey, Davey! Hector is probably still a bit on the stressed side, so today might not be the best time to see him," said Scraps on his way out. "Oh yeah... He's right," agreed Davey. "Who's Hector and why is he stressed?" asked Adam curiously.
"Well, Fredbear's was started by the three brothers of the Leymour family. Hector bein' one of 'em. At first, Fred, another one of the brothers, took the lead on the project and now proclaims himself as the owner of the place, even though he's become the least involved in the diner. Now the diner is losin' lots of costumers and Fred is holdin' Hector responsable," explained Davey.
"Hector is also dealin' with his brother, Mr. Leymour, who never goes by his real name for some reason. Hector and I think Leymour isn't sane anymore. He goes on and on about how he hears voices that tell him to do things. Leymour has been botherin' Hector about it for around half a year now," continued Davey.
"How do you know Hector this well?" I asked. "Well….when I was sixteen, I ran away from home. The very same night I ran away, Hector found me shiverin' in the cold. He brought me back to his diner and I told him what happened," Davey said in a tone opposite to his usual upbeat spunk. "Why did you run away?!" Asked Adam. Davey completely disregarded my brother's question.
"Hector came up with an agreement; he would let me sleep here if I would watch the store at night. I would also have to work day shifts too sometimes." Davey said with an absent look in his eye. I imagined he felt kind of ashamed to admit that he was living in a diner. "Why did you run away?" I asked again. I was curious why someone would leave their family. I would've given anything to see my parents again. "I'm NOT going to answer that, so stop asking! I don't need to talk about it!" Davey suddenly yelled. "Grab yourselves uniforms and get to work... I'll tell Hector that you're workin' here. That way he'll let you stay here 'till he figures out what to do with you…..You can sleep on the." Said Davey before angrily storming out of the room.
"That was strange" said Adam, stunned. "Go get our stuff from toproof," I said. "Jack, are you sure we'll be safe here. What if that cop comes back? What if Hector or Leymour don't approve of us? What if-" "Enough questions, Adam! You have to learn to be grateful for what you have! We're lucky Davey was kind. Stop trying to find something to worry about!" I snapped. "...Alright….I'm going…." Said Adam quietly on his way out.
I picked up a spare uniform, put it on, and stepped out into the kid-filled party room. As I walked out, I realized I had no employee training, but that didn't matter because I saw something in that same moment that would end up changing the course of my life forever.