{ Sylvia }

The building was dark, swallowing the light from the open door almost immediately. Sylvia latched onto her older brother's arm, trembling slightly in fear but trying to act brave so the others wouldn't take pity on her. She hated pity.

Her breathing shallowed as they slowly walked. The first thing they passed was the security office, where the scottish man Bud usually sat during the day. There was a small tablet laying on the table, which Sylvia guessed was to monitor the cameras around the facility. She jumped a bit as her gaze landed on the old suit of an animatronic with no ears just across the door in the hall. Its eye sockets were empty and it's mouth hung open, silently jeering at the children.

"Hey guys, let's check this room out," Skylar suggested, hesitantly walking into the security office.

"Why? We aren't supposed to..." Elliot replied. For the first time since Sylvia had met her, she wasn't acting energetic and happy, but rather scared and quiet. It only made Sylvia more nervous than she already was.

Belle snickered. "So? Nobody's here to see us. We just want to check it out. Come on, guys, don't be wimps," she urged, following Skylar into the room. Percy said nothing but walked timidly after the two younger girls, looking around at his surroundings as he went.

"This place gives me the creeps..." Edd muttered. Sylvia nodded in agreement and clasped his arm tighter, if that was even possible. Belle, Percy, and Skylar poked around in the security room while Elliot, Sylvia, and Edd hung outside the door and waited for them to finish their exploration.

Skylar was messing around with the Audio, Video, and Venthilation systems, pressing the reboot buttons uselessly and making them beep. Belle messed with the masks sitting in a dusty box in the corner. She pulled out a faded blue bunny mask and turned it in her hands, shaking her head. Percy was using the tablet like a pro, switching through what Sylvia presumed to be cameras.

As Sylvia was watching them, something in the window of the security office caught her eye. A dingy robot had raised its head, peeking into the office. It almost looked like a bear. Sylvia couldn't help but scream, jumping behind Edd and trying to stop herself from fainting. "Get it away! Get it away!" she yelled, sliding down the wall to sit in the floor in a ball.

Edd was trying to comfort her, patting her cheek and running his hand through her hair. "Silv, what are you talking about?"

"The robot, the robot, the robot, the robot!" Sylvia repeated, her breathing becoming progressively shallower. The others had rushed out of the security office to see what was going on. She squeezed her eyes shut.

"There's nothing there, Silv!" Edd assured her, sitting next to her and wrapping his arms around her. "It's okay."

How could they not see it? It was right in the window, clear as day, even making some radio static noises. How in the world did they not see it?

"You're hallucinating," Skylar said, kneeling in front of her and trying to calm her as well. "There's no robot. The only robot is Springtrap, and he's at the other end of the building."

Hallucinating?

"It's her anxiety and or paranoia kicking in," Edd replied, his expression showing everything suddenly made sense. "She has this thing where she always feels like she's being watched. I'm not surprised it's happening with such a creepy facility."

Elliot gave Sylvia a smile. "Cheer up, Silvie. You don't have to be scared. If Springtrap tries to get you, I'll whoop his butt! Don't you worry a bit!"

Sylvia's breathing had finally returned to somewhat normal. She inhaled deeply while the others waited for her to say something.

"We can leave if you want, Silv," Edd said, helping her get back to her feet.

"Oh, no no!" Sylvia said in a still-shaking voice. "I'm not that scared. The robot just freaked me out. I don't want to ruin this for all of you..."

Skylar shook her head. "You won't, forget about it. We can go." She looked back the way thet came, then returned her gaze to Sylvia.

"No!" Sylvia insisted. "I don't want to ruin this. I'll just stick by Edd." She gave the group surrounding her a reassuring smile to show them she was sincere. A few of them shared incredulous glances, but nodded.

"Okay..." Edd said reluctantly. "But if you ever want to leave at any moment just say the word and we're outta here, alright?" He gave her a light slap on the back.

Sylvia nodded, her smile widening slightly.

So the group continued on through the horror house. Sylvia jumped every now and then at old masks and such, but stayed by Edd and didn't have another anxiety attack. The group passed through the hallway next to the security office, which was visible through a window.

Another robot flashed at the end of the hallway. She saw it in small bits, walking toward them and then walking away. She yelped again, first stopping in her tracks and then backing up quickly at the second time she saw it. "Th-there's another robot!" she squeaked, her breathing shallowing again.

Edd quickly embraced her. "It's just a hullucination, it can't hurt you, Silv," he whispered to her, rubbing her back as she buried her head in his chest. "It's okay, you're okay."

Despite the group asking her again if she wanted to leave, she insisted they finish. They were about a third of the way through, anyway. So they pressed on.

In one room, there was a lamp casting orange light across the room. The lamp was the head of a fox animatronic, its mouth open and its eye not covered by an eyepatch radiating light from a lightbulb. Skylar thought it was the best thing she had ever seen.

"Guys, look at this thing!" she laughed, moving the jaw up and down. It made faint creaking noises as she did so. She put on a deep voice and said "Yar, mateys, I'm Lampy the Fox Lamp!"

Belle snorted and Elliot doubled over with laughter. At least some of us are enjoying ourselves, Sylvia thought bitterly to herself.