SHOUT OUTS: HunterHero179 (i was laughing while reading your review and i don't know why i think i'm just tired), StormCloud666 (and now BB is having them too), Guest (hmm...), and FiveNightsAtFreddy's123Fan for favouriting the story!
Chapter 16
BB woke up with a start. He was breathing heavily, and he couldn't see anything. He began to panic before he remembered that he was in the kitchen. He'd gone to bed. The fangirls, Goldie and Mari, Mom...
He took a deep breath and sat up. He was terrified, but he didn't know why. Then he was suddenly slapped with the memory of his nightmare. He shuddered. Just thinking about it made him want to cry.
"BB?" A voice in the corner of the room said. BB gasped, as the voice sounded suspiciously similar to that of the horrified child from his nightmare. He saw something move, and a flashlight flicked on. BB shrank down in his sleeping bag, but the light wasn't pointed at him. It was aimed at the ceiling, probably just to illuminate the room and keep the beam from his eyes.
BB blinked. Gears whirred in his head, adjusting his eyes to the light. When he could see, he let out a sigh of relief. It was Goldie, still in his rumpled yellow suit. His bow tie and top hat were on the floor beside his sleeping bag, and his hair stuck up at odd angles. He looked really tired. The flashlight was held loosely in one hand, and he leaned back on his free arm. "You okay?" he asked quietly.
BB nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine. What time is it?"
Goldie directed the light at the clock on the wall. "Uh, twelve-eleven." He looked back at BB. "Are you sure you're okay? Did you have a nightmare or something?"
BB opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out. He couldn't bring himself to tell Goldie about that dream he had.
Instead, he simply nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine, though."
Goldie raised an eyebrow. "You're not sure."
BB sighed and said nothing.
Goldie nodded. He walked across the room and handed BB the flashlight. "Here. I'm gonna go find Dad. He should be on the night shift by now."
BB took the light in his small hands. "Okay."
Goldie smiled and ruffled his hair. He tiptoed towards the door, stepping over the other sleeping robots. The door swung open, he pulled it shut behind him as he walked out of the kitchen.
xXx
Scott held a tablet out to Fritz, who took it hesitantly in one hand. "This is a new tablet that Vincent bought," he explained. "Unfortunately, we don't have a camera in the kitchen, but if anyone breaks into the pizzeria, the robots would be able to take care of them."
Fritz took a shaky breath. "So, there's no music box, no mask, no nothing? They won't be any threat at all?"
Scott nodded. "All you have to do is flip through the cameras and make sure no one breaks into the place. That's it."
"Where will you be?" Fritz asked.
Scott shrugged. "Maybe the Parts and Service room or something. I don't know. I'm just gonna walk around a bit. Just don't freak out if you see me on the cameras. I won't come to the office and kill you, I swear."
Fritz laughed nervously. "Yeah. Okay. Is that it?"
"Yep," Scott replied. "Everything is basically the same."
Fritz pushed a button on the tablet. It flickered to life, showing an image of the Game Area in the main party room. An icon sat in the bottom left corner, made up of a bunch of little rectangles with a number on each. He pressed his thumb to a rectangle that said "CAM 09". The party room was replaced by a picture of the main stage. He kept pressing buttons, testing out the new tablet. It was a lot less delayed than the one he used a few years ago, and with much less static. The video feed was a lot sharper, and almost every little detail was visible.
Fritz took a deep breath. "Okay. I think I'm ready."
Scott smiled. "Okay. Good luck." He turned and walked down the hallway. Fritz stared at the back of his head until he faded into darkness.
I guess I'm on my own now, the security guard thought. He immediately turned his attention to the tablet in his hands. He flicked through the rooms, half expecting to see evil animatronics every time he accessed a new camera.
After about ten minutes, he began to relax. There were no more evil animatronics. There were just the robots he and Zoe had built and programmed. Everything would be fine.
xXx
Goldie sighed as he walked out of the kitchen. He looked around the dark, empty restaurant as he trudged past Pirate's Cove and through the Game Area. The pizzeria looked strange at night, with everything coated in darkness. The only lights in the room were the small red ones on the security cameras.
He was just about to turn down the hallway when the tiny light on the camera next to the Game Area started blinking. The dormant camera suddenly straightened. Another lens on the camera switched on like a flashlight, and that portion of the room was filled with light. It began slowly rotating, examining every inch of the area it was in.
Goldie thought for a moment. He might as well warn Fritz that he was coming. He wouldn't want his dad to freak out and think he was an evil animatronic.
He shrugged and walked over to the camera. He was almost within its line of sight when the light shut off and the camera lowered again, its lens to the floor. About a second later, the camera switched on once again and the small flashlight brightened the area once again. Unfortunately, Goldie was closer to the camera now, and the light seared his eyes. He felt the gears in his head stop for a moment, and he was frozen in place. He wanted to move, but his servos seemed to have locked up. The light shut off once more, and Goldie twitched as his mind began working again. His mind was in Nighttime Mode, and the light flashing right in his eyes had confused him for a moment. The light had made his brain switch from Night Mode to Daytime Mode, even though the rest of him protested, trying to remind him that it was the middle of the night.
Goldie blinked from the confusion of having his mind switch modes so quickly. He regained his composure and continued on his way, peering down the hall. The one camera near the entrance didn't seem to be on, and he slowly crept down the hall. He tried not to make too much noise, as he didn't want Fritz to figure out he was in there. He didn't want a repeat of what just happened. Besides, when the camera was on (or at least the flashlight), he wouldn't be able to tell him he was coming anyway. Fritz probably already figured that out on his own, anyway, as he'd seen him in the Game Area.
The floor creaked slightly every time his feet touched the ground. Goldie stared at the bare walls as he walked. He'd seen a couple pictures of the pizzeria before the fire in a couple old newspapers Tonnie and Mangle found in Vincent's room, and in every picture, there had been posters on the walls, along with messy drawings made by little kids. These walls had only a simple black and white checkered pattern.
Behind him, the light from the camera flickered to life, and he whirled around. He didn't mean to, but he just kind of did it without thinking. There was a word for that, right? Instinct, wasn't it? He kept forgetting words when he thought about them, and it was seriously frustrating at times.
As soon as the light hit his eyes, his mind switched out of Nighttime Mode again, leaving him confused. He was rendered completely immobile as the flashlight beam swept across the area.
The light turned off, and Goldie was able to move again. He was starting to get angry. Fritz should have recognized him, and yet he kept doing this. Didn't he see that it was messing with his system? Couldn't he tell that it was starting to irritate him- a lot?
He quickly dashed to the end of the hall, ending up at the entrance to another one. This one, however, had four rooms branching off from it, two on each wall. He ignored the Parts and Service room and dashed down the corridor. Fritz must have heard him, because a flashlight switched on from the end of the corridor. Goldie still wasn't prepared for this, and he was left motionless again. This time, the light didn't shut off after a little while. Instead, it flicked on and off, which was really starting to screw up his mind. He twitched violently as his brain started to overheat. If this kept up, it could literally have exploded.
Finally, the light shut off for good. He shook his head vigourously, trying to focus. He could just duck into one of the side rooms and avoid the flashlight. But there are probably cameras in those rooms, too, he thought, then shrugged to himself. He could just keep going down the hall. Though, when Zoe had shown him a map of the place, he did remember there being vents in the two rooms closest to the office...
He nodded as he continued down the hall. That would be the best way to the office. Surely there weren't cameras in there, let alone flashlights. He jogged lightly towards the far room on his right. Unfortunately, the light was suddenly on again. The twitching episode pursued, and as soon as he was mobile again, Goldie stumbled into the room with the vent. His mind couldn't take much more of this, and he was quite mad. Didn't Fritz see that it was him? He wasn't that hard to see! Surely Fritz knew that it was just him!
A click sounded from behind him, down the hallway. Goldie snickered. Seeing the now empty hallway must've had Fritz freaking out. He wasn't even trying to get Fritz so he could comfort BB anymore. Now he just wanted to freak Fritz out.
Also... Goldie really wanted to get into the office. He wasn't sure why, though. Before, his list of goals had been like this:
1: Get Fritz.
2: Explain that BB had a nightmare.
3: Get back to the kitchen with Fritz so he could calm BB down.
4: Do it all without turning into an evil animatronic.
Now it looked more like this:
1: Get to the office.
2: Freak out his dad.
3: Possibly, maybe kill him? Maybe?
He was still questioning that last one.
But then the camera, along with the light, switched on in the room, and Goldie changed his mind about the last thing.
He really wanted to kill him.
The light flickered off, and Goldie snarled. Why did Fritz keep doing that? He shouldn't have been worried! It was just him! Just Goldie! It wasn't like he was going to-
...
He was going to...
...
He...
...
...
...
Was he really?
Goldie gasped. He stumbled backwards, away from the vent he hadn't realized he was just about to enter. He wouldn't go into the office. He couldn't. If he really ended up killing, or even slightly injuring his dad, he would never forgive himself.
Goldie crept back out into the hallway. He suddenly remembered why he was there in the first place. He took a deep breath and peeked around the corner, into the office. Fritz was staring down at a tablet in his hands. He was sweating, and his hands were trembling. Goldie felt a pang of guilt. He was the reason his dad looked so terrified.
The light behind Goldie switched on; Fritz must've been looking through that camera to see if he was still there. Suddenly, the light flicked off and Fritz flung the tablet onto the desk in front of him and snatched a flashlight from the wooden surface. He fumbled with it for a moment, and Goldie reached towards his dad. "Wait, Da-!"
He was cut off by a bright beam of light aimed directly at his face. Goldie's mouth froze mid-sentence, his eyes wide, his arm outstretched.
Fritz panicked and began switching the light on and off, once again plunging Goldie into a spazz attack. He began twitching violently, Fortunately, Fritz snapped out of his panic and dropped the flashlight. Goldie twitched one final time before stumbling sideways into the wall. His software was completely messed up, and it took every ounce of his willpower to stay conscious.
He heard Fritz let out a breath of relief. "Oh god. Goldie, don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" He paused. "Goldie? You okay, kiddo?"
Goldie felt a pair of hands grab his own, and then he was sitting in the chair Fritz had been in before. He grimaced and looked up, blinking. "Yeah. I think I'm fine."
Fritz sighed and grabbed Goldie's head, moving it around and looking for injuries. After a few moments of this, Goldie grabbed Fritz's wrists and pushed him away. "Whoa, Dad, what are you doing?"
The security guard sighed. "Sorry. You just looked really creepy on those cameras. I was probably just hallucinating, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
Goldie was confused. He tilted his head. "How exactly did I look?"
Fritz shrugged. "Well," he started, but he seemed at a loss for words. Instead of explaining, he turned around and picked up the tablet. He pressed a few buttons, and began speaking. "I managed to get a picture of you while you were at the vent. I was trying to switch cameras, but my hands were shaking so much, I accidentally pressed the screenshot button."
He held the tablet out to Goldie, who took it hesitantly. He forced his eyes to the screen, afraid of what he might see.
He was definitely right to be afraid.
The creature on the camera was so horrible, he almost screamed. It looked a lot like him, with the same structure, face, and clothing, more or less. But this thing's hair was a dark, muddy brown, covered in filth. His usual clean suit was now in tatters, rips and holes dotting the once yellow jacket, which was now so covered in a grimy layer of oil and dirt that it looked more brown than yellow. The tan metal that usually covered him as skin was torn away in some places, revealing the silver endoskeleton beneath. All of the metal joints were completely bare, causing his arms to dangle towards the ground, his legs bent at odd angles. He had on his purple top hat and bow tie, and they were a lighter colour than normal. His hands were tipped with needle-like claws, which barely touched the ground.
But the most disturbing part was his face.
Goldie's normally brown eyes were pitch black, like empty eye sockets, though there was a slight red glow in the center of them both. Wires protruded from his skull and hung out of his eyes, some of them almost reaching his shoulders. His mouth hung open incredibly wide, like someone had cut open his cheeks and disconnected his jaw from the rest of his face. His teeth were razor sharp, and he seemed to have two rows of them instead of just one.
Goldie shook his head vigourously and handed the tablet back to Fritz. "That's not me," he declared.
Fritz gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. You see it too. I thought maybe I was just hallucinating." Then he took the tablet and pressed a few more buttons. "And I'm afraid it is you. I accidentally got another picture of you just before you came in here." He turned the device around to show the picture to Goldie. This one was of a normal Goldie, no hat or tie, normal crumpled suit, normal eyes.
Goldie reached out and began swiping across the tablet, wanting to see the first picture again for comparison. Instead, he found a picture of the vacant Prize Corner. He furrowed his brow and continued swiping. There were a lot of other pictures of empty rooms. He raised an eyebrow at his dad.
The guard sighed. "I was really nervous, okay? I kept pressing the wrong buttons. Vincent should really get Mike to do this job instead, or even do it himself. They're both a lot braver than I am. You were also swiping the wrong way." He reached over and slid his finger across the screen until it was back at the first photo.
They both stared at the tablet and switched between pictures, comparing them for similarities. Finally, Goldie sighed and leaned back in the chair. "How did this happen?" he asked, partially to himself.
His dad shrugged. "I dunno. The only reason I can think of is that a demon has been possessing you for the past few days and it's finally starting to show signs of complete takeover of your body." Goldie raised his eyebrows in confusion, and Fritz shrugged. "I read a lot of horror and fantasy stories."
Goldie gave a nervous laugh. "You're so weird."
i literally want to go back in time and fucking slap my past self in the face for making this chapter ending shitty