~O~

Part Four

Amy, Andy and Mark searched for the animatronics while Emily took a seat beside Dean. It seemed like he was trying to distract himself with a game on his laptop. A bag of chips laid beside his leg.

"Hey, I'm sorry for what happened." Emily told him, quietly. "I wasn't trying to baby you, or anything."

Dean made a face, looking up at her apologetically. "I'm sorry for yelling back there."

"What?" Emily looked confused. "You didn't yell."

Dean still looked apologetic, but resumed his attention to his laptop. He looked down at the puppet still lying on the floor near him and placed his coat over it.

Meanwhile, Andy wandered into another party room, stopping to a sign momentarily.

RULES FOR SAFETY:

Don't run.

Don't yell.

Don't scream.

Don't poop on the floor.

Andy didn't even get to finish as he was giggling at the message written there under the rules.

Someone had to have done that for it to be a rule regardless.

"Man..." he muttered.

He continued through the decorated party room and found the remains of what he could only guess used to be Chica.

She had been leaning against the wall, her sphere-shaped head lying limp on her robotic shoulders. A bit of the tuffs on the top of her head had been decayed, revealing the rusted metal of her endoskeleton beneath. Bits of the metal ribs were jutting out through her bib that read: LET'S EAT! in yellow lettering.

Her cupcake was sitting on the table nearby; it had silly, bulging eyes and a single candle topped on its head.

Andy grinned with excitement and approached, kneeling down to study the animatronic.

"Hey! Hey, guys!" he yelled, "Get in here!"

Immediately, Amy and Mark walked into the room and approached him. They were amazed at the sight of the mechanical chicken lying there.

"Wait, was she here before?" Amy asked, tilting her head.

"I don't know," Mark said, "I didn't get back to this room yet. Actually, I don't think any of us did."

Andy leaned close to the animatronic, chuckling. "Man, this chick's seen better days."

"Andy, that was terrible..." Amy muttered.

"Aww, come on. That was good!"

Mark made a wry smile before he studied Chica curiously. "I wonder why they're all over the mall, though." he said, "Maybe someone came here before us and moved them."

"Or maybe they moved on their own!" Andy teased, laughing.

"Dude, that's not funny." Mark snapped.

O

Emily was searching an old clothing store while keeping Dean within sight. Every so often, she looked up and found him still at his computer, distracting himself with his game. She didn't notice the animatronic Bonnie positioned near one of the clothing racks.

But when she turned, she cast her flashlight onto the animatronic. A grin lit her face and she momentarily forgot Dean.

"Whoa." she said. "Look at you!"

Bonnie's condition was the same as Foxy's and the others. His fur was falling off in most places, exposing delicate wiring and machinery. His eyes looked sunken and almost tired. That goofy jaw was open somewhat, revealing rows of silly, flat cartoon-style teeth.

Emily wanted to take a few pictures with her camera, so she held up her phone and turned on the flash, taking a few shots of the animatronic. She moved to the side and looked over her shoulder.

"Hey, Dean!" she called, "Look at this!"

She went to take another photo, but froze.

Bonnie's head was now turned in her direction, looking straight at her.

Emily was frozen, unable to process what she saw.

Bonnie's eyes and mouth began to leak dark fluid. It trickled down the length of his muzzle. Emily backed away in horror and disbelief, struggling to speak and call for Dean.

The faint light of her phone cast a terrible glow on Bonnie's face.

It was blood.

"Dean!" she shouted.

She quickly rushed from the shop, hurrying toward the other teenager. He looked frightened by her reaction and quickly stood up. She struggled to speak, making frantic gestures.

"Bonnie's in there!" she cried. "And he was... Oh God, he was covered in blood!"

Dean looked uneasy now and her shout seemed to gather the attention of the others as they were already hurrying down the escalator.

"Emily!" Mark shouted. "Emily, are you alright?"

Emily pointed frantically toward the clothing store, struggling to speak. Dean looked almost surprised by her reaction. He wasn't used to seeing the others so uncomposed. Normally, it was just him.

"In there?" Mark asked.

A nod from her and he walked into the store with a scowl. "Alright!" he snapped, putting on a tough-guy act. "Whoever's screwing around, just come out! It's not funny!"

He shined his flashlight over toward Bonnie, but the animatronic was back in his usual position.

"Hey, it's just Bonnie." he said, turning to Emily with a smile of relief.

Emily looked horribly confused and furious. "Don't do that. No." she said, approaching the animatronic. "He just did some creepy shit just now!"

Andy rolled his eyes. "Man, if you're freaking out like Dean over here, I can't deal with it." he said, annoyed.

Dean met Emily's stare and she slowly began to relax. "Maybe you're right." she said, rubbing her eyes with one hand. "Maybe it's just this place getting to me. It's making me paranoid."

But clearly, she still believed what she saw.

"Do you actually think this place is haunted, Dean?" Mark asked.

He looked over his shoulder, but Dean was gone. He had returned to his place without a word. Mark frowned a little and looked at Emily, who shook her head.

"He just needs some space..." she said, evenly.

It was hard to tell if she meant Dean, or herself. Mark's frown intensified and the other two winced.

"Awkward..." Andy muttered.

O

Later that evening, Amy sprinted across the parking lot to retrieve some snacks from the van. She looked both ways to make sure no guards were nearby before hurrying back with two bags.

She squeezed through the broken window with the help of Andy.

"Did you see those guards?" he asked.

"If they're out there, I didn't see them." she replied, walking over to the light and generator where the other sat. "So they probably didn't see me."

She handed Dean a bag. "I got your weird voodoo stuff."

Dean made a face. "It's not voodoo. That's a completely different ritual."

"It's really not." Mark said. "They're under the same sort of deal, I think."

"Not helping..." Dean told him, making a face.

He unzipped the bag and removed a few things. "I'm still learning from my mother, but I won't help do this if you guys don't take it seriously."

Mark frowned. "I'm taking it seriously."

"Yeah, you are." Dean said. He looked at Andy sternly.

The others looked at Andy and he met each stare before sighing and rolling his eyes.

"Fine, I won't laugh." he snapped.

Dean nodded his approval. "Alright. First thing's first..."

He pulled out a bundle of sage and a lighter. He lit the end of it and stood up, waving it around them. Andy coughed and the others twisted their noses at the smell of it.

"What the hell is that supposed to be?" Andy demanded.

"Sage." Dean told him. "I'm cleaning out any negative energies around us."

He paused in front of Andy and purposely waved the smoking sage around him many times before the other teen glared at him.

Emily tried not to laugh.

Once Dean was finished, he properly discarded the sage and sat back down in his spot. He took a deep breath and looked at them.

"I'm going to try and speak to any spirits that may be here." he said.

Don't.

The whispered warning in the back of his mind had come from the same voice from his dream. He attempted to shake it off and blinked rapidly.

"What, like a seance?" Mark asked.

"Kind of." Dean explained. "My mother was big on using automatic writing in her sessions. I think I can try it."

The air around them grew significantly colder. A chill.

A collection of whispers that had no name.

O

A shape was watching them through the upper floor windows of another shop. Dean was in the middle of scribbling something down on paper, his eyes wide. They were almost rolled up in his head.

"Dude, look at his eyes, man..." Andy whispered, uneasy.

"I can't believe he did it." Amy whispered back.

"Hello..." Dean slurred his words, speaking to someone who wasn't there. "Do you have a name?"

His hand continued to move on the paper. His features twisted somewhat. Emily tried to see what he was writing, but she couldn't in the poor light.

"Oh... I'm sorry." Dean suddenly said. "How old are you, Daniel?"

Continued writing.

"...Seven? Oh, you're so young to die. I'm sorry that happened to you, Daniel. Can you tell us how many of you are here?"

Andy looked amazed, leaning over to Mark. "Is this for real?"

Dean looked a little confused now, despite his eyes rolled in his head. "I'm sorry...how many?" he asked.

Emily leaned down at the paper and looked at the others gravely. "All of them." she read.

"All of them?" Amy asked, frowning at Mark. "What does that mean?" She looked at Dean, despite how futile it was. "Ask them what that means."

Dean continued with his seance. "What happened to you kids?"

A pause, a twist of his features and his face filled with horror. The others didn't see the bloodied figure of a child standing there, whispering in Dean's ear.

"...Oh God..."

"What?" Mark asked, anxiously. "What is it?"

Emily looked down at the paper. Her eyes widened. "A hammer... Wire... Hands." she read. Her features crumbled. "Oh Jesus..."

"Do you know the one who did this...?" Dean continued without pause.

A moment of silence as he continued to write. The silence continued on for a maddeningly long period of time before a loud sound in the distance drew the other's attention from the seance.

"What was that?" Mark asked.

Andy scowled, retrieving a pipe nearby. "Ghost or no ghost, I'm beating its ass."

Emily looked at Dean and he slowly seemed to come down from his trance. His eyes returned to normal and he looked around, still in a daze. He stared down at the paper that spelled out:

THE MAN IN PURPLE.

"'Man in purple'?" he said, "What does that mean?"

He noticed Andy rushing off and frowned. "Where's he going?"

"No time to talk, I have to catch that idiot." Mark said.

It was amazing how no one wanted to talk about what had been written on his paper. But Dean continued to look at them with shock. He met Emily's stare and seemed a bit shaken by this.

"I actually did it?" he said.

Emily nodded. "You did." She noticed how confused he seemed. "Why? Didn't you think you could do it?"

"No. My mother was still showing me how."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"It is. It means there is actually something here."

Suddenly, Andy's shout drew the remaining teenager's attention behind them. They abandoned their spot and followed Mark.

"Andy!" Emily cried.

O

The group rushed toward the direction of Andy's voice, leading them to the KB Toys and were surprised to see him facing off with another person.

It was a brown-haired, scruffy bearded man wielding an old pipe in one hand. He was dressed in tattered clothes with bags tied to them. It seemed like he was standing behind the counter and Andy was trying to goad him into fighting.

"Make a move, old man!" Andy spat.

"Whoa!" Mark said, raising two hands. "Alright! Let's all calm down for a second!"

The man squinted at him now, lowering the pipe slightly. "Really? A man comes at you with a pipe and you want to talk?" he snapped, his voice dry and rough.

Now that the teenagers had gotten a good look at him, they noticed that he had a terrible scar across his cheek and a few teeth missing. He had hardened blue eyes and one of them looked dialated.

"You shouldn't be here!" he hissed, gesturing with the pipe. "You need to leave, before it's too late!"

"Hang on. Just chill out for a second, Jesse Lee Tally." Mark said, attempting civility. "We had no idea you were squatting here. We didn't mean any harm. We're just doing some video recording and that's it."

"Seems like you were doing more than just recording from where I was standing."

Amy looked uncomfortable. "You were watching us?"

"Doesn't matter. You're tresspassing, that's what you're doing." the man snapped, advancing. But he stopped and gestured to the back door where the window had been shattered. "And vandalizing private property, from the looks of it."

Andy scoffed. "What are you, a cop?"

"No. I'm a security guard." the man said, giving him a cold look. He sighed and shrugged. "WAS a security guard, but that's not your business."

"What happened?" Amy asked him, carefully.

The man stared at her, his gaze as cold as stone. "Nothing you need to worry about," he answered. "Now you need to leave. It's for your own good." He gave a snort and turned. "Nothing here to look for but death."

"So why are you here, then?" Emily asked him.

"To keep nosy, thrill-seeking little shits like you from running to your death!" The man whirled on her, fury on his face.

"Oh, come on!" Andy rolled his eyes. "You expect us to really buy into that legend about the robots coming to life and killing people?"

"I frankly don't give a shit what you believe. Now get out."

Mark sighed. "Listen, we're not here to cause trouble." he insisted, "We just want to do some video recordings, listen to a few EVP's and be on our way. No one has to get hurt. No one needs to fight."

The man seemed to think about it. Then, he looked up quickly, muttering to himself; as if the teenagers were no longer there.

"Don't wake them up..." he murmured, starting to walk away. "Can't wake them up. They have to sleep. Stay asleep."

He wandered down the darkness of the mall, still muttering under his breath.

"Should we stay with him wandering around?" Dean asked, looking at Mark.

Mark seemed skeptical about the strange man, but looked at his friends. "We'll be okay," he assured them.

"Mark, are you serious?" Emily said, staring at him in disbelief. "This was fine when it was just us, but we don't know what that guy can do!"

Mark looked at the others for a moment before he took Emily's hand.

"Can we talk about this in private?" he asked, quietly.

"Mark, no, listen." Emily argued, as he ushered her out of earshot from the others. "No, I've had enough of this obsession of yours!"

Mark pulled her into another store across from the others and he looked at her gravely. Emily stared at him, but softened a little when she realized it was more serious than it probably even seemed.

"My brother was one of those kids." he told her.

Emily looked confused. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"The Missing Children Incident," Mark explained, "My mother was just eighteen then. I had an older brother who disappeared from that restaurant. Ten years ago. It took her that long before she had me."

He sighed, rubbing his eyes with one hand before he continued.

"I found the newspaper articles weeks before this trip. I just...I had to know. I had to give my mother closure somehow. It's been ten years, but it still makes her crazy. She never let me go by myself until just recently. I had to know..."

Emily exhaled and put her hands on his shoulders. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Mark sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know..."

The others watched as Emily and Mark embraced each other. Andy smiled his approval and glanced down at Amy.

"Well, they're not throwing anything at each other this time." he joked.

Dean nodded. "No more drama, I guess."

He heard music then.

A soft, gentle melody that played to the tune of "My Grandfather's Clock". Dean tilted his head curiously and followed the sound. Amy and Andy didn't seem to notice he left because they were already talking to each other.

That song...

That song was so familiar.

Dean wandered into Freddy's Pizza and toward an "employees only" marked door. The music seemed to grow louder here. It called to him somehow and granted him a warmth he'd never known since he was little.

Mom's song...

When he grabbed the knob, the music suddenly stopped. Dean slowly and cautiously opened the door, anticipating the worst, but he found nothing.

Well, except for a music box resting on the floor.

Curious, Dean bent down and picked it up in both hands. It was old, simple and covered in stains. What made it so curious was that it was just a simple, cube-shaped wooden box. Several depictions of the Fazbear Pizzeria had been printed on it. Happy, smiling cartoons of Chica, Freddy, Bonnie and Foxy.

Dean opened it and it began to play the same music again. He smiled.

Another image filled his head.

A child clutching the brand-new music box.

The music box smashed to bits by a hammer.

A scream.

"Don't wake him up."

"Don't wake up...Springtrap..."

Within the locked door where the Spring Bonnie suit rested; it suddenly sat up with a horrific, metallic scream.