I spent like 3 straight hours typing this. I like to imagine Toy Bonnie's voice sounding like MandoPony from YouTube lol. Thanks for all the support and excited comments by the way. And yes. Foxy has a tail in this story.
"You're awake," Lea smiled. She was sitting at the edge of the bed fiddling with a little rounded box. "I didn't think you guys slept. Well, then again, Chica ate gummy worms last night so I guess you guys can do a lot of things."
Bonnie sat up and tilted his head, staring at the object in her hands. "What is that?"
The box was almost ball-like with a flat bottom. It was a very pale pink color with flowery carvings all around it and a gold trim; it looked very antique. Lea turned it over to show him a windup key sticking out of the back. "It's a music box," she said. "Miss Westin gave it to me a long time ago. It stopped working about a month ago and I've been trying to fix it."
"Can you?"
"I think so," she looked it over. "I had to change out some of the gears but it seems okay now. I used to help my dad fix cars and machines so this little thing isn't so complicated."
"Your dad… Was he nice?"
She nodded. "He was the best. We played games all the time. Sometimes we went to the park, or the library, or the mall. He was a mechanic and we used to go with him to work. Because of that, I learned a lot about cars and machines."
"That sounds nice..." Bonnie trailed off.
Lea was going to ask him what was wrong but before she could, Alex called from the kitchen, "Breakfast is ready!" Lea hopped off the bed and smiled at Bonnie. "Smells like pancakes." As they entered the kitchen Lea was pleased to find that Alex had in fact made pancakes. "My favorite," Lea sat down at the table.
"I helped!" Chica beamed.
"Yeah," Alex said as she placed Lea's plate on the table. "I was kind of worried but she was really helpful. I had to make a lot, though…" Alex watched as Chica sat with her own plate stacked higher than the others.
"Do you want any?" Lea asked Bonnie as he sat in the chair next to her.
"Oh, no, thank you."
She shrugged and took a bite of her breakfast. "Where's Freddy?"
Alex shrugged. "I saw him earlier in the laundry room. He's probably trying to find somewhere dark to creep around."
"So, what do you want to do today?" Chica had already finished her food. Alex looked dumbfounded.
"I think we should go to the store," Lea turned to her sister.
Alex raised and eyebrow at her. "What? I went to the store yesterday!"
"Yeah, for food," Lea poked her arm and Alex swatted at her. "We need stuff for them to do."
"Like what?"
She thought for a moment. The animatronics acted a bit childish at times, especially Chica. Maybe Miss Westin was right, maybe they were actually kids. She would have to look into that later. Lea shrugged. "I don't know. Some crayons and paper, toys, games. Heck, get a bunch of arts and crafts stuff."
"That sounds fun!" Chica leaned forward. "Can I come?"
"That is a terrible idea," Alex said. Chica looked disappointed.
"Sorry Chica," Lea told her. "It might draw too much attention if any of you guys left the house."
"Oh, right."
"Don't worry. We won't be too long."
"Is it a good idea to leave them here by themselves?" Alex asked.
"Why not?" Lea shrugged.
...
"All right." Lea had gathered the three animatronics in the living room. "Before Alex and I go to the store, we need to lay down some rules. Stay inside and don't open the door for anyone. No one! If something happens and you need help, I left a note by the phone with Miss Westin's number. Try not to break anything. Chica, don't eat all the food."
"Okayyy!" she sang.
Lea nodded. "Bonnie, make sure Chica doesn't eat all the food."
"Got it."
"We shouldn't take even a whole hour." She waved and closed the front door, locking it behind her.
...
Lea and Alex rounded the corner to the local store's parking lot. It was late summer, so the usually slow-paced area was filled with vehicles of back to school shoppers and their impatient parents. It wasn't too busy inside, not like it would have been in a larger town or city. Technically, the town was a nice size, but most of its buildings were old and abandoned. Many of them were just built around or ignored completely. But nothing exciting ever really happened.
Lea kept picking up items to examine, comparing them to other similar items and repeatedly going back to double-check things. "Just pick one already," Alex fussed. Lea shot her a look before placing a pack of children's markers in their cart.
...
At some point after the girls had left, Freddy disappeared somewhere in the house. Bonnie sat at the edge of the sofa with his hands on his knees, watching nervously as Chica explored the living room. She had a tendency to get up close and personal when she examined something new, and she was currently standing uncomfortably close to a tall floor lamp and peering over the top at it. His ear twitched. "Er, Chica, what are you doing?"
"I'm just looking," she replied. She tilted the lamp shade up a bit then excitedly ran over to something else that had caught her attention.
Bonnie got up and fixed the lamp shade. "Looking and touching are not the same thing," he muttered loud enough for her to hear but she ignored him.
She was poking at a little unicorn figure that's head bobbed up and down when you moved it. She gasped at something else then took off again. The air force from her sudden movement caused the unicorn to stumble towards the edge of its shelf. Bonnie gasped too, but for a different reason, and quickly caught the figure and replaced it.
"Look at this one!" Chica held up a clear glass figure of a horse.
"Yes, I could see it fine from where it was." Bonnie took the figure and put it back where Chica had grabbed it from. "You really shouldn't touch things without permission. Especially breakable things…"
"It's fine," she brushed him off then walked over to the kitchen.
"What are you doing now?"
"I'm hungry."
"Lea said not to eat all of the food."
"Right," she smiled. "So I won't eat all of it."
He shuffled his feet, unsure of what to do. The front door leading to the kitchen clicked as it unlocked and the two of them stared as the door opened. "Oh, thank goodness you're back!" Bonnie sighed with relief as Lea and Alex entered the house.
"Why?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"
"Nothing…yet," he glanced at Chica who smiled widely.
Lea placed her hands on her hips and lightly stamped her foot. "What were you up to, Chica?"
"Me?!" she mocked surprise. "I was just getting a snack, that's all."
"Don't try to be all innocent," Lea smirked then helped Alex with the bags. "I can tell you know better."
"I was bored."
"Sheesh," Alex said. "What did she do before when she was bored?"
...
Lea had placed several toys and art related objects on the living room floor and Chica sat down next to her to watch. Every new item she would pick up and gush over excitedly as Lea explained it. Chica scooped up a plush cat and hugged it, "I've always wanted a kitty! But Dad said he was allergic."
"Dad?" Lea looked up at her.
"What?" Chica tilted her head.
"You said your dad was allergic." Lea pointed at the cat. "Who was your dad?"
The chicken stared blankly at her, as if she didn't know what she was asking. "I…don't know. What are you talking about?"
Lea stared at her and after a minute of watching her go back to playing with the toy, decided that Chica really must not have realized what she said moments ago. Weird, she thought. She glanced over at Bonnie who was sitting in his typical, proper and polite position at the edge of the couch. "Why do you sit like that?" she asked.
"Hm?"
"Are you comfortable?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
"Really?" she made a face. "You sit very…proper."
He looked down and realized that his legs were crossed with his hands on his knee. "Oh," he quickly uncrossed them and looked a bit embarrassed. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize," she was baffled. "I was just wondering." She glanced up at the clock on the wall. Just a few more hours before they had to go get the last two animatronics from that place. She wondered how that would work out. After all, she only met Foxy once and it wasn't exactly a great first impression. As for the one the others called Puppet, she didn't even know what that one looked like, but she knew that it had seen her. Foxy seemed aggressive. Chica and Bonnie insisted that he wasn't bad, but Lea would still have to be careful in case he got nervous. It was like trying to unprofessionally relocate a scared wild raccoon or something.
...
Alex watched, confused, as Lea piled up all of the many pillows from their house into the back of the van. She had even tossed in the decorative pillows from the couch, which made the couch look very strange to her now. "What exactly is the purpose of this?"
Lea shut the van's back doors after she had finished and walked back to the house. "Foxy likes to hide, so I thought maybe he'd be calmer if he had something to hide in in the van."
"Whatever you say," Alex said. "That thing better not be freaking out in the back of the van while I drive!"
"It'll be fine," Lea shrugged her off and entered the house. "Probably." She looked around the living room to find Chica coloring in a coloring book on the floor and Bonnie sitting in a big rocking recliner after feeling uncomfortable sitting on the now bare couch. Freddy was off somewhere in the hallway. "Okay guys," she announced. "We're going get the others. Be good." She looked at Chica, "Don't eat the food!"
"Eh, how long will you be?" Bonnie looked anxious.
She shrugged. "Hopefully not long. I'll have to find them first and coax them out." She went over and hugged him. "Don't worry, we'll be back." She noticed them both watching her worriedly as she left. I'll come back.
...
"Maybe I should go on my own," Lea said as Alex stopped the van at their makeshift entrance to the building.
"What?!" Alex hissed. "What if you get hurt?"
Lea felt her arm where the bandages used to be. The wound was little more than a scar now. "Don't worry about it. Two people might freak him out more. And I have the flashlight." She wiggled the flashlight in the air.
"When you tell me not to worry, it just makes me worry." Alex sighed as Lea grinned.
Lea hopped down from the vent and clicked on her light as she turned into the dark hallway. By now she could remember the layout of most of the place and made her way to the storage room. She peeked around the corner with her light and scanned the room. Nothing but old parts and masks. She suddenly remembered and quickly headed down the hall, through the party area, and stopped in the prize corner. Her light landed on the big present box in the far-off corner; it was open, wide open. Cautiously, she walked over to it and slowly peered inside; it was empty. "Where did you go?" she whispered.
A sound echoing from the party room caught her attention and she hurried over. For just a moment she saw something take off silently past the entrance to the other hallway. "Come back!" she ran after it. Lea stopped in the middle of the hallway, listening, but she heard nothing. She began walking again and stopped when she came to another room.
It was that room with the smaller stage. The dusty purple curtain shrouding it was gaping open just a bit. Lea approached the stage and tried not to shine her flashlight directly into the gap. She stopped when she heard a quiet growl from the other side. "Foxy? Is that you?" she reached out to move the curtain but quickly drew her hand back as a hook slashed out at her with a strange snarl and the tattered arm withdrew back into the curtains. She steadied herself and quickly tugged the curtain, opening it enough for the fox's head to pop out and let out a snarling roar, snapping his jaws at her and causing her to shout and stumble backwards. The sound was different from the screech he had let out the first time they met. This one was deeper and darker, like he was angry.
She took a breath in and approached again. He was crouched on all fours, almost laying down, and now his pointed snout protruded from the curtains. She reached her hand out slowly and he growled. "It's okay." His growling grew louder as she got closer. "I just want to help. The others are with me." She carefully placed her hand on his nose and felt something like a breath come from his mouth as the growling ceased. Now she could get a better look at him. He was dark red with a lot of fur and a tattered body. There were holes and tears in his arms and chest and from the knees down his mechanical interior was completely visible. He was positioned like an animal ready to take off at the next opportunity, and even though he was quiet now, she could see his tail lashing in the darkness.
She looked at the hook replacing his right hand and then noticed an upturned eyepatch above his right eye. "Are you a pirate?" she giggled. She placed the flashlight down on the stage and stroked his muzzle. "I'm Lea. I don't think we've had a proper introduction." He seemed to relax a little but watched her carefully with yellow eyes. "Bonnie, Chica, and Freddy are at my house. I had to get them out of here because this place is going to be destroyed. Do you understand?" His ear flicked but she did not know what it meant. "I don't want to leave you behind, so I came back to get you. We have to go."
He lifted his head and watched curiously as she grabbed her light then ran to the doorway. She stopped and looked back at him, trying not to shine the light at him. He poked his head through the curtains and stared at her a moment before slowly climbing down from the stage and standing up straight. He stood there and watched her.
"Come on," she entered the hallway. After running down the hallway a few paces she looked back to see him standing at the doorway. He tilted his head at her. "Come on, it's okay."
She continued through the building, looking back every now and then to see that he was still following. Finally, she came to the room with the vent and reached up to pull herself in. Foxy poked his head into the room and moved his head like a dog trying to smell something in the air until he spotted her climbing into the vent. She smiled at his behavior. It was different from the others. "My sister and I have a van outside waiting. You can come to our house with the others. It's just through this vent."
He watched her disappear and tilted his head, listening to her movements until they were too faint to hear anymore. He waited then stepped back but was surprised to hear her voice echo from the vent. "Come on, Foxy!" His ears flicked and he slowly climbed into the vent. He crawled hesitantly through the vent, flinching at the metal popping and bending sounds. As he reached the center the loud sounds were becoming too much, it felt like something was behind him. He panicked suddenly and bolted the rest of the way through the vent, the loud echoing sounds that resulted from his rushing scared him more.
Lea made a face at the sounds coming from the vent and growing louder. She was waiting outside with the van's back doors open. She thought about moving the wooden boards aside for Foxy but just as she thought it he busted through them and charged right into the back of the van causing it to bounce. Alex yelled in surprise and Foxy thrashed around with a fearful look before diving into the pile of pillows. "Are you okay?!" Lea rushed over to the pile.
"Yeah, sure," Alex settled back into her seat. "Ask him if he's okay."
Lea watched the pillows settle and an eye peer out at her from between some of them. She sighed. "I guess we should get him back home and come back for Puppet tomorrow."
To be continued…