The haze of sleep was disturbed by an irritatingly insistent sound. Begrudgingly Jayden flailed his dark-skinned arm out, groaning into a pillow as he did so. His hand slapped around on his low, bedside, dresser for his phone. Eventually, after a couple of misses, he grabbed it, thumbed the answer button, and groggily muttered, "You'd better have a good reason for waking me up man, after standing us all up like that."

"Sorry." Mitch apologized. Hastily he continued, "Look, I didn't mean to drop you all like that but- something came up."

"Yeah, yeah, I figured." Jayden rubbed one of his eyes before yawning, "Groggy an all. So, what happened? Parents catch you sneaking out?"

"Actually...I never went back home."

This woke Jayden up, concern snapping him from his daze, "What? Dude, what happened? You, okay?"

Mitch immediately reassured his childhood friend, "I'm fine, I swear." There was a pause. "When I was heading home, I passed by Freddy's and well..." He went on to detail his unexpected saving of the nightguard Mike Schmidt and the consequential reveal that the Pizzeria was, indeed, haunted by the disturbed spirits of the "missing" children, the killer's presence and so on. During the who summary, Jayden was silent. Something uncharacteristic of him but considering the contents of what he was saying- it was understandable. Mitch just hoped his friend wasn't thinking he was crazy or making it up. He exhaled, "So yeah, I'm going to be helping the guard out. It's a lot, but I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to be in on it?"

"Holy shit," was the initial reply. Jayden rubbed his face. It was hard to believe he was still awake. "You know, last night I was hyped to possibly learn about creepy haunted animatronics, but now? Not so much."

"I know the feeling." Mitch wryly laughed. "If you want to back out-"

"Dude, I didn't say I wouldn't help you out." Jayden interrupted. "You're my bro, and besides somebody got to make sure you get out of this mess."

The tone of relief in Mitch's voice was clear as day, "Thanks dude."

"You owe me big after this, got that?"

Another wry laugh, "Yeah, yeah, that's fair."

Jayden sat up in his bed before going to open the curtains, cellphone still in hand, "So, you got a plan?"

"A shaky one."

"That's reassuring."

"I know." Mitch uttered brusquely, sounding frustrated with the fact himself, "But, it's hard to tell what'd work on an actual ghost. I don't think a priest would take us seriously if we asked him to exorcise spirits trapped in robotic animals, in a pizzeria."

When put like that, Jayden had to take a moment to process the scenario. He conceded, "Don't think anyone would."

"Exactly." He continued, "First, we need to gather some supplies. Cords, or chains, something strong enough to bind an animatronic, a sledgehammer, gasoline, and shovels."

"And you want me to get that from my pop's scrapyard." Jayden assumed as he sat back on his bed, still processing the fact this was happening. If anyone heard this, they'd likely think he was about to commit a murder or anything like that. Thankfully it was too early for anyone in his household to hear. At best, his dad was in the shower.

"That or we'd have to go to a hardware store." Mitch replied.

"I can probably get gas canisters from our garage. Tell pops your low on cash for gas. As for the rest, I dunno...be hard to shove that all into a backpack without his notice, but I'll try. I got to pitch in there today anyway. I'll tell him I'm working on something for school when I bring the backpack. He's usually too busy to check up on me." Jayden answered after running a few possibilities through his head. "I'll text you what I manage."

"Ok, if not we'll just hit up the hardware store. Mike says he's got a bit of cash to spare." Suddenly he then asked, "Oh, can you look outside your window. I need you to check if Jessica's still home. We've got to keep Ethan away from that place."

With a surge of alarm, Jayden looked outside his window. He only needed to say two words to tell everything Mitch needed to know, "Oh shit. Her car's gone." Quickly he added, "Maybe she went somewhere else?"

"Right, right..." Mitch responded, "Can you check? I mean, I can text her but if she's driving..."

"Already on it, dude." Jayden interrupted as he pulled his dresser drawer open.

"You're a lifesaver, Jay."

"I know it."


"Hello Jayden," Jessica and Ethan's mom greeted, "What brings you over- is everything okay?" Jayden's face was stark with panic. Hard to miss it.

Quickly, best he could on instant notice, Jayden straightened himself out, "Oh uh, I just forgot to tell her something important. Um, so uh, where'd she go? I noticed her car wasn't here. Did she tell you where she was going?"

Jessica's mother eyed the boy a bit before slowly answering, "I told her to take her brother to Freddy's." Her tone shifted to annoyance, sidetracked from her confusion, "She got caught sneaking back in from a party last night. After we figured out, she dumped Ethan on her boyfriend." She sighed, "I honestly wouldn't be so bothered, if she hadn't promised to look after him for the day. I wish she'd stop avoiding her duties as a big sister."

Jayden shifted awkwardly where he stood, he hadn't wanted family drama to get dumped on him. Now or ever. So, decidedly, he turned around and booked it, "Thanks ma'am! I'll be sure to let her know!"

"Ah, wha?" Was all he heard from the mother before he peeled away on his bicycle. From her spot on in the front door she stared in confusion.