Mable: So, I think I have finally broken the writer's block!... Way too late, but let's see if we can finally finish up our tale. ^_^
You might also notice, but I renamed The Broken Circus' chapters! This was done to make it easier to find certain parts on reread. I hope you like or at least don't mind the change. This chapter was supposed to be "Repose", but this works a bit better…
The Broken Circus
Chapter 14: The Last Night
The door was open.
The resemblance to the dream was uncanny, save that it lacked the sound of voices through the wall. Charlie cautiously sat up on the bed and listened for them, but she couldn't hear anything except the usual humming through the walls.
She got out of bed, slipping on her boots just in case, and quietly walked to the door to look through. That was where the semblance to the dream ended. There was nobody out in the hallway, no people, no cameras, no voice, and no Afton. The door to the left was also closed tightly. The only door that was open was her own and that seemed a little peculiar, but not strange enough to feel anything but disappointment.
Charlie went about her usual routine with an antsy feeling in her gut. This was the end of the line, really. There was only one child left, so whatever Afton was planning would have to come out soon. Then she could contact Sammy, if she had the chance to depending on what the plans were. So, she tried to distract herself pacing around the room and laying out a plan for how this was going to go down.
…But Afton never called on her.
She got the Handunit out and set it on the cot in preparation for what was coming, but it never came. It was radio silent. Not just on that front either, as she soon noticed that Ennard was running late too. She could hold off without breakfast, but seeing as she had access to the hallway, she realized quickly that nobody was feeding the last child either.
Just thinking about the children and the floorplan reminded her of that vent shaft, and with the door open she could follow her curiosity straight into the bathroom. She hunched down by the toilet and studied the vent cover on the back wall. It was loose enough, but there was no way to pry it off unless she had a proper tool. Maybe if she had a butterknife, but she didn't even have breakfast, let alone receive anything beyond a plastic spoon.
The screws were exposed though and didn't look too secure. She would need a coin or perhaps even use her zipper pull but she could probably unscrew them. It briefly crossed her mind that maybe one of the slender plugs from cords could be used, but that could break the cord and sabotage the plan. Unless she did the plan first and then used the cord to get into here. That was possible, but not very practical.
Eventually she got paranoid and returned to her room. Part of her expected that Afton would be waiting for her and while she wasn't disappointed when he didn't immediately call for her through the Handunit, the silence was starting to make her nervous.
Then, without any warning, her door suddenly shut.
Charlie jumped and stared at the closed door for a long second. She wondered briefly if it had accidentally been left open, a question that was answered by the sound of footsteps in the hallway. No, somebody was coming. Another door opened and closed a few moments later and then those footsteps approached her own.
It didn't sound like Ennard either. There was a soft click-click to the steps that sounded like high heels. It had to be Baby.
Right as she was thinking this, the door opened a small amount, and a breakfast tray was pushed under the door. She saw the slender hands and painted fingernails- and broken fingernails too- and confirmed that it was Baby.
After a moment of consideration, Charlie called to her.
"Baby?"
The door shut midway through the word and the sound drowned her out. Though it didn't take her long to notice that Baby wasn't walking off and was instead just standing outside the door. She must've heard her.
"Baby?" Charlie called again. A little louder so that it would make it through the door. "Or Izzy? Is that you?"
There was a long pause.
Then the door suddenly lifted once more. She could see a pair of red heels on the other side. Faded and worn, likely bought secondhand.
"Yes, it's me," Baby said with an impatient huff. "Before you assume that I'm your new caretaker, I'm not. I'm just filling the role while he's… tied up."
"Ennard," Charlie clarified.
Baby must've been surprised that she knew his name because she hesitated. She then proceeded to ignore her.
"You don't sound like you're wasting away to nothing, but I can't risk having him distracted worrying over you… You have been enough of a distraction for him already."
Charlie equally ignored this comment to ask, "Where is he?"
"We had a little problem last night and he had to deal with it… Strange. I didn't expect you to care so much. I don't understand why you do."
Charlie assumed from the tone that she was baiting her to say she didn't. She wasn't sure why she would care that much.
"Because you're beating around the bush about something that happened last night. I want to make sure he's alright."
"He is no worse off. He will return once he's finished and then he can go back to waiting on you hand and foot," Baby said curtly. She crossed her arms- Charlie could just hear the shift of her moving. "…You don't know what he really is, do you?"
"…What are you talking about?" Now she was starting to get into her head.
"Just a little friendly advice, but do not get attached to Ennard. He's not as needlessly selfless as you may think. He's just following orders," Baby swiftly declined. Something weird had settled in her voice. She almost sounded upset, frustrated, but Charlie couldn't tell if it was over her or Ennard. She would assume it wasn't her, but Baby wasn't exactly singing his praises.
"I wonder why he's doing that," Charlie retorted. After a moment of consideration and before Baby could speak, she asked, "I wonder why you're doing this."
"You don't know?"
"You know I don't know."
"Of course you don't know," Baby bitterly remarked. "You were always the fortunate one, Charlie. The gifted one, the loved one. The one who got away. The one who goes to school and has so many friends and loving admirers. Beloved daughter and sister."
She knelt outside the door and that was when Charlie spotted a cut on her leg. It didn't look like a normal cut, not pink or irritated, but like a slice through silicone. Puckering out as Baby arranged her weight on the leg, spreading slightly to reveal no blood inside. It wasn't nearly as shocking as Charlie thought it would be. Any other situation and person and she might've been intrigued enough to ask to see it.
However, that wasn't the part that caught Charlie's attention. That slice on Baby's legs confirmed her story that something happened last night, but unlike how distantly she talked about it she must've been a part of it.
Baby didn't notice- how could she when their faces were blocked by the door- and continued with her monologue.
"Why do you think I might want that after everything I have had taken away? No, you don't understand, because you were gifted the whole world… and look what you've done with it. Friends, a home, a life, all thrown away to come down here. You may have been brought here against your will, but you knew the risk when you showed up at the pizzeria. You didn't care what you lost."
"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about why you would let yourself be a tool for Afton when he's the reason for everything that's ever happened to you," Charlie swiftly deflected.
That was enough to strike Baby silent. Charlie almost felt a rise out of being able to wobble her pedestal, but it didn't last long. Baby's silence didn't either.
"Of everyone I assumed you would understand the importance of family," she remarked. There was a noise on the other side. Charlie wasn't still looking but it sounded like her brushing down her skirt.
"I know what it's like to have a father who chooses himself over his family," Charlie said matter-of-factly. The words immediately stung her tongue, but she resisted the guilt. She was so tired and so angry. "…I'm not going to act like what happened to me and what happened to you were the same thing, but we're in the same boat. We're the ones stuck dealing with their mistakes."
"Stop that. Stop acting like you know who I am." There was a defensiveness that hadn't been there previously in Baby's voice. She was starting to become irritated as well.
"I'm not, I'm just trying to understand. It doesn't make sense to me that you would side with him."
"As opposed to what? Siding with you?"
"I could help you," Charlie spontaneously volunteered before she could even consider the offer she was giving.
Baby was silent for a long moment before giving a dry chuckle. Humorless, like she was merely replicating the noise. It was even more evidently a ruse when they halted just as quickly, saying with no humor in her voice.
"You didn't seem so keen to help down there."
"…It was different then," Charlie said.
"Yes, I suppose it was," Baby distantly agreed. "Who would help something so broken?"
"You know that's not what I meant."
"It's so hard to tell with you. You are just so difficult to read that it's hard for my dumb dolly brain to keep up," Baby said mockingly, edging on bitterly.
"Don't say that-."
"I don't mean it," she snapped. "I am not dumb. You are just inconsistent. You just refused to learn after the last time you played with fire and got burned."
Just the mention of a fire, or perhaps it was the way she said it, made Charlie frown tensely. Maybe it was all the days she spent in the basement, but the fire was suddenly a sore subject. Perhaps likely because it was becoming more and more apparent that everything that went in the fire had come out alive… save her father and Michael.
"That's funny. You telling me I'm the one throwing my life away."
"What does that mean?" Baby challenged.
"How you can talk about me throwing away my life when you just got a second chance and trashed it. You have a perfect replica of a human body. You fooled everyone! You had a chance to go live that life you wanted so badly, and you didn't. You went along with this and now you're just like him. You're just going to get yourself hurt over and over again trying to help someone who doesn't care about you, just cares about how useful you are to him," Charlie hissed. All the frustration leaking out.
"Oh? You sound upset. Perhaps a little projecting on your part? I know about your father-."
"Give it up, Baby. You might be standing out there, but you're stuck down here just like I am!" Charlie interjected.
There was a heavy silence after that. The comment had struck Baby silent. Meanwhile Charlie was nearly shaking, too wound up to even breathe.
Suddenly, in a motion so quick that it couldn't have been done by a human, Baby rose to her feet. She promptly began to storm away, heels clicking down the hallway, the door then slamming closed in front of Charlie.
Well, there was her answer. Turning over to sit down beside the door, Charlie stared across the room and tried to calm herself down. Eventually she pulled the tray over and started scouring the food to make sure it was safe. Regardless of Baby delivering it, it was wrapped and prepared like Ennard had made it. She just had to make sure Baby didn't make any adjustments out of spite.
It smelled fine and she started to eat the sandwich when she heard the unexpected sound of heels returning. She stopped chewing and turned her head to listen, hearing Baby returning down the hallway and stopping outside the door. There was some movement outside before the door opened a small amount again. Charlie set the tray aside and leaned forward a little to look under the door, seeing her heels standing outside.
"My name is not Baby," Baby suddenly said. So sharply that it almost caused Charlie to flinch. "Baby was the name of my father's creation. My name is Elizabeth."
"Okay," Charlie said.
"When I was a little girl… My father built an animatronic clown girl. She was like an enormous doll with pretty orange pigtails and a cutesy red skirt. She was so shiny, so tall that she nearly reached the ceiling, and she had the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen. Like sapphires. And they would glow when she was on," Elizabeth explained. "Her name was Circus Baby."
She knelt outside the door like she had before, sitting in the same exact position as she once had.
"My father used to tell me that she was made for me and because of that I felt so… connected to her… Entitled to her. Like she was my own toy and that someday I would be able to play with her. But he would never allow me to be alone with her, he never said why." Her voice fell softer. "He spent so much of his time working on her… It made her seem even more special. And since I could not play with her, I wanted to more… Until the day came when I got her alone."
A chill went up Charlie's spine at the shift in tone. She knew something awful was coming.
"My father was having a party at his restaurant, Circus Baby's Pizza World, to test out the brand-new animatronics. I begged him to go, and he let me… No doubt wanting to make up to more for the marks he left on me when I wasn't a good enough girl," Elizabeth bitterly spat. "I got to see them all performing on stage, I watched her hand out ice cream cones, and then… I had my moment. My father was out of the room, the children had move on, and I was alone with her."
"You're wonderful- that's what I said to her. The plates of her belly opened up and out came a claw holding onto a freshly made ice cream cone. It looked so good. I went to take it... and that was when the claw dropped the cone, and it grabbed me."
Her fingers tightened and twisted into her skirt, her arms shaking, until the fabric tore in her grip.
"I was pulled into Baby's belly. Surrounded by metal, I could scream, but nobody could hear me. I could hear the children, but nobody could hear me scream. And it grew tighter and tighter until I could not breathe, and then… And the next thing I remember, I was Baby. Trapped permanently in her body. Where I was tortured and tormented, electrocuted, and forced to perform for parties and kidnap more children like me."
"I HATED my father for abandoning me. Because of it… I ended up taking the life of someone who was not him. Who I only thought was him… But that was not the last time I saw him."
She released her torn skirt and smoothed it down, then elegantly laced her fingers on her lap. Charlie noticed that some of her fingernails were broken- it looked like they had been hastily filed, but some spare cracks could still be seen.
"I found him when we were trapped together in a prison of tight walls. A maze inside of a pizzeria. I was so angry, furious at him… but then he explained to me that he had never meant for what happened. That he had warned me for a reason and that because I had not listened, he couldn't save me. He had been looking for me the whole time and had brought me there so that we could together do what we had to in that pizzeria. That the pizzeria was a gift for us."
"He said that?" Charlie asked. "…But it wasn't."
"No. It wasn't," Elizabeth solemnly agreed. "It wasn't until we were melting and burning in that horrible fire- when I heard his desperate screams that I knew that he had lied to me. He knew nothing about that place, he had not delivered it or anything else to me. He had just lied so that I would be nice and pliable, because I was a good tool. And with that lie's unraveling so did many others. I survived the fire, I made it to that basement, and down there I saw those same rooms you did. The ones that he had made to trap children. The rooms, the animatronics, what Baby was built for… I knew the truth. I could no longer continue shielding myself with denial."
"My father knew I was trapped in Baby and still continued to use me, manipulated me, played with me like I was his toy. And I went along with his plans like a dummy with his hand stuck in my back, fingers grabbing my heart. I was so stupid."
"You weren't," Charlie spoke up. Either Elizabeth didn't hear her or purposefully ignored her.
"I stayed down there until… our family reunion… And you, I suppose."
There was a heavy silence between the two. One that even breathing would seem to interrupt. Only broken once Elizabeth deemed it time to do so.
"So, no. I do not love my father. Quite the opposite… I hate him. I hate what he made me into, and I hate that he made me believe that I was the reason it happened to me."
"Then… why? Why do this?" Charlie asked.
"We have no choice. This is what we must do. What I must do for my family," Elizabeth clarified.
"…What do you mean?"
It was clear that she wasn't going to clarify, but Charlie still had a revelation. She was doing it for her family but not her father. If that wasn't the case…
"She's being forced to do this too…"
Charlie couldn't exactly trust Baby's words, not when she had proven herself to be so manipulative, but this seemed like it could be the case. Ennard had given the same indication and whether Baby hated him or not- it suddenly dawned on Charlie now that maybe Baby had said what she said about Ennard to keep her away from him. What if he was the family she was protecting? Who else could it be?
"And to answer the question you no-doubt care about the most, yes, that is why I brought you here. You were getting in the way. You were going to ruin everything," Elizabeth remarked.
"You'd been following me for months. Forgive me for thinking you were up to something," Charlie replied. Only slightly annoyed but without any venom.
"I know. And because of that, I know how you will answer this question," Elizabeth predicted. She let those words hang there a moment before quietly asking, "If you had only one way to save your family… Would you do it?"
"Do you mean Sammy?"
"Yes."
"Yes," Charlie agreed without hesitation.
"Even though he's not a human?"
"Yes," Charlie insisted. "And he is a human. He's just not… He doesn't have a human body, but he's still a human."
Elizabeth hummed at her comment, then gave a blunt, "Do you really believe that?"
"I wouldn't say it if I didn't."
"I suppose you wouldn't. You're very transparent about your feelings, even when it goes against your best interest."
Charlie smiled despite herself. Somehow Baby had summed her up perfectly in that backhanded compliment. Charlie Emily; regularly shooting herself in the foot.
"If you do end up leaving this place, what will you do?" Elizabeth asked vaguely.
"Do you mean as soon as I get out, or-?"
"I assume you will be running off to your friends and the police," she interrupted flatly. "I meant with your life. Now that this has happened."
The question took Charlie off-guard. She tried to think of what information she could be trying to get out of her, because she couldn't imagine Baby was interested.
She also couldn't say she had a great answer to give her. Go back to college, finish getting her degree, and continue with her life. Wherever that life was going to go. That is, if she made it out of here. She noticed that accentuated 'if' at the beginning of the question.
"You don't know," Elizabeth said.
Charlie was quick to defend herself. "…I don't have to. It's better if I don't, then it's a surprise. And then I can decide when I want to change it."
Another judgmental hum and a lingering silence. She didn't seem content with this answer and, admittedly, neither was Charlie. Yet after all that had been said earlier, she found herself speaking without thinking again.
"It's not too late."
She didn't have to clarify. They both knew what she was expecting.
"I think it might be… For him."
For Afton? For Ennard? "What about for you?"
"…I don't know and it's better if I don't," Elizabeth shot down. "I hate unhappy endings."
Despite everything, something about the honesty and solemness of that comment made Charlie feel a deep sadness. Maybe it was pity, but it was also a sort of hopelessness. She sympathized with Baby earlier, but this was the moment when she truly empathized with her.
She knew what it was like to feel like there was no way out, but for Baby they both knew that was the only outcome.
There was nowhere to run to escape yourself, and Baby's freedom was only skin-deep. If that scratch on her leg was any indication.
Knowing the risk Charlie lifted a hand, hesitated, and then reached under the door. She offered her hand to Elizabeth. She couldn't see her reaction, couldn't see how her brows furrowed in confusion, she just knew that she could close the door on her at any time. She stayed on her toes, prepared to yank back her arm at even the subtlest squeak from the door.
Instead, she got something as blunt as a metal door slamming in her face.
"I'm not going to let you go just because you're acting nice," Baby said.
"I know. I didn't expect you to," Charlie replied. She kept her hand held out a little longer.
And then…
A hand fitted onto hers. Warm, soft, it felt like a normal hand even though it was anything but.
Charlie decided to put aside her feelings and even the reality of the situation just for that moment of a connection. She could only imagine Baby was doing the same, as they sat there in silence for a while holding hands like kids on the playground.
She wasn't sure how long they sat there. Long enough that her arm got a little stiff, but she didn't feel like moving it. The moment was too tense, she would break it with even the slightest adjustment.
But it couldn't last forever.
Baby was the one to finally separate their hands before getting up and silently heading back the way she came. Charlie didn't ask, she didn't call out to her, she just pulled her arm back under the door. She heard a door open and close, and then her door opened again, giving her access once again to the hallway. Still, Charlie stayed sitting there alongside the door for a few moments longer.
It was clear now that Baby was no longer her enemy. Her adversary, maybe, the reason she was here, but not her enemy. Not when they shared a mutual one in Afton. She couldn't trust that Baby would be able to ever side with her, but she knew where she stood.
Maybe in another life Elizabeth and her could've been friends.
Charlie lost her appetite. She put the tray on her bed and only nibbled at it a little bit throughout the day. Which turned out to be a good thing as Baby did not return for lunch. Not that she was concerned.
All the while, William was eerily quiet. And with no sign of Ennard, she was becoming increasingly concerned that something happened to him.
And then, after a long day of poor distractions, he appeared that evening.
She was surprised to hear the door open, even more surprised to hear the footsteps approaching without the door shutting, and then most surprised at the reveal of who was out there. Not by boldly stepping out, but by crouching down beside the door and reaching out to set down her tray outside of the doorway- his gloves and green sleeves a dead giveaway- and then sat down outside the door after pushing it inside.
Utterly confused by this action, Charlie slowly walked over and poked her head out to peek at him.
It was Ennard alright, though she never expected to see him like this. From what she could see he looked normal, but he was sitting in a huddled outside of her door. His knees up to his chest with one arm folded over them, the other- the one that pushed the tray in- slouched at his side. His head resting in the crook of his arm atop his knees.
She worried that maybe he was injured. He certainly looked like he could be in pain.
"Ennard?"
He raised his head and looked up at her. Then his teeth slightly parted and his eyes tilted in what had to be the most pitiful and heartbroken smile that could be managed.
Definitely pain. Emotional pain, that was- Charlie noted.
Even with how hard it was to read his frozen, smiling mask in comparison to Sammy's often paranormally manipulated and expressive one, she could tell. Even if she couldn't, his slumped shoulders and utterly defeated posture, curled up in the hallway, said enough.
It was so weird seeing this big scary- well, arguably scary- clown looking so small. Charlie greeted him with a gentle tone and a welcoming smile.
"Heeeey. Where've you been?" she asked.
Ennard shook his head in reply.
"That bad, huh?"
Ennard let his head roll back and thump against the wall.
Charlie took the initiative to sit down beside him.
"Well, I'm glad you're okay. I got a little worried when Baby showed up instead of you. We had a little talk, took a couple of potshots at each other, but it was… it was weird. Hard to explain," Charlie trailed off momentarily before daring to ask, "…Were you with him?"
Ennard silently stared at the ceiling.
"We don't have to talk about it. Sorry," Charlie apologized. She sat there for a moment considering what to do before shooting him a still sympathetic but inviting smile. "Do you want to come in?"
Ennard lifted his head and looked to her in surprise. His reaction was almost comically exaggerated considering what she was offering.
"It's no big deal. Come on in," she assured. She got up and beckoned him to follow her inside.
By this point she knew that Ennard was not going to hurt her. Really the only way either of them would be at risk was if Afton found out and decided to do something, a thought that left Charlie uneasy. Though before she could turn to point out these fears, Ennard was already right behind her letting himself into the tiny room. He didn't seem as afraid of Afton's wraith, so she decided to let it go for the moment.
He looked around at the room with his dry-erase board clutched in his hands before his shoulders slouched. The depressing room doing very little to help his already down demeanor. She tried to perk him up with a joke.
"Welcome to my pad! There's the kitchen and dining room, the living room, the bedroom's a little small but we can make it work. Put up some mirrors, a couple of shelves; we could double the space like that," she said with a snap of her fingers. Ennard rumbled very slightly, a soft chuckle. "Why don't you sit down… Anywhere, and we could play a game. On the dry-erase board, I mean. Like Tic-tac-toe or Hangman," Charlie offered.
He looked around at the room before Charlie took the initiative so sit down on the bed. He hesitantly shuffled after her and began to sit down only to suddenly stop. He blinked, and then his eyes shifted thoughtfully, considering something. She quirked a brow at him but patiently waited for him to figure it out. He abruptly perked up, straightened up, and pointed up as though in an "Ah ha!" moment. He had an idea, and he scribbled down on the board before flipping it in his hands to show to Charlie.
"Follow me!"
"Outside?" Charlie asked, pointing towards the door.
He nodded eagerly and offered a gloved hand. She took it and he easily pulled her up to her feet before reaching down for the dinner tray and plopping it into her hands. After that, he led her out into the hallway.
Charlie knew he wasn't about to set her free, but her heart started pounding like he had just offered her the key to her cell. Though her anticipation slightly faltered and curiosity replaced it when he instead stopped her outside the door for the children's room. He moved his board under his arm and reached into his costume before pulling out a dull and scuffed looking keycard that he went to slide through the lock.
"Wait," Charlie spoke up. He looked to her questioningly. "What if he finds out?"
Ennard paused for a long moment at the door. Then he shook his head and slid the card through adamantly. She couldn't tell if he knew he wouldn't find out or if he didn't care if he did. Either way, the door opened for them.
This was the first time Charlie was able to see inside of the children's prison. Much to her relief, it was nowhere near as cramped and cell-like as her own. With the colorful carpet on the floor and posters on the walls, shelves and cubbies filled with toys and games, and there were even some drawings taped up on the back wall.
It looked more like an elementary school classroom than a holding cell. Though instead of desks there were a couple of beanbags and a bedroll with a pillow and blanket. There were other bedrolls and blankets stashed in the cubbies too. There was also a TV in the corner with some games hooked up.
It was a lot better than she was expecting. Though she really hoped that Ennard and maybe Baby had a hand in making this room so child-friendly and that Afton didn't already have it down here.
Like there was only one bed, there was only one child left in the room. He was sat in the center of the room surrounded by toys of all kinds, and beside his dinner tray. There was a castle made of blocks sitting in front of him with little plastic soldiers on it and little plastic dinosaurs around it. Considering that there was currently a pterodactyl in the boy's hand swooping in on the castle, his other hand assisting a soldier in doing a backflip off the tallest tower and landing further down on the castle, the two groups were in active battle.
Among the other toys stationed around him were a plethora of little cars lined up bumper to bumper, a little indigo phone toy, a rolled-up rubber snake, a cluster of plushies; plenty of toys to distract the children from their current situation.
The boy was pale in complexion with short brown hair and freckles on his cheeks. He almost looked a little like Sammy did in his pictures, though a touch older and with an upturned button nose. He had a startled look as the door opened, but then replaced it with a smile when he saw Ennard, only for that smile to drop when he saw Charlie. He seemed especially nervous, immediately lowering his hands into his lap and began to wring at his shirt.
Ennard tugged Charlie in by the arm before greeting the body with an excitable wave. He then flipped his board around with a flourish, wiped it with his sleeve, and scribbled a few words to show Charlie.
"This is Cody!"
Charlie caught on to Ennard's change in behavior and played along.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Charlie," Charlie introduced herself with a wave. She jumped as the door shut behind her but quickly regained her smile.
"Hi…" Cody mumbled.
Ennard gave her a friendly little nudge on the back towards him before heading off to the shelves to go through some boardgame boxes. Charlie awkwardly took a few more steps into the room. She wasn't necessarily bad around kids- though the only kid she was ever around was Jason- but this whole situation was so tense already that it just made it uncomfortable.
She looked to Cody and tried to think of some way to break the ice, and that was when she noticed the bracelet cinched onto his wrist.
"Hey, we match!" She crouched down and lifted her arm to show him her own.
Something about seeing her with a bracelet on seemed to calm the boy down a little more. Likely because all the kids had them; likely it was a good visual indicator of who was on the same side as them.
"Whoa." He stuck out his arm to compare the two. Other than the colors, green and purple, they were the same. "You've got one too!... But you're not a kid."
"Hey, I'm still a kid!" Charlie playfully defended. "I'm just a big kid."
Ennard took that comment and ran with it as he stepped up with a boxed board game and shook it excitedly. It was Chutes and Ladders.
"…D'you want to play with us?" Cody asked. "It's funner with more people."
"Sure!" It was hard to say no in this situation. Even in a better one she probably wouldn't have.
They then proceeded to play Chutes and Ladders and it was the strangest experience of playing a boardgame that Charlie had ever had.
Not that it was unpleasant- after the lonely, empty days and nights in her cell, this was like a five-star vacation- but it was just so weird to be sitting here playing with a kid she didn't know and a big robotic clown. Big robotic goofball would be more accurate- him stretched out on his belly with his legs bent up behind him and crossed, propping his head up with his hands on his cheeks, acting like a cartoon character come to life.
Charlie wondered if it was programming or if he was just pretending everything was hunky-dory, but then she decided that it didn't matter. He brought her to join in on his and Cody's escape and she joined in eagerly.
Cody won, but it wasn't a matter of letting him win and it wasn't really a matter of skill either. Though he was humble about it, giving Ennard an eager hi-five. Charlie offered one as well and he gave one a little more timidly.
"What should we do now?" Cody asked, patting his hands on his knees thoughtfully with a hum.
"Let's see… Does that work?" Charlie asked, pointing out the game system. Ennard nodded eagerly. "How about we play that?"
"Okay!" Cody eagerly agreed. He looked up to Ennard. "Can we have chocolate popcorn too?"
Ennard nodded and got up go get it, beckoning Charlie to come with him. Cody himself got up to drag a beanbag over to the television while they head to some of the taller shelves. Ennard pulled out two plastic bowls, semi-translucent blue kiddie bowls, and plopped them into her hands. Then he got out a large but half-empty plastic jar of chocolate popcorn, unscrewing the lid and dumping a generous helping into each bowl.
While he was returning the jar to the cabinets and fishing out a plastic bag of regular popcorn, Charlie distracted herself by looking at the drawings taped up on the wall. Most of them were coloring book pages filled in with crayons but there were a couple that were true drawings. One of which was a picture of Ennard- a stick figure with a large, detailed head. It was cute, and it got a smile out of her.
A smile that tightened once she noticed another featuring him… and a rabbit. At least, it had big green rabbit ears. It's large black eyes and round black mouth were chilling. The Ennard in the picture had angry eyebrows and was pointing a stick arm at the rabbit.
A tap on her shoulder got her attention and she looked back to Ennard who tilted his head with a quizzical smile.
"Oh! Sorry, I'm coming," Charlie agreed.
Ennard nodded and reached into his bag of popcorn, scooping out a small handful, and dumped it into his open mouth. Charlie's brows shot up in concern.
"I don't think that's good for you," Charlie she pointed out.
Ennard shrugged it off in a carefree manner and started to dig in the bag again.
"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you when you get a chunk of that stuck somewhere."
Ennard cheekily tossed a piece into his mouth and crunched it between his teeth. Despite knowing she would be encouraging it; she cracked a smile.
They settled in and started up the game. It one a colorful side-scroller, one Charlie hadn't heard of before but played very similarly to some well-known games. One that allowed for two players who took turns, passing the controller back and forth between levels or deaths. Ennard was only the odd one out for a little while as once they started getting a few levels in and it got more difficult, Cody started handing off his controller for help, which the clown eagerly provided.
This went on for a while. Unlike in her cell, time moved a lot quicker in this room. She was very aware of it, often getting suddenly dragged out of the game to remember where she really was. In a way she almost felt more displaced in here than she did in her room.
The night continued for a while. Eventually Charlie started to get tired and passed off gaming duties onto Ennard before sliding down on her much-too-small beanbag and playing the role of audience, adding commentary here and there.
The next thing she knew she roused in the semi-dark room. The TV was still on but the game was off, leaving it on a static screen. The audio turned down all the way until it was just the lowest hum. Cody was no longer sitting directly to her left, though the weight at her side and the tilt of the beanbag gave away that she wasn't alone. She looked over to see Ennard resting his head on it, less like a makeshift pillow and more like he had slumped down onto it.
Cody was laying beside him on his bedroll, limbs sticking out from under his blanket, laying like he had collapsed on the bed and immediately passed out. Ennard must've dragged the bedroll over sometime after she fell asleep. The fact that she slept through that and the lights going off was a little concerning, but she knew nothing had happened. Other than her forming a stiff neck from her awkward sleeping position.
She carefully sat up on the beanbag and rubbed at her face and then neck. She couldn't tell what time it was, but she had a feeling it was sometime in the morning.
It took her a few minutes to wake up enough to realize that this was her chance to snoop around.
She turned to look back at the shelves that blocked the vent and then slowly started to stand up. Wincing at how the beans crinkled underneath her, having to slide off into a crouch and then get up from there. She checked to make sure Ennard was prone and the boy was asleep before quietly creeping over to the shelves, taking care not to step on any of toys spread out across the floor.
She made it to the shelf without making a sound. There was no way she could move it quietly enough that they wouldn't hear, but that wasn't the plan. The plan was just to see if it was moveable, and a few tests of it showed that it wasn't going to happen. It was way too heavy, sturdy, and that was with relatively light materials on it.
She couldn't get any movement at all, like it was bolted to the floor. She crouched down and took a closer look. She couldn't be too sure, but the thick bolt in the shelves' foot could've confirmed that was the case. And with only a sliver of the vent exposed, it didn't look like this was a viable option. That threw a wrench into her escape through the bathroom plan.
With little else to do and not wanting to get caught snooping around, and risk giving Ennard a reason to not be so loose with her imprisonment, she returned to the beanbag. She had half a mind to just sit back down and ride through the rest of the night in it.
But she knew she couldn't. Chances were that William already knew they were in here. And if he didn't, he surely would if she wasn't back in her cell by time he rolled around. She hadn't brought the Handunit, but she was sure he had other ways of spying in. Even though she couldn't see cameras, there were probably hidden ones all throughout this room.
She crouched down and gently tapped on Ennard's shoulder. He jolted and his eyes shot open, alert, nearly panicked. She waved at him to assure him that everything was alright, then pointed to herself then pointed a thumb back to the door.
He got the picture if the sudden deflation to his expression was any indication. He got up as quietly and carefully as he could as to not disturb Cody, brushing pieces of popcorn off his costume. One of his eyes more lidded than the other, giving him the impression of having a little too much fun the night before- a thought that got a slight smirk out of Charlie. Though it turned into a little more of an endeared smile when he moved the beanbag to block Cody, or likely to block him from getting awoken by the light in the hall.
As they walked up to the door it opened automatically, something that Charlie took note of. Ennard hadn't so much as pressed a button and from the proximity, it had opened at the same point where it had closed when they had walked in. It hadn't been locked.
So, it was a one-way locking system. Unless it was being manually locked from somewhere else, it looked like Ennard could only lock it from the outside, which meant whenever he was inside it was unlocked. The children were either too afraid of Afton to try to leave or too enchanted by Ennard to try. Not that escaping into the hallway would do any good, if her frequent access to it was any indication. Unless William really believed he broke her and that she wouldn't try to escape, the hallway was as much of a cell as the rooms.
But this was to say that even if Charlie had moved the shelf, the door would've been locked from the outside. Though just the same she assumed she would have to take the way out through the vents. But getting back into that room elsewise required a key card.
Unless it worked on the classic Freddy's system of no power, no electricity. In which case, like the doors in Afton Robotics, the door would unlock and fly open if it lost power. Considering that this place was designed by Afton and the doors looked the same, it seemed likely that it would work the same way. In which case, all Charlie would have to do is get back to the breaker room, shut down the power to this floor, and then find a way back to Cody before something found her.
Charlie had a plan. She just didn't know if she could pull it off, or if it was worth risking her and Cody's lives to try.
Ennard checked to make sure Cody hadn't awoken before leading her out the door and down the hall to her open door. The light was off inside, not that she minded too much. She was planning to head right back to bed, and she could tell from the hall light alone that nothing was lurking inside. Ennard waved a hand half-heartedly to usher her in and she willingly did so, though just the sight of the little cell made her sick to her stomach.
That and maybe too much chocolate popcorn.
She noticed that Ennard had followed her into the room and looked back to see that he had that crestfallen look again.
It was more apparent with the way his eyes glowed. With him blocking the hallway light, his mask was solely illuminated by the soft blue light from his irises. It fell over the white painted metal, casting a slight shadow over his mouth where she could only barely see has sharp teeth hidden inside of his constant smile. A haunting creature- or perhaps a haunted creature. Now without his primary distraction he looked mournsome once more.
Something was wrong and it wasn't just whatever happened with William earlier.
"What's going on?" Charlie asked.
Ennard looked to her in surprise and took a step back.
"No, I mean-! I mean… Something's going on?" Charlie asked.
Ennard's eyes darted to the side. He didn't make a move to answer at first, not until it became clear from Charlie's unwavering stare and unwillingness to step into the room that she wanted answers. He made a breathy noise like a sigh and slowly wrote out a message on his board before showing it to her.
"Thank you for playing along. I had a lot of fun!"
He punctuated the message with an attempt at one of his smiles.
"I had fun too," she assured him.
He slowly lowered the board; she imagined the enthusiasm falling off the end of his words. He wiped the slate clean, scribble again, and then showed it to her once more.
"I will miss you."
Something about that line filled Charlie with a foreboding dread. Noticing her change in look, he hastily corrected the message and flipped the board back over.
"I will miss you when you leave!"
That was a little better, a little clearer. Though the sentiments seemed just as dire.
This confirmed her suspicions; something was coming, and he knew about it. She didn't know if it was coming for her, him, or both, but this sounded much less like a goodnight and much more like a goodbye.
"I'll miss you too," she said. "…But maybe it doesn't have to be like that. We don't know what's going to happen, but maybe we'll see each other…"
She trailed off as he began to shake his head. He didn't write anything down, but she heard his words loud and clear, and it was startling. Her eyes widened a little and Ennard looked away, his gaze landing on the Handunit and staring at it for a long time.
She considered her next words carefully. She thought about what she had said to Baby, Elizabeth, and what she had said to her in return.
In the end she offered Ennard her hand just like she had to Baby. This time she could see the reaction. How he looked to her hand and silently considered it before reaching for it, hesitating for a split second, and then instead lowering his hand to pull off his thick glove before reaching for her hand with his own of wires. He hesitated again, looking to her expectantly as though awaiting permission. She gave it by closing the gap and taking her hand in his.
It had that human-like warmth that felt so comforting resting against her palm. It wasn't quite human, wasn't nearly as soft, but it wasn't unpleasant. It didn't feel like holding hands with a robot- though maybe that we Ennard personality softening that interpretation.
Ennard almost shuddered at the contact. She could hear his wires squeaking underneath his clothing. Funny how he could be so hands-on with the kids and yet seemed so unused to touch. It was sort of a shame because, in any other situation, Ennard would've made for a great caretaker. He was the type of animatronic who her father would've wanted in his business, who could perform for and take care of children. Yet Afton abused that opportunity. He took away his chances.
"Hey," she started. Squeezing his hand as much as she could. "I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow…" But Ennard did. "…But if I make it out of here… If we make it out of here then…" She took a deep breath and took the plunge. "Come find me. You can stay with me and my brother. You don't have to- it doesn't have to be like this. You deserve better than this. Baby too, but I think she has her heart set on what she wants to do. Or what she thinks she has to do, but there's always a choice."
She could tell that the only reason he wasn't shaking his head again was for her peace of mind, because his smile felt phony. It relied too much on the mask and was all but devoid from the eyes.
"Just… Think about it," Charlie insisted. Ennard finally nodded.
He looked down at their joined hands for a pensive moment before lifting hers to his chest and pressing it to his heart. His hand easily encapsulating hers, cradling it against the soft fabric of his costume. Through it she could only barely feel the ridges of his wires.
Funny how such a tender gesture could be both so somber and yet cause her skin to prickle with warmth. A flash of heat rushing up her face at the motion. It suddenly made her very aware of herself and the man- the animatronic clown in front of her. She shook it off.
Ennard didn't notice. His downcast eyes keeping to the floor, off to the side as to avoid making any eye contact, only finally lifting to meet her gaze once more before making the motion of a sigh and finally releasing her hand. Going so far as to hand it back to her before truly letting go. Charlie was slow to take it back, that feeling of impending tragedy weighing down harder as she did.
Finally, he turned and stepped out of the room, making sure to turn back around to look at her. He managed another smile and a wave, trying to put on that peppy demeanor once more. His eyes looked so sad, he had popcorn in his teeth, he was a walking mess.
And then he was gone. The moment after Charlie returned the smile and raised her hand in a wave goodbye, the door slammed shut and she was alone again. It was the first time she had really felt that sheer loneliness since the first night she had been here.
The whole thing sent Charlie reeling. She took a few unsteady steps back- almost in complete darkness save for her ominously glowing bracelet- and sat down on the bed. She leaned over on her knees and stared at her boots.
So much had happened.
The child she shared a prison with had become a real person. He got a name and a face, a personality; he was a good kid. He was the type of kid who could latch onto an unsuspecting heart without much effort.
Baby had become a real person. Suddenly she wasn't just the maniacal robot pretending to be a human who kidnapped her, but a victim just like she was. Which made things with her much more complicated.
And Ennard… Ennard had gone from being friendly to being a friend. To the point where she could fully see him as a person past his disheveled appearance. A gentle kid-friendly clown hiding in a broken body.
Charlie met three people today and she had a bad feeling that she might never see any of them again, because something was coming. That's why Ennard was upset, that's why Baby approached her, that's why William was dead silent.
Tomorrow was coming whether she wanted it to or not. She just had to be ready for it.