Chapter 1 – The Nightmare's just beginning

A harsh slap filled the air as she dropped to the ground.
"You're just a good for nothing mistake. Now go to your room and don't bother me again, or you'll feel the other one too!"

The high-pitched beeping of the alarm awakened Vanessa from her sleep. Sweating and breathing rapidly, she stood up, went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror.

Great, another nightmare. Guess I need to visit a therapist again. She thought as she got ready. Just got to earn some more money to afford one first, maybe some of my old ones will give a discount for being a loyal customer.

Booting up her computer and checking her E-Mails, she deleted most of them.
Spam, spam, ads, ads more ads. Ah, finally, work

"Hey Vanessa,

I got a new task for you. It might not be what you usually do, but I'm sure you'll manage it. The device and game to test should arrive in a package today. If you need any more information, you can either call me or come into the office directly. The client also promised a bonus to the tester for a successful test.

Have a good day"

Great, a bonus is just what I need now, maybe I can take some time off afterwards too.

When she closed her E-Mail program, she took a last look at the wallpaper she chose, it was suggested by one of her therapists as a mind calming measure, so she chose a cute white bunny, even though it didn't seem to work all the time.

When she opened the door to look for the package, she sighed as it wasn't there yet. Consequently, she went to make breakfast for herself and checked the news on her phone.
A Mega-Pizzaplex? What does that even mean?
She was surprised that Fazbear Entertainment suddenly had such a big project after being busy with fighting the rumors about the company's history. It seemingly rebranded after getting a load of money from unknown sources. Now the attention was shifting to that and the rumors about a video game developed by them.

After breakfast, she decided to go to the office to get more information about the game she was supposed to test.
I just hope he isn't there today.

On the way to the office, she saw a lot of signs advertising the soon to be opened Mega-Pizzaplex.
Interesting, I guess I'll check it out once it opens, whenever that might be.

At the office, noticed a small crowd of people talking about something. Walking past, she overheard them talk about Jeremy, a co-worker.
"Hey Vanessa, do you know anything?" someone asked her
"About what?"
"About Jeremy, he was acting strange the past few weeks and now he's gone. The police questioned everyone who was in contact with him lately." another co-worker explained.
"Oh, I didn't know anything about that."
"Ah, Vanessa, you must be here because of the new game you should test. Please come into my office" her boss suddenly said when he saw her. "And the rest of you, get back to work and stop talking about this police investigation."

In the office, her boss sat down and immediately started explaining.
"So, the game is VR, but you can connect it to your PC too. You're not the first one to test it here and the company got a little impatient already, so they reduced the payment. If you don't do an acceptable job, I have no choice but to cut your pay for that too. Any questions?"

"Yes, uh, does this have something to do with Jeremy? Wasn't he the one who tested VR games usually?"

"The law requires that I answer no. And no more questions about that, it's an ongoing investigation. Also, you'll have to sign this NDA before testing the game."

"Okay... signed. What will I need to do in the game then?"

"All the details will be in the E-Mail the company will send you and in the package that should arrive at your place today. Now, I've got a meeting in a few minutes, so I'll have to send you on your way."

Getting out of the office, she noticed a co-worker she disliked moving towards her, so she began to walk faster.
Of course he's here.
It was too late however, since he already called out to her.
"Vanessa, I heard you were getting the task Jeremy had, way to go profiting from tragedy."
"I had no say in this and didn't know beforehand so please just leave me alone."
"Yeah sure. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were pretty happy about this, maybe you are, but I'm not one to make assumptions."

Without saying anything, Vanessa just left the office. She had reported his constant targeting, but since he was a good employee, nothing happened.

When she got home, she saw the package in front of her door. After taking it in and unpacking everything, she read the instruction manual and what she had to do in the game.
Fazbear Entertainment huh, guess the video game rumors were true then.
Afterwards she looked, if she had already gotten an E-Mail from them and sure enough, they had sent one.

Dear beta-tester,

You have been selected for the opportunity of testing the, in some cases, 100% safe beta of our game! If you think it is similar to some games about our supposed past that were made, you are wrong, and those games were made to shed a bad light on our company. Please provide all information you deem notable, such as bugs or similar, to us. You will find the details attached below. There you will also find your task in the game, though it will be explained when playing too. Thank you for accepting this great chance to test our game, we are looking forward to working with you.
*Fazbear Entertainment is not responsible for damages of any kind, disappearance, death or possible mental impairment.

Fazbear Entertainment

"Of course, they aren't responsible for anything." she muttered to herself as she examined the device. It was brand-new and seemed to be a new model made by Fazbear Entertainment themselves. Nice...

After connecting the game to her PC, she put on the device and felt a sudden surge of dizziness and tiredness, which vanished after a few seconds as suddenly as it appeared. After that she was greeted by a glitching message of some sort. Collect the tapes? Okay then. I wonder if this glitching is on purpose.

Looking around the main menu, she saw a screen with a selection of different levels and stages. Next to that was a cassette player and a cassette tape. When she reached out to touch it, it disappeared into green code and filled a slot in the shelf next to the cassette player.

She suddenly felt strange, a feeling of great accomplishment went through her and she felt safe, as if nothing mattered except this. The feeling was only there for a couple seconds, but she already felt as if she needed more somehow. Looking around for more tapes that maybe hidden somewhere, she saw a strange tear behind her. It glowed through the darkness with a white light. She felt pulled towards it and when she did, a hand came out, suggesting her to take it. She hesitantly reached out with her hand and-

The next thing she saw was the ceiling of her room. She looked at the clock and realized, that the previous day had passed.
Was that all just a dream? Looking around her room, she saw the VR set on the table, together with a drawing of a bunny. She felt dizzy and tired, yearning for something to make her feel better.
What the hell even happened?
I just played the game and then...
Did I play the game?
What was I thinking about?

A strange sound on her computer caught her attention. It was a message without sender.
"Good morning, I hope you slept well, friend. I hope to see you again soon"
The text vanished right after she read it. Once it did, she felt as though it didn't even happen.
I need a coffee before going on. At least my last dream didn't repeat.