NOTES (Only one important thing to say, you can skip the rest!)
Right off the bat, there's gonna be a section of the story that doesn't match up with the first FNAF game. It's not a drastic change by any means, nor does it affect the lore at all (or at least not meaningfully), but you'll likely notice what I'm talking about if you've so much as touched the first fnaf game for more than 10 seconds. The only reason I'm putting this here is to let y'all know that this is intentional, and not a mistake.
Alright! That's the only important bit! The rest of the notes are gonna be the incoherent ramblings of an idiot you're used too.
Hey! So, I can't remember if I posted chapter 31 the way I meant too, so I might've replaced the chapter and failed to notify literally anyone about it... Soooo, chapter 31 is also finished in case you haven't read it yet. :)
My bad :(
Anyway!
Actually I can't remember if there was anything else I wanted to put in the notes for this one.. Might be letting you off easy this time.
...
Enjoy!
Disappear
...
Might as well give it one last shot before I call it a lost cause, for good this time.. I can already tell you what the result is going to be, though.
...
- Rattle -
Doorknob doesn't wanna cooperate. Surprise.
- Thud -
Unf.. Yep.. Like trying to kick open a steel vault door..
I take a step back and uselessly outline the deceptively unimportant-looking door with my flashlight, trying to find any semblance of a weak point, or even just an idea of what's preventing the damn thing from opening.. Of course, I'm met with the same result as the last dozen times I did this however many years ago.
With an quiet sigh, I instinctively turn around and shine the light at the stage, as if I'm checking to make sure the animatronics haven't moved.. There aren't any, of course. There's hardly anything left in the building at all, since everything that wasn't bolted to the floor was ransacked and moved over to Fazbear Frights.. Hell, a good number of things that were bolted to the floor still managed to find their way into that deathtrap.
Grumble.. Not even a very good deathtrap considering it didn't kill the one thing I was trying to kill.
...
Pointlessly, my light returns to inspecting the parts & service door.
Can already tell I'm gonna be a bundle of joy at work tonight.. Gotta start planning these excursions to be a little earlier on in the day.
Revisiting this old pizzeria does give me a misplaced nostalgic feeling. Guess this place does somewhat resemble the old Fredbear's Diner I spent a good chunk of my childhood in. Can't say there are many good memories associated with either of these places, but I also can't help but feel a little comfort from reliving a couple childhood experiences.
To be honest, was kinda banking on feeling a bit better about being here.. Enough to counteract the little episodes I fall into when I think about places like these for too long. Guess I was hoping it'd feel like I belonged here, like how I feel when I have that dream..
Doesn't really have that effect, I've noticed.. Think it's because this place looks nothing like how it did back in the past, when I 'belonged'. The pizzeria was always a little decrepit and shady, but it really isn't the same anymore. Sure, I was surrounded by these same four walls and ceiling back then, but that's about as far as the similarities go. No posters, no tables, no party-hats, no colorful lights, no curtains.. The only two places that remained relatively intact are the office and the parts & service room, for two entirely different reasons.
The office did get a little ransacked by the people who were trying to stock up Fazbear Fright's with as many 'relics' as they possibly could, but there really isn't very much in there that screams 'Freddy' instead of 'boring-ass office'. The drawings and posters were taken, as well as the desk fan for some god-forsaken reason, but everything else in there is about the same. Even the old chair, which I thought was odd considering they took the fricken' fan.. Though looking at the condition of the chair, I doubt anyone is gonna want to sit in that thing for the rest of it's time on Earth.. I probably wouldn't have taken the chair to Fright's either.
..Then again, I wouldn't have taken the frickin' desk fan.. I'm never gonna be able to let this go, why the hell did they take the desk fan?
In all my years of facing off with abominations, nothing has truly baffled me more than the shock I felt upon seeing that god-forsaken fan re-appear on my desk in Fazbear Frights.
...
Jeez..
...
Why won't this damn door open?!
Already frustrated from gaslighting myself about a friggen' fan, I gently bonk the parts & service door with my closed fist.
Trudge taught me the term 'gaslighting'. It's always been slightly annoying how each generation would come up with a series of words or phrases for definitions that there were already words for, but that one is admittedly a little fun to say.
...
Okay, back to more important (and infinitely more relevant) topics, I came back to the Pizzeria as a result of hearing Coop's plan to have the police do a small re-investigation.
I said I wasn't worried, but it still got me thinking.
It's incredibly unlikely that Cooper's gonna be able to convince an entire sheriff's office to do this pointless favor for him, and even if he somehow manages to pull it off, this place has been scraped from top-to-bottom by countless individuals. (Realistically more like 10-15). There is nothing to find here. Coming back to check for myself has proved that to me without a shadow of a doubt.
But still, there was a thought nagging at the back of my mind to give this place a final once-over. Since I'm the only one who knows what I know, thought I could possibly have a better chance of picking up on something that might seem unimportant to someone else. Though in all honesty, there's one thing in particular that I wanted to check one last time..
The parts & service room.
I have never been able to open this door. No one has. At least not since a few days before I started as a night-guard there.
There are no windows in that room, and since the door has always been closed, there isn't any damn light. So while there was a camera in that room, it was arguably even less helpful than the kitchen's, since that one at least had shockingly helpful audio I could work with during the night.
Of course, the first time I tried to enter that room was after I had heard the recording on my fourth night here. It was a little displeasing that I couldn't get in, but at the time, I was infinitely more concerned with what I had come there to do. I'd eventually chalked it down to 'someone else stumbled in there before I did and got the whole situation sorted out', but hell, to this day I still don't have any solid proof to back that up.
Of course, the police likely wouldn't be dissuaded by something like a locked door, but I'm still not worried about it. That door ain't normal.
It really does just look like.. a door. No different than the one that opens into the utility closet. Something you could unlock using a blade of grass as a lockpick, and if that didn't work, the thing is so flimsy that it looks like it would fly off it's hinges if you so much as fail to turn the knob all the way before pushing.
Hell, the closet door did fall off it's hinges once or twice during my time there. Once Foxy accidentally grazed it with his hook while running down the hallway and I watched as the door stood motionless for a few seconds before politely falling straight down on the floor like a cartoon. And as far as appearance goes, that door and the parts & service one are the exact same door. Brand, model, color..
But it just. Won't. Open.
First of all, there isn't even a lock on the damn thing. So it's clearly not locked.
I tried opening it at least a dozen times. Even watched as a couple other employees took their shot at it. It's almost comical how unresponsive it is.
Pulling doesn't work. The doorknob does rattle a little, but that's because it clearly isn't attached to the door properly. Same with pushing. No amount of force has been able to tear this thing down. Careful and precise blows with a hammer to the hinges did exactly nothing. There's no space between the bottom of the door and the floor, so we couldn't slide a camera down there and see what the problem was. Despite the doorknob being poorly attached, all attempts at removing the knob from it's socket, even forcefully, have failed. There's even some signs of damage on the wall 'around' the door, but zero indication that the door itself has been touched in it's entire life.
It sometimes feels as if someone is playing a prank on me. Hitting the door as hard as you possibly can doesn't even result in the thing shaking, so it makes no more noise than punching the cement wall next to it.. It's like the door isn't even real, like it's actually just a painting on the cement.
No amount of police are gonna be able to open this door. Anything short of high-grade explosives are gonna result in jack.
I'm already pretty sure that Coop's not gonna be able to get the police to do anything for him, but I'm absolutely 100% positive that he isn't gonna be able to talk the police, city hall, the military, or whoever else it might concern into literally bombing a fucking door out of existence.
In a weird way, this does reassure me that someone found the phone guy's body before I heard the message. I can't think of any other reason for a building to lock down a room so incredibly hard for anything less than an adult's corpse being discovered in a suit. There's no feasible way to convince a court that a death like that was a suicide, so if it was discovered by anyone of authority, the building would unquestionably be shut down, and at least one person would be sent to prison for letting it happen.
For that reason, I bet all employee's who discovered the body came to a quick agreement to seal this room off to hell and back so that no one would be held responsible. To be honest, I can respect that. No one did anything wrong, so no one wanted to unjustly spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
At least I don't think anyone did anything wrong.. No one who was actively working there at the time, at least. To this day, I'm not entirely sure who all knew about the animatronic's quirks during the night, so I guess it was possible that someone really did 'allow' someone to die for the sake of the company..?
..Mmn.. Even that has some bits that don't add up.. I really don't know. Guess I figured that I wouldn't live long enough to care either, since I was constantly crunched for time.
...
Welp. I've done all I can do.
If the police do discover something, then good for them. The only thing I'd ever get worried about is if they somehow managed to find something out that I don't know anything about, but I can't see that happening. That room obviously isn't gonna hold for the rest of time, but from the looks of things, I reckon that room's gonna stay sealed for more than enough time for the people's obsession with the mysteries surrounding Freddy's to slowly dissipate. When that finally happens, and the room is opened, it'll result in nothing more than an interesting newspaper article for the week before getting lost to time.
...
Guess that means it's time to go. This took considerably less time than I thought it would, so I guess I'm not in any rush to be somewhere.
I start taking a few steps diagonally backwards, doing some wide circles with the flashlight just to make sure nothing didn't magically materialize on the walls in the 45 seconds since I did it last.
Before long, I stop walking to sit right about where the lifted platform of the stage used to be.
It's dark, and almost impossible to see anything other than what I'm pointing at with my light.. But this place isn't new, I still remember where everything is.
Bending down reveals I was pinpoint accurate with my assumption.
Following my success, I decide to turn my flashlight off and see just how much of the building I can really remember.
...
It's pitch black in here. The only place light can come in from is the front door, which is on the opposite side of the building from where I'm at. Safe to say, there's literally nothing in my field of view that I can use as reference to tell what's there or where I'm facing.
...
But.. I can still see just fine. As if every light in the building was shining brightly.. There might as well be a blindfold over my face, but I'd still be able to see.
In the darkness, my mind automatically fills in the blanks. Like it's outlined every single shape in the building with enough detail to put even the most skilled of artists to shame.. This place has implanted into my brain so unbelievably hard that I could stroll around in the pitch black with as much confidence as I would if it were lit.
I can see an outline of the room's walls meet and form corners. I can see the outline of the stage I'm sitting on. I can see the outline of every door, entrance, and archway within what should be my line of sight.
...
I can see the dinner tables and party hats strewn about the room like someone traced them all with a glowing marker. I can see the posters hung up in the hallway. I can see the all the signs and posters hung above every point of interest.
I can see the curtains of pirate cove in the corner. I can see the old animatronic crew performing behind me, and all the children they're performing for running amok in the spaces between the tables.
..But they're not moving.. Everything is still, like all I can remember is a snapshot.
The worst part is that if I try hard enough, I can make it change. All I have to do is think about my second night, and all the stains and debris changes to reflect how it was the second night I was here. If I think about the fourth night, I can distinctly recall and trace the moment I saw Foxy's head artificially poke out of pirate cove to stare at me for less than a second, before agonizingly snapping back into his curtain. I'm still unsure how he knew, but he appeared and stared at me the very instant no one else was looking at pirate cove, and retreating the moment a kid just happened to turn in his general direction.
Foxy attacked 7 times that night.
I can outline that memory too, like it's currently happening right in front of me.
No matter how hard I try, though, I can't make it move... Only stills and snapshots. As if to remind me that these moments aren't actually happening in front of me, and are just pictures of the past.
It fills me with a subtle dread, but also fills me with the warmth of having a purpose.
...
...
I want to belong somewhere again.
I want to feel like existing here isn't wrong, and that I shouldn't feel bad for continuing to breathe.
So, so rarely do I get to experience that feeling again. And every time, it requires me to be somewhere I don't want to be, or is so fleeting that the feeling is over by the time I recognize it happened.
Those 'places' barely qualify as existing anyway. Off the top of my head, the only places I feel like I'm permitted to exist is my father's house, or when I'm having that dream about being in Freddy's Pizzeria.. Both of these places only provide any semblance of comfort because they strongly resemble how they were in the past, when I 'did' belong.
Everyone has a 'place', with little to no exceptions. As of right this very instant, they can drop their things and go to that place should they feel the desire too.. The constant is that this place physically exists somewhere. Y'know- If you want, you can think of it dimensionally. Like, these places all exist on a three dimensional plane that they can traverse to reach.
That dimensional approach kinda works for my predicament as well if you consider time to be the fourth dimension. In which case I just got unlucky, since my 'places' are all a little displaced on the fourth dimension, which I can't traverse and match up with where I want to be.
...
Man, I am the biggest bitch sometimes.
I'm just tired of it at this point.. Whether I'm at home, the Pizzaplex, or anywhere else, I just feel out of place. Like that feeling of reserving a hotel room for one night, but it lasts for an eternity. It constantly feels like as soon as I wake up the next morning, I can just eat the C-tier international breakfast they have for me, and be on my way home somewhere I do belong. Instead, all I can do is check out, hop in a rental car I'm unfamiliar with and drive around all day before arriving at another hotel to stay at for one night.
It sounds like an entertaining way to spend a weekend, but a poor way to spend a life.
At first it was annoying, then it became concerning.. After a while, I tried a few things to fight this feeling off, or at least get a little more used to it; but you can't get used to feeling unused to something.
Now it's just frustrating..
I'm tired.. I just want it to be done at this point. I'm ready to put in the work, but of course there isn't any work to be done, which only makes it more insulting..
...
Sometimes it really does make it feel like death is the only option. But if death needs to happen, something's either gotta kill me, or I have to live a long healthy life of feeling this way until I reduce to sand..
...
Can I even die of old age at this point? I mean, I'm sure I'll deteriorate into dust eventually.. But with how remnant likes to repair my body, how long might that take?
I can't even die conventionally either.. My survival and the functionality of my internal organs aren't as dependent on each other as they used to be. The only way I can think of dying at this point would be via fire like everyone else, or through utter annihilation. Maybe I'll survive for as long as it takes for me to either forget to turn off the oven, or be wiped off the planet via nuclear war.
I guess neither of those things are guaranteed to happen, or guaranteed to kill me if they happen..
Man, what happens then? Does that mean I'll feel this way forever?
...
I don't want to feel this way forever.
...
I desperately don't want to feel this way forev-
- Brrm -
My wrist vibrates, and the watch on my arm lights up and plays a soft chime.
On account of it being pitch black and dead silent only a moment prior, I hop off the stage and snap my head to the source of the noise with considerably more energy than what was necessary.
...
Godammit, you gotta stop calling me while I'm like this.. You might force me to sack up and get over myself one of these days if you aren't careful. What a horrible fate that would be.
- Click -
"..What's up?"
"Holy shit. Answer me faster." Their camera shakes a bit before it finally settles on the fae, inelegantly biting a mouthful of something.
"It rang maybe three times."
"You, bffbf-.." Rox tries to speak with a mouthful, but eventually decides it's more acceptable to keep me waiting for a response. "Your watch is on your damn arm. Just lift it and click the green button. Shouldn't even take ONE ring."
"Not gonna drop what I'm doing the instant I feel my watch ring."
"You 'should'. It sucks waiting for you."
"Did you need something?"
"Yes. Have you left already?"
"For the Pizzaple-?"
"Nevermind, I can see you, you're not driving."
"How observant."
"Get me something to eat."
"Sure, what do you want?"
"Something hot."
"..."
"..."
"Rox."
"What?"
"What do you want?"
"I just said-"
"Give me a damn food item."
Every now and then I'd bring something to eat for the days Roxanne drags me into her room to chill or watch a movie. It didn't take her long to figure out that if Chica could ask for food, then so could she.
Admittedly, I've been getting a kick out of it as well. Kinda neat introducing the animatronics to new things that are stupidly common to us.
We've been getting pretty comfortable with each other as time's passed. That wonderful point in a platonic relationship where you can say literally anything and be as douche-y as you want around one another without having to worry about how it'll affect their opinion of you.
"What did I tell you?"
"The two least helpful words you could possibly string together when asked the question 'what do you want to eat'."
"Something. Hot."
"Of course I'm gonna bring something hot- almost everything you can get at any restaurant is gonna be hot."
"Then you have a lot to choose from. What are you bitching at me about?"
"If I get you something 'hot', and you don't like it, I'm turning you into a rug."
"I'm not picky, Mike. You know what's good to eat around here better than I do."
"I left you the laptop if you want to look up-"
"I'd make an awful fuckin' rug, by the way. Hair would suck to walk on."
"Very cool, look up what you want to eat and-"
"Bet it'd make a sick coat. Make me a coat."
"Rox, focus."
"Freddy'd make a fine rug."
- Click -
I've decided she's getting the first fast-food place I see.
...
Might need to look up how to get to the Pizzaplex from here.. Never cared much to learn about the surrounding-
- Brrm -
- Click -
"Yo."
"I want chicken."
"Fine."
- Click -
...
Almost immediately after lowing my arm, a soft chime echoes from my watch.
-.-.-.-.-.-
TXT (Michael_Afton, Roxanne_Wolf)
Roxanne: Get fries.
Michael: What kind of place serves chicken and fries at 11:00 PM?
Roxanne: Same place that keeps giving you burgers?
Michael: Do you want like a chicken sandwich?
Roxanne: No.
Michael: You just want chicken?
Roxanne: No.
Michael: What do you want from me?
Roxanne: I want a burger. You made me think about a burger.
Michael: Final answer?
Roxanne: No.
Michael: I'll kill you.
Roxanne: I still want a burger.
Michael: Are you sure?
Roxanne: I want a burger.
Michael: Final answer?
Roxanne: No. I might change my mind.
Michael: You have 60 seconds before I make it out of this building, and once I do, I'm turning my watch off and getting you the thing you said last.
Roxanne: Slowpoke.
Michael: It's a large building.
Roxanne: That wasn't your house?
Michael: No.
Roxanne: It was pitch black in there.
Michael: Yes.
-.-.-.-.-.-
- Brrm -
Sigh.
- Click -
"Yo."
Roxanne gets cartoonishly close to her camera while she tries to make out literally anything in the room I'm in.
"..."
"You're down to thirty seconds."
"Where the hell are you right now?"
"Why?"
"Because you didn't turn on the lights, which makes me think you shouldn't be there."
"You're starting to sound like me."
"That made me sick to my stomach."
"Here."
I turn my arm around and shine my light from place to place, showcasing the ghost of a once joyous and horrifying location.
...
"Are you in hell?"
"Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. It's old and salvaged, but it looks worse than it actually is."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah."
"We used to live in this shithole?"
"It wasn't always a shithole. And no, none of you were here, ever."
"It's disgusting."
"It's dusty."
"What are you doing in there? You are not coming in my room with that shit all over you."
"It's dust."
"Mike."
"Dusty."
"What. Are. You. Doing. There?"
"Mm.." I look up from the video feed and look around a bit. "Nothing meaningful enough to warrant coming back.."
There's a small silence as Roxy puts some pieces together.
"Oh yeah, you worked here.."
"Uh-huh."
...
"Sorry for calling your job a shithole."
"Don't be, you were probably right. It wasn't great over here."
"Good, 'cuz I wasn't really sorry."
"Didn't think so."
"What are you doing there now?"
...Welp, I can't really avoid this question without it being obvious, so I might as well double down with full disclosure.
"Cooper mentioned that he had a friend in the police force, or something like that. Said he might try and get the police to do another investigation of this place. Figured I'd poke my head in myself and see if there was anything worth finding ahead of time."
"Did you?"
"Nope. Literally nothing."
"Ha. Loser."
"Mm."
...
"The fuck'd you do to get the cops to investigate again?"
"Nothing."
"You did something."
"I guess you're right, actually.. Think I accidentally gave Coop the idea."
"Thought so. What was wrong with the place the first time?"
"Well.."
"Betcha fuckin' anything you did that too."
"No, the first investigation happened way before I started working here."
"Still bet you did it."
"I didn't, for sure this time."
"We'll see. Tell me."
"Since when were you interested in old Freddy's locations?"
"I don't. Mine's the only one I care abou-"
" 'Your's'?"
"Yes, mine's the only one I care about. It's just funny thinking you did something dumb."
"This one's story is a bit more intense, just so you're aware."
"I've scooped your gross flimsy purple arm out of a death machine with my bare hands. I'll survive."
"Fair enough."
...
"Talk, purple man."
"There were several children that disappeared here, and were presumably murdered. There was an investigation, but it was pretty limited due to the company adamantly refusing every investigation that wasn't absolutely necessary. On top of that, they did everything in their power to cover up and destroy evidence of what happened to the children. The murderer wasn't caught, the children weren't found, and the place reopened in less than a week."
...
...
...
"You wrote about that. On the laptop."
...
"Yeah."
...
After a slightly nerve wracking silence, I couldn't prevent myself from continuing and making some excuses.
"Despite how little investigation was done, and how hard the company tried to cover it up, the ordeal became huge news. It caused a gigantic rumor mill that effectively doomed every subsequent Freddy's location. To this day, I imagine Cooper gets an unbelievable amount of backlash for having the audacity to bring Freddy's back into existence."
"Yeah, duh. If I knew someone who's runt vanished somewhere, I wouldn't bring my runts anywhere close."
"..."
"I heard you laugh."
"Maybe."
"What? What's your deal?"
"Imagining you as a parent. Since when do you say 'runt'? I thought you liked children?"
"I do like them!"
"Might not want to call them runts to their face, then."
"Good thing I didn't, dumbass. You aren't a child."
"How kind."
"Only when I'm proving a point."
"You didn't prove anything. All you did was tell me how you would act in a wildly hypothetical scenario you made up."
An exhale can be heard on the other end of the receiver.
"All I meant to say is that the little pizzeria you're in had every right to close down and rot."
"Not just this one, almost all of them."
"Really? Just 'cause that one had a couple children vanish?"
"They died, first of all. Which is at least a little more-"
"No, all you said was that they 'disappeared'. They're probably fine."
...
Uh..
Even if I shouldn't know for sure, they disappeared. Under no circumstance could they have turned out fine. Why would she even think that?
"..The children were never discovered. To this day, people don't know what happened or who did it."
"Kids don't just run off and die somewhere. Probly' just ran outside and got lost or something."
"If that's true, they would have died for sure."
Probably shouldn't be hitting an animatronic designed for children with a harsh reality such as, I dunno, 'mortality'.. But if anything, it'll make her see children as a little more vulnerable, and she'll keep a closer eye on them.
"They're fine, Mike. Nobody's runnin' around and killing little guys for fun."
...
"The kids were murdered, Rox.. I only know this because of my time at the Freddy's locations, but those children were murdered. I'm positive."
Not entirely clear why I felt the need to double down on this topic. Didn't really mean to insist my point so hard..
"..Mike, there aren't people who just-"
"There are. People like that are incredibly rare, and those few rarely end up getting their way, but people willing to do something like murder one or more children absolutely exist.. I'm not gonna get too far into it tonight, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that one of those people had managed to get inside this pizzeria."
"..."
...
...
"Sorry, bit too real there?"
"Still hard to tell if you're fucking with me.."
"I'm not. If you ever get curious, you can get my laptop and look it up for yourself."
"Fine.. But that still doesn't explain why people hated all of the Freddy's places if that only happened at one place.."
Roxanne's tone is noticeably less playful and weightless as before, but not by much. Thankfully she still seems to recognize that these things happened a very, very long time ago. It's all done and dealt with now.
"Something as bad as this can be enough to smudge a company's name forever."
"I know, I get that, but all of them? Weren't there like, twenty?"
"I sure hope not."
"Well clearly some people are still fine dragging their runts here, so something must've finally convinced them that nothing's gonna happen anymore."
I chuckle softly, as to not break the ambiance of the building I'm in.
"Probably because this is the only place something terrible hasn't happened." I respond absent mindedly.
"Nothing else terrible happened. 5 schmucks disappeared, get over it."
"How'd you figure that out so fast?"
"Laptop."
"What?"
"Your laptop."
"Really? Did you sprint over to my office and back?"
"It's been in my room, dumbass."
"Oh. Why?"
" 'Cause I wan't to use it."
"Fair enough.."
...
Roxanne, suspiciously goes quiet for a few moments, despite seeming like she had a lot of questions a few seconds prior.
...
"Mike, who are all these people..?"
"Whom?"
"There were 5 kids, right?"
"Yeah, that disappeared here anyway."
...
I hear the faint clacking of keys from Roxanne's end of the call.
"Were there more?"
...
I've been playing dumb up until now. Didn't really want to get into this tonight, but it looks like Roxy pursued this line of questioning without my help.
"..."
"The hell happened in '87? What does 87 even mean?"
"1987."
"Really? The thing I just read told me the children disappeared way later than-"
"There were a lot of deaths, in all of the Freddy's locations. Those 5 children are just one of the many."
"Oh jeez- Did someone else disappear?"
...
Welp.
"The bite of '83, the deaths at Baby's, the bite of '87, the facial recognition incident, the disappearances of both the children and a night-guard, the burning of Fazbear Frights, the alleyway besides the pizzeria, the burning of the pizzeria before this one.." I stop to think of any more incidents Rox might find scouring the internet, but eventually decide that she'll get the point. "There was a tragedy at every Freddy's location, sometimes multiple. Most of them resulted in at least one death, and a large portion of them were caused by the same man behind the disappearances."
...
A bit jarringly, the only response I'm awarded is a skeptical snicker.
"You are fucking with me, asshole." Roxanne responds playfully.
"..?"
"Where'd you put that doc' of yours? You put almost all of those things in the book you're making up. I read it, dumbass. Remember?"
"Yeah.."
"..Where is that damn thing? Did you put it somewhere else?"
"Rox, dunno how to say this, but I took those ideas from what really happened." I reply nonchalantly, stopping and dipping into my old office to continue our conversation. "A lot of the doc was based on the rumors, but everything I just listed happened. Albeit forever ago."
"Mm.." The wolf replied dismissively while typing something in on my laptop, before pausing to register what I just said. "..Oh, really? All of them?"
"Yep."
...
"All of them?!"
"Yeah."
"Fricken'.. What?! I thought there was only one investigation!"
"There was only one that happened here in this building."
"So more kids died? At every single place?"
"There were a couple more kids, but there were adults too."
"Are you kidding me?"
"What are you getting so worked up about? You were perfectly fine when I said a few children disappeared here a moment ago."
"How many places were there?"
"Places that kids die-?"
"No, dumbass! Freddy's places!"
"Oh, uhm.."
I pause to think for a moment, but can't help but let my mind wander to Roxanne's little episode she's having.. She was just fine when I told her 5 whole children disappeared. I even insisted beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were murdered, but it still didn't phase her very much..
"..Six? Not including the Pizzaplex.. I did include Baby's though since it was made by the same-"
"How many of them haven't had some big fuckin' catastrophe?"
"Well.. They all did.. Some of them had multiple."
"So this building I'm in is the only place there hasn't been a corpse in?!"
"Rox, calm down already..!" I interject with my best attempt at a lighthearted chuckle. "It all happened 'forever' ago. The place you're in now is owned by completely different people made with completely different intentions. You're freaking yourself out."
"I'm fine..! That's just-.. That's dumb!"
"..What do you mean?"
"Ugh.. I thought I was the newest and best fuckin' attraction made by the worlds most successful and popular company..!"
"Freddy's was never all that popular, up until now.. Rarely successful eith-"
"Yes- that's what I'm saying, Michael! I thought people looked at me because I was the best thing in the best franchise! I didn't know this bullshit 'franchise' was only popular for it's ghost stories and fucking child-murderers!"
"What? No- Rox, everyone does come there for you guys. Everyone who still sees this place for it's deaths wouldn't come here if their lives depended on it."
"Shut up, Mike!"
"What?!"
"Fuckin-..!"
...
...
A suspicious silence fills the room for a few seconds before Rox mutters something to herself like a soft growl.
"Fine..! You mean that? Not just saying shit again?"
"Yes, I meant it."
"Good.." Roxanne huffs, taking a deep breath immediately afterward. "..Then hurry and-"
You are not getting off that easy.
"Uh-huh? Gonna pretend you didn't just yell at me to shut up for literally no reason?"
"Mike, I said-"
" 'sHuT uP mIkE' "
"Don't make fun of me!"
"You exploded on me out of nowhere. I get to make fun of you for a couple minutes."
"Fine, sorry! Jesus!"
"What was your problem?"
"Nothing..! I was just angry!"
"You sure as hell were..!"
"I thought people looked at me like a freak for a minute! 'Cause of actual murders! I was right to be mad!"
"That's fine, but you furiously demanded I 'shut up' in response to me telling you the reason not to be mad anymore..!"
"Jesus!"
"That's like if you were hungry and you punched me for bringing you food."
"That is such a lie!"
"You'll see what happens if you insult the guy bringing you food."
"I'm sorry, okay?! Give me a break!"
- TAANG -
..That's a peculiar noise..
"Ow-!" Roxy responds to the noise, despite it occurring on my end of the line. "Jeez..!"
I stay silent for a few more seconds before poking my head out of the office door and facing where I 'think' the noise came from.. It's a little obscure though, since noise bounces off the walls so well in here..
...
"Mike?"
"Sorry, just a sec.."
...
...
Unable to see very far from where I'm standing, I begin to walk down the hallway, back towards the stage.
"What the hell was that? Did you do that?"
"Don't think so.. How'd that hurt 'your' ears and not mine?"
"Shut up, you know why.."
..?
"I do?"
"Wolf, dumbass."
"..Okay?"
"Ears! Dumbass!"
"I have ears too."
"Holy sh- I have wolf ears. 'Cause I'm a wolf!"
...
"Oh- what? Really?"
"What do you mean 'really'?!"
"Are your ears more sensitive because you're a 'wolf'?"
"Is that not obvious, numbnuts?"
"No. You're an animatronic. You're only a wolf in like, appearance and pride.. Kinda surprised they bothered to give you better hearing.."
"You'd better friggen' pray I don't bother to kick you in the balls when you get here.."
"That would be bothering."
"Fuck you."
"Mm."
Calling that a victory.
...
...
Sweeping my light across the room proves to do exceptionally little.. You'd think a noise like that would have an obvious source..
...
I'm only a moment from giving up until I notice the soft glow from my watch is being reflected especially hard by something on the floor. Something I could have swore wasn't there a moment ago..
...
Oh, right.
"Found it."
There were a few metal poles on the ground when I got here. There's nothing special about them, but it turns out that wandering around in the dark with cylindrical objects littering the floor can be hazardous.
So, not proud to admit it, but after slipping and eating shit on the floor I finally found my resolve to pick them up and set them somewhere I wouldn't run into them again.
There aren't many places to 'put' things in here anymore, so I eventually decided to just lean each pole on the wall vertically.. Admittedly, I may have done a lackluster job at positioning them in a way that would be more stable on account of being frustrated I just tripped on the only damn thing in the entire room.
False alarm. Pole fell over. No biggie.
"The hell was it?"
"Ghosts."
...
"Mike."
"Mhm?"
"..Nevermind.."
"Nothing to say about the ghosts?"
"No."
"What if it's not a ghost?"
"It isn't a ghost, dingus."
"Maybe it's an intruder."
"An intruder? Who's shit are they intruding on? Freddy's?"
"Sure."
"Hasn't everything been ransacked or whatever?"
"Yeah."
"Then who the hell cares?"
"Me."
"No you don't. Get your ass over here."
"I'm the proud night-guard of this establishment."
"Mike."
"My job to protect this place."
"F-.. I want to tell you that's not true, but you already know that, and you'll only continue to fuck with me.."
"Mhm."
"Fine. Kick the 'intruder's' ass or whatever. Maybe it's the murderer."
That gets a small chuckle out of me.
"Maybe it is."
"Who'd that guy end up being? Was it a dude?"
"Who knows. They never caught 'em."
I don't think that qualifies as a lie..
"What?"
"I told you that already."
"Didn't he also do all the shit at the other places too?"
"Some of it, yeah."
"They still never caught him? Like, he's still out there?"
"As far as anyone knows."
"Didn't he kill a bunch of people? Like, after the kids disappearing or whatever?"
"Yeah. Some indirectly, though. He even got an animatronic to kill a night-guard once."
"What? Really?"
"Yep. I think so, anyway.. Heard that's what the bite of '87 was about."
"So he could actually fuckin' be anywhere?"
"As far as anyone knows."
"..."
...
...
"Didja know a night-guard disappeared here too once?"
"Fuckin' Mike..! Not funny!"
"It's kinda funny."
...
"I don't-.. I don't think you should be there anymore.."
"Still gotta talk to the intruder."
"..Is there actually someone there?"
..Internally debating whether I should double down on this bit..
...
"Totally."
She's gonna kill me later.
"Someone's actually in the building with you?"
"Tooootally."
"Mike, are you fucking insane?"
"Who knows."
"Who are they?"
"Dunno, hard to see in the dark. They look to be the height of roughly one murderer."
I don't think I could possibly be more sarcastic. Does she really still think there's someone here?
"Don't, Mike.."
"Don't what?"
"Leave him alone..! Come back already..!"
"What if this guy's lost?"
"Mike..!"
"I'mma say hi."
"MIKE!"
Roxanne's tone drops any semblance of playfulness, catching me a little off guard..
Alright, maybe I should stop.
"Sheesh.."
"Fucking don't, okay..?! Please?"
"What happened to you in the last four seconds?"
"It's freaking me out, okay?! Just leave them alone and come back..!"
"Rox, there isn-"
"Stop! Stop talking and listen to me..! Just this once!"
"I'm already at the door! Calm down..!"
"Jeez, Mike!"
...
...
"Mkay, I'm outside.. Did you say you wanted chicken or a burger?"
"Do you have the survival instincts of a fucking rat?!"
"I've survived this long already."
Not entirely true.
"You could've..! Mnnff.."
I raise my arm to grab my car's door handle, catching a glimpse of Roxanne in the process, who now has her face buries in her hands.
"..Wanna burger?"
...
...
"There wasn't anyone in the damn restaurant.." Roxanne mutters through her fur.
...
"No, sorry.. Wasn't as funny as I thought it would be.." I affirm, feeling a little guilty.
...
"I'm fuckin' stupid.." The fae concludes, running our conversation through her head and picking up on all the sarcasm she missed the first time.
"You're alright. I probably shouldn'tve doubled down on the bit so hard."
...
...
"Still want a burger?"
"Yes."
"Cool. Are we eating in your room?"
"You are not leaving my room for the entire fuckin' weekend."
Pfft.
"Am I in time-out?"
"Every time I takes my eyes off you, you get in mortal danger."
"Nah, most of the time I'm making it-"
"So. I will not be taking my eyes off you, until you learn how to act like a fucking adult."
...
"Maybe you 'would' be a good parent.."
"You're an even better child."
"Thanks."
"Die."