Some Things Are Better Left Buried

By: Miss-DNL

Chapter 11: During the Day

After asking the lady at the front desk where his interview would be Leroy went to the security office. Finding it empty he decided to search the rest of the pizzeria. Hearing the sound of a show going on Leroy felt it would be best to start there. As he headed down the hall the man looked at the pictures hanging on the walls. He smiled, most of them were pretty cute while a few others looked…awkward to put it gently.

Leroy stopped a moment as he looked into the prize corner. Immediately upon spotting Puppet he felt unnerved. He shook his head subtly and continued down the hall. Whether it was handing prizes to kids or not Leroy was not a fan of puppets, or those even creepier porcelain dolls.

As he entered the main party room he smiled, at least the other animatronics were nicer looking. Still held some of the uncanny valley feel but he could deal with this much better than the marionette. Off the face of them he liked the Bonnie the Bunny the most. He just liked bunnies, hares, and rabbits. The red bowtie was also pretty nice.

For a moment he watched the animatronics put on their show. From what he saw of them interacting with the kids in the crowds and each other Leroy saw they had a pretty wide selection of audio. Their movement was rather fluid as well, they were pretty impressive to behold all around. Leroy was almost tempted to sit down and just watch them. That was until he spotted who would hopefully be his supervisor.

Weaving around a couple of people he called to the guard, "Uh, Gregor Scott?"

The guard turned his head to him upon hearing his name being called. He looked at Leroy who was a few inches taller than him. Having only one appointment today Gregor quickly recalled his name, "Leroy O'Connor?"

Leroy nodded promptly, "Yes, that's me."

Gregor nodded curtly then looked back at the show. The guard looked at the three doing their endearing performance. If one didn't know better, it almost looked like the three were alive. That they were performing on their own without the need of an invisible puppeteer. Gregor looked at them, eyes full of reminiscence before he shook them clear with a shake of his head. Leroy gave him a look of confusion and the man simply motioned for him to follow.

Leroy made a move back towards the security office but Gregor instead led him to the manager's office in the back. The red head looked around confusedly, "Why aren't we doing it in the…"

"This is more private." Gregor answered as the more sheepish man's voice drifted off. Leroy gave an "oh", nodded, and then quietly sat himself down at a chair. Gregor sat on the front of the desk, reaching behind himself he picked up Leroy's application. The two others were also lying on the desk were he'd left them from earlier in the day.

"I felt it would be best," Gregor began as he looked the application over. He looked up from it and at Leroy, "Considering your incident with drugs…"

Leroy felt himself stiffen at the mention, unconsciously he rubbed his arm again. He shut his eyes and nodded, his voice hushed with guilt and shame, "Y-yes…"

In a snap Leroy lifted his head and began pleading his case, "I-I know that isn't good…but I promise I've gotten over it! You can do a back ground check…I went through therapy. I even admitted myself to it! I haven't touched the stuff since…"

The man's voice drifted off as he recalled what led to admitting himself to drug rehabilitation, "Since…then…"

Leroy drifted his eyes back to Gregor, seeming to have just recalled the other's presence. The red head worked his jaw nervously, hands intertwined with each other. Leroy bit the inside of his lip and averted his gaze. Inwardly he decided to leave his employment fate up to Gregor. Nothing he said would sound like anything but an excuse.

"Yes I saw that." Gregor affirmed as he looked over his application. Under the part where it questioned whether or not he'd had any criminal offences he'd confessed to have been caught with illegal substances. Under that Leroy gave a detailed recant of how he'd been through rehabilitation for a few months until he was clean. He even provided a phone number to the clinic he'd admitted himself to so it could be verified.

"I'm guessing despite that though, you're having trouble getting work, correct?" Gregor guessed as he skimmed over Leroy's application again.

"Yes…" Leroy admitted hand rubbing his wrist, "Aside from this I've put in for a lot of other places around Hurricane. I've only gotten one other call back so far, and it doesn't pay as much as this. I don't blame them, but…I need the money after moving back here."

Gregor quirked a brow, "You moved back here?"

Leroy nodded, eyes still staring off to the side, "Yes, I went to St. George for college but…um, the stress was too much and the city life didn't sit well for me, or being too far from my family. That's when I made my…mistakes."

Gregor nodded silently, getting a curt nod in turn back from Leroy. The guard seemed to think for a moment before speaking again, "Normally I don't think we'd hire someone with any criminal background. Especially considering the fact that children are present." Leroy lowered his heads at the words, appearing guilty. "However, we are in the need of night guards and I don't see the harm in putting you on night shift. You'll be starting next week on Monday. Sometime this weekend come stop by for your uniform."

Elated by the news Leroy quickly stood up and shook the hand Gregor offered. A bright eager smile had now taken residence on his face, "Thank you! I promise you won't regret it!"

A bit taken back by the sudden burst of enthusiasm Gregor took his hand back as quickly as possible. Leroy did not seem to notice this reaction. After a brief moment to recollect himself Gregor spoke, "I hope you won't."

"I promise it!" Leroy swore, feeling a surge of relief inwardly. Soon he calmed and looked at the purple clad guard inquiringly, "Is there anything else you need to speak with me about?"

"No that'll be all." Gregor answered, putting the application back down with the other's behind him. "You may go now."

Leroy nodded and stood up from his seat, "Thank you again. I'll try and stop by on Saturday for my uniform." The Scott Irish man walked over to the office door and bid his new supervisor good-bye, "See you then."

Gregor nodded curtly and the new guard left the room. Gregor put the man's application to the bottom of the stack now that Leroy was officially hired on. The next in the pile was the next guard he had slated to have an interview with. Looking the name over he felt a faint poke of familiarity. He rubbed a finger on his chin in contemplation. Getting off the front of the desk he sat himself down at the computer. However, upon accessing the computer Gregor recalled that they had gained no staff files when they bought the franchise. They'd all been lost, or as Gregor now believed destroyed.

"Mike Schmidt…" Gregor mumbled to himself. He sat back in the chair mulling over where he'd heard the name before, "Certain I saw it during my research…"

Author's Note: I got rather trigger happy with this part. Not because of Leroy, because of that very last bit at the end. I was thinking about the guards and realized they needed somebody to give them some more proper help. Isaac isn't so inclined to help at the moment, Mike was an option so I went with him. In part due to the story I've developed so far leading up to this part. I hope my take on the character will be interesting and new enough. From what I've seen there isn't so much variation on him. Any notable ones anyway. I might take a bit longer to upload, to give time to build up more, but the next chapter is basically done. Next chapter will be about Mike then we'll at last get to night five.

Hope you enjoyed!