Author Note
Ah! Sorry for the absence. But I'm finished with my prac and am on holiday for the next week so it's time to get some extra chapters done. And there will be an important note at the end so please read it :)
Chapter 52
Sibling Talk
The door slammed open startling Rena. She looked up from the set she was working on and glanced toward the stairs leading down from her attic workshop. Frowning, she checked her watch. Sarah just left five minute before, all the while complaining about Hedy being late for class if she slept in. Seriously. Sarah wasn't the one with the night time job. Hedy's first class didn't start until nine. It was Sarah who was obsessed with waking up at ridiculous hours.
Rena really hoped it was Hedy. It better not be that nutty kid again. Ruby was it?
That idea went out the window as a harsh voice drifted up the stairs.
"Rena, you home!?" Hedy called from the bottom.
"Yeah?" She leaned back until she could see her friend.
Something was up. Hedy didn't usually sound so stressed, even at times she probably should have been.
"My brother's coming over in a few minutes. I hate to ask but do you think you could...make yourself scarce for a couple hours?"
Rena paused but didn't say anything as she came down.
Hedy wheeled backward out of her way.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah just...personal family stuff..." Hedy muttered, instinctively tugging on her hair again.
"Never actually met your brother face to face. He cute?" Rena asked as the faint sound of another car pulled into the driveway.
"He's over thirty and married." Hedy deadpanned.
"Didn't answer my question."
"Oh shut up and get out of here." Hedy said hitting Rena on the arm lightly.
"'Kay. Let me get my stuff." Rena shrugged and wiped the grin off her face.
Hedy watched as her roommate shuffled up the stairs at an unconcerned pace.
Rena was a good friend. She knew when not to question Hedy's need for privacy.
Then again, she was likely going to demand answers later.
The door opened again and Hedy turned to see Jeremy looking around from the doorway.
"Heh. It's been ages since I've seen this place." he said, reservedly.
Rena came hopping down the steps, backpack slung over her shoulder.
"Oh hey! I'm Rena. We talked over the phone a couple times."
"Hello. I'm Jeremy. Nice to finally meet you."
"Cool. So Hedy, I'm off to go to that meeting thing I'm late for. Need me to tell the professors you're not coming today?"
"If you don't mind."
Rena shrugged and waved as she closed the door behind her.
Jeremy and Hedy just stayed there in the hallway, staring each other down.
The eldest spoke first.
"...You know, I never really stopped you from investigating what happened..."
Hedy scowled and looked down.
"I probably should have. It wasn't healthy. But I understood; I needed the closure too. I even covered for you with Dad."
Jeremy eyed his sister and levelled his stare like he did with his kids when they misbehaved.
"But even when you hit a dead end and couldn't go any further, we agreed you would never go near that place! And you didn't. You let it go. For years! What the heck changed?!"
Hedy didn't answer but lifted her gaze to glare at her brother.
"And now not only are you going there, but you're working there! During the night shift! As a mechanic! A mechanic Hedy! What the hell!?"
"No swearing." Hedy muttered.
"Oh now she speaks!"
"Oh shut up."
"No you shut up! I don't care what you have to do, but you are never going back there! You are going to call the manager or owner and tell them you quit. If you have to find a replacement, fine! Do that from home! But you are not going back there!"
This time Hedy's anger edged up another notch. "First off, we never agreed I wouldn't go there. You, not 'we', said it was too dangerous and I never went there, out of respect for you. It was never that place that scared me. It was never the animatronics that scared me. I knew it was dangerous because of what you told me, but I wasn't afraid. Second, I never just 'let it go'. How could I? I thought there was no one left to care about what happened! No one cared anymore. I even went looking for the detective! You know what he said? Drop it kid. Third. I'm not quitting my job. I don't care what you say. They...they need me there."
Jeremy put his hands to his face and stifled a frustrated scream. He then turned back to face his sister.
Hedy looked at him steadily as he bent his lanky self down to her level and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Hedy..."
The mechanic put her hands over his own. Her look softened as she felt him tremble.
He was scared. He honestly was terrified for her safety.
"Sis. I've come way too close to losing you before. Don't make me go through that again...please."
"...Jer." Hedy squeezed her brothers hands. "Things are different now. The originals...er...the older versions don't want to hurt anyone. The Toys, a couple at least, still want to hurt people, but even if they could they wouldn't hurt me. Believe me please."
Jeremy didn't look up. "Why can't they hurt anyone?"
"That girl. Ruby made a deal with them. She made a deal with the older ones too, but I'm not sure on the details. They're a little odd. I'm still not sure what their motives for stuffing night guards was. Whatever it was, Ruby changed their minds. Anyway, the deal was if she could survive all week then they couldn't ever hurt anyone again as long as she worked there. The originals, her friends-don't make that face Jeremy-couldn't help her out."
"And if they killed her?"
"Things would keep going as they were." Hedy sighed.
"She's insane.
"That isn't the half of it. She never used the doors and never stayed in the office."
"What?!"
"Instead she ran around the place setting pranks and annoying everyone. Myself included."
"Wait." Jeremy interrupted. "When did you come in? Why weren't the Toys going after you?"
Hedy swallowed. "Uh..."
"Hedy..."
"...They uh weren't in great shaped after being in storage for so long...soooo I took the job to fix them about month before they...actually came to the restaurant."
The girl kept talking as her brother tensed. "They...they did hunt me."
Jeremy looked ready to scream and cry at the same time.
"Jer! It's okay! I'm fine. They decided not to hurt me. I made friends with them. They trust me."
"This sounds like Stockholm Syndrome."
"It isn't. I swear. It would be if they were abusive and I kept defending them when they were. I don't. I'm okay with them being taught a lesson when they need it. I did it before, but now I let Ruby or...Foxy... handle it...I know the Toys are evil sometimes, but they are changing."
"But they still want to kill people."
"...Yes."
"HE-."
"But that's changing! Even before I met them, Mangle and Toy Freddy in particular were starting to question what they were doing. It was the Puppet's fault and they-."
Jeremy let go of her and sat back on his heels, staring at the floor.
"..."
"What is it?"
He smirked. "It's just bizarre how you talk about them like people."
"They're self-aware." Hedy said.
"I never got the memo. Little too busy trying not to die to have a little chat. What about the originals? You're not convincing me enough about those ones."
"They're not what you expect. I'm not sure how much they've changed but Ruby trusts them like family. They may not like me, not sure why, but they've never hurt me. They're actually just as dorky as the next person." She smirked slightly. "Golden Freddy, call her Goldy by the way, is a huge fan of Harry Potter. She's um...of all of them...she's the least hostile to me."
Jeremy couldn't help the snort, but he quieted and went back to frowning at the floor.
Hedy let him sit there for a minute in silence.
After a while he finally said something that Hedy had been dreading.
"You didn't answer my question. What changed? What made you change your mind and break your promise about going near that place?"
It was Hedy's turn to tremble. She leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees as she buried her head in her hand.
Jeremy let her be.
"I got a call from Uncle Scott while I was at your house this summer. He left a message. Several actually. I was during that last week before he retired like he promised."
"And?"
"He started talking about some really weird stuff. The animatronics. White eyes. Something I had to find. Boxes. Suits. Files. He kept mentioning that it was his last week over and over again. I didn't think it was important until I finally found the last message."
"...Why?" Jeremy decided to let his confusion over the "white eyes" detail slipped.
What was special about that? That was just the night vision right?
Hedy was still. She sniffed.
"He said he was sorry for what happened and said I needed to come. I haven't heard anything else from him since. I can't find him anywhere..."
There was a heavy silence over the house.
Jeremy couldn't move.
It wasn't true. It couldn't be.
"Those bas-."
The man looked up at the sound of sobs.
Hedy didn't cry often, but when she did it was usually only a few tears. Not this time.
Wordlessly, he picked up his little sister from her chair and carried her into the living room.
She didn't protest and instead held onto his neck like she did when she was a little girl.
They sat next to each other on the couch, TV and lights off, as Hedy cried on her brother's shoulder. She didn't want to admit it but it was actually a relief not being the only one who knew Scott was gone.
"It was them wasn't it?" Jeremy finally said when Hedy's sobs had subsided to shuddering sniffles. His voice was laced with disbelief and dull anger.
She nodded, head still leaning on his shoulder. "He was gone long before Ruby came and stopped them. But..."
"..."
"If you had killed a lot of people and someone who knew your victim said they knew you did it, how would you react?"
"How many people have I killed?" Jeremy asked.
"Too many."
"Then at that point I wouldn't care very much, but I might be afraid about being caught. Maybe I would taunt them."
"Hm. That's not...what happened."
"What do you mean?"
"I told the originals I knew they killed him..."
Jeremy tensed again. "Why?"
"I wasn't thinking straight. Maybe I wanted to test them. But when I said I was Scott's niece...they were...shocked. And guilty..."
"Guilty?"
"I don't understand them. They killed far more people than the Toys have, yet they act guilty and as if they never wanted to."
"I hope you aren't expecting an answer from me Hedy."
Hedy shook her head and wiped her tears away.
"You're still going tonight..." Jeremy murmured.
"You haven't even really tried to convince me not to. You just listened."
"...I've known you your entire life Wig. Nothing I say or do-short of committing you to an insane asylum-would stop you. But I have to know. What are you looking for?"
"Answers. I'm not sure who has them though." Hedy grimaced at the nickname.
"Do those monster know who you are?"
"...not really. And don't call them monsters. They're going to ask a lot of questions tonight. They might connect the dots now that you're here." Hedy winced, "Actually...Goldy knew the whole time...she's probably the only one who's going to be on our side tonight until the others calm down about me lying."
"..."
"Come with me tonight."
"What!?"
"I'm serious. You obviously don't believe me about them being safe. I want to introduce you properly. They just remember you as that one particular night guard."
Jeremy hesitated, every survival instinct in his body on fire. But he knew he couldn't stop Hedy from going. She'd taze him if it came to that. And if he went and things went wrong then at least he'd be there to keep her safe.
"Fine. But I'm not making friends. They killed Scott. I'm not letting that go! And I'm not just going to forget how many time those freaky foxes almost chewed my face off. And if the panty wearing chicken takes off her beak, then I'm-!"
"Okay okay. Word of advice. Don't insult or talk bad about the animatronics."
"Why. I'm going to hurt their feelings?" he scoffed.
"...Nooo...but Ruby and I might hurt you."
He flinched at the look in her eyes.
"Whatever." He muttered petulantly.
"Oh, and I wouldn't say anything bad about Foxy. After Ruby's through with you you'll probably wish that the animatronics had finished the job instead…" Hedy added after a moment's thought.
Jeremy gulped nervously.
Author Note
Okay so hope you enjoyed that and its important note time.
*Important! Please read!*
So I've decided that the fanfiction has been going long enough that I can do something that I've wanted to from the beginning. An Ask the Characters series! I'm going to be doing it in collaboration with Corona Pax and it will update whenever we have enough questions and time. If you're interested then please ask questions in the comments and I'll start a separate story where the characters answer them.
Other than that, I'll update again as soon as possible. :)