Chapter 2: I Thought It Was Just A Game
Vanessa suddenly woke up on the ground, confused as to what had happened. The VR headset was still on her face, and she quickly took it off. Did she faint? How long had she been unconscious? As she stood up, she felt a strange dizziness on her head. It was an odd feeling that she had never felt before. Not once on her life.
Looking at the watch on her wrist she realized that it was 6:30 p.m. Only 30 minutes had passed. She let out a sigh and went to the small office kitchen and took a small Tutsi Pop she had saved for later yesterday.
"That was odd. Was that supposed to happen? Probably yes. I just hope no 10-year-olds will play that thing".
She exited the building and went back home. A small department in a grey building. It had tiny living room and a kitchen, alongside 2 rooms and 1 bathroom. One of those rooms was her bedroom, which was decorated with girlish things, like pink bed sheets, some flowers, and lots of cute plushies. It wasn't much, but it was something, nonetheless.
Vanessa changed from her work outfit, an orange shirt with a small Freddy's logo and blue jeans, to a white shirt without sleeves and grey pants. She tiredly got onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.
…
She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened, no matter how much she tried. She desperately kept thinking the same phrase:
"It was just a game, it was just a game, it was just a game".
Over and over again. She changed position to see her nightstand. There, she had a picture of her and her parents. She grabbed and looked at it.
Her expression turned from anxiousness to sadness.
Daniel and Michelle Aarons had died a year ago in a sudden and tragic car accident, leaving their only daughter, Vanessa, all alone. She knew one day would have to say goodbye to them, but she never thought that they would leave her side in such a tragic way.
"Goodnight mom, goodnight dad."
She put the picture aside, turned off the bed light, and hugged one of the plushie-pillows, falling into a deep slumber…
She woke up the next day, the sun shined through her window, and birds chirped outside. Another wonderful Saturday! Vanessa got off the bed with a big smile, ready to have a great day.
She dressed up in a simple light pink sweater with cyan jeans. She then decided to take a casual stroll in the park that was nearby her department complex, bringing one of her favorite books along with her.
There was a beautiful blue sky, and the flowers of the park smelled really sweet. Everything was perfect!
As Vanessa sat on a nearby bench to read, she could hear the joyful laughter of little kids at the playground in the middle of the park. They ran all around playing all sorts of games, like ring around the rosie, jumping the rope or hide and seek. So small, so sweet, so innocent…
So vulnerable…
So easy to fool…
…
So easy to kill…
Suddenly, a strange feeling of dizziness took over Vanessa, and the sounds of the world were muffled out…
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, for kids it's number one!
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, where all the kids are safe and sound!
"Ness?"
A familiar little voice said, getting her back to reality.
"Tom?"
"Ness!"
The little boy said as he ran towards Vanessa.
"Oh, hi there Tom! It's great to see you!"
She said looking at him in a cheery tone with a bright smile.
"Yeah, it's nice to see you too! Haha! Are you here to play in the playground?"
"Not really, I'm just going for a walk around the park".
"Oh, can I come with you please?"
Tom said with puppy eyes.
"Uh, I don't know, Tom. I don't want your parents to get worried about you."
"Nah, it's okay! They will call me on my phone once they get here."
"Um, well, if you say so".
Vanessa said a bit hesitantly.
"Yay!"
And so, the two friends started walking together, enjoying the view. Eventually, they someone selling candy in the park, and Ness got an idea.
"Those candies look yummy, do you want some?"
"Really?"
Tom said in an excited tone.
"Of course! Come on."
Vanessa said cheerfully. She went to the person selling the candies and bought chocolate cookies for Tom. Then, they sat in some nearby swings to eat their snack.
"Thank you for the cookies, Ness!"
"No problem!"
"Hey, have you heard about the new 'Minecraft: Buzzy Bees' update?"
"Yup! The bees are really cute!"
"I know, right?"
"You know, I was actually researching about them the other day. They're truly amazing little creatures."
Then, Tom's phone rang. It was his mom telling him to go back home.
"Oh, well, I have to go now. See you next Friday Ness!"
The boy said as he waved goodbye.
"Bye Tom!"
Vanessa went back to her house and the rest of the day went relatively normal. A bit boring even. She sat on her white desk and opened her pink laptop to watch cute cat videos. There were some messages from Luis, nothing too special, but they did make Vanessa smile. She liked when Luis wrote to her, he was so bright and funny.
"Luis… Maybe I could bake something for him and everyone in the office!"
Vanessa thought with a smile and started to search for a new cupcake recipe on the internet. Cooking was one of her favorite hobbies and she was always on the look for new desserts to bake and such. She went to the kitchen and started cooking.
"Luis is gonna love this!"
Vanessa thought as she decorated one of them specially for Luis and put it inside the oven. She leaned on the kitchen countertop as the smell of recently baked cupcakes filled the room…
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, get your pizza by the pound!
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, where fantasy meets fun!
…
Ding!
The sound of the oven snapped her out of it. They were already done. How long had she been lost in her head listening to that music? Why was she constantly hearing it? What was going on? Vanessa shook her head to distract herself from that thought. It was probably nothing.
The cupcakes were done, so she put them in a container and let them in the fridge.
…
She felt dead tired for some reason. It was that same feeling from earlier in the day.
Vanessa exited the kitchen and headed to her bedroom with uneven footsteps.
She felt slow and dizzy, like if she was in some sort of twisted dream, with the world spinning around her. A cold shiver went down through her spine. As she got onto the bed, her eyes slowly closed, and let out a sigh.
She didn't have a nightmare this time. Nor a normal dream.
All she dreamt about was just a big, black, empty void of nothingness.
The next day, Sunday, she decided she was going to change her hair a bit. Add to it a little of style, you know? As she scrolled on the internet through multiple hairstyles, one of them called her attention. It was some simple but cute rainbow hair extensions. They look pretty nice on the model, perhaps she could use them too! -
"Warning! Virus detected".
"Huh?"
Vanessa looked confused at the small rectangle warning that appeared on the bottom right side of her computer screen.
Then, another one appeared.
"Let Me Out"
Her face dropped in surprise. Was the computer… Speaking to her? What was the meaning of this?
That's when Vanessa remembered what she had heard in her nightmare…
"N-No… That can't be…"
"LET ME OUT"
Her heart started to race.
"LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT. LET ME OUT"
Her screen suddenly got flooded with creepy messages and started glitching out. Vanessa quickly shut it down out, and after a few moments of silence, she got out of her bedroom and out of the apartment complex.
She walked at a fast pace down the street, slightly shaking, with questions all over her head.
What was happening to her? Why was this happening to her? Was she hallucinating? Was any of this even real?
Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted when she ran into a peculiar girl who was talking into what appeared to be some kind of recorder, just as lost in her own thoughts as Vanessa…
"Oh, I'm really sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going"
The girl apologized.
"No-No, don't worry, I'm okay".
Vanessa answered.
"Oh, that's good news. Well, have a nice day!"
"Have a nice day too."
The other girl gave her a smile and she continued walking.
"Anyways, as I was saying, I am unsure if my plan worked or not. The development team hasn't given any news about the VR game, so maybe they did stop the development.
The girl said as she walked away, looking behind at the new Freddy's that had opened a few weeks ago.
…
"…I just really, really hope that whoever found my tapes was able to stop this…
This thing…
This virus from spreading further and causing more damage…
…End log 34."
Vanessa stood frozen in place, staring directly at the big logo of the restaurant she stood in front of.
Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex
"No…"
She said closing her eyes and continued walking away from that place. Once again, Vanessa started to hear that horrible, distorted music…
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, the fun just can't be beat!
"No… No… No…"
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, it's time for us to leave!
"O-Okay Vanessa, ju-just… Relax… E-Everything is fine… It's… it's just y-your imagination. It was just a game- "
"No, it wasn't."
She let out a scream as she tried to locate the source of the voice.
"Wh-Who said that?!"
"Haha…"
Panicking, Vanessa ran as fast as she could back to her apartment, starting to hyperventilate, feeling how her heart raced 1000 miles per second. The world around her started to sound muffled as the Freddy Fazbear's theme grew louder and louder.
"This… This isn't real!"
She yelled with teary eyes and covering her hears as she arrived at her home and locked herself in her bedroom door, curling up into a ball in the corner.
"Vanessa…"
The same low voice from before said at the other side of the door.
"Leave me alone!"
…
Suddenly, someone started to violently knock on her door.
"LET ME OUT"
"NO!"
…
Everything stopped. There was no more knocking. And no more talking.
"Hola, Ness! How are you?"
Luis asked innocently as he watched Vanessa enter the building on Monday. She stood silent for a few seconds until shyly answering with a simple:
"I'm… fine…"
Luis raised an eyebrow. There was an awkward silence.
"Um… I brought cupcakes."
Vanessa said with a small smile.
…
"Gotta admit it Ness, you always bring happiness to this office. These are the tastiest cupcakes I've ever eaten."
Said Sarah, the boss of the Fazbear Entertainment beta-testing sector.
"Haha, thanks… I'm… glad you liked them."
"So, how's the VR game testing going?"
Asked Luis.
"It's… Finished… I guess. I hope it is…"
"Well, that's great news! Once we launch this game, all of those stupid rumors about Freddy's will finally stop."
The businesswoman said confidently while drinking some coffee.
"What… Rumors?"
"Oh well, just dumb ghost stuff. Animatronics moving on their own, ghost kids, a mysterious killer…"
"K-Killer?"
"Yeah, But none of it is real, obviously. It was all made up by a crazy indie game developer who created all of those 'Nightshift at Freddy's' games."
…
"They lied to us. They lied to all of us. They told us that the whole point of this VR game was to undo the bad PR done by a rouge indie game developer, who supposedly made up a bunch of crazy stories that tarnished the brand.
But that's not true at all!
Fazbear Entertainment hired the game developer.
This isn't just an attempt to rebrand…
It's an elaborate cover-up.
A campaign to discredit everything."
…
A cold shiver went down through Vanessa's spine.
"Anyways, I need to go back to work. Thanks for the cupcakes, Vanessa."
As Sarah left, Luis looked at her friend.
"They're… Just rumors Ness. People make up stuff all the time."
Luis said as he held her hand softly. She looked at their hands. They then stared at each other for a moment.
"I… Um… Haha… I have to get to work, Ness."
He awkwardly said as he let go of her hand.
"O-Oh, yeah… Haha… M-Me too…"
Vanessa answered sheepishly with her face red as she rubbed her arm.
"Call me if you need anything, okay?"
"Okay…"
"Adios, Ness, have a nice day."
He said with a smile while waving at her.
"Bye…"
But she didn't have a nice day. Nor a nice week.
As the time progressed, Vanessa's behavior started to become more and more erratic and paranoic. She talked about nightmares and constantly talked to "herself". She was pale and looked like she hadn't eaten in days.
"I don't know Luis… I just… I feel like I'm going crazy…"
Vanessa answered with a shaky voice leaning on the countertop of the kitchen office.
"Maybe… You could get some therapy?"
He suggested.
"They won't believe me…"
Her voice was so low that it was almost a whisper. An alarm on her phone rang.
"I gotta go with the kids…"
Vanessa said as she went to the computer room for the children. The class arrived a few moments later, with their little giggles and smiles. It cheered her up a bit. But that happiness quickly faded away as she looked at the scissors that she had on her hands…
"Kill them all, kill them all, kill them all, kill them all."
…
"Hey Ness, can you pass me the scissors please?"
Little Felix asked, snapping her back into reality. She turned around, shivering, and handed the boy the scissors very slowly.
"Thanks!"
Vanessa kept staring at him.
"Um, are you okay?"
"Y-Yes… I… Need t-to go get something… C-Call Luis if you need h-h-help…"
The little boy stared confused at his friend, who quickly ran away into the bathroom and locked herself in.
"THIS IS WHO YOU ARE NOW"
"NO!"
She yelled as she looked at herself in the mirror.
"OBEY ME, VANESSA"
"YOU'RE NOT REAL!"
…
Everything went silent.
"…"
"Haha…"
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Vanessa suddenly let out a maniacal laughter as her world started to black out. Then someone knocked on the door.
"Uh, Ness? Is everything okay? Ness? - "
The bathroom door opened.
"Yes. I'm fine, Luis."
'Vanessa' answered apathetically.
"You sure?"
"Yes. Has the class ended?"
"Yeah..."
"Good."
Luis witnessed in confusion how Vanessa exited the bathroom and went straight to her computer desk…
Or who he thought was Vanessa…
…
It was HIM.
…
William sat on the chair and opened the navigator. He was done with Vanessa not following his orders. Although he could posses her and force her to do his bidding, it took way too much energy and effort from him. Even the great and powerful William Afton had limits.
He needed to do something else…
He needed to make her obedient to him…
…
He needed to break her.
But how?
He started to search through the internet for the answer. One would think that being a man from the 80's would stop him from understanding how Google worked. But being half-AI, he now had instinctive knowledge on how to use it. He also had Vanessa's memories available to him, so he had no problems at all.
…
And so, after a long and exhaustive search…
He found the answer…
A sick and twisted answer…
He smirked.
"Perfect."