Ethan ran in a panic, hopping up onto and over tables as he desperately tried to escape Freddy. The restaurant was pitch black, Ethan only being led by the flashlight he had grabbed earlier.

He ran like a man possessed through the dark restaurant, tripping a few times as he heard Freddy and probably the rest of the gang chasing him. He ducked into the backroom, trying his damnedest to shut the door as quick but as quiet as possible. He wasn't taking any chances.

He hip-slid under the table where the endoskeleton sat, turning his body toward the door so he could face it. Hyperventilating, he shut off his flashlight, letting the darkness embrace and hide him.

'Bloody hell.' He muttered. 'That was close.' Too close.

He heard the stomps of the mascots outside the room, growing ever near, though Ethan's ears were quick to notice that Foxy didn't seem to be on the hunt with the rest. Ethan could only guess as to why he wasn't hunting him.

Clunk.

Something hit the door. Ethan's breath hitched, his eyes widened, heart rate increased. They knew.

Clunk.

Another hit. They were being oddly deliberate about the way they were hitting it. Like…they were trying to terrify him.

Well, that was the point, Ethan supposed. His musing calmed him slightly.

Silence.

Wait. They weren't knocking anymore. He heard nothing outside of Parts and Service. Were they waiting for him to come out of hiding and check if the coast was clear? Bating him out? Ethan wasn't risking it. He stayed rooted in place.

Ethan had no idea what time it was, as he didn't have his phone on him and left his watch at home. The wait was agonizing.

The darkness was suffocating, but Ethan refused to move, still listening for any sort of movement. He heard nothing. No footsteps, no creaky movement, no robotic voices. Nothing.

That concerned him.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Ethan heard something out in the main restaurant. The front door was opening, probably Mr. Sinclair or the cleaning crew. Ethan finally dared move from below the table, his body sore from laying on the cold linoleum.

With shaky legs, Ethan walked over to the door, trying to keep his footsteps quite just in case he was hallucinating and the mascots were tricking him. He pressed his ear to the door, and picked up on an interesting conversation.

'You seen him at all?' A man's voice.

'Nope. Ain't seen that kid since start of the week.' A woman's voice, with a clear Southern drawl.

'Damn. That was, what, three shifts?' The man said, a slight chuckle behind his voice.

'I think so. Wednesday, right?' The woman's drawl made it slightly hard to understand her, though Ethan had no issue deciphering the words, having been around Sinclair enough.

'Yep, sure is. Shame though. He seemed like a good kid.'

'Yeah, well, stupid kids will be stupid kids.'

Ethan had heard enough. He opened the door, walking out into the restaurant and making his way toward the security office. He spotted the two workers, the janitors of the restaurant.

'Morning, guys.' Ethan said loudly from across the restaurant. The two workers turned toward him, and their eyes widened in surprise. Ethan waved, his "signature cocky grin," as Emma called it, plastered on his face. The janitor's eyebrows jumped up onto their foreheads, and the female dropped her job slightly.

Ethan didn't wait for a further response, walking down the left hallway to the office, quickly grabbing his phone and the remainder of his energy drink. Ethan briskly made his way to the front door, chugging the half can of NOS, crushing it with his hands, and tossed it into the janitor's trash can on their cart, muttering.

He had to figure out what the hell was going on here. And get this rib checked out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This one was good. He evaded Freddy, Bonnie, and Foxy all at the time. Chica was useless, as per usual, but that was to be expected. It didn't expect much out of her, anyway. Still too juvenile.

Slippery, this one. It had to make sure he didn't escape again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Freddy watched the night guard leave in amusement and annoyance. Amusement because of the night guard's antics, yelling and using some very odd analogies and metaphors in place of profanity. Annoyance because he had gotten away. Slipped between Freddy's massive paws, Bonnie's as well, and Foxy's hook.

Freddy's eyes closed in frustration. It wasn't going to be happy about this. It never was.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ethan winced as the doctor poked his fractured rib, taking a sharp breath.

The doctor, a young twenty five year old Asian woman, nodded in approval. 'Doesn't seem like you broke anything. Good thing too.' She looked up at him as she wrote down a few notes. 'Tell me again how you fractured it?'

Ethan scoffed as he remembered the shift he had gotten off of only an hour before. 'Took a dive last night at my job. Slippery floor, I reckon. Landed on my side, heard a small crack, rib-cage flared up in pain, then,' he gestured to the room, 'here I am.'

'Hmm.' The doctor hummed. 'Sounds about right.' She turned toward him. 'Well, you seem fine, and nothing seems too bad, so I'll skip the charge today. You're a friend of the owner of Freddy's, right?'

Ethan nodded. 'Actually close friends with his granddaughter as well.'

The doctor smiled. 'Ah. He's playing favorites, huh?'

Ethan smiled sarcastically. 'More like an extremely complicated plan to run down an employee so that said employee doesn't have the time or energy to spend time with his granddaughter.' Ethan shrugged. 'And said employee kind of insisted on it because he was in need of money and was willing to take any job he could.'

The doctor laughed. 'I know that feeling. I worked at a fast food chain for four years as I did my schooling. Didn't have time for much else.'

Ethan smiled. 'Well, we have that in common at least.'

The doctor returned a smile of her own. 'At least.' She handed Ethan a note. 'So, just take it easy and put some ice on it for a while. That will help it heal.'

Ethan nodded. 'I gotcha.' Ethan exchanged a wave with the doctor as he walked out, wincing slightly as he walked, rib twinging. These next few shifts would be interesting.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ethan arrived home after a few minutes from his doctor visit, Sylvia jumping on her human in excitement. Ethan grinned and shoved his Shepherd back down, petting her and talking sweetly.

'Who's a good girl? Who's a smart doggo?' Ethan playfully rubbed Sylvia's face up and down, causing the dog to pull back and bark. She stuck her tongue out and went into a playful stance, barking again.

Ethan chuckled. 'Sorry, Syl, but Daddy's got to do something.' Ethan reached into a treat jar on his counter, pulling out a large bone and throwing it at his canine's bed. Sylvia immediately ran over to it, eagerly picking up and gnawing on it. Ethan smiled warmly. His dog never failed to make him smile.

Ethan petted his dog one more time before making his way over to a wall in his living room, dominated by a corkboard that Ethan mainly used to keep track of important events for school and town events. He proceeded to take down all of the paper thumbtacked to the cork, hap-hazardly putting them into a stack and putting them on his desk without another thought.

Ethan stared at the board for a few minutes, crossing his arms and sighing.

'Where to begin?' Ethan thought out loud. He drummed his fingers on his arm, before turning to the kitchen, grabbing a plate of cold pizza, a two liter of soda, and a few cans of NOS energy drink, dumping the contents onto his already mildly messy desk and sitting down.

He pulled out a piece of blank card stock and a pencil, thinking for a moment. 'Where to begin?' he asked himself again. 'Well, how about the layout?'

Ethan quickly got to work, putting pencil to paper and making a decently to-scale map of Freddy's from memory. Good start. He then noted down the animatronics locations that they usually inhabited during the day, Pirate's Cove and the Main Stage. He marked their starting locations at the start of his shift as well.

Ethan pinned the map to the center of the board once he was done. He stood back, looking at his cork-board. It was a good start. A map of the restaurant, with animatronics noted. Now where to go next?