He's on that damn screen staring at me. Those eyes... It's not possible. It's a toy. He can't move on his own, even though... What did Jim tell me? Which is an anime-something or what the hell do you call it? Ah yes, an animatronic. So it can actually move on its own. If so, what is he doing in the hallway? And why is he staring at the camera?
Have the batteries run out? Don't they last fifty years?
I do not understand anything.
I take a sip of coffee, get up and open the iron door. The light from the room briefly illuminates the long empty corridor. Where the hell did he go? I turn to the screen in disbelief, then back into the hallway. He really disappeared. Is this a joke? Has anyone entered?
I turn on the torch and the beam of light pierces the darkness. Through the dusty, damp-walled corridor. I turn the corner. Here the darkness is denser. The torch digs into it and there is a slight musty smell. - Is there anyone?
No reply.
Obvious. Who the hell would enter a pizzeria that has been abandoned for two decades at eleven at night? Most people are celebrating the year 2000 with their friends and family. Only a drug addict or a drug addict would come in here.
I open the door and glance into the dining room. The beam of light illuminates the dusty cubicles, the tables, the chairs and in one corner the Arcade cabinets, the pinball machines and two empty vending machines. The walls are lined with animatronic posters and two-decade-old menus. I move the flashlight across the drawn curtains on the small stage at the back of the room. Everything seems fine, but I want to be sure. I climb onto it and lift a flap of the tent.
I jump, the faces of those three animatrons appear in front of me. They are still in their usual position. The animatronic I saw in the hallway is none of the three. He must be the other one, the one who looks like Willy the Coyote.
I get off the stage and go up to the adjacent, smaller one. As soon as I lift the tent flap, a sound behind me makes me jump. I turn around quickly, the flashlight beam illuminates the pinball machine from which comes a fun tune.
- Hey! Is there anyone?
Silence.
— I saw you, you know. There's no point in hiding. You'd better get out.
Nothing.
I tried. If there had been anyone he would have run away.
I turn and see the other animatronic. Yes, that's him. Those eyes that were staring at the camera now seem to be staring into space, lifeless, yet there is something disturbing in that look. I walk around him, look him up and down, shine the flashlight in his eyes.
No reaction.
I stare at him for a moment, then I close the curtain and step off the stage. I check all the shaded areas behind the cabinets and cubicles, return to the door I entered through and take a deep look into the room.
All calm.
I return to the security room again, sit down and take a sip of cooled coffee with my eyes trained on the screen. I stay like that for about ten minutes, then I see a shadow pass under the crack in the kitchen door. I frown and focus my gaze on that box. Did I imagine it? I look at the glass of coffee and place it on the desk. Maybe I drank too many, there is no other explanation.
To be sure I should take a look in the kitchen, but I don't need to. If there really is someone there, then he must appear in the back, or in the corridor where I saw Foxy. That's what her name is. Foxy.
An hour passes and no one comes out of the two kitchen entrances. The fireworks are exploding out there to celebrate the year 2000 while I sit there staring at a screen and fighting sleep. My eyelids droop, but I resist. I can't sleep at work. I could do it, but it's my first day. I can't take risks. I need this job.
I fall asleep.
I reopen my eyes and look at the clock, three forty-two. Shit, I slept for three hours. I look at the screen and jump in my seat. Foxy is back in the hallway and she's not the only one. Chica is in the kitchen, Bonnie in the warehouse and Freddy in the dining room. Their disturbing eyes are trained on the cameras. What the fuck is going on?
I jump up, run to lock the door and return to the screen. They disappeared. Where the hell did they go?
I click on the camera panel that shows the inside of the stage and frown. They are there, immobile in their position. I press on the box of the adjacent stage and widen my eyes. Foxy isn't there.
I press on all seven boxes until I see him again in the corridor making a lightning sprint towards the door of the security room. I turn around with my face livid with fear. I grab the flashlight on the desk, stand up and walk over to it.
A knock on the door.
I jump in fear, the flashlight falls from my hand and crashes onto the floor. I hear some soft footsteps moving away in the corridor, then silence. I remain still for a long moment, my hands and legs trembling incessantly. I have never been so afraid in my entire life.
I pick up the flashlight and examine it. It is broken. Now how do I make my way around the venue? The electricity comes and goes and in some rooms the lights come on after minutes. I can't walk around, not with that thing around.
I sit and look at the screen. I'll stay here until dawn, then I'll resign. I will never go back there again. Fuck this job. I knew it was too good to be true. That guy Jim fooled me. 'The pay is good, but the hours are not. Look at it this way, you will be your own boss.'
He didn't tell me that those four animatrons are actually crazy. He didn't tell me about it at all. That's why no one wanted the job.
The power goes out.
There is total darkness for about ten seconds, then the emergency lights come on. Do they still work after all these years? The lighting is dim, but it's better than nothing. I look at the watch on my wrist, it's four fifty-six minutes. It's an hour until dawn. I have to stay calm, that's all. It will all be fine.
Half an hour later the silence becomes unbearable, but there is a subtle buzz outside the door. I don't know if it's real or not, but I feel it. It comes and goes with discontinuous peaks. Sometimes it increases in intensity until it stops completely, it seems similar to the engine of a generator. No, it's something else, like an automatic saw or something. And then there's also that distant mechanical noise, the screeching of metal against something.
There it is, I hear it again. This time it comes from the ventilation duct, it gets closer. The grate is thrown against the wall and crashes to the ground with a deafening crash.
I see movement out of the corner of my eye, I turn.