Chapter 5: Showtime!
"Five children now reported missing..."
...
'Where…when…?'
Groggily, Grace forced herself to wake up. She tried to shake her head and raise her eyelids, but it almost felt like she lacked the strength to do so.
With a considerable amount of effort, her vision came back to her, as various abstract shapes and shades began to materialize before her.
Her surroundings were dingy and obscure, although she could just about discern the outlines of two parted curtains. An array of luminescent stars provided some touches of light, just enough for her to estimate where she was.
Attempting to remember what had happened yielded only blurry images and fuzzy sounds. That alone was enough to put her on edge. She remained still for a while, but the tension that was rising with each passing moment forced her to make a move.
She lifted her foot in order to take a step forward, but once it came into contact with the floor again, it was followed by a surprisingly resounding thump. As she pivoted her head and looked down to her feet, she noticed that instead of skin, flesh and bone, they were made of metal and wires.
Alarmed, she brought her hands up to her face, only to be met with a similar sight. In addition, a shiny steel hook had replaced her right hand. With every second that ticked by, she began feeling more and more afraid.
She tried to speak up, but instead of her voice, she heard a gruff, masculine one, which only served to freak her out even further. This, in turn, made her yelling escalate. A vicious cycle gradually took form, which left her shaking and screaming in a voice that wasn't hers.
If this was a nightmare, why wasn't she waking up already!?
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
An outside force had interrupted the cycle.
"Please, say something if you can hear me," the voice continued. Grace, despite the request, did not make a sound. Whoever was speaking to her sounded like a little girl, roughly her age. Whatever the case may have been, the speaker resumed in a soft manner.
"I'm going to come closer to you, now. Please, do not be alarmed once you see me."
Slowly, like a feral beast creeping up on its prey before pouncing, a set of glowing white dots, tiny like stars, began moving toward her. Grace had to lean closer so as to discern the silhouette amidst the dark background. Once the angle and the lighting were just right, she finally recognized it as…the Puppet? From Freddy's!?
"Hi, there. Can you hear me?" she asked, after stopping right in front of her. Grace struggled to utter a syllable.
"What…Who…?"
Now that she heard herself again, Grace noted that she sounded just like Foxy. Yet, her mind was still overloaded to figure out the reason behind that.
"Don't be scared. I am here to help you. My name is Charlotte," spoke the Puppet, at a slow and even pace. "What is your name?"
"Where am I-I? Is this a dream-m?"
A sigh slipped past the Puppet.
"Here, I'll show you. Come with me, please," she requested, before floating away.
Grace awkwardly placed one endoskeleton foot in front of the other, as though she was just now learning how to walk, and left the chamber she was in, which ultimately turned out to be Pirate Cove.
Now, having stepped into the gloomy dining room, which was an uncanny sight in its own right, she was startled to find two animatronics already standing in between the tables. Their arms hung limply by their sides, and their plastic, lifeless eyes were drilling right into her own. These kid-friendly characters had no right to look this creepy during the night.
They were simply not designed to be seen under this light.
Chica raised her hand and gave a stiff, robotic wave, while Bonnie remained immobile. The Puppet, who was linked with strings to a conveyor belt that had been installed on the ceiling, glided between them in a weightless manner, like a leaf in the middle of traffic.
"Okay, that's all five of us. Let's all introduce ourselves, shall we? I'll start. My name is Charlotte."
Bonnie and Chica exchanged glances, before the latter spoke.
"I'm Susie-e."
That simple statement threw Grace for a loop, and served as fuel for the burning questions in her mind.
"I'm-m Brenda," continued Bonnie, whose masculine voice wildly clashed with what was said.
"...Gabriel-l," came a deep, fuzzy voice from the side, which nearly led to Grace yelping. She hadn't even noticed Freddy standing next to them with how he blended in the shadows.
"What about you? What is your name?"
Grace looked at each of them, as a terrifying, yet painstakingly clear picture formed right before her eyes, for the reality of the situation washed over her. If the others were animatronics, then that meant…she was one, too.
She was Foxy the pirate.
"I understand this is hard for you. It's the same for all of us. But we need to stand together."
"It's…My-y name… It's Grace," she stuttered, although whether that was due to her disarrayed mental state, the voice box's condition, or a mix of both, was unclear.
"Grace…" the Puppet repeated, while Bonnie nodded.
"Well…It's nice to meet you. Officially, anyway…"
For a few brief moments, silence instilled itself among them.
"What-t happened to us?" Freddy asked. All eyes homed in on the Puppet, who hung her head.
"The same thing that happened to me. We were murdered."
Freddy and Foxy both jerked at the utterance and the coldness it was delivered with. On the flipside, Bonnie and Chica displayed no reaction, as if that was old news to them. Grace just couldn't accept it! Murdered? She was dead!? How was that even possible-
On that instant, she remembered. The boy. The corridor. The back room. The yellow bunny's words. Foxy's head began twitching.
"I believe we were all murdered by the same man. I've seen him before, and know he works as a security guard here. He wears purple."
"Wait a minute-te, Char-lotte. I just realized!" Chica piped up, "If we're dead-d, then why-y are we here? Shouldn't we be in hea-heaven?"
The Puppet shook her head.
"Tell me honestly. How do you all feel right now?"
While each of them were busy sorting out every emotion, Grace burst with unprecedented intensity.
"He tricked me! He said-d my father wanted to talk-k to me! He tricked me!"
Right then, similar emotions were brewing within them. Rage. Hurt. Agony.
"That's your answer, Susie. You are not in heaven, because you can't go yet. We can't go. Not like this. We must make him pay for what he's done to us! We have to make sure no one else suffers the same fate we did! Don't you agree with me?"
Rallied up, Brenda and Susie nodded. Gabriel chimed in afterwards.
"Why are we…animatro-tronics?"
"That…I'm not sure why, or how… But it may have something to do with the fact that…it's where I hid your bodies."
"What-t!?"
"Guys, if you were to be found, then Freddy's would shut down!" Charlotte stated with some desperation. "We would never be able to avenge ourselves if that happened!"
"...But-t… Does this mean we can't go home again-n?"
Charlotte hesitated. She truly wished she could give a better answer, but she knew she had to come forth with the truth, no matter how bitter it was. Her voice, which had been quite stable up until this point, began to waver.
"No. We can't. We can never go home. There is…There is no home out there for us anymore. We will never see our parents, nor our siblings, nor our friends again. There is no future left for us! All we have is this pizzeria, and each other!"
A few sobs could be heard coming from Chica, which made Bonnie clumsily try to hug her. Freddy lowered his head, while Foxy kept twitching, as Grace tried to suppress her own sobbing.
"This has been a long night for all of us. Let's rest for now, okay? Feel free to come talk to me if you need anything."
With that, the Puppet floated over to her box, and concealed herself inside it, leaving the remaining four spirits on their own.
By the time Susie stopped crying, Brenda spared a glance at the two newcomers. She could get a decent estimate of how they were feeling, based on the way their characters were standing.
She felt the need to lighten the mood somehow. She, too, was upset, but as easy as it was, she couldn't let herself, or any of them, stew in their misery. There was no point to that. Charlotte had told them that all they had was each other. That's why she decided to try and break the ice.
"Um, come on, guys. Let's think-k positive."
All animatronic eyes were on her.
"How can we do that-t?" Gabriel asked.
Brenda rubbed the back of her head, while trying to formulate the best answer. At this point, she was already grasping at straws, but anything would do the job, so she blurted the first thing that crossed her mind.
"Uh… Let's think o-of something else. Anything else, really…Um… What are your favorite colors?"
Silence of the utmost deafening degree filled the room.
"...Mine is green-n…" she added sadly, desperate to salvage her attempt at conversation.
"...Mine is also-so green," Gabriel admitted.
'Yes, my savior!' Brenda thought to herself.
"Up top!" she yelled, as she raised her palm. He went for it, not wanting to leave her hanging. It was a pretty slow high-five, though, as Gabriel wasn't used to his new body, which made it a very awkward spectacle.
"Mine's pink. What's yours, Grace?" Susie asked.
Grace did not reply, instead settling for making Foxy's head shake.
"C'mon, friend-d. Talking will make-ke you feel bette-"
"This is stupid-d!" Grace shouted, catching the three of them off-guard.
"Hey, don't be that way-y! We're in this t-together!" Brenda stated firmly. "Wait, where are you going?"
Foxy turned tail and stepped back on Pirate Cove, drawing the curtains behind him.
"What's her problem-em?"
In that instant, Gabriel remembered the look in Grace's eyes the last time he saw her.
"I-I think we sh-should let her be for now…" he suggested. Brenda wasn't happy about it, but let it go regardless.
"I'm tired…" Susie moaned.
"Yeah…I'm pretty beat, too. We'll talk tom-orrow. Goodnight, g-guys."
The three remaining animatronics trod slowly back to their designated spots on the Show Stage, as their spirits tried to rest.
To add to the ever-growing pile of their tragedy, they weren't able to catch even a wink of sleep that night. Maybe it was because spirits couldn't do so.
Or, maybe it was the pressing uncertainty that weighed over them. The uncertainty of their future. Their guiding light was the hope that the man in the bunny costume would come back soon. Until then, the only thing they could do was bide their time, while reminiscing about everything that was taken from them.