Chapter 7
Joshua stood next to the chair behind the desk and stared at the CCTV monitors. His gaze was locked on the middle one, which provided an exterior view of the building he was in.
Apparently, flipping the breaker lever had done more than get the interior lights back on. It had also tripped whatever switch controlled the outside lights.
Staring at the lights on the monitor now, Joshua wasn't sure whether seeing the exterior lit up would have encouraged him or discouraged him from coming inside. The garish signage was supposed to be welcoming, he was sure, but it had the opposite effect on him. Maybe that was because the lights, although on, were constantly flickering, alternately casting a harsh glare and uninviting shadows out from the sprawling building.
Resembling a slumped, sleeping Golem in the warring glare and shadows, the building clearly had seen better days. Roof sagging, paint peeling, gutters dangling, windows boarded over. Even so, the CCTV monitor revealed a lit-up, faded red sign that read Spriggy FazSprig's Pizza. In the blossom of a sputtering spotlight, a cutout of the famed mascot himself, the anthropomorphic Sprigatito Joshua had seen on the hallway posters, looked out over the empty parking lot. The Sprigatito's full-toothed grin was probably supposed to shout, "Come on in!" But that too had the opposite effect on Joshua.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Joshua looked at the VCR. Jessica had told him to look for a tape in the desk's top drawer. He reached out and pulled it open. Sure enough, a VHS tape sat next to a few pens. Joshua grabbed the tape before he sat in the desk's rolling gray-vinyl office chair. Then he shoved the tape into the old VCR. He hit the power button on the TV.
A click, a whir, and a thunk, and a few wavy tracking lines crackled onto the TV screen. Staticky old-timey cartoon music played, and the tracking lines gave way to a graphic version of Spriggy FazSprig and the pizzeria's logo.
Joshua raised an eyebrow at the tinny music but he leaned back in the chair and put his attention on the TV screen as the logo dissolved into a title: "Spriggy FazSprig's Pizza - Security Brief." The cartoon music faded and loud retro rock music began.
Joshua watched the tape's title break into a gazillion pixels as it was replaced by a large restaurant dining room filled with happy families eating, talking, and laughing. A dozen or so little kids played or danced in the aisles between the tables.
A merry-faced woman with curly black hair beamed at the camera. Her jolliness would have put a Jynx to shame. Joshua found himself leaning back farther, as if he could escape the woman's merriment.
The woman had pretty blue eyes and pouty, red-painted lips that she stretched into a big smile as she sang out, "Welcome to Spriggy FazSprig's Pizza, a magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life!"
The woman flung out her arms, and for a second, Joshua thought she was going to twirl with glee. But she didn't. Instead, she said, "If you're watching this video, it means you've been selected as Spriggy's newest security guard. Congratulations! We're going to have so much fun together!"
Joshua raised an eyebrow. We are? He thought as he stared at the TV screen. He shook his head and kept watching.
On the TV, the dining room scene and the woman flip-flopped away, and then the woman reappeared in front of a packed, brightly lit arcade. The arcade, lined with full-sized games - pinball machines, Skee-Ball machines, as well as a bunch of games Joshua didn't recognize - featured a huge network of plastic towers and tunnels. These criss crossed over a giant plastic-ball pit. Even without all the blissed out little brats playing, it was clear the place was any child's dream playground.
The woman began speaking again. "The genius who created SFS Entertainment opened Spriggy FazSprig's Pizza to indulge in his two greatest passions: Family-Friendly Fun and Cutting-Edge Animatronic Technology!"
On the screen, the arcade swirled into a black hole, and another room burst into view. Joshua didn't think this room looked like nearly as much fun. Stuffed full of metal shelves and work tables, the room on the screen now was filled with what looked like robotic parts. In the center of the room, a reclining metal chair was occupied by an unmoving animatronic. It was tough to tell what the animatronic was meant to be. Joshua could only see some blond fur at the edges of an expanse of metal endoskeleton and a tangle of wires. A white-coateed man who Joshua guessed was a technician was probing at the wires with a tool that looked like a cross between a pair of pliers and a pair of snipping shears. The tool was almost evil-looking - sharp and hard.
The woman reappeared on the screen. Still looking relentlessly happy, she trilled, "State-of-the-art robotic engineering enables our characters to interact with guests in truly lifelike fashion, while cleverly concealed, rechargeable lithium cells give the characters limited range to roam free." The woman rose up on her tiptoes. "Safety first!"
The screen suddenly went dark, and then the woman reappeared. Now she stood in front of an expanse of velvety red stage curtains.
This should be good, Joshua thought.
The woman on the screen said in hyped-up tones, "Let's introduce you to the stars of the show! Hit it, guys!" The woman made a sweeping gesture with her left arm.
Then she disappeared, and the TV was filled with the image of a hand striking a palm-sized red plastic button. The label above the button read SHOWTIME!
The curtains once again filled the TV screen. The woman was no longer in front of them, and they were starting to part. An inch. Two. Three. Four. The hems of the curtains fluttered as they moved, and then…
The image on the screen froze and then dissolved into a blur of tracking lines. Joshua leaned forward and whacked the side of the small TV. He didn't think it would do any good, but…
The TV emitted the sound of distorted laughter, and the woman suddenly reappeared on the screen. She now stood in front of the pleated, pulled-back curtain. She was looking to her right, apparently toward whatever was on the now-exposed stage. "Adorable, aren't they?" the woman said, with a cutesy voice. "Protecting these cuddly critters, and the proprietary technology that brings them to life, is now your sacred duty. Keep them safe, and help ensure that Spriggy FazSprig's Pizza is here to delight, dazzle, and entertain for years to come!"
The screen went black. Joshua stared at it. "Seriously?" he asked aloud.
The desk chair let out a squeal as Joshua leaned forward and pulled the tape from the VCR. He stuck it back in the desk drawer and then shifted his attention to the CCTV monitors. There were nine of them. Each one was streaming footage of various rooms in the restaurant or some angle of the restaurant's exterior or its surroundings. All of the images were black and white, and they were blurry, low resolution. The obscure, monochromatic scenes reminded Joshua of setting shots in old horror movies. Even though the areas appeared to be empty, they clearly hinted at trouble lurking off-screen. They were supremely creepy.
Joshua lifted his gaze and looked around the room again. His attention landed on the lone locker. Randomly, his mind was suddenly filled with the image of seeing one of the boys in his school - Hohma, an obese kid who was teased relentlessly - being stuffed into his locker. The little hairs on the back of Joshua's arms bristled as he looked at the slats at the top of the locker. What exactly was in the thing?
Joshua tried to dismiss the question, but he knew he wouldn't be able to settle until he satisfied himself that the locker was empty…or that it was at least filled with something benign and inanimate.
Leaving his backpack on the desk next to the TV, Joshua got up and walked over to the locker. Hesitating only a second, he reached out and yanked on the locker's unsecured lock. The locker door swung open and slapped back against the wall with a clang as Joshua looked into the locker.
His gaze met the bug-eyes of a rosy-cheeked, grinning Foongus.
He yelped and immediately slammed the locker door shut again. He backed away from the locker and stared at it. His heart felt like it was detonating in his chest.
What the fuck was that thing?!
Joshua's brain provided him with a replay of what he'd seen. He'd seen a Foongus. A plastic one to boot. Too-colorful face. Too much white in the eyes. And most importantly…it was very, very puny. Conclusion: it was just a toy Foongus.
Joshua rolled his eyes at his own skittishness. He breathed in and out evenly, and then he stepped forward. This time, he pulled the locker door open slowly.
Sitting on the locker's top shelf, the Foongus gazed at Joshua placidly. Not a real Foongus. A doll.
The doll looked almost exactly like a Foongus, but it was too short to have been mistaken for a real one. It only looked that way because Joshua got himself worked into a jump-at-his-own-shadow state of high anxiety.
"I really need to calm down," Joshua said.
The toy Foongus didn't agree, but it didn't disagree, either. The Foongus' grin, however, did make Joshua feel like it was laughing at him.
Joshua looked at the doll's bulging eyes. Little tingles of unease crawled up his neck.
He quickly reached out and turned the doll's head so its face was aimed toward the back of the locker. "There, little Foongus," he said. "Laugh at that."
He dropped his gaze from the doll and inspected the rest of the locker, wanting to be sure it didn't hold any more creeptastic toys. Thankfully, it didn't. There were only two other things in the locker. One was a flashlight, a big black one that could be used as a weapon if necessary, though Joshua hoped that it wouldn't be. The second thing in the locker was a Spriggy FazSprig-branded black security vest. Joshua studied the vest for a second, then he shrugged.
"Why not?" he tugged the vest from its wire hanger.
He grabbed the flashlight, gave the Foongus doll one last glance, making sure it was still turned toward the back of the locker, and once he saw it was, he shut the locker door. Stepping over to the desk, he set the flashlight where he'd be able to grab it quickly if the power went out again. Then he slipped on the vest. He might as well look the part.
Armed now with the hefty flashlight and a determination not to be so on edge, Joshua decided he'd be more comfortable if he explored his surroundings a bit. The office itself didn't feel like much of a safe haven, and so he wanted to know what else the building held. He decided to start with the main dining room he'd seen in the video.
Joshua left the office and headed back down the main hall. Bypassing all the closed doors (not because he was afraid of what was behind them), he retraced his steps back to the lobby. As he went, he shone his flashlight every which way. He didn't see much that he hadn't noticed before, except he did see that the hallway ceiling had intercom speakers like the one in the office. He figured they were probably all over the restaurant.
When Joshua reached the lobby, he turned toward the archway. Then he strode through it and looked around.
Although the building's power was full-on, the cavernous dining area - it had to be at least a hundred feet square - was still filled with puddles of black and gray and the palest of dirty yellow. Joshua looked up, and he saw that the yellow came from the moonlight shining through a bank of dirty skylights.
Joshua looked around and he saw a light switch to the left of the archway. He took a step toward it, but then he remembered Jessica's warnings about the electrical system. He didn't want to risk plunging the entire building into pitch darkness again. So, he flicked on his flashlight.
As soon as he aimed his flashlight at the expanse in front of him, he kind of wished he hadn't turned it on. The scene was bleak.
Maybe if Joshua hadn't watched the video, he wouldn't have been as put off by the vacant, filthy, desolate room. His mind, however, was still filled with the bright, happy scenes from the video. He had expected to find a colorful room filled with tables. Instead, he was looking at a wasteland. Only a few tables remained, and these were covered with dust or filthy, torn tablecloths. A few toppled stacks of chairs were scattered around the room. The black-and-white floor was littered with debris - party hats, paper plates, napkins, and empty cups.
Kicking one of the cups, Joshua walked toward the two stages on the opposite side of the room. One of the stages was covered with an older version of the red curtain he'd seen in the video. The velvet on the curtain now was matted, and the red was faded. Over a smaller stage to the left, a purple curtain with white stars sagged. Joshua recognized it from the poster in the hallway. He sincerely hoped the Eevee from the poster wasn't standing behind the curtain.
To counter the sudden melancholy the neglected and forgotten dining room had created, Joshua whistled…loudly. The sound rang through the room, swirling out away from him and then returning. It reminded him of the way his words had echoed back to him whenever he was in a wide open space.
He shook his head, reminding himself that he'd decided not to be spooked. He whistled again, even louder. He started to take a step forward.
A loud clatter jerked him into full-startle. He sucked in a gasp and snapped his flashlight beam toward the sound. The flashlight's rays were aimed at the curtains that covered the stage. What was back there? Was someone else here?"
"Hello?" Joshua called out.
As soon as he threw out the word, he regretted it. How many times had he laughed at a character in a movie when they called out "Hello?" If someone was here, it probably wasn't someone up to any good. And now, Joshua had announced his presence and his exact location.
He kept his flashlight aimed at the curtains. They didn't move.
Staying very, very still, Joshua listened. He heard nothing. Not even his own breathing.
Shining his light in a full circle, Joshua decided there were way too many potential hiding spots in the room, not the least of which was behind the closed curtains. The flashlight, and the wimpy moonlight, didn't give him even close to an acceptable view of the area around him.
He turned and strode to the light switch. Using it was worth the risk.
Joshua reached the switch quickly. He flipped it upward.
Nothing happened.
He flicked the switch up and down several times. Click , click, click. No light.
"Perfect," Joshua said, annoyed. The word toyed with him the same way his whistle had. He decided to keep his mouth closed from now on.
For a second, he thought about retreating back to the office. But if someone was there, it was his job to find them.
I'm not getting paid enough for this, he thought. Even so, he stepped away from the light switch. Taking a deep breath, he advanced farther into the room.
Feeling vulnerable out in the middle of the room, Joshua decided to hug the right wall. That wall, he noticed, was covered with children's drawings. Maybe a hundred or more stick-figure drawings, not unlike many of Ava's masterpieces, plastered the dining room's wall like wallpaper. Yellowed and curling, the drawings fluttered as Joshua passed them.
Although Joshua's flashlight beam illuminated the drawings, he gave them only cursory attention. His focus was on the main stage. That was where the sound had come from.
Past the drawings, Joshua reached a short flight of stairs that led up to the stage. Near the steps, a hand-sized red button was on the wall. It was the button from the video. The SHOWTIME letters above it were faded, barely legible. If Joshua hadn't known what it said, he might not have been able to piece the word together.
Joshua aimed his flashlight at the button. He shook his head. No way in hell he was going to press that thing.
He passed by the button and climbed the steps up to the stage. Making sure to walk far enough in front of the curtains that he was beyond arm's reach of anything that might want to come out from behind them, he stepped softly over the dusty wood stage floor until he reached the middle of the stage where the two sides of the curtains met. He shone his light at the half-inch gap between them.
Straightening his posture, as if a shoulders-back, soldier-like stance would prepare him for whatever he was about to face, he reached out and took the edge of the curtain in his left hand. The velvet was crusty beneath his fingertips.
He pulled the curtain farther back. Leading with his flashlight, he poked his head behind the curtain.
When Joshua's flashlight beam landed on the first grinning, big-toothed mouth, the beam immediately jerked away. That took the light to another massive grin. And another.
Stunned and awed by the size of the tooth-filled mouths he was seeing, Joshua steadied his light and aimed it so it illuminated as wide a view as possible. As soon as he took in the whole scene, his awe morphed into dread.
He immediately stepped back. Still clutching the curtain in his left hand, not because he wanted to but because his fingers had spastically clamped on the velvet material, he retreated. The curtain came with him, pulling up and away from the stage floor and opening a wider gap. Joshua swept his flashlight left and right, and then he quickly shot the light away from what he was seeing.
Finally dropping the curtain, Joshua turned. He didn't bother to head for the stage stairs. He just leaped off the stage and started hot footing it through the dining room.
As Joshua ran, his brain provided him with a recap of what he'd just seen: the huge white eyes that hovered above all the leering grins that had sent him scampering away like a Buneary pursued by a Braviary.
The eyes. A Fuecoco.
Had Joshua really seen what he'd thought he'd seen?
A chill cascaded through Joshua's body like a freezing waterfall. He ran faster.
He tried to tell himself that his brain was playing tricks on him. He hadn't seen what he thought he'd seen.
But he knew he was lying to himself.
Just as Joshua had dropped the curtain, one set of white eyes, the set that belonged to the big red Fuecoco, had shifted. It had watched Joshua's retreat.