CHAPTER FOUR: ROXANNE WOLF

The day went by so quickly that before I knew it, it was time to go to bed. Normally, I would go to bed pretty late into the night, but since I was going to begin my first shift at the Pizzaplex at 8 PM and work till probably opening, I was going to need as much sleep as possible. The last thing I needed was to pass out from exhaustion at some point in the night and get into a huge load of trouble for it. That wouldn't leave a good impression on my first shift.

After taking a shower, getting dry, and brushing my teeth, I walked into my bedroom and hopped onto my bed with nothing but my underwear. I was the kind of person that really preferred to sleep in just my undergarments. After laying the covers on me, I rolled onto my side and looked at the clock. It read 10:32 PM.

'How crazy things can change in such a short time span,' I thought to myself. I switched on the alarm, rolled onto my other side, and thought over what had happened today.

What could've started out as another day looking for a job changed into something else, thanks to my mother and Peter. Thanks to my mom, I was forced to return to the one place I never wanted to set a single foot near, which looking back was probably the push I needed. Thanks to Peter, he went and talked Kyle into interviewing me and for once, luck was on my side, and I got the job.

It was pretty ironic how I was now working at the one place I hated with every fiber of my being, but for one purpose. I didn't know how difficult it would be to find any clues to figuring out what happened to all of those kids, including my sister, but I was going to do what it took to find out. I might have to do things that the company really wouldn't approve of, but they, including some of their rules, can kiss my ass. I was going to do what they told me to do, but if it was something I didn't approve of, I wasn't going to follow through. I was aware that it was insubordinate of me to do so, but I wasn't going to let some stupid rule get in the way of my morals.

As I rolled onto my other side, I thought over what would happen if I screwed up trying to find out what happened. Although I should feel a bit terrified, I couldn't bring myself to do so.

When life offers you an opportunity, you are given two choices; you accept it or you decline it. Obviously, I accepted the opportunity as soon as I saw that there wasn't a security guard in sight. I knew that I had been given this chance to do something that was for the greater good. To finish something that hadn't been done for the last 10 to 12 years. Get the closure that we deserved.

I knew that I was going to get into a lot of trouble if anyone found out my intentions and the true reason why I even got the job as the security guard in the first place. I often did stupid things whenever I was determined to do something and do it right. My determination to find out the truth was indeed stupid and put me in a situation that could've been avoided. I didn't care.

For too long, I, my mother, and all of those families that lost the ones they loved and cared for dearly had been waiting for the day that closure would be given to us, something that we never got. I couldn't imagine the pain and grief that the families went through. The ones that had moved out, as well as the ones that were torn apart. They had to have gone through it as bad as me and my mother, maybe even worse than that.

That was going to change now that I was going to be working there. I was going to do something that should have been given to us after all these years; finding out the truth and giving closure. I didn't give a fuck if I was going to be praised as a hero or be thanked. If I found out the truth, I was going to do it because, in my own eyes, it was the right thing to do.

'I will find out what happened,' I thought to myself. 'I will.'

With that, I closed my eyes and, hoping that I wouldn't be plagued by nightmares, allowed myself to slip into the depths of unconsciousness.

THE NEXT DAY

The sound of my alarm clock blaring pulled me back to consciousness. I shut off the alarm and sat up on my bed. I stretched to get my blood flowing and rubbed my eyes to help get rid of the fog that clouded my vision. It then took me a moment to realize something; I slept through the whole night without waking up screaming from a nightmare.

I smiled at this as something like this was rare for me. If I ever do get lucky, the nightmares that plagued me for the last 10 years didn't wake me up in the middle of the night. Luck has never been on my side, but there have been rare times it does, like just now and me getting a job at the Pizzaplex.

That realization struck me. Today was the day I was going to start my first shift, which would be the night shift, at the Mega Pizzaplex. I felt my smile grow from this. This change in my life was something I was going to thank Peter for. If it wasn't for him, I would still be looking for a job miserably.

I threw the covers off me and hopped out of bed. I walked over to the dresser and put on a lime green T-shirt and long pajama pants. With a smile on my face, I walked out of my bedroom, closing the door behind me.

I turned the TV on and sat down on my reclining armchair, a plate of dippy eggs and bacon fitted with a fork held in my right hand. My living room was average-sized with an oval-shaped glass table behind the recliner, a long leather couch pressed up against the wall about a foot away from the front door, and a large flat-screen TV standing all proud and tall on a TV stand. The kitchen and the hallway that led to the bathroom and my bedroom, which was at the far end of the hallway, were both connected to the living room.

I ate with a smile on my face as I watched whatever was shown on the TV. It wasn't long before the show ended, and the commercials began to play. I didn't really care. Nothing was going to ruin my good mood and I genuinely believed that.

I looked down at my plate and stuffed a piece of a dippy egg into my mouth and began to chew…

"Hey, I'm Roxanne Wolf." I spat the piece of the egg onto the plate in response to hearing that name. I looked at the TV to see the wolf mascot with a large racing flag in her left hand standing on the far-left side of the TV screen with a huge racetrack that looked to be desert-themed behind her.

"If you're looking for high-speed motor mayhem, Roxy Raceway is the place to be." Roxanne Wolf continued in a confident tone. She even looked both confident and proud. "Sign up today and be a winner! Nobody likes a loser."

The commercial ended and the next one about McDonald's played. I was staring at the screen, stunned at what I'd just seen. I had no idea that they played commercials for some of the attractions for the Pizzaplex. Maybe they did, and I just never paid full attention to it, until now. Seeing the wolf mascot on the screen brought forth memories of when we made eye contact with each other and with her watching me leave with my mother.

Just like yesterday, my thoughts drifted to Roxanne Wolf. Even on the TV screen, she was beautiful as ever. How they even managed to make an animatronic such as her attractive was a mystery to me. If that's what they were going for her when they designed her, they sure as hell did a very good job on that. Roxanne Wolf was cute and attractive…

I slapped myself in the face when that came into mind. What the heck was wrong with me?! I only saw Roxanne Wolf literally yesterday and I didn't even chat with her whatsoever, so what the heck was going on?! Is this kind of thing even normal?! If not, then what did that make me?!

I slapped myself again to snap myself out of it. 'Calm down, Mihael. It's just probably nothing. It'll probably go away in due time.'

I kept my attention on the TV as I continued to eat my breakfast. I watched TV for the rest of my morning, which wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for one thing; Roxanne Wolf.

The entire time I was watching TV, I tried my best to keep my stupid thoughts from shifting to Roxanne. While I was saved from that when I saw something funny, there were moments when she kept on invading my thoughts. It got to the point where I had to splash my face with water to help clear up my head. After splashing my face with water for like the fifth time, I decided I had to get some fresh air.

I didn't want to step out onto the front porch and wait for my head to clear up. I had someplace I wanted to go; a place that only I knew about and one that I went to whenever I needed to clear my head and get it back on the right track. It was a secret that I kept since the day I found it.

After putting on my socks and shoes and stuffing my phone into my pocket, I checked to see if Peter Brown or any of my neighbors were outside. When I saw that it was clear, I quickly stepped out and went around the back of the house, and headed towards the woods that were a little ways from the neighborhood.

The good thing about my secret place was that it was only a 10-minute walk through the woods to get there. The journey to it was easy too as the path to get to it was flat and I didn't have to worry or even fear about the possibility of bumping into something that would want to rip me to pieces or just danger in general.

I broke through the trees and entered my secret place; a large meadow that was about half the size of a football field with grass that was never too long and a hill that rose from the center of the meadow. The beautiful flowers that littered the area only enhanced the beauty of it all. Even if the angriest man alive stepped into the meadow, all of that anger would wash away from the beauty of the meadow just by the mere sight of it.

I inhaled and sighed. I walked over to the hill and marched up to the top. When I reached the top, I slowly sat down before lying down on my back, looking up at the sky. I felt a wave of tranquility flow through my body, putting me at ease. That's what I loved about the meadow; it had the ability to put me, my body, and my mind at ease, even if I was in the sourest of moods.

As I lay there, I was grateful that no one knew about this place. I loved this place with all of my heart as the meadow was the only place that I could go to relax and be at peace. The times I would come here was rare, but when I did come over, I would feel like I just made the smartest choice whenever I needed to relax.

I suddenly thought how amazing it would be to share this secret with someone who I would care about the most, someone who I would love. I didn't know why but the idea of sharing this with someone brought this warm feeling to my chest.

As if waiting, my thoughts shifted to Roxanne. I looked away from the sky and looked to my right. As if my own imagination was running wild, I saw Roxanne lying next to me, though I knew it wasn't the real deal. This Roxanne Wolf before me was transparent as I could see through her slightly. This brought a smile to my face. I suddenly felt drowsy and my eyes closed…

I woke up to the feeling of the wind on my face. I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes before stretching to get my blood flowing. When I removed my hands and opened my eyes, I noticed something was different. I reached for my phone and turned it on. I felt my heart leap in my chest when the time read 7:15 PM.

'Shit!' I thought in a panic. 'I have to get ready for work! I can't believe I fell asleep!'

Wasting no time, I got back on my feet and ran out of the meadow and into the woods. Since I was running instead of walking, it didn't take me very long to get back to the house. Without thinking to see if any of the neighbors were outside and were watching me, I ran straight for the front porch and opened the front door.

I stepped into the house and went straight to my bedroom. Stripping myself of my pajamas, I walked over to my dresser and began searching for something to wear for work. Out of all the questions I forgot to ask Kyle during the interview, it was what I was supposed to wear for work. If I wasn't mistaken, that was probably one of the most important questions to ask while during an interview.

Guessing that they would want me to come in wearing a long sleeve shirt and pants, I searched and was able to find a long-sleeve white shirt. I then went to search for a pair of jeans, Kyle probably wanting me to wear a pair of black jeans. As I had no luck, I was only able to find a pair of black sweatpants.

'Screw it,' I thought to myself. 'It's better than nothing.'

With my clothing of choice, I put them on and grab a pair of matching ankle socks, and put them on as well. Fully ready, I grabbed my keys, and my wallet, and stepped out of the bedroom. I walked over to the front door where I have my only pair of sneakers resting beside the door, put them on, and walked out the door.

I walked over to my truck and hopped inside. Starting the engine, I took a deep breath, pulled out of the driveway, and began the 15-minute drive to the Pizzaplex.

'I can do this,' I thought to myself. 'What's the worst that can even happen?'

I arrived at the Pizzaplex at 7:52 PM, 8 minutes before the start of my shift. The parking lot wasn't nearly as crowded as it was yesterday and I saw guests beginning to exit, hop into their cars, and drive out of the parking lot. This meant only one thing.

'The place must be getting ready for closing,' I thought to myself as I parked my truck in a parking spot that was the closest to the front doors. Switching off the engine, I stepped out of the truck and walked over to the Pizzaplex.

As I inched closer to the complex, I felt my heart rate pick up and my legs began turning into jelly, my breathing rapidly transforming into hyperventilation. I rested a hand on my chest as I tried to control myself, my forehead becoming wet with sweat.

'Get a hold of yourself, Mihael,' I thought to myself as I reached the front doors. 'Everything will be fine.'

This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that this was my first night on the job. The fate of me keeping this job lies in me doing a good job and leaving a good impression at the end of the night and that alone made it 10x scarier.

But terrified as I was, I couldn't allow myself to run away from all of this. I reminded myself that I was here for a reason. I was here on a mission, and I was going to see it through. I wasn't going to turn around and turn my back on how far I've got now. This was for all of the families who were torn apart, moved out, and waited for someone to do something. I had to do this. I had to.

'I can do this,' I thought to myself as I took a deep breath after a deep breath until I was able to somewhat calm down. 'I can do this.'

With me being somewhat calm enough to where I wasn't hyperventilating and ready to collapse due to my jelly legs, I took one deep breath and stepped inside.

Even though I was just here yesterday, I was still awe-struck by the Lobby. I didn't know why, but something about the Lobby just sticks out like a sore thumb. Something told me that my being amazed by the Lobby was going to be a recurring theme while working here. I really hope that wouldn't be the case.

"Hey, Mihael!" I heard someone call out from my left. I looked to see Kyle walking over to me with the 4 animatronic mascots following behind him.

Seeing Roxanne Wolf following closely behind Kyle reminded me of the commercial I saw on TV and what happened back at the meadow. Unlike the commercial and at the meadow, Roxanne was real and looked nothing like the confident wolf I saw. The wolf animatronic had her arms crossed across her chest and was looking down at the floor. I thought back to the things Kyle told me during the interview about Roxanne Wolf. If I was going to get along with her, I would have to take it slow and tolerate her behavior when it shows itself.

"It's good to see you, Mihael," he said with a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm doing alright," I replied before rubbing the back of my head with my right hand sheepishly. "Sorry about my choice of clothing. I completely forgot to ask you what you wanted me to wear during the interview, so I just put on this shirt and a pair of black sweatpants. I hope you don't mind."

He waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, no worries. What you're wearing will do for tonight. As for what you need to wear, you need to come in wearing a white long sleeve shirt and black pants. Will you remember that in the future?"

I nodded my head. It was a relief to know that my assumptions were right. It would've been incredibly embarrassing to come in for work wearing the wrong outfit. I had no doubt in my mind that I would be the laughingstock for that.

"Well, that's a relief," I said. I turned my attention to the mascots who had smiles on their faces, including Roxanne, who was looking at me shyly. "Why are they here?"

"I wanted to introduce you to our stars," Kyle explained and pointed to each one. "Mihael, this is Freddy, Chica, Monty, and Roxy. Freddy, Chica, Monty, Roxy, this is Mihael Patel. He will be our new security guard from now on."

"Nice to meet you all," I said, waving my right hand as a greeting. I received the same gesture from them.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Patel," Freddy said in a polite tone. "Kyle informed us that we would be having a new security guard and he talked very highly of you. I hope you enjoy your time here."

I smiled at this. Right off the bat, I could tell that Freddy and I were going to get along wonderfully. Kyle was right about Freddy; he was definitely going to be the easiest to get along with.

"Hey, little guy," Montgomery began to say, his rough and tough on the edges. "It's nice to-." He didn't even get a chance to finish his sentence before Chica, the chicken animatronic came rushing to me and wrapped me in a tight hug. By tight, I mean to where I could feel my ribs threatening to break.

"It's so nice to meet you, Mr. Patel!" she said cheerfully. "I have a feeling we're going to be the best of friends!"

'We won't be if I get put in a hospital bed from you leaving me with crushed ribs!' I thought as I tried to get some air in my lungs.

"Um, Chica, you can let Mihael go now," Kyle said, sounding worried. "You're crushing him."

"Oh!" she gasped, and she released me from the bear hug. I began taking greedy gasps for air. "Sorry."

"Please be careful next time," I said in between breaths. "I don't want to be put in a hospital bed before I even start my first shift."

Chica chuckles nervously before backing away and giving me space. I couldn't help but feel guilty for what I said. I knew that she meant well for giving me a hug, but she could've easily hurt me without realizing it, and it wouldn't be pretty for any of us.

"H-hello," came a voice I heard earlier this morning. I looked to see Roxanne giving me a shy smile. "I'm Roxanne Wolf, but you can call me Roxy."

"It's nice to meet you, Roxanne," I said as I held out my right hand for a handshake. Roxanne stared at my hand for a bit, unsure what to do. I lowered my hand back down to my side and gave her a soft smile before turning to Kyle. "Anything else before I begin my shift?"

"One last thing actually," he said before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a weird-looking small yellow watch, and a large heavy-duty flashlight and handed them to me. I took the items and then examined the watch for a bit.

"What is this?" I asked.

"It's a Faz-Watch," Kyle replied. "These are given to guests whenever they come here. During your shifts, you can use the watch to check the security cameras to keep an eye on everything. Once you turn it on, you will be greeted with a map of the complex and you will see small square boxes for each room. Those boxes are security cameras. Check them to keep an eye on the place. Understand?"

I nodded and strapped the watch on my left wrist. I turned it on and sure enough, I was greeted with a map of the Pizzaplex with the rooms having small boxes. I clicked each of them and got a view of different rooms of the place. I had to admit; this was badass.

"Alright, are there any questions before I leave you to your work?" he asked. I did have a few questions in mind.

"Two questions, in fact. First, what time does my shift end? And two, what do I mainly do as the night guard?"

"For your first question, your shift will end at 6 AM when the security doors reopen after shutting at 12 AM," he replied. "And for your second question, you just patrol around the building while also checking the security cameras to keep an eye on the mascots. Does that help?" I nodded in understanding. "Alright, I'm heading out. I will be back at 6. Have a nice night."

"Thanks," I said. "You too. And you can count on me, Kyle. I will be on high alert all night."

With that, Kyle walked out the front doors, leaving me alone with the four mascots. I turned to the mascots, and they were all giving me warm smiles. I couldn't help but smile myself. Honestly, it was really cool that I had the whole place to myself. I was sure that this would be any kid's dream; to have the whole Pizzaplex all to themselves for the whole night.

"Well, looks like it's time for me to begin my rounds," I said. "You guys take care."

"It was nice meeting you, Mr. Patel," Freddy said.

"Oh, you don't have to call me that. You can call me Mihael," I said with a polite smile on my face. With that, I left the four mascots to their own devices and began doing my rounds, passing through the gates to fully enter the Lobby.

I was walking down Rockstar Row, checking every nook and cranny to make sure everything was alright and not out of place. So far, nothing hasn't happened yet, which I was honestly grateful for.

Rockstar Row was this huge room full of display cases, props of some mascots that I'd never seen or heard of before, and four large golden statues of the four mascots. The walls were lined with neon lights and signs for what looked like the mascot's rooms. The order of the rooms went like this; Freddy Fazbear, Roxanne Wolf, Montgomery Gator, and Glamrock Chica. The room was dark, but it was decently lit by the neon lights, which was a huge blessing in my opinion. The room looked super cool, not going to lie.

I stopped by the window of Roxanne's room and began checking all of the security cameras to make sure that Freddy, Chica, Montgomery, and Roxanne were doing alright. I began to panic when I couldn't find them on the cameras. I checked all of the attractions and found nothing. I then checked the kitchen and breathed out a sigh of relief when I saw Freddy, Chica, and Montgomery sitting at one of the tables, talking to each other it seemed.

Something clicked in my brain and my panic came back. I checked to see if I could find Roxanne with them, only to discover that the wolf wasn't with them. I frantically checked all of the security cameras in hopes to find her, to no success.

'Roxanne, where are you?!' I thought in a panic. I didn't know why this worried me so much. Yeah, it was my job to make sure that they were alright and safe, but for some odd reason, not being able to find Roxanne on any of the cameras was making me panic more than I should. Why was that?

A soft tap on my left shoulder made me jump, my heart skipping a beat in the process. I let out a loud, girlish scream before turning around to see Roxanne Wolf standing behind me. She was leaning away slightly, meaning that I might have frightened her with my reaction.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"No worries," I replied once I fully calmed down. "I'm just glad that you're alright. I was worried that something happened."

She gave me a strange look. "You were worried? Why were you worried?"

"When I saw that you weren't with your friends in the kitchen in the cameras, I panicked, thinking that something happened to you," I began to explain. "Having something happen to you on my first night wouldn't be something I would want to tell Kyle about. As the security guard, your and your friend's safety is my priority."

The strange look on her face briefly changed into one of shock before it became smug. Even though her shock was brief, I could tell that she wasn't expecting that reply. In my eyes, that was strange.

"You didn't have to worry about me," she said, sounding confident. "I am the best. Nothing bad happens to the best."

I arched an eyebrow at her. Like I haven't heard something like that before. People may say things like that, but when something bad really does happen to them, then they wouldn't feel that way anymore. Things like that can happen to anyone and being really prepared for that kind of thing is better safe than sorry.

"Then why the shyness earlier?" I pointed out.

"I wasn't shy," she retorted.

"You wouldn't even shake my hand when I offered it. You were acting like you didn't know what to do."

"I was not."

"Yes, you were."

"No, I wasn't." She looked away with a confident smile. "I'm never shy. I'm Roxanne Wolf, the best in all of the Pizzaplex."

I resisted the urge to groan. I was very well aware that this was her narcissism talking but trying to act tough isn't helping things. She was trying to hide her insecurities from me by behaving like this. She probably has no idea how this really isn't helping her in any way.

An idea popped up in my head and I really hoped that I wasn't going to regret this. I didn't want Roxanne to keep her problems to herself, so if I got her to tell me about them, it might be a start with her.

"That's not what Kyle told me during my interview," I brought up. "He told me that you were the least confident out of the animatronics here in the Pizzaplex."

I watched that confident smile slowly fade away from her face and an expression of horror took over. I was beginning to instantly regret going through with my idea, but I couldn't stop now. "The only reason you act this way is that you don't want anyone to know about your problems. Don't want to be seen as weak by everyone. By harboring all of these problems and not telling anyone, you're only hurting yourself and your confidence. Does it have anything to do with what's happened to you in the past?"

I noticed that Roxanne was now shaking violently, the look of horror now an expression of pain like the wolf mascot was now reliving bad memories that she didn't want to remember. Then, something unexpected happened.

As if to mimic how humans cried, oil began to build up in Roxanne's eyes and trailed down her cheeks. Now, I felt like a complete douche. What I thought was a way to help her only served to hurt the poor wolf even more. I wish I thought things through before acting.

"Hey, I'm sorry," I said softly. "I didn't mean to-"

I didn't get a chance to fully apologize before she took off and went into her room, her door slamming. I ran over to the door and tried to see if I could find some way to open the darn thing so I could get in and console her with no success. It didn't help my case when I began to hear sobbing coming from the other side of the door.

"He doesn't know anything," I heard her say, her voice sounding weak. "What does he know about me? He probably has no idea what he's talking about. I'm better than him, right?"

Not long after, I heard Roxanne resume sobbing, only much harder this time. I felt my heart shatter into pieces. I realized that there was really nothing I could do. There was no way that Roxanne would let me in so there was no point.

Feeling defeated, I sadly walked away from her room and further down Rockstar Row, wishing I could take back what I said.

Author's Note:

This chapter proved to be just as hard as Chapter Three. There were so many ways that I wanted to have Mihael's first interaction with the animatronics and Roxanne Wolf at the end of the chapter go, but none of them worked right so I ended up going with the one that you guys see now. I tried my best to make sure that they were just like their in-game personalities, but with some tweaks.

The reason I had Roxanne Wolf behave the way she did was to foreshadow that there was a cause for her to behave this way. I know that this isn't how she would act, but I wanted to make this different than most fanfics. FYI, the reason I had Mihael do what he did was to show one of his character flaws. This flaw is based on a true personality quirk that I have and struggle with to this day.

That's all. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. If there was anything I could have done differently, share your opinions. I would love to hear them. Chapter Five might not take as long as I know how it will go and it's one that I've been dying to write. If it does take longer, please be patient. Don't expect me to upload chapters every five days because that will not be a recurring thing.

All constructive criticism is appreciated, and I will see you guys in the next chapter! :)

Update: Added new story content.