Chapter 5: Three Times An Unlucky Charm
Benji's body did not want to get out of bed today, like at all. Today was Thursday, three more days until the weekend again. He looked at the time, 5:30 PM, and a sudden flash of the event that had happened last night went through Benji's eyes. It made him jump out of bed and gave him incredible nausea. He quickly darted into the bathroom, opened the toilet and vomited. Benji started gasping for air for a short time after that. He wiped his mouth, and looked up at himself in the mirror.
Yeesh! Benji thought to himself. I look like I just came out of a graveyard.
Benji wanted to call off, but he just started the job. He didn't want to look like a slacker to his new boss at all. After wrapping himself up in his fuzzy blanket, Benji headed downstairs. He switched his outfit from the washer to the dryer while trying to keep the blanket around him. Once he had sat down comfortably on the sofa, Benji's stomach rumbled in hunger. He grunted at the fact that he would have to get up to make the food.
"Uggghhh", Benji groaned at the fact that his body was sick.
After minutes of just sitting there, he just decided to order some food instead of making it himself. Benji picked up his phone and opened the DoorDash app. He decided to go with some food from Panera. Soup was sounding good to him, as he was still trying to recover. When he hit the order button, Benji's eyes fluttered closed from being too heavy.
DING DONG!
Benji was startled awake from his cat nap to the doorbell to his house. He groggily got up from the sofa, rewrapped his blanket around him, and walked to the front door. When the door had opened, it kind of startled the delivery driver who was setting down the food.
"Geez! You look like you've seen better days!" The woman chuckled nervously.
"Yeah I know, thanks for the food", Benji grumbled, grabbed the bag of food, and closed the front door.
Sitting the food down on the table, he grabbed the contents out of the bag as well. Benji took the top off the soup container for the first bowl and pulled out the spoon. He could smell a handful of the aroma that the soup was giving out.
"You can never go wrong with a bowl of cream of chicken and wild rice soup when you're sick!" Benji nasally smiled to himself.
Eating the food took a bit since he was sick, however, he was also scrolling through his phone as well. When he was finished, Benji cleaned up and threw away the trash. Once that was done, he grabbed his outfit from the dryer and went upstairs. Benji's eyes were getting heavier and heavier while he was laying out everything for later. He eventually just fell asleep on the bed all snugged up in the fuzzy blanket.
BRRRIINNGGG!
Benji was suddenly woken up by an alarm on his phone. He looked at his phone and turned off the alarm.
"Wait, I didn't put an alarm on when I accidentally fell asleep?" Benji mumbled with a confused look on his face.
He just shook it off as he forgot about it, and got out of bed. While still feeling under the weather, he started getting ready for his third shift. Benji was standing in the shower just letting the warm, steamy water run down him after washing himself. He felt like his knees were about to buckle, so he promptly just got out of the shower. While drying off, he did his skincare routine as well. Benji ruffled his hair while it was still drying off. After that, he brushed his teeth and flossed as well. Even though he was all clean physically, Benji still felt like he was dirty psychologically. When he went to get dressed, he checked the time, 10:30 PM.
"Crap, I have to hurry", Benji grumbled to himself.
When Benji had gotten dressed, he decided to put the fuzzy blanket in his bag as well this time. Benji also had made himself a mug of Chamomile tea with some honey in it to drink while he was waiting for the night to begin. Once he was ready, Benji got into his car and drove off to the pizzeria, still feeling like he was sick.
11:30 PM
Benji had arrived to the revamped pizzeria around 11:30 PM. Once inside, he stumbled through the pizzeria with a pounding headache and he felt cold even though it felt warm inside. While getting a few side eyes from the closing crew when he was walking through the dining area, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Benji turned around to see who it was, and saw both Hayden and Scott standing there! Hayden had a concerned look while Scott had a worried look on his face.
"Benji, are you doing okay?" Scott asked me with this sort of soft tone in his voice.
Benji looked over at him and I winced a bit from the headache, "Y-Yeah I'm fine". The hand that was holding his mug of tea started shaking a bit.
Benji felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Are you sure, dude? You look like you need to go home and rest", Hayden was worried about Benji and his health.
"I'm fine, I promise", Benji weakly smiled at the two men.
"Okay, if you can get through this night, I'll have a surprise for you", Hayden winked at him while whispering into his ear. Benji blushed a bit when he did this.
"Uhhh, what did you just say?" Scott asked, worriedly concerned.
"N-Nothing too important!" Benji stammered and quickly walked away with his bag and mug.
When he reached the office, Benji set everything down carefully with somewhat shaky hands. Before he could sit down in the chair, Benji noticed another newspaper clipping! This one's heading said "Five children now reported missing. Suspect convicted." Benji sat down, grabbed his fuzzy blanket out of the bag, and wrapped himself to keep himself warm. He grabbed his still warm mug of tea and sipped it while he continued reading. "Five children are now linked to the incident at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, where a man dressed as a cartoon mascot lured them into a back room." Benji almost spit out the tea onto the desk.
"There were five?!" Benji exclaimed in horror, "Fuck!"
He continued reading along. "While the suspect has been charged, the bodies themselves were never found. Freddy Fazbear's Pizza has been fighting an uphill battle ever since to convince families to return to the pizzeria." "It's a tragedy." Benji looked to his right as if there was a camera recording him with the most deadpan stare. He winced from his head hurting.
"I seriously don't know why they had to put the last part. Of course it was a tragedy!" Benji murmured to himself.
He noticed that there was some writing on the back of the clipping, so he turned it around. Benji gasped at what it read. WE HAVE A SPOT FOR YOU IN THE BAND! Benji shuttered from both the message and him from being still sick. He tightened the wrap of the blanket. Benji was just ready for the night to begin.
12 AM
Right on the dot again, the phone in the office rang. Benji picked up the phone to listen to the third night's call.
Hello, hello?
"Hello, yet again", Benji mumbled, talking directly to the phone.
Hey, you're doing great! Most people don't last this long! I mean, you know, they usually move on to other things by now. I'm not implying that they died. Th-th-that's not what I meant.
"I mean maybe, but that's what you would be insinuating without any context", Benji rolled his eyes.
Uh, anyway, I better not take up too much of your time. Things start getting real tonight. There was a slight pause after that. Uh, Hey, listen. I had an idea. If you happen to get caught and want to avoid getting stuffed into a Freddy suit, uh, try playing dead! You know, go limp. Then there's a chance that, uh, maybe they'll think that you're an empty costume instead. Then again if they think you're an empty costume, they might try to, stuff a metal skeleton into you. I wonder how that would work.
"Excuse me, but what in the hell?! Why would you suggest something like that?!" Benji exclaimed, flabbergasted at what he just heard.
Y-Yeah, never mind, scratch that. I-It's best just, not to get caught, Benji heard the phone guy stutter out in embarrassment.
While he was listening to the phone call, Benji felt more cold and kept shivering again and again. His eyes also felt very heavy, and the phone call was fading in and out as if it was in the background. He didn't know if would make it during the night. Benji set down the mug just in case he spilled it.
I need...I need to do this so I can see what Hayden had in mind, Benji thought to himself tiredly.
Uh, ok, I'll leave you to it. It was hard for Benji to keep awake, his head started tilting down. He kept trying to wake himself up, but his sick body wouldn't let him.
See you on the flip side! The last of the phone call echoed in his mind as his tired body in a blanket fell forward. As his body fell to the ground, Benji's eyes fluttered closed.
2 AM
The animatronic trio was confused because the dining room camera hadn't turned on in the past two hours. It felt like something was wrong because they saw him come in earlier.
"I think something is up", Bonnie pointed his fingers together worriedly.
"Why are you worried about that night guard?" Chica asked while crossing her arms.
"We all saw him walk into that office!" Bonnie exclaimed, "We're supposed to be the ones to get him!"
"Yeah you're not wrong," Freddy stated, "However, it might not be anything though"
The other two animatronics just nodded in agreement.
3 AM
Another hour has passed and Bonnie noticed that the dining room camera still hasn't been turned on!
I'm gonna go check to see if anything has happened, Bonnie thought to himself.
He double-checked to see if he could go to the office without the others noticing. He saw that Freddy was fixing a table for a birthday party later in the day. Bonnie saw Chica go into the kitchen, as she always does. Foxy was still in Pirate's Cove, so that wasn't a problem. Bonnie swiftly yet quietly walked his way to the west hallway. When he had gotten to the doorway of the office, he gasped at what he saw. The night guard was passed out on the cold ground and wrapped in a blanket! Bonnie silently tip-toed over to him. He was towering over the night guard as he was asleep. The night guard whimpered in pain, from something? Then, it suddenly clicked in Bonnie's mind!
"I think he's sick!" Bonnie whisper-yelled to himself.
The purple rabbit animatronic started to panic, he didn't know what to do with the sick night guard! He started to pace back and forth frantically by the doorway.
Maybe I could get him back into the chair, Bonnie began to think, then deadpanned. Actually, nevermind, he might fall back to the ground.
As Bonnie began to think about what to do, he sat down in the chair. He got bored quickly and decided to just play with the tablet. The rabbit first saw the dining room where Freddy was finishing getting everything together.
"Borriiinnggg!" Bonnie rolled his eyes in a sing-song voice.
As he switched to Pirate's Cove, he heard the night guard shift around! Bonnie froze so the guard couldn't hear him. Once he went back to being still, Bonnie looked back at the tablet to see that Foxy was about to run to the office! Bonnie started to panic again.
Oh no, I've got to stop Foxy before anything happens! Bonnie's servos started to whir a bit fast.
clank clank clank clank
Bonnie heard the fox animatronic run down the west hallway! The rabbit animatronic quickly got up from the chair, and swiftly stood in front of the doorway to the exit, his back turned to the guard on the floor. Foxy tried so hard to skid to a stop, but failed. Before the fox could hit the wall, Bonnie caught him just in time.
"Thanks matey for tryna' stop this captain from hittin' ta wall!" Foxy smiled at the rabbit.
"You're welcome", Bonnie smiled back.
There was an awkward pause between the two animatronics.
"So uh, why'd yer stop me from gettin' into ta office?" Foxy asked while crossing his metallic arms. Bonnie went from smiling to having a nervous look.
"U-Uh" Bonnie began to stutter.
Foxy shoved Bonnie to the side, but before Bonnie could get a word out to explain why, he heard Foxy gasp.
"Is ta guard dead already?" Foxy asked with a confused look.
"N-No, he's sick!" Bonnie stuttered out.
"Oh come on lad! Yer don't have to go actin' all humble now cuz you killed ta night guard!" Foxy patted Bonnie on the back with a smile.
"T-Trevor", was all the night guard mumbled before curling up into a ball.
The rabbit and the fox froze and gave each other a look of slight panic.
"See, I told you!" Bonnie whisper-yelled to the other animatronic.
"Yer right", Foxy whispered in shock.
"What do we do?" Bonnie asked.
"I don't know matey", Foxy scratched the back of his head.
"Should we tell Freddy?" Bonnie pondered while going through the cameras again.
"Hell no lad!" Foxy exclaimed.
Bonnie saw the golden poster in the west hallway's corner by accident.
"Oh no", Bonnie gulped in panic.
"What happened?" Foxy asked worriedly.
The two animatronics then heard a creepy child's laugh!
SCREEEEE!
Bonnie tumbled backwards, falling down from getting suddenly scared while Foxy covered his mouth in shock. Golden Freddy appeared in front of the animatronics. Instead of his usual sitting, slumped over position, Golden Freddy was floating in front of them. He had his arms crossed while eyeing the two of them in annoyance.
"Just what are you two up to?" Golden Freddy asked, obviously irritated, "Why have I been pulled out of my peaceful moment?"
"I'm so sorry" Bonnie quickly stood up from the ground. Golden Freddy groaned and then looked over at Benji.
"Okay, what happened to him?" The golden bear asked. Foxy quickly shrugged in response.
"He's sick", Bonnie replied quietly, "I don't know why he still came in"
"Hmmm, that's definitely a problem", Golden Freddy rubbed his chin and pondered.
"D-Do you guys know how to take care of sick night- I mean humans?" Bonnie caught himself with that last part.
Foxy and Golden Freddy glanced at each other then back at the rabbit.
"Uh, no not really", Foxy replied sheepishly while Golden Freddy just shook his head.
Bonnie looked down at the ground a bit sad and shifted his metallic foot a bit. The three animatronics just stood there in silence.
5 AM
Freddy just finished fixing up the dining room and was pleased with his work. He soon realized it's been quiet for awhile, like too quiet.
"Hmm, I better go see what everyone is up to", Freddy pondering out loud to himself.
He saw that the Pirate's Cove curtain was still open.
"That's weird, he should be back by now" , Freddy muttered.
Before he could walk over there, Freddy heard a huge banging noise from the kitchen! He quickly rushed in to see what that was. He found Chica unharmed in the kitchen, which Freddy sighed in relief. However, he did see that there were pizza boxes and pans scattered all over the floor.
"I-I can explain!" Chica stammered anxiously. Freddy arched an eyebrow at her.
Chica started cleaning up the mess that was made, "I was making pizza again and I slipped from the pizza sauce I accidentally dropped. I crashed into a stack of pizza boxes, which in turn knocked over into a stack of pans that were on the counter behind you"
"Thank goodness that you're okay though", Freddy smiled while helping Chica clean up.
"Yes!" Chica chirped with a smile.
The bear and the chicken finished restacking everything where the items needed to be. Freddy went to go grab the mop and wheelie bucket of water. While that was happening, Chica boxed up the pizza. When she was done, she grabbed a Post-It note and wrote; "Hope you guys love this!" She left the pizza box on the counter the servers grabbed the food during the day. Freddy came back with the cleaning equipment and started cleaning up the pizza sauce off of the floor.
"I'm forever grateful that you care about us and the pizzeria!" Chica beamed with her joyous personality while she put away the ingredients.
"Thanks, Chica. I appreciate the compliment", Freddy smiled back at her.
Once Freddy was done, he put the mop and bucket back into the storage closet in the kitchen.
"Do you want to see what the others are up to? I haven't heard any noise since I came in here" Chica asked the bear as he came back.
"Yeah of course! I was gonna do that anyway", Freddy replied.
The two headed out of the kitchen. They started discussing where the other two might be at.
"Where do you think they are?" Chica asked curiously.
"I haven't seen them in their usual spots", Freddy's servos started to whir because he was thinking.
Just as they had an idea, both Foxy and Bonnie came down from the west hallway. The both of them had anxious looks on their faces like they were going to be in trouble.
"Where have you two been?" Freddy asked and then crossed his arms.
"Yer see", Foxy began to speak, but then was cut off by Bonnie.
"We were just trying to get that pesky night guard as usual!" Bonnie nervously smiled.
"That's right mateys! We were uh tryin' something new with ta guard!" Foxy lied through his teeth.
There was an awkward silence for a bit between the four animatronics. The two that were in the office held their breath.
"That's good we have to keep him on his toes!" Freddy smiled while Chica nodded with a smile of her own.
The fox and the rabbit animatronics breathed a sigh of relief. The bear believed their white lie.
"What time is it?" Chica asked curiously.
Before anyone could respond, their internal clocks went off. It was 6 AM.
"Well there's your answer", Freddy chuckled.
The four animatronics went back into their positions for the day.
6 AM
YAYYY!
Benji was startled awake by both kids cheering for him and the 6 AM bells going off. He groggily looked around and quickly realized that he was laying on the ground! Benji quickly got up and dusted himself off.
"Geez was I that sick?" Benji muttered to himself.
Unlike last night, he was starting to feel much better. Benji gathered his things by putting the blanket and newspaper clipping back into his bag. When he was ready, the night guard grabbed his now cold mug of tea and his bag, and then headed out of the office. While he was walking towards the front doors, he pondered on who the voices were talking around him last night. Benji thought he saw Bonnie quickly glance at him in his peripheral vision! He turned to look at the trio on stage, but the rabbit animatronic was just looking out at the empty dining room.
"Weird", Benji muttered while walking out of the building, shaking it off.
He got into his car and headed back to his house wondering what the fourth night of his first week would be like.