Chapter 7: Five Nights Downhill
Benji had awoken abruptly from his slumber to a nightmare he had. It wasn't his usual nightmare of what happened that fateful day with Trevor. However, Trevor was still in it with Benji. The two of them were in the pizzeria getting chased by those damn animatronics!
"Why can't I get a break from these nightmares, both while I'm awake and asleep?!" Benji cried out in desperation with his head in his hands. Of course, there was no one else around him.
Benji looked over at his phone for the time, 4 PM.
Geez, I keep waking up later than normal. Benji groaned in his head.
He got out of bed tiredly and walked over to his walk-in closet to pick out his outfit for today. Benji just picked out a tan waffle sweater, a maroon polo to have underneath, a pair of cream khakis, a pair of white and maroon socks, and his pair of cream and tan high-top sneakers. He laid out his outfit onto the bed before heading into the bathroom. Turning on the shower, he waited for the water to get a bit warm before stepping into it. Benji was washing himself with an empty head that was usually racing with thoughts. When he was done rinsing off the soap, Benji hung his head in sadness while the water just ran down his body. He suddenly hit the shower wall with his hand in frustration and cried out.
"Why can't I still get over what happened?!" Benji wailed in utter pain in his heart.
There was silence in the bathroom except for the running water that acted like white noise.
"I-I thought this new job would help me! It just seems like I'm stuck in this endless loop", Benji had constant tears falling from his eyes.
DING!
Benji heard his phone chirp on the bathroom sink. He quickly dried his eyes, turned off the shower and stepped out into the bathroom. Grabbing a towel from the linen closet, the night guard quickly dried himself off. Benji looked at who texted him, to his surprise it was Hayden! He almost dropped his phone onto the floor, but not before catching it with his reflexes.
Hayden: Hey dude! It's Hayden! You want to grab some food while I go on my lunch and before you come in?
W-Was he asking me as a friend, or something more? Benji pondered somberly.
Benji: Sure, what did you have in mind?
Hayden: There's a new barbecue spot by the pizzeria, you game for that?
Benji: Yeah I'll be there in a bit!
Hayden: See ya there!
Benji smacked his forehead.
Why did I say yes?! Benji was angry with himself. Now I have to go and put on a fake smile while I'm literally in shambles!
Benji left the bathroom and quickly got dressed into his outfit. He almost forgot to accessorize his look before noticing it in the mirror! Benji put on a simple amethyst pendant and then swiftly grabbed his bag. He rushed down the stairs, went out the door, and locked it behind him. Benji started the car and quickly sped off into the direction of this new place.
It didn't take long for Benji to arrive at the restaurant. When he had gotten out of his car, he saw Hayden waiting for him outside of the building. Benji knew it was him because of the company T-shirt that the kitchen staff had to wear. As Benji approached, Hayden smiled and waved.
"Hey! I'm glad that you agreed on doing this", Hayden gave him a warm and friendly smile.
"I'm glad that I'm here too", Benji replied with a softer smile. The both of them heard each other's stomachs rumble.
"Good thing we're both hungry!" Hayden smirked jokingly.
"Yeah, yeah, let's go in", Benji rolled his eyes and smiled.
The pair headed into the restaurant to fill their stomachs. They walked up to the host station that was set up by the front doors of the building.
"Well, hello there! Welcome to Jax's Barbecue!" the host smiled at the two men.
"Hey", Benji replied softly.
"Just follow me over here!" The host beamed with joy.
Both Benji and Hayden followed their host over to a booth that was close by one of the windows. Each of them sat down on either side of the booth's seats. The host gave each man a menu and a glass of water.
"When you guys are ready, just walk up the order counter!" the host graciously gestured over to the counter on the left side of the kitchen. He then walked off to seat another group of people.
"You ready to go up?" Hayden asked Benji while he was taking a drink of water.
Benji finished drinking and set down the glass with a smile, "Yeah I'm starving!" Hayden just chuckled at his enthusiasm.
The pair of men walked up to the counter and started to scan the menu over with their hungry eyes.
To be honest, I don't even know what I want, Benji contemplated somberly. I guess I'll just go with something simple.
Hayden had ordered his food first. His order consisted of two pulled pork sandwiches, a side of fries, and a soda. It was Benji's turn to order and pay. He looked over the menu one more time before deciding on what he actually wanted.
"I'll just have a pulled pork sandwich and a side of fries", Benji smiled when he read off his order to the cashier.
When Benji paid for his food, Hayden and Benji went back over to their table to wait for the food to come out.
"So how's the pizzeria today?" Benji asked the head chef with curiosity.
Hayden finished his gulp of water before answering, "It's been really busy."
"Oh really?" Benji picked up his glass of water.
"I mean, yeah it's a Friday afternoon. What would you expect?" Hayden chuckled. Benji took a sip of his water.
"Yeah, you're not wrong", Benji smirked.
The new night guard smelled something irresistible! He looked over and it was their food being brought out to them! The food definitely looked delicious like how it smelled! The server had sat Benji's food in front of him, and then proceeded to set Hayden's food in front of the chef. Benji took a bite out of his sandwich, and he melted into food heaven!
"This is so good!" Benji moaned after swallowing his food.
"I totally agree with you there man!" Hayden agreed.
"You should add this to the menu", Benji smiled at the head chef of the pizzeria.
"Maybe", Hayden smirked.
The pair kept on eating and having their conversation.
Benji was now headed over to the coffee shop to visit Aaliyah again before his shift. He had fun talking to Hayden over some lunch. It was nice being around another person and hanging out. Especially if it had been a long time, since that incident. Benji parked his car in the lot of the coffee shop, and headed into the building.
"Oh my god! Hey bestie!" Aaliyah was in the middle of making a drink when the bell rang.
"Hey Aaliyah!" Benji beamed at the barista.
"Your usual?" The barista started to put it through the register.
"Yeah, but no sandwich for me", Benji smiled politely.
"Oh, how come?" Aaliyah was slightly confused.
"I just came here from having lunch with a coworker", Benji sheepishly smiled.
"That's fun!" Aaliyah took off the sandwich from the order.
"Yeah it was", Benji pulled out his wallet to pay for the iced coffee and chocolate croissant.
"That will be ten dollars today", Aaliyah smiled.
Benji inserted his card in and then took it out when it chimed. Aaliyah started on making his coffee.
"How has it been today?" Benji asked curiously.
"It's been kind of busy today, to be honest", Aaliyah called out to him because she was by the machine towards the back.
"That's good though, keeps you on your toes", Benji smirked.
"Yeah that's true", the barista handed the night guard his iced coffee.
Benji went to get a straw to put in his drink while his best barista friend heated up the chocolate pastry. He came back to the counter to wait for her to be done. It wasn't too long before she approached Benji with it.
"Here you go!" Aaliyah handed the pastry over to the night guard.
"Thanks bestie!" Benji replied with a smile and took the pastry.
"You're welcome", Aaliyah smiled back.
"I'm going to head over to work early", the night guard took a sip of the iced coffee.
"Why's that?" The barista looked a bit puzzled.
Benji looked at his phone for the time, "Well I know it's just 8:30, but I just need to talk to my boss about some things". He knew that his little white lie was partially true.
"That's fair", Aaliyah nodded.
"I'll see you around!" Benji waved and headed for the door.
"Be safe bestie!" Aaliyah waved back with a smile.
I can't make any promises. Benji thought to himself as he exited the coffee shop.
It was 9 PM as the night guard pulled into the parking lot of the pizzeria. Benji was still somberly thinking about what happened when he woke up earlier. He opened the doors and was greeted by the closing staff.
"Hey you!" that one hostess from the beginning of the week smiled at him.
"Hey", Benji put on the best fake smile he could.
"You're here early?" The hostess was confused a bit by that.
"Yeah", the night guard nodded slowly.
"Why's that?" She was being nosy now.
"I just wanted to catch up with some stuff in the office", Benji lied to the hostess.
Before she could ask anymore questions, he was saved by the head chef!
"Caroline! Is there a problem that I'm hearing about?" The head chef came over to the both of us.
Apparently, Hayden was about to take the trash bags out back to the dumpster.
"N-No!" Caroline hurried off to finish cleaning up the dining room area.
"Was she causing you any trouble?" Hayden looked at Benji with gentle concern.
"Kind of", the night guard replied softly.
"Kind of?" Hayden tilted his head in confusion.
"She was just getting a bit too nosy, that's all", Benji sighed.
"Well, if she's getting in your business again, please let me know", the head chef picked up the trash bags again and headed for the back door.
Benji sighed a breath of relief and trudged towards the security office. He didn't notice that Goldie was secretly peeking out from the bathroom corridor.
When the night guard reached the office, he sat his bag down on the desk. However, that particular folder from the library fell out of his bag. Benji looked at it nervously because he still hadn't read what happened to his late boyfriend and two friends. He was going to open it after sitting down in the chair, however, there was a knock at the left office door. Benji quickly put it back in his bag, and he opened the left door. Hayden was standing there with a smile.
"Hey there bud!" The head chef leaned casually against the doorframe.
"Hey Hayden", Benji smiled softly at him.
"I had fun earlier at lunch", Hayden straightened his posture back to standing.
"Me too, we should do it again sometime", the night guard crossed his leg over the other.
"Hayden! Can you come here?" The both of them heard it from the end of the west hallway.
"Crap, I have to go, text me when you can?" Hayden ruffled Benji's hair.
"Yeah of course", Benji chuckled.
When the head chef was out of sight, Benji fixed his hair back to where it was.
Hopefully this night won't be so bad. Benji just wanted the nightmares to stop.
12 AM
Benji looked into his bag at the folder from earlier. He needed to know what happened and who did it. The night guard finally opened it carefully. He saw the articles that he had read months prior to today. However, when he was shuffling through the papers, he saw an unfamiliar article! It read "Murder case goes cold". Benji read through the article. His eyes widened in horror as he read the words; "Suspect is still at large".
"They never caught that fucker?!" Benji was trying to keep himself calm.
What made the night guard almost lose his cool and let the tears pour out were the pictures of Trevor, Kenny, and Julie. He missed them so much!
The phone in the office started to ring like the previous four nights! Benji quickly closed the folder.
Wait?! Isn't that guy dead?! Why is it ringing?! Benji frantically thought.
When the phone picked the call up itself, he was not prepared to hear what came from it. There was just some random voice that was speaking in a dark and static voice. It wasn't speaking actual words though, it was more a garbled mess. There were robotic screams here and there during the message. When the call had ended, the night guard sat there in horror. He flipped the tablet on and of course, that rabbit animatronic was already off the stage!
"Great, I'm going to love this", Benji's voice was dripping with sarcasm.
3 AM
The power was at 66 percent already, and the night guard was starting to grow weary from the attacks from the animatronics. They didn't know how to stay away, apparently.
BANG BANG BANG!
Foxy was back at the left office door for the fourth time already! While he was waiting for the pirate fox to leave, Benji couldn't stop thinking about that article. All of a sudden, his phone buzzed on the desk!
"What could be more important than this?!" The night guard grumbled as he let the left office door up again.
Benji quickly opened his phone through the notification. It was a post from, Aurelia? She had posted pictures of a vigil that she had visited earlier today. Benji gasped at who the vigil was for. That ceremony was for Trevor, Kenny, and Julie!
There. There was a vigil for them today? Benji was starting to get frustrated and upset. How come nobody told me?! I was Trevor's boyfriend! He felt the tears well up in his eyes.
Benji cried. He cried that nobody told him that there was a vigil for his own boyfriend. He also cried because of the nightmares that he was dealing with in the moment. The night guard just pulled his legs towards his chest and curled up. While he was crying, he forgot that he left the tablet on the west hallway's corner. There was a golden bear head on the poster instead of Freddy. Benji had his head down while letting the tears flow out, but then he saw "IT'S ME!" flash before his eyes! He heard that same creepy child's laugh from the other day. This just made him more upset. He knew something was there in the office with him.
I don't care if I die. I can't deal with this anymore. Benji mumbled to himself in his head with a depressed tone.
Golden Freddy had teleported into the office to grab the night guard. There was something off about this night guard, however, he wasn't like any of the others that the group of animatronics had dealt with before. He heard the guard sob and whimper in great sadness. The golden bear looked at the desk, he saw the box device thing was on and it showed pictures of a vigil. He looked to the left of it, he gasped when saw the folder open!
So, he has seen everything. Goldie pondered to himself.
The animatronic heard a gasp of fright next to him. He looked over to his right and he saw that the night guard was looking at him! The night guard had a red, tear-stained face, and that softened the golden bear's mechanical heart. He knew then and there, that this night guard wasn't here to cause any harm. Goldie held his arms up to show he was not there to harm.
"I'm not here to hurt you", Golden Freddy gently stated and held out a wary hand.
"H-How would I know that?" The night guard stammered out.
"Look, I know for the past four nights we tried to kill you", Golden Freddy began to explain.
"That's the biggest understatement of the year", the night guard mumbled.
"Yeah, I know, but I've realized that you're not going to start trouble", the animatronic sighed.
"I would never do that", the night guard said softly.
"You know why we would think that. You've read what happened, right?" Goldie sheepishly smiled.
The night guard simply nodded as his response.
"Now I want to know why you're so upset", Goldie gently placed his hand onto the night guard's shoulder.
"I-I think you know why. I saw you looking at everything here", the guard sniffled with tears still streaming down his face.
The golden bear animatronic's ears drooped down a bit, as if it was indicating guilt with a bit of sadness. "Yeah, I also kind of heard what you were thinking".
"You can read everyone's minds?!" The night guard was shocked by this answer.
"Yes, but I do try to respect everyone's privacy", Goldie pursed his mechanical lips.
"Why am I different then?" The night looked back up at the animatronic.
"Well I was, until I saw how sad you were coming to the office earlier", Golden Freddy rubbed the back of his head with his hand.
"O-Oh, okay", The night guard just stared down at the floor.
"I never got your name", Golden Freddy inquired him.
"My name?" The guard gulped nervously.
"Yeah, who else?" Goldie chuckled.
"I'm Benji", he sniffled, "You're that golden animatronic suit from the backstage, Golden Freddy right?"
"Yes indeed. Everyone calls me that or Goldie even, it doesn't matter", Goldie smiled politely.
"A-Are you still possessed?" Benji didn't want to anger the animatronic.
"No, not anymore. The souls of the children have passed on", Golden Freddy shook his head.
"I hope I didn't offend you for asking that", Benji looked down at the desk nervously.
"No you didn't. Don't talk about it in front of the others though. They're still trying to get over it", Goldie sat down on the ground next to the desk.
"Wait, speaking of the others, how come they haven't come back to the office to get me again?" Benji pondered out loud.
"Well while you were crying, I made us invisible to them, so we could talk", the animatronic golden bear smiled softly at Benji.
"T-Thanks, I guess", Benji didn't know what to say.
"Do you want to sit in my lap?" Golden Freddy asked casually.
"W-Wait what?" Benji was totally taken aback by the question.
"Yeah. To be honest, I'm quite more comfortable than that chair", Golden Freddy smirked.
"Sure, I guess", Benji stood up from the chair nervously.
The golden animatronic spread himself apart a bit, to make room for the night guard. Benji slowly sat down on Golden Freddy's lap. To his surprise, the animatronic's lap was comfier than that chair he was curled up in. He leaned back onto the golden bear's chest for support. Golden Freddy gently wrapped his arms around Benji's waist for more support. Even though there was still a bit of distrust about the animatronic, Benji was starting to calm down from how he felt from earlier. However, his eyes were starting to feel heavy.
"What would you like to talk about?" Golden Freddy inquired.
"I don't know", Benji's voice sounded like it was trailing off.
The golden bear looked down at the night guard. Benji fell asleep on his lap.
I should've known that this would happen. Goldie chuckled to himself. He needed this anyway, a lot has happened this week.
Benji stirred a bit, clutching gently onto the animatronic's chest. Golden Freddy watched as the night guard's chest slowly rose and fell while he slept.
"Maybe I should close my eyes for a bit as well", Goldie thought to himself quietly out loud.
Slowly closing his eyes, the golden bear laid his head up against the desk's leg.
6 AM
Golden Freddy quickly jolted awake from his internal clock going off. He was about to move when he forgot that the night guard, Benji, was still asleep in his lap.
Hmm, how should I do this without waking him up? The golden bear animatronic asked himself. He then had an idea.
Golden Freddy gathered the night guard's things and put them into his bag. The animatronic then scooped the sleeping night guard into his arms and put the bag over his shoulder. He was going to teleport them to the guard's house. Luckily, he knew where it was from the first time he was sent to watch over him.
"Here goes nothing", Goldie murmured quietly.
In a flash, the pair had vanished from the security office. The invisible shield that was there had disappeared when they left. What they didn't know was that Foxy was standing in the west hallway, very confused.
"Yarr, what kind of fuckin' trickery was that?! I couldn't see into ta office for half of ta night and now I can!" Foxy held a hand to his metallic head. He trudged back to Pirate's Cove.
It didn't take long for the two of them to end up back at the house. They had ended up in the foyer of the house, so Golden Freddy quickly, but quietly went up the stairs. When he had reached the master bedroom, the golden bear gently laid Benji down in the bed and put the covers over him. He then set the bag down next to the bed.
Maybe I should just stay here until he wakes up. Golden Freddy thought to himself.
Golden Freddy wasn't like the other animatronics at Freddy's. First, he could teleport everywhere, if needed to that is. That was the most obvious difference. However, the second difference was that he didn't need to be on a stage by 6 AM. That meant he could freely do whatever he wanted to, in reason though. Most of the time, it was just to keep watch over the pizzeria in secrecy. He did like to pull a prank or two on an unsuspecting employee.
The golden bear animatronic was going to sit down in the chair that was in the corner of the bedroom, but then he heard a small buzz come from the bag! He quizzically looked down at the bag and then went over to it. Picking up the rectangular device out of the bag, Golden Freddy still was confused on how it worked.
What does this intriguing device do? Goldie wondered to himself while sitting down in the chair.
He turned it on by pressing the button on the right side of the device. The screen told him to swipe up to unlock it, so he did. There were so many colorful squares all over the screen! The golden bear didn't know which one to choose first. He clicked on the one that said "Wattpad". A whole library of endless stories and books popped up on the screen! After looking through a handful of titles, he finally found an interesting one. Before he could start reading, he heard the night guard stir in his sleep! It sounded like he was sad. With the device in his hand, Golden Freddy sat down on the other side of the bed.
"Shhh. It's okay", Goldie whispered to Benji while gently caressing the night guard's face.
Benji just shifted closer to the golden bear animatronic's body and held onto it for comfort. Golden Freddy just shook his head and grinned. He went back to the story on the device and started reading it.
Maybe this time will be different. Golden Freddy smiled to himself.