Liam glanced to his left, noticing a small pile of multicolored balls scattered on the floor—red, blue, yellow, green, and every hue from the pit. He knelt down, picked up a blue ball, and then looked up in confusion. "Did... I somehow fall?" he murmured, trying to piece together what had just happened. His mind raced with thoughts.
He wanted to think he crossed dimensions, but that sounded way too ridiculous to him.
"No way it's that..." he reasoned, shaking his head as he shoved the ball into his pocket.
Rising to his feet, another growl from his stomach reminded him that, now that he was alive, he needed to eat. Scanning his unfamiliar surroundings, his eyes landed on something by the wall of the stadium—a structure blocked off and marked with an unusual number of 'Do Not Enter' signs. "Well that seems like overkill..."
It looked like a shed attached to the wall. Intrigued, Liam approached it. Standing before the door, he noted the padlock hanging loosely, clearly broken. Curiosity got the best of him; he reached out, gripped the doorknob, turned it, and pushed the door open.
Instead of a cache of tools, he found a lone door positioned squarely in the center of an otherwise empty shed. Frowning in confusion, he muttered, "Why is there a door just standing here? And why protect it so much?" He was about to turn away when the sudden sound of plastic balls thundering to the ground startled him. Peeking out from the shed, he saw a shower of pit balls falling—then a SLAM, as the giant golden rabbit landed amid the cascade.
Liam's eyes widened. "That... that's the thing that pulled me into the pit," he whispered to himself, ducking back into the shed to hide from the strange animatronic. The internal clattering of the robot echoed nearby as it seemed to search for him. Frozen in place, he did not dare to move and inch.
He wasn't sure what this thing was, and he definitely didn't want to get caught by it.
Then, in a surreal moment, the ball pit materialized right before the golden rabbit. In seconds, the creature sprinted toward it, leaped inside, and vanished. Liam stood there blinking, then shouted, "What?!" as the ball pit itself disappeared.
After a long moment, he exhaled shakily. "Okay... I'm going mad," he spoke. Stepping out of the shed, he closed its door behind him and headed toward the center of the stadium. Passing the area where the ball pit had been, he noticed a stage ahead. Looking up, he saw banners displaying the images of four individuals, their names emblazoned above them:
Robaire
Tae Young
Aaron Z
Aaron T
Jesse
"Who... are they?" Liam wondered aloud, drawn to the banner bearing the name "Tae Young."
"I... wonder who that is...?" Liam spoke, feeling like he wanted to know more of that one for some reason. "He looks cute," His curiosity deepened when he spotted smaller text below the banners: "Toronto welcomes 4 Town, the world's famous boy band."
"Boy band? They're... a band?" Liam mused, shaking his head in disbelief. "World famous? Fazbear Entertainment would've used one of their songs if they were really that big..." His thoughts spiraled until the word "Toronto" caught his attention. "Wait... Toronto? Isn't that in Canada?" he gasped. "I'm... in Canada? No, that can't be right..." Looking around in confusion, he murmured, "I'm... not in Hurricane anymore?"
Overwhelmed and perplexed, "Did... Ok, I don't understand..." Liam moved closer to the stage. Nearby, he discovered a trash can. Leaning over, he noticed a newspaper partially crumpled inside. He extracted it to read the headline:
The Toronto Star
Daily News: Famous Boy Band, 4 Town, has decided to perform more in Canada, since their lead singer, Robaire, lives in the country—making touring easier.
Liam gasped. His eyes widened, and he nearly dropped the paper. "Canada? How the shit...?" He stared at the paper.
He shoved the newspaper back into the trash bin.
Then he noticed a back door near the stage.
He pushed it open and stepped into a long hallway lined with numbered doors bearing the same names as on the banners. His stomach rumbled again.
"Maybe they're here?" he thought. He wanted to ask anyone if there was a way he could get food, but he knew he'd felt stupid asking that. Hesitantly, he knocked on a door labeled "Tae Young."
He waited for a while, but no one came to the door. "Hm..." Liam said. He looked down at the knob. He turned it and swung open the door.
What he saw made him gasp—a room that appeared to be a dressing room, yet it was marred by ominous black markings covering the floor, walls, and ceiling. "What the hell happened here?" he whispered, stepping inside in disbelief.
Before he could process more, footsteps echoed behind him. Spinning around, Liam found himself face-to-face with a young man—the very same face from the banner: Tae Young, standing in the doorway. Both froze for a moment, surprise etched on their faces.
"Uhhh... Who are you? What are you doing backstage?" Tae Young asked, his tone edged with caution.
Liam blinked. "U-Uh... I..." Liam didn't know what to say. Not because he was extremely nervous about talking to Tae Young, but because he never spoke to another human being in so long. He wasn't sure what to say, or how to speak. He was nervous that his voice was going to crack or him make a fool out of himself.
"H-Hi-," Liam spoke, nervously.
Tae tilted his head slightly.
"My name is Toy Bonnie— I mean, Liar... LIAM!" Liam's heart pounded as he repeated his name, an awkward silence following his introduction. "Liam just Liam!"
After a brief pause, Tae folded his arms and said, "Alright, 'Liam'... What are you doing here? You can't just barge backstage like that."
"I—I know... I just... um..." Liam trailed off, his need for help battling his overwhelming confusion.
"Let me get this straight... We're in Toronto, right? Canada?" Liam asked hesitantly.
Tae paused, then replied coolly, "Uh... Yeah. Where did you expect to be?" His tone was slightly judgmental.
Liam blinked, trying to find his words. "N-Nothing... I'm..." His thoughts scrambled—could it be that he'd been teleported from Utah to Canada?
Looking up at Tae, he pleaded, "T-Tae... um... can you help me?"
"Help you? With what?" Tae inquired, clearly puzzled.
"Do you have a phone book or something?" Liam asked.
Tae studied him for a moment. "How old are you?"
"Seventeen," Liam replied quietly.
Tae's eyebrow arched. "Are you lost, or something?"
Liam decided to go with that. "Y-Yeah,"
Tae sighed. "Okay, come with me..." He turned and led Liam out of the room. Liam hesitated only briefly, glancing back at the eerie, scratched markings on the walls before following. As they walked down the hall, Tae called over his shoulder, "You're lucky Robaire or Jesse isn't here right now—they'd definitely have made a fuss about you."
Liam was about to ask about the black mess, but he decided not too.
At the end of the hall, Tae opened a door. "This is the office for 4 Town," he explained, ushering Liam inside. The space was modest—a small desk and a shelf with a few books. "We have a phone book here; I'll just have to fetch it..." Tae said, struggling slightly to retrieve the book from the high shelf. He wasn't exactly tall. "Almost got it.."
Liam, noticing Tae's difficulty, stood up to help. As he reached over, he felt a slight spark on his hand and was startled to see that his hand was turning plastic—Toy Bonnie's hand, in fact. Gasping, he quickly shoved his hand into his pocket.
"Hey, freckles, I might need some help here," Tae said, turning around sharply as he noticed Liam was right up near him. "What are you doing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"N-Nothing... I just saw you struggling with the book and came to help," Liam replied, trying to sound casual.
Tae relaxed a bit. "Alright," he said with a small chuckle. "I'm 18 and I'm so damn short. You're a year younger, yet you're so much taller..."
Liam managed a slight smile, though he kept his left hand hidden in his pocket. He attempted to use his right hand to hold the bulky phone book, only to realize that one hand just wasn't enough.
"You might want to use both hands for that," Tae said.
Liam felt something draining down his forehead. He was sweating. He looked down at his hand which was in the pocket. He slowly rose it out, only to see that his hand was back to flesh.
Liam blinked. "Huh...?" He thought to himself. Was he seeing things before?
He noticed Tae looking at him with an arched eyebrow.
"Haha... I, um..." Liam stuttered nervously as he finally managed to hold the phone book with both hands.
"Okay, set it down on the table," Tae instructed.
Liam nodded and complied.
Tae then began flipping through the pages. "Alright, so... your parents' names?" he asked casually.
Liam blinked, the question striking a painful chord. He doesn't even know where his parents even are. He surely remembers their names, but his parents weren't... good people. They probably didn't even try to look for him when he went missing a year ago. Liam felt sad when he had never seen his parents come to Freddy's Pizza. He was sure that place would be a suspect for what happened to him, and they never came.
Liam looked at Tae. He'd rather him call Freddy's themselves, so he could get back to them to help the other kids.
"Um... maybe call Freddy Pizza instead?" Liam offered hesitantly.
Tae looked up, surprised. "Freddy's what? Why not your parents?"
"Just... Freddy's Pizza," Liam murmured.
Tae blinked. "Okay..." His eyes drifted to the book as he flipped to the F section. "You said Freddy's Pizza?" he confirmed.
Liam nodded.
"Hm... I can't seem to find the number," Tae remarked. "Do you know its address?"
"Well... I'm from Hurricane," Liam replied softly.
Tae looked at him, puzzled. "Hurricane? Where the heck is that?"
"In Utah," Liam answered.
Tae blinked, then his eyes widened in realization. "Utah? Isn't that... a state?" He continued, "We performed in Salt Lake City one year... Wait a minute—Utah?! But we're in Canada right now! Did you... run away from home or something?"
"U-Uh!?" Liam didn't know what to say now. He was at a lost for words.
After a long pause, Tae exhaled. "Come on, we gotta head to the library—they'll have a phone book for America." Grabbing Liam's hand, he led him out of the office. "Woah!" Liam gasped as they hurried away, uncertain of what lay ahead in this new place.
