𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝

"𝙄𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙.

𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨.

𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙙, 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪."

When you joked that you would be working until midnight, you didn't actually think you would still be wiping down countertops as the clock ticked into the early morning hours. But like many other things in your life, working late always had a way of manifesting itself into existence.

You waved off the last of your coworkers one by one. They always left in pairs – too afraid to wander the facility alone after dark. When there were an even number of girls working the closing shift, one of them would wait for you to finish up so that you could walk together. 

But with the addition of Chelsea, you were at an odd number this evening. You could only watch as she floated out of the diner with her arm linked with another girl's. Their heads were ducked low as they whispered to one another, keeping each other well-fed with rumors. Stories of missing children and haunted robots circulated through the vents like oxygen and you couldn't help but breathe them in every time you walked through the front doors.

The silence after hours was overwhelming. The overhead lights automatically dimmed after a certain time and if you didn't continuously feed quarters into the jukebox in the corner, you swore you would have started listening to the nonsense voices in the air ducts.

That's what you were doing now – digging through your apron pocket for a second quarter. You didn't care what song played. You just needed something. Something to muffle the phantom shrieks of laughter that still echoed from the daytime. The only thing worse than the customers were the meager tips that they left behind.

A mechanical creak echoed through the still air. You turned around to see a bunny-shaped silhouette lingering in the doorway, illuminated by a glowing halo of light from behind.

"Oh jeez," you sighed, placing a hand against your thundering chest. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

Bonnie took this as an invitation to approach. His joints were stiff and noisy and he obviously hadn't taken a trip down to Parts and Services for his routine check-up like he was supposed to after the evening show. Strange.

"Where is the cat?"

You blinked, tilting your head to convey your confusion before biting back a smile. After a few weeks of visits, Bonnie took notice of the strange new face lingering around his attraction. Of course, he's only ever heard Michael referred to as 'the cat' by your fellow waitresses. It was cute at first and none of you ever thought to correct him.

"Oh, I'm sure he's around here somewhere," you hummed offhandedly.

Truthfully, you had no idea where Michael was. He could have gone home by now for all you knew. The only thing you could really count on after closing was running into Vanessa, but even she seemed to be avoiding you lately.

With slow, calculated movements, Bonnie reached out and opened one of his hands upward, silently encouraging you to take a look inside. 

"Hm? What's this?" A single silver coin sat in the middle of his open paw. He was offering you a quarter. "Is this for me?"

"For you."

"Oh! Thank you."

Bonnie's thick velvet fingers twitched as you accepted the coin from his hand and fed it into the jukebox. He stood there silently, watchfully, as you flipped through your meager selection of songs. You only had two dozen to choose from – all from the mid 50's thanks to the theme of the diner. Not your usual cup of tea, but eventually it grew on you. Just like the rest of the place did.