Love to Die for (SEQUEL)

Chapter 2: Questionable Things

I had to get up early the next couple days to plan for this new pizzeria. Henry seemed pretty excited for the idea and he wanted me to meet up with him at the establishment for six a.m.

"I made breakfast for you guys downstairs, alright? The bus will be here around seven so be ready." I had to leave earlier than usual today and that disrupted our usual routine we had where I would drop the kids off. Thankfully, the bus comes by everyday anyway so Chris and Liz will get to school on time, Michael usually drives himself.

"Okay! Bye, I love you!" Elizabeth gave me her usual endearing smile and hugged me. Chris joined her as well, and Michael nodded goodbye from a few feet away.

He only hugged on rare occasions.

"I love you too."

~

"Good morning, Mrs. L/N." Cole greeted me as I walked in the building. I was thrown off in multiple ways from his presence. I wasn't married. And, why is he here this early again?

"It's actually Ms. L/N." I awkwardly corrected him. His mouth was slightly agape as he nodded along my words.

"Sorry! I must've been misinformed!" Cole chuckled at his error. I paused once more. Misinformed? What rumors are going around about me in this place?

"It's alright. Why are you here this early?" I kept my formal tone with him. From what I knew, he was getting way too comfortable with his higher commands and he needed to be humbled.

"Henry wanted me to join you guys in discussing the new Freddy's location. He told me I'm going to be working right under him."

Cole kept a grin on his face even when he was done speaking, it was beginning to annoy me. It was like a cocky smile, as if he wanted to flex that he's working under Henry already after only being here so briefly.

Old feelings from yesterday arose again. There was definitely something off putting about this man. He looked completely normal, yes. Attractive, sure. But there was something there.

There just had to be.

"What made you want to work at Freddy's, Cole?"

His grin faded momentarily. He seemed slightly surprised by my question. But a even more aggravating smirk appeared on his freckled-face.

"Is this your way of flirting, Ms. L/N? 'Cause if you wanted to get to know me, you could've just asked me on a date."

Out of all the responses, that was not the one I expected. Unwanted heat formed on my cheeks, either from embarrassment or being flustered. Words escaped me for a few seconds and it took me a moment to come up with a decent reply.

"That is not what I meant." I huffed. Men these days. All I did was ask one personal question and he thinks I'm drooling over him!

"Yes, of course not. Neither of us would ever condone a work-relationship like that."

Cole laughed and tapped his fingertips on the prize desk where he was standing. I just stood there and stared at him curiously. He got stranger every encounter.

"Are you going to tell me what made you want to work here or—"

"I think Henry just pulled in!"

Still in that purple uniform, Cole paced for the main entrance where Henry had recently parked his car. I didn't bother to follow him and walked over to the stage.

The four animatronics had changed over the past three years, they were plastic now. The originals were in the backrooms and put away as I deemed them unsafe.

I had a dream about some sort of Foxy malfunction, a kid getting into a serious accident and with all of the warnings from the spirits in the past, I couldn't ignore it.

I haven't received many warnings since William's disappearance. I wasn't sure if the spirits had finally passed on, or if they were just leaving me alone for now. Maybe it was simply because there were no threats to any of us or Freddy's.

They never confronted me physically, and I never heard their voices anymore. The only time a warning would come was in a dream. They were usually eery and took place in the old locations, but they held great value and meaning so I didn't mind.

I had been thinking about the nightmare Chris claimed to of had the other day. It had to do with SpringBonnie. He had dreamt that some frightened man was going to die in a spring lock suit, with spirits surrounding him.

I didn't really know what to do with this information. I didn't understand why Chris would ever dream about this. I put it off because maybe he was still healing from his incident a few years ago, but a part of me was still on edge about it.

We don't necessarily use springlock suits anymore, but they still can be found in the backrooms.

But why would anyone go inside a springlock suit? And who?

My mind immediately goes to Henry. He's the only man—person, left here that can safely go inside one of the suits, Afton told me that.

I considered talking to Henry about it. Not about the dream, but getting rid of that suit permanently. It's not like we ever use them anyway. I mean, maybe if some of the animatronics broke down but in that case we'd probably just cancel the show.

"What are you looking at, Y/N?" Henry placed a hand on my shoulder, startling me out of my thoughts. I didn't realize I completely zoned out and was still standing idly and staring at the animatronics on the stage.

"I was just looking for scratch marks. Are you ready to go over the designs?" I gave him a subtle smile in reassurance. He knew my mental stability wasn't the best anymore, so he always worried when I did odd things like this.

"Sure thing! Cole will join us too if that's alright!" He pointed behind him. Cole was surely enough, smiling.

"Yep..."