Born To Die | Vanessa Afton

9

It had been a week, and considering everything that had happened to you the last time you went to Freddy's, you didn't seem very against the idea of not coming back. Vanessa had asked you if she could check on the place since Mike had, once again, taken the night off. You could tell she was nervous about asking you, most likely because you genuinely thought you were going to die in there - well, you still thought that if Vanessa hadn't turned up, you would have died, you just couldn't explain it.

You had replied to her with a simple and quiet, "Sure." It had no emotion attached to it, leaving Vanessa wondering what your thoughts actually were on the situation and the place but she hadn't pushed, she had no reason to, she got the answer she wanted. You couldn't understand her attachment to the place. She was around your age when it shut down, so surely it wasn't that memorable. 

From drawings and receipts, you knew you went a lot to the pizzeria. It wasn't something your parents had proudly talked about, especially after it shut down, they wouldn't even mention it after that, as if it were a curse. Ever since that night, you had been thinking about what those children had actually said to you in that room. For the first two days, you were in complete shock, unable to process anything and just felt confused but as time went along, the words had come back to you.

What they had said made you feel lucky in a sense. Lucky that your parents had dragged you out of there when they did, lucky that you made it out alive. Then again, they could just be trying to mess with you, trying to make you think like that. They were in your dream after all, it's not like you could say it was real life and what they said was actually true. However, you relived your last day there, a conversation that to this day you remember so vividly with Susie was said, why was that dream so specific? You wondered if it had been because you had fallen asleep in the exact place it happened.

"Your quiet tonight." Vanessa mumbled, trying not to startle you, but ended up making you jump anyway. She had watched you out of the corner of her eye zone off, it was like you were in deep thought about something. You had been talking to her more and more, you both had finally gotten somewhat comfortable with each other and she felt like she had made a bad decision asking to go back to Freddy's. "Are you alright about all of this? You can wait in the car you know."

"No, its fine." You had replied. You had a lot on your mind right now, and the Freddy's thing was just the start of it. You had a meeting with your boss tomorrow and you were absolutely terrified. You had gotten so used to Vanessa's presence that you didn't want to leave her side, she meant a lot to you and you have been partners for about a month now. Going alone again made you extremely worried, knowing that Vanessa would no longer be there, however, you did need to grow up and have some confidence.

Vanessa pulled up to Freddy's. As you suspected, everything was locked and the lights were off. You watched as she got out the car first. You guessed that she thought you weren't going to come with her but you wanted to, so you did, hopping out the car and running after her like a scared child. You watched as she unlocked the gate with ease and opened the door to the pizzeria. You walked in behind, everything seemed normal with nothing changed. 

Vanessa went right ahead and entered the security room, you however, were talking very quiet, careful and slow footsteps. You let your hand run against the edge of any wall you walked near, as if to remind you that you weren't dreaming in case something happened. Things here are out of the ordinary. You saw Fritz and Vanessa pretty much confirmed it! Shaking off your thoughts, you went into the security room too. Vanessa seemed to be just sitting at the desk, not particularly doing anything but looking up to the cameras for a minute. You brought your chair to near where she was sitting and sat down, trying not to fall asleep already.

"We'll stay for about half an hour if that's alright with you." Vanessa said as you noticed she was pulling her hair out of the bun it was in and letting it down so it fell a few inches down her shoulders. You felt quite awkward just... watching her. You had never seen her with her hair down but it didn't make much the difference. Almost by accident, you had cleared your throat and looked away. This, Vanessa did notice although she didn't notice your.. Observing.

"Oh Uh- Yeah. That sounds good." You replied. Clearly, Vanessa was confused by your actions but decided not to act on it, she looked at you, noticing the dark circles under your eyes. She had thought your sleeping had gotten better, and it had for a few days. You never told her that though, why would she need to know? She was only there to make sure you didn't do anything stupid. 

"Are you tired? You could have a quick sleep if you'd like." Vanessa mumbled, you had looked back to her when she passed you a small square cushion that had been on the floor for a least a number of years. However, it didn't seem dirty or even dusty, as if time had left it alone. One of the night guards had left it here after their last shift and Vanessa had claimed it as hers as he didn't come back for it. You took the cushion gratefully, it wasn't the best but you were absolutely exhausted. 

Vanessa watched over you as you went into a sleeping state so fast. She moved her hand to stroke a few strands of hair out of your face, pushing them back so she could see your face perfectly. She quickly redacted her hand after snapping back into reality. What was she doing? She was supposed to be looking after you and keeping an eye out to try to fix your behaviour, but she couldn't help but realise how pretty you looked in anything and everything that you did. 

She sighed lightly and looked up to the cameras. Everything was normal. The animatronics never misbehaved for her and she was one of the only people who knew why. She looked back at you, she'd never forgive herself if you had found out what was really going on. You seemed to innocent, so naive, but Vanessa knew that was normal, she just had thicker skin from her childhood. If she had lived a life like yours, one she had dreamed of, then maybe she wouldn't be stuck in this situation.