He didn't think this was how his day was going to go.
It was the end of his shift and he was ready to go home and take a hot shower. He was not in the mood to deal with any more brats today. But this one in particular was rather persistent.
It had been twenty minutes since the pizzeria had closed and she was still sitting on the stage completely oblivious to the fact that that the restaurant was closed. He wasn't going to kick her out though, not this late in the day. According to their previous conversation she was only six and three quarters.
Too young to comprehend the idea of death.
She sat there swinging her legs from the stage, humming Freddy's tune to herself. She looked up when Mike walked over. His hands were in his pocket slightly tense from the loss of patience throughout the day. Yet somehow he couldn't find it in himself to be irritated when his blue eyes met her big e/c ones.
"Hi."
she said.
"Heya doll."
he said softly back. She looked back down and smiled bashfully.
Mike continued, "Are your parents coming to pick you up anytime soon?"
She shrugged,"I don't know."
He scratched his cheek,
"What about your mom or something?"
"I don't have one."
She said looking down at the ground, her legs still swinging.
"Do you have a dad?"
She looked up and nodded her head,"Mmhm I can take you to him."
He blew out a puff of air, he didn't exactly have all the time in the world to walk around the town with her. But he couldn't just let her walk out by herself, the sun was getting pretty low as it was. He might be late but fuck it, he knew Pierce could control the animatronics long enough for him to get back to the office. So Mike held out his hand.
"Alright.", he said ,"Take me to him."
A small smile spread across her face as she latched herself onto his finger, his hand was too big for her to hold.
They walked around the block for a bit and she then proceeded to lead him to the down town area. There wasn't any kind of holiday happening anytime soon but the trees were decorated with white lights. The streets were alive with music from restaurants and bars around the corners while plain brick walls were decorated with murals that had an artistic meaning they didn't know. People were dancing and singing in the streets with side bands that were playing acoustic instruments along to songs with lyrics that didn't make any sense.
This city was its own kind of spontaneous. One that Mike wished he could see more often.
When he had stopped daydreaming he realized he was missing one crucial detail about the little girl. So he asked,
"Hey what's your name?"
She stopped walking and looked at him thoughtfully. The girl then smiled mischievously and giggled.
"It's a secret!"
The security guard rolled his eyes and chuckled slightly. This was lucky, a chance encounter for Mike. Meeting a kid that didn't irritate him. Then again, the only time that Mike actually got to see kids was while he was working. When they were hyped up on cake and soda. When they were busy making his day a nightmare. Jeremy understood and he only worked the day shift once.
And he's now thankful that he took the night shift instead. Fritz claimed that Mike just always saw children at their worst. Pierce said that kids adore him and they really just wanted to play.
Mike didn't really believe Pierce but he was starting to take Fritz's quote into consideration. Or maybe he was just in a good mood today.
