"Hey my little man." A soft female voice whispered, "Open your eyes." The young kid opened his eyes, he was surrounded by children wearing colorful party hats and sitting on small chairs beside a long plastic table. On top of it was a large round cake decorated with frosting and sprinkles, and five candles in the center.
"Happy Birthday!" They cheered and began singing. Happiness emanated in the air as they did and the kid was smiling the entire time. He looked around the place and everyone, even the restaurant's workers were looking at him with their faces filled with joy.
Nick stood there amongst the cheering crowd, watching the child's birthday unfold. He was cheering as well while walking closer to the boy and observed him, brown eyes, puffy cheeks and short brunette hair. No one seemed to notice his movement so he resumed anyways, carefully looking at each of the other children's faces.
Then one worker from the boy's side took a step closer and placed an arm around him, "Now blow out your candles and make a wish!" He said.
The boy closed his eyes, "I wish Freddy Fazbear was here!" He said aloud before blowing out the flames of his candle. It was then followed by the cheers of his friends and a familiar tune that they had been waiting for...
The Toreador March.
The crowd gasped as the song played, their favorite bear was coming up. It was the opposite for Nick, the tune sent chills down his spine instead. He recalled those horrible nights at his job that hearing that song would signify that an animatronic was nearby and ready to strike.
The children clapped.
"Everyone close your eyes." He heard the host say, "Freddy's still finding his top hat."
The kids giggled, they saw the adults placing their hands on their eyes and they did the same. The birthday boy was the most excited one, trembling with joy as he covered his face with his hands.
However, Nick kept his eyes open.
The song grew louder and it became more playful. The kid was at the happiest day of his life, he got his wish.
"Count to three." The host said. "One..."
"...Two..." The crowd joined in.
"Three! Give it up for Foxy, Chica, Bonnie and the main bear himself: Freddy Fazbear!"
The kid's eyes shot open, there they were standing beside him, all fuzzy and cuddly. The four animatronics surrounded the boy, Foxy was dancing and waving his hook around. Chica was shaking her waist while holding a plate of cupcake with eyes on one hand. Bonnie was strumming a red little guitar and swayed in rhythm. Then the boy felt a large hand pat his head, it was furry and soft, he glanced up and saw a towering brown bear with blue eyes and to hat looking at him.
"Happy Birthday!" A playful voice came from Freddy's speaker inside his mouth, "What's your name?" The animatronic brought a microphone to the kid's mouth.
The boy was at a loss of words, he was overshadowed with joy to reply. But he willed himself to respond, "Eddie."
"Eddie," Nick thought to himself, "Sounds familiar." He racked his brain for the name but none surfaced, but upon looking in the boy's eyes he knew he had seen him somewhere.
"Eddie! Great name!" Chica spoke up and took a step closer. "Here's another cake! It's a gift from us." She placed the cupcake with eyes in front of Eddie which turned out to be a real cake.
"Welcome to Fredbear's Diner, where everyone is always happy!" Bonnie added.
"Now how's about you join me and become a pirate?" Foxy said, lifting up his fake eyepatch.
The kids laughed.
"On with the presents!" Freddy said as Foxy took a box from a worker and brought it closer to the boy, it was wrapped in a Freddy Fazbear printed wrapper with a blue bow on top.
Little Eddie wasted no time and ripped open the present. He peeked inside the box and was struck with awe. It was a set of plushies, miniature versions of the animatronics, "Oh cool!" He took out the four stuffed toys and hugged them tightly, "Thanks!" He noticed his guests staring at him with a hint of jealousy since those were specially made for the celebrant.
The boy cried tears of joy, he felt his face get drenched with them, he wiped his face with the back of his hand but could not control his overflowing glee. His tears won't stop flowing, as if it was a waterfall, it trickled down his face and seeped through his lips.
He tasted blood.
The boy looked at his hands, it wasn't his tears anymore. It was his own blood flowing from his eyes. The laughter of the children vanished along with the other noises and was followed by dead silence. Nick was also surprised; everything around them vanished, leaving him and the little boy being engulfed by darkness.
Only a light at the center swayed about, they were no longer in the main dining room. They were in a secluded room filled with spare animatronic parts.
Eddie whimpered upon seeing his blood-soaked hands, he was now trembling in fear instead of joy. "M-Mom!" He cried.
Nick approached the weeping child. But then a bloodied hand grabbed on his wrist, making him scream in fright, he followed where it was coming from...
It was a young boy who was lying in a pool of blood. There were deep wounds in his abdomen and a slit in his throat with massive amounts of blood gushing through it.
Chills ran down Nick's spine as he looked into the dying child's eyes which were bloodshot and filled with sadness and despair, he opened his mouth trying to utter something but the words gurgled through his slit throat, "H-Help-u-us."
Nick froze in fear as the grasp on his hand slowly loosened. The helpless, wounded boy slumped dead on the floor.
He backed away from the body but his feet bumped into another one. They were surrounded by dead bodies, four bodies, all of them were children, their clothes torn to shreds with various stab wounds on their stomachs and chests.
They were all dying.
They were all suffering.
They were all asking for help.
"He-help." They all reached out to them at the center, "Please." They gurgled through their baited breaths. He cowered at the center as the echoing pleas of help flooded his ears.
He hurriedly moved closer to Eddie, but the child quickly turned around and screamed the moment he saw Nick.
"Shhh! Quiet!" He said.
But the kid wasn't directly looking at Nick... But rather behind him.
He turned around and a man stood there hidden in the shadowy corner with only his outline, he could only make out a purple shirt and cap. And on his hand was a giant butcher knife stained with blood.
He shielded the child, protecting him from the mysterious figure that menacingly played with the deadly weapon.
"W-Who are you?" Nick asked but the figure did not answer. He reached for the kid behind him, only to find out that he was gone. The purple man ran at him and raised his knife, laughing maniacally as he lunged at him.
He screamed and as a glint of silver was brought down on him.
Then his entire body shook, "NICK! Wake up!" Someone screamed, he opened his eyes and he was lying on a soft stretcher. Beside him was Jodi who had shaken him awake, fear and worry was etched across her face as she placed a hand on his chest, "Oh my God, I thought you'd never wake up!" She hugged him.
"D-did we make it?" He asked while staring at the ceiling, "Where are we?" He sat up and noticed that his broken leg was placed in a new cast and so was his arm, the pain was gone and he had recovered from the exhausting horror that had occurred back at the hospital.
"We did, and we're far away from him." Jodi smiled and gently held his hand, their fingers intertwining with each other, giving him assurance.
"Thanks for helping me back there." He said and she smiled. Then a sharp pain came to his head, the same exact drilling sensation he felt earlier. He grunted and rubbed his temples as the horrible visions of blood soaked dead kids came back to his mind.
"What's wrong?" Jodi held Nick's face and they met eye to eye.
"I keep having these visions of kids being murdered by a guy, and they kept on pleading for help." He said, "It had been my dream since I had worked in that Goddamned attraction, kids and animatronics asking me to save them—"
Jodi just listened as Nick narrated.
"—this time it was worse, a kid named Eddie was celebrating his birthday and the same scenario played out afterwards," he rubbed his aching head, "—the kids were pleading for my help."
"Why you?" Jodi finally spoke up.
"I dunno, maybe I'm losing it." He grunted as Jodi sat next to him, her thumb rubbing his hand in an attempt to comfort him, "I've been seeing things, things that aren't meant to be seen, things that plagued me the whole week."
Jodi offered her shoulder for Nick to rest his head on it which he did.
"What's happening to me?" He whimpered then felt her rest her head on top of his.
There was a brief moment of silence.
"That thing is still out there." Nick said, rising up from Jodi's shoulder.
"We just gotta get away from it as far as possible." She replied.
"No, it won't stop until it gets what it wants." Nick breathed, "—it wants me... It wants me dead." He shakily said, "I survived, Jodi. The voices won't leave me alone until I do something to help them, and maybe that could put an end to that animatronic's reign of terror."
"How will we even help them?" She asked.
Nick was speechless, he did not know how to even help the kids.
"You should stay away from me, it's all my fault." He apologized, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault." He bowed his head, "Because of me your friend and the guard were killed."
Jodi lifted up his chin, "Hey, I'm not leaving you alone, it's already done. I'm a part of this now and you can't change it. Come to think of it, it wants me too as much as it wants you." She replied.
"I won't let anyone get hurt because of my actions." He said to her, "—especially you, who was once a complete stranger to me before being dragged into this mess."
"I'm not leaving you, I'm helping you whether you like it or not." She firmly said before wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly. Nick felt the seriousness in her tone. She will do whatever it takes to help him defeat this undead creature. "Where do we start?" She asked.