(A/N: Oh my gosh... Guys, I am so, deeply, extremely very sorry for not updating this in forever. ;^; In all honesty, I'm not going to lie, ever since I got all caught up with so many things whilst I've been on Hiatus for a little while, I didn't realize I never got back to this story in God knows how long, and I'm very sorry about this guys.. ;^; And I thank to those of you who haven't given up on me, which is the majority of you. Thank you so much for the support and everything else. ;u; ♥♥ But all in all, I really hope this chapter was worth the wait that probably felt like eternity.. c:> ♥ I'll do my best to and see if I can update the next chapter sooner to also make it up to you guys for being so patient when I know you guys didn't have to.. *virtually group hugs you all* ♥)
Chapter Eight
(June 26, XXXX)
(Reader's POV)
I was exceedingly tired. I carefully tiptoed inside the house and quietly closed the door behind me, doing my very best to not make any disruptive noise. I knew both my grandparents and my dad were asleep by now. I could hear my dad's harsh prolonged snoring distinctly from downstairs.
As I begin to ascend up the stairs, I took a brief look at the clock on the wall.
7:45AM.
Already?
I shook my head in disbelief as I continued to saunter up the stairs. I couldn't believe it.
It's only been at least an hour and a half since I came back to my grandparents' house?
But most of my pressing thoughts were not of slumber. With every step I took I could feel my energy move powerfully.
I practically got unwelcome sexual advances by some fucking furry animatronic! On top of that, I got kissed by at least two of the animatronics now! What in the actual hell, dude!?
The closer I got to my room, the more tense I became.
What Freddy told me from the night before. About those five missing children. It still stuck to me. The thought about the incident piqued my curiosity more and more. And the strong desire to learn more about what happened to them itched at my skin, making me feel unclean.
But I couldn't stop thinking about it aside from the strange, sexual harrassment episode that occurred earlier.
As I entered my room, slowly shutting the door behind me, I walk over to my desk, ensconce myself in my chair and open my laptop.
With bleary vision, I squint as I type in "Missing Children Incident" onto Google.
There were numerous written articles and reports about the incident. I click on the very first one, skim through the introduction and begin to read the rest thoroughly:
"On June 26th of 1983, a total of five children had gradually gone missing at the prominent children's pizza restaurant, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Police suspect that a man had dressed up in a costume resembling one of the animatronics and lured the young infants to a back room, where he murdered them.
Parents and other guests who have visited the restaurant claim the four mascots, Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken, and Foxy the Pirate had a particularly foul odor and had what appeared to be "blood and mucus" around their eyes and mouths, which concerned parents had interpreted as "reanimated carcasses."
To this day, the investigation is still ongoing. Police, detectives and justices say once the man behind the horrifyingly wicked homicide is finally discovered, he will be immediately charged with first degree murder and will be sentenced to capital punishment for this unforgiving gruesome, tragic crime."
I stop reading the rest of the article and swallow hard. I was shocked by the last paragraph. This event occurred on this very day. 30 years ago approximately. And the investigation is still transpiring? The serial killer still hasn't been found to this day?
Does that mean the man who slaughtered the children could possibly still be out there? Still roaming in the streets? What if he could be somewhere out there in Kansas City?
My heart starts to hammer again. I could feel my arms and legs tremble convulsively this time.
Don't start jumping into conclusions, (Name), I told myself, taking a deep breath to calm and steady my nerves. That's definitely not going to help with your anxiety one bit. Who knows, the man might've already been caught and has been executed. Maybe there just hasn't been a recent report or article about it yet.
As I close my laptop, I make my way over to my bed, slowly lay my head against my pillow comfortably and close my eyes.
Maybe some sleep will help shake the eerie feeling off me... I thought to myself.
But in truth, even in my sleep I couldn't escape.
***
Usually I'd hear my dad talk to my grandparents about how the testings in his labs are doing so far. But instead, I heard parts of their loud disputation from downstairs.
It was about my grandparents' income and other essentials, especially food wise.
"You mean to tell me that (F/N of Stepmom) put a stop to the card because your ass couldn't stop spendin' money on things you don't need, boy!" I heard my grandfather vociferate pretty loudly at my dad.
"I didn't even know she put a stop to the card in the first place, Dad!" My father tried defending himself, "I didn't even purchase anything on that card. I also asked (Name) to provide you guys-"
"Oh, shut the hell up, boy! There you go. You're back at it again with them damn excuses. Always tryin' to put the blame on (Name)!"
My father sighs in frustration.
"Look, Dad, you have to hear me out. I specifically asked (Name) to go out and provide you guys with more of the essentials you and Mom need. And I didn't realize she wasn't capable of taking full responsibility of-"
"Taking full responsibility?" My grandfather scoffs and snickers. "You should be the one to talk, boy. All you ever did when you were her age was lay on your ass studying that stupid cytology shit in college, watch TV, eat my food and breathe my air. Just as lazy as you could ever be!"
I purse my lips, trying to stifle my huge urge to burst out laughing as I walk down the stairs and into the kitchen.
They both glance over at me now. My grandfather nodded his head at me and greeted me with a "good morning". My dad just looked at me and didn't say a word. He eventually turned his attention back to my grandfather, resuming their vehement argument.
"Good morning, dear." My grandmother greeted me as she planted a kiss on my forehead, then whispered in my ear. "Sorry you had to wake up to hearing this stupid crap between the two. Did you rest well otherwise, honey?"
"It's alright, grandma," I smiled at her. "And I slept okay. Not too bad I guess." I gave her a slight shrug.
"That's good." she said as pointed to the food on the table, "Go ahead and eat up, now, dear. I made one of your favorite breakfast meals just for you. I hope you enjoy it!" she grinned.
"Thanks, grandma." I return the same grin before sitting down at the table and heaping hash browns, scrambled eggs and a couple bacon strips onto my plate.
As I wolf down the food and chug on some orange juice, I continue to watch my grandfather and dad rant about the same issues. Just for my own entertainment honestly. I loved it when my grandparents defended me most of the time, especially when it comes to my father.
After I finish my breakfast, my grandmother takes my plate and glass and places it in the dishwasher. I then take out my night shift schedule that was buried in my pajama pockets and look at it.
I blink a few times, looking at it real closely now.
I was actually off just for today? I didn't even think I had any off days throughout this whole week. I wonder who they're going to fill in for me tonight.
But if that was the case, why not spend the day off by taking a stroll downtown, then?
I stand up from my chair, go upstairs to get changed into a nice, fresh (favorite color) T-Shirt, (second favorite color) pants and some (favorite shoe brand) shoes. I grab a hold of my (third favorite color) hoodie, tie it around my waist, take my string bag and toss the strings over my shoulders and head back downstairs.
"Honey? Where are you going?" My grandmother asked curiously, seeing me approach the door.
"I'm just going to take a quick stroll downtown." I told her, wrapping my fingers around the door knob. "I don't work today, so I should arrive back earlier than expected."
"Oh, alright, dear. Just please stay safe and be careful." she informed me.
I nod in response before finally heading out.
***
I'm walking leisurely downtown. Hands in my (third favorite color) hoodie and headphones in my ears, listening to (favorite song) by (favorite artist). I turn the volume down on my phone some in my pockets. I wanted to make sure I could still be aware of my surroundings.
I look around as I keep going. Gray clouds are covering all around the atmosphere. There's no rain pouring down just yet. I prayed mentally numerous of times for it not to. The way the weather is right now is perfect. To me, at least.
I keep wandering, quietly humming the tune to my favorite song, when suddenly, memories of the Five Missing Children Incident article I read last night come back and haunt me again. They replay in my mind. Over and over. In every single, thorough detail.
I shake my head, doing my best to not think about it. But the more I try to push them away, the more they kept lingering me.
"Save us..."
I hear one of the children's voices say.
"Please, miss. Don't leave our souls trapped inside these suits. Please set us free, (Name)..."
I take out my headphones and cover my ears, now quickening my pace. I see a few people around me give me strange, puzzled looks, but I pay them no attention at this point.
"No... Please... Leave me be..." I tell them, tightly shutting my eyes as some tears rolled down my cheeks. "I wish there was something I could do... To help you break free and end your pain and suffering... But I... I just can't... I'm sorry..."
Without any warning I accidentally run into someone's arms. I stay put in their embrace, not even making an effort to see who the person was. I remain there, whimpering and hugging them closer to me. I feel them eventually return the same embrace.
"(Name)?"
I recognize that voice. When I finally manage to regain myself from the unexpected frightening episode I just experienced, I slowly look up.
It's Mike.
"O-Oh!" I stutter, immediately releasing myself from his arms. I hurriedly wipe the tears from my (eye color) eyes.
"Mike! I'm so sorry about that. I-I didn't realize you here downtown as well." I hugged myself, turning to hide the flush sweeping up to my cheeks.
Mike chuckles. "It's okay, (Name). It's no biggie. I didn't know you were down here myself. You okay?" he asks in concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I reply, facing him now, "just... taking a quick stroll downtown of Kansas to get some fresh air, that's all."
"Same here, actually." he replies, "I was actually on my way to stop by Barnes and Nobles. Jeremy and my other friend, Vincent asked if I wanted to tag along with them for some coffee today. Care to join us? If you're not busy, of course."
"Sure." I offer him a bright smile. "I'm actually off today surprisingly, so I guess I wouldn't mind accompanying you guys."
"Sounds like a plan to me, then." he grinned.
Smiling, I link arms with him and snug my head comfortably against his shoulder as we amble along the sidewalk.
***
"Welp... I feel like a fabulous, teenage girl if you ask me. How about you, Jerm?" I see a guy in a purple night guard uniform with a yellow badge placed on the left side of his chest, sitting and chatting with Jeremy. They were only four tables down from the entrance. He was sipping on a cold, vanilla bean crème beverage.
Jeremy stared blankly at him. "I'm... not exactly sure if I know what you mean by that, Vincent."
"I mean this," the guy holds up the frappe and dances the whipped cream side to side. "This whole coffee shop and bookstore place. And being inside it. It feels like... well, I don't know... like we're bad ass teenage girls again in high school or something."
He was eyeing the long, green straw that came with the drink.
"I... don't really connect Starbucks and Barnes and Nobles to me being a high school girl, Vincent." Jeremy replied, raising a brow and taking a sip of his fresh brewed iced coffee.
I missed the rest of what the guys were saying as I look around the place intently. It was quite different. I don't think the Barnes and Nobles I went to back in (name of original hometown) ever had a Starbucks built into it. Not like this one.
Hoping that I didn't look as awkward as I felt, I let Mike escort me to the two fellas.
"Uh oh. Who's your girlfriend, Mikey?" The guy snickers when he sees us approaching them.
"Shut up, Vincent." Mike glared, trying to hide the pink that spread across his face, "This is (Name). Jeremy and I's friend. She works the nightshift at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza like I do."
The man named Vincent faces me with a smirk. "Oh? You work there too, huh?"
"Yeah," I reply, "Although I'm not working there tonight. I'm off for the whole day today."
"Hmm..." he crosses his arms and shrugs, "That's pretty interesting. Nice to meet you though, (Name)."
I study the guy closely. He had a porcelain complexion, shoulder length, electric violet wavy hair. His eyebrows seemed to appear the same color as his hair and he also contained sharp grape colored eyes that looked so... intimating.
He looked so familiar. I couldn't understand why, though.
Had I seen this man before somewhere? And why am I getting a really, bad vibe about him?
"(Name)?" Mike nudged my arm, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Huh? Oh! Uh, yeah. It's nice to meet you too... Uh, Vincent." I simper.
Vincent laughed amusedly.
"She's cute. I like her already." He says, making me blush a visible shade of bright pink.
"So, since we're all here, who wants to look for some books? I don't know about you guys, but I've been waiting for eternity to finally get my Walking Dead books and comics. And I ain't letting anyone stop me from trying to purchase the recent comic that was released a month ago."
"You sure do love your Zombie Apocalypses and gorey shit, Vincent." Mike mutters.
"Well," I say, "Since we're here, why not? I've also been growing impatient for (favorite book/comic series) to finally be released anyways. I just hope it's here."
***
"Aaand... Nope. It's not here. (Name)? It's not here. I don't see it anywhere in this section." Jeremy tells me.
I straighten up. "What? No? Aww, man. Are you serious?"
Mike and Jeremy turn away from the shelf of books. Their eyes searched for Vincent.
He was standing over by the Walking Dead section, drooling and eagerly jumping for joy at the sight of fake, severed zombie heads and other blood and gorey related accessories.
Right... of course. Nothing abnormal about that at all...
They soon switched their attention back to me as they heard me groan.
"Dammit. Fucking hell, dude. I've looked everywhere for this (book/comic)!" I grumbled, running a hand through my (hair color) hair anxiously. "I don't think I'm ever gonna find it!"
Jeremy sighs and shakes his head. "You'll find it eventually, (Name). Don't worry. Maybe just not here. You know what? Why don't we just go look in a different section? Someone could have placed them in the wrong aisle."
I bit my bottom lip and nodded. "Sure, alright. Then maybe we can all-"
"FUCK YEAH, BABY!" Vincent bounced over with a massive, sinister like grin. "I finally found the recent one! Mother of God, YES!"
I squinted and huffed a heavy sigh. "Of course. Everyone else managed to find the book they've wanted. Everyone but me."
Vincent ignored me as he flew past us to the register. We watched the enigmatic man pay for his Walking Dead comic.
While Mike, Jeremy and I waited in line to purchase their novels, from my peripheral vision, I could see someone weaving carelessly through people in line, clearly disregarding the folks' shouts for him to get out and move to the back of the line.
I narrow my eyes, trying to get a better view of the man cutting in line.
One small glimpse of his black and gold dress suit was all it took, and I already knew who it was.
"My, my, (Name), what a coincidence!" The golden dirty blonde opens his arms out. "Long time, no see." He smirks.
"Golden Freddy..." I murmured, scowling at him defiantly as he walked in our direction. "What the hell are you doing here?"
I stare fiercely at his bright, white irises. "Get lost. This is my time and place to relax, now."
"Ooh. Feisty are we? How cute." He chuckles darkly and looks down at me, "That's just precious. Look, I didn't come to start any trouble with you now, so don't you start with me, sweetheart."
He looks up, only to find Mike and Jeremy exchanging the same confused expressions.
"What's up, fuckers?" he tells them.
"Huh?" Jeremy widens his eyes, then squints and grits his perfect white teeth at Golden Freddy.
"Woah. What the hell is your problem, jackass?" Mike glares, curling his fists at his sides.
"...F-Frederick!" I blurt out, trying to end the intense fight I could already see beginning to rise.
"Be nice, dude! That was not cool at all!" I sigh, rolling my eyes to play along with it, "Sorry about that, guys. This is Fredrick. I totally encountered him by chance when I first arrived in Kansas a few days ago. He's really a nice person once you get to know him, honestly. I promise he's not a mean person in any way!"
"Nope, she's right." He plays along with it. At least from how I perceive it. "I'm just a one-of-a-kind ass hole is all. So how's it going? You three settling into Kansas City alright?"
Mike's anger slowly begins to subside and his face softens. Jeremy does the same thing moments later.
"Well..." Mike says, "I guess Jeremy and I are settling in Kansas City fairly well, since we've both grew up and remained here ever our whole lives."
"You guys grew up here in Kansas?" I question, looking very surprised.
"Yep. Throughout our whole upbringing." Jeremy tells me.
"That's interesting." Golden Freddy shrugs. He parted his lips to say something else, but stopped abruptly.
"Shit..." I heard him curse under his breath as he saw Vincent make his way toward us.
"What? What's wrong?" I ask in a whisper. For once, I'm actually growing a little worried about him. He looked petrified.
"N-No... It... It can't be... It's... It's him..."
"Who?"
"H-Him..." he then shakes his head and looks into my eyes. "I... I have to go, but I want to make this very brief. Let's just say my brother figured out that you don't have to be at the pizzeria tonight, and he and the others aren't handling it too well."
"What!? What do you mean by that? If they can't handle it, that's their problem. I don't get to choose my hours. If I could, believe me, I would."
"They know that and they're not holding that against you. What they're biggest concern, is you being around h-him... Hell, that's even my biggest concern about you too... I... I would watch my back and sleep with my eyes open frequently if I were you... I wouldn't trust him... that... p-purple looking-" He cuts off. He starts to tremble violently as Vincent walks even closer now.
"N-Nevermind." His voice becomes shaky, "Just... d-do as I suggested. I-I'll explain more later..."
He then pushes people out the way, hurriedly runs to the door and leaves.
There was short period of silence, aside from the people in line swearing, shouting and complaining when Golden Freddy left.
"The hell was all that about?" Mike asked, breaking the silence. He was just as perplexed as Jeremy.
"Not sure..." I tell them. And in all honesty, I didn't really know what that was about.
Why was Golden Freddy in such a hurry? Why did he get all antsy when Vincent was coming our way?
Vincent mumbled something under his breath that I couldn't comprehend, but all I know is that when he was finished, he started to chuckle evilly to himself. He clears his throat loudly afterwards.
"So," Vincent speaks up, "Are you guys going to just stand there like idiots or are you actually going to buy something?"
Mike, Jeremy and I snap out of it.
"Oh. Uh, yeah. That's exactly what we're going to do right now, Vincent." Jeremy stated as he and Mike finally go up next in line.
Even when we left the bookstore moments later, I still couldn't take my mind off of it.
As I said before. I barely knew Vincent, yet the bad vibe I got about him still wouldn't go away. Even now.
There has to be reason why. There has to be.
Was there something about him that Mike and Jeremy aren't telling me? Do they even know Vincent more than they think?
I can't decide whether I'm just being paranoid, if it's the Effexor getting ahold of me again...
Or if the bad feeling I had about Vincent turns out to be true.
---
FNAF, Golden Freddy, Mike, Jeremy and Vincent © Scott Cawthon
You © Yourself (Or whoever you choose to be the property of.)
Story © Me