"Can I please come with you tonight?" My sister begged as I put on the uniform's hat and grabbed my car keys.
I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes before turning back around to face her. "I told you earlier, you can't just come to work with me. That's not how jobs work."
"You work with one other person, who will ever know?" Vee stared at me with her dark blue eyes, which were way too innocent looking for her personality.
"No."
"But-"
I stared down at her sternly. Why couldn't she see I was protecting her? "Vee, this isn't a game. Going there is dangerous work and I can't be watching you and after myself with the danger there."
"I've gone with you on night guard jobs before." Genuine hurt crossed her face, making me feel slightly bad for sounding harsh, and she backed away. "... Why's this different? I hate staying here alone all the time."
"It's dangerous... more so than the older jobs." I didn't want to mention how the last one I'd been fired from was because she wandered off from me and was caught messing with the security system. She knew it was her fault.
"How?"
What was I going to say to that? Even I wasn't sure exactly why the animatronics were as dangerous as they were. "Something isn't right okay? I just have a feeling things aren't going to get any easier. I'll explain later, alright? I can't be late."
"I'll make sure you do." A frown crossed her face as she turned away from me.
"Violet." She paused at her full name but didn't look back. "Don't get into trouble. I promise I'll explain once I know what's happening myself... Maybe over lunch at the ice cream place?"
She still didn't show her face but I could tell by the slight turn of her head she was hiding her smile; forcing herself to still seem upset at me. I relaxed and gave a sigh before leaving. Despite that set back I would still be able to get to work before twelve, which meant Mike couldn't get on me for not being in the office this time.
The parking lot was empty when I arrived, which made the place seem even more unnerving than usual. Still, I hastily went inside after rechecking the time and stared around at the dark, shadowy building. It was hard to believe children actually came in here when the place was closed for the night. I stared daggers at the three figures on stage; they weren't going to move for another ten minutes- hopefully longer.
I began walking towards the office when a faint glow caught my attention. "What? Who's there?"
Silence greeted me as I stared in the direction I'd seen the glow. "What was that? It didn't look like a flash light beam... could it be an animatronic?"
"Come out." I carefully moved closer, my eyes shifting towards the stage where the figures were staring straight ahead. I didn't have time for this. "Stop playing games!"
There was a blur of movement back towards the other side of the room this time and I snapped my head in time to watch whatever, or whoever, it was disappear. A scowl crossed my face. "Probably some kid thinking it would be funny to play a prank on their parents."
I was about to head in their direction to tell them off and call in to report finding a possibly missing child but another scuffling sound came from my left... Much closer than I liked too. I whirled around, fumbling for a weapon as I barely made out a shadow moving from the backstage area.
"The hell is wrong with you?" Mike's voice came from the shadowy figure. "Fumbling around and shouting in the dark... you trying to get hooked and stuffed in a suit?"
"What? Why would-"
"You get here and you go straight to the office, got it?" His eyes almost seemed to glow with displeasure once he was close enough to make out.
I backed away before glaring back. "Does that not apply to you?"
"I was going to the office. I came in the other door because I parked out back."
"Other door? I didn't think there was one... I didn't see one when I came here today to scope the place out in case those things got into the office..." I decided it was best not to push Mike further however. He seemed tenser tonight, which would only mean bothering him with more questions might end with me getting 'stuffed in a suit'... whatever that was about.
It wasn't long before I was tensed up and pacing the office. Already the animatronics were banging at both doors and it was only an hour into the night. Mike was staring down at the cameras while I waited impatiently for the screeches of Foxy's hook against the metal and Chica's body ramming the door to stop. Of course, if power wasn't an issue I wouldn't mind leaving the doors shut all night and listening to that... but of course that wasn't the case. If they didn't leave soon then our power supply would be down the drain before we even made it half way through.
"Why are they like this? They weren't like this the other night." My voice was jittery and I flinched as Foxy shrieked before finally giving up and leaving. Luckily Chica was quick to do the same on the other side.
Mike glanced up at me and merely walked over before shoving me down in his seat to watch the cameras before heading over to open the doors. "Calm down. It doesn't matter what's making them act up we'll deal with it."
I frowned but obediently looked down at the screen to watch the cameras. Foxy was back on his stage, staring up at the camera as he peaked out, while Chica just seemed to be gone completely. "Uh... w-where's the yellow one? I can't find it on here."
"Kitchen. That cams broken but the audio is decent enough to hear her if you tried." Mike gave a huff at explaining it to me before glancing back out into the hallway slightly. "What the fu-"
I spun in the chair as I heard the door slam down loudly to the left before seeing the other man turn his head to glare at me. I quickly looked away and flipped through the cameras; finally seeing Bonnie's shadow outside the door. "Sorry..."
"Give me that. You could've gotten us killed." Mike's ill-temper tonight made me uneasy but I merely got out of his way as he snatched the tablet back from me and switched our tasks again. "Where's the teddy bear at?"
"...T-the main stage still..." I gave him a nervous look before finally speaking up again a few minutes later. "What's with you tonight?"
For a few seconds I swore he looked like he was going to kill me for even asking but with a sigh Mike gave a civil answer. "Nothing. Just some personal stuff... it's been a rough day is all. Doesn't help that you don't know what you're even doing."
"I'm trying my best. No one told me I'd be risking my life this much when I took the job. They didn't even mention this part about those things come to life let alone that they'd try to kill me."
"We'll you've done this one night before. You should've been more prepared for tonight... open the door. Bon Bon's gone for now."
I let the door slide back open and shuddered at the dark hallway outside. Mike was right though; I should've been more prepared after yesterday. We fell into a lapse of silence as we went about checking hallways and cameras. Our power was slowly falling compared to what it had been dropping at earlier but I still worried... We still had several hours to go.
"So... Ash right?" Mike sounded less hostile when he finally spoke again. "What made you pick this place out of every other job? Surely you could've gone with something less... hellish."
I shrugged and leaned against the open door's frame. "I like working nights. Don't sleep well so I might as well do a night shift. Typically they pay better than a day shift in my experience... but job is a job... and I have to have income to pay for stuff."
"Yeah... suppose I was the same when I saw the ad in the paper." Mike scoffed slightly as he seemed to think back to it. "Least I don't have anyone left to care about whether or not I come home."
"That's uh... that's kind of depressing, Mike." I stared at him but he only gave a shrug in response. "You don't have anyone? Like family, friends, or maybe a girlfriend?"
I saw his jaw clench but he still gave an attempt to keep his voice neutral. "Dumped me earlier today... the dumb broad thought she could just cheat on me without me ever finding out and when I did, she just up and left before I could do anything..."
"Future reference, I'd say you dumped her." I offered in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"I'll do that." Mike's lip twitched in the beginning of a laugh before it abruptly disappear. "Shut the left door!"
I started at the sudden shout and moved seconds too slowly because of it. Pain seared my arm as a hook sunk into my shoulder and jerked me to the ground. Blood flowed freely from the gash and my scream echoed through the hall. From within the office I heard Mike let loose a string of curses and saw him running towards the door before Foxy's form blocked the light. His eyes- judging by the character's name I assumed the animatronic was a 'he'- glowed and I swore there was a bloodlust in them.
"M-Mike... Mike help! Please...!" I pleaded though I wasn't sure what the man could do other than distract it.
Foxy went in for another lunge before suddenly going stiff inches from my face almost as if he'd been deactivated. Up this close I got a full stench of the rotten smelling animatronic but I didn't dare move other than to follow the line of his gaze to something faintly glowing down at the end of the hallway. Metallic jaws snapped shut as I was forgotten about and I flinched as the animatronic began chasing its new prey.
"Someone else is here..." I was barelyable to form the thought before passing out from the bleeding wound in myshoulder and stress of nearly dying.