~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stiff. He felt stiff.
That man must have moved him while he was out. The location was new to him.
He tried to move his arm.
Nothing.
He tried to move his leg.
Nothing.
He let out a growl.
She had to have done this.
It was always her.
His spirit writhed within the suit holding him hostage.
He wanted out.
He wanted out now!
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He awoke feeling oddly unrested. It was dark out and he knew his shift started in a couple hours. So Smith dragged himself out of bed and got dressed. The whole drive he had that odd feeling of being watched, but shrugged it off. Soon he was stepping out of his car and approaching the building of the soon to be Fazbears fright. "Night one, lets get this ball rolling" he psyched himself up and opened the door. He was greeted with a gust of cold air, Why was the inside so cold anyway? Oh well, good thing he is wearing a sweatshirt. Not like I wear anything else. He thought to himself. Smith strode onto the office like he owned the place, which he technically did if only for the night. "I think I can chase off some rough teens wanting a sneak peak of the spooky action." He jokes to himself. Falling back into the chair he rolled over to the tablet at the desk, picking it up he knew right away this was a camera tablet. "Heh, Fritz used one of those" he mused to himself, he idly switched though the cameras as the phone rang.
"Hey hey, glad you came back for another night! I promise, it'll be a lot more interesting this time!"
Smith looked down and noticed this was a recording. Must have been made earlier. Oh well he doesn't mind listening in. He leaned back in the chair as the recording continued,
"We found some, some great new relics over the weekend, and we're out tracking down a new lead, right now! So, uhhh, lemme just update you real quick, then you can get to work. Like, the attraction opens in like, a week, so we have to make sure everything works, and nothing catches on fire!"
"That'd be inconvenient" he quipped, chuckling to himself
"Uh, when the place opens, people will come in at the opposite end of the building, and work their way toward you, then past you and out the exit. Uh, yeah you've officially become part of the attraction. Uh, you'll be starring as...the security guard! So not only will you be monitoring the people on the camera as they pass through – you know, to make sure no one steals anything or makes out in the corner – but you'll also be a part of the show. It'll make it feel really authentic, I think."
Smith was only half listening now, he was clicking though the cameras seeing the sights. Though he had a feeling of being watchful and glanced up at the window to only see it empty.
"Uh, now lemme tell you about what's new. We found another set of drawings, always nice, and a Foxy head! Which we think could be authentic! Then again, it might just be another crappy cosplay. And we found a desk fan. Very old-school. Metal though. Watch the fingers, uh, ha."
"Did you also find a ghost?" Smith quipped again, though he didn't laugh, he was starting to get on edge
"Finally uh, oh right! We found an old animatronic, a real one man! But it didn't seem to be working when I checked, then again I'm not a robot expert, heh, well uh, anyway it should be in there, we've got it in the basement, it's not on the cameras by the way. It's really spooky lookin' so if it ends up not moving we're gunna use it as a prop, hopefully it moves though, imagine how scary that'd be to see this big rotten guy stumbling around like a horror movie villain."
Smith wasn't listening anymore. He was getting up out of his seat
"Umm, you can check the security cameras over to your right with a click of that blue button. Uh, you can toggle between the hall cams and the vent cam. Uh, then over to your far left, uh, you can flip up your maintenance panel. You know, use this to reboot any systems that may go offline. Uh-heh. Uh in trying to make the place feel vintage we may have overdone it a bit, heh-heh. Some of this equipment is barely functional. Yeah, I-I wasn't joking about the fire that's-that's-that's a real risk. Uh, the most important thing you want to watch for is the ventilation."
He thought he saw movement just in the corner of his vision, but again he looked and nothing was there... the ventilation was working fine so it couldn't just be in his head... right?
"Look, this place will give you the spooks, man, and if you let that ventilation go offline then you'll start seeing some crazy stuff, man. Keep that air flowing! Okay, keep an eye on things, and we'll try to have something new for you tomorrow night!"
And with a click the recording ended.
"Phone people always talk a lot don't they?"
A voice chuckled softly, Smith turned on his heels and was face to face with the puppet from his dream. "W-" his voice catches and he blinks rapidly.
"Holy shit how high am I?" He whispers to himself. This got a light chime of amusement out of the phantom. "I assure you you aren't seeing things... well you are but I'm not just a figment of your imagination"
"...so I'm not high?" The puppet seemed unamused by his jokes.
"No, you are not 'high'" it sighed, then looked at Smith seriously. "You remember me right? What we talked about?" The man slowly nodded. "Yah, kinda hard to forget a dream ending with some creepy nightmare Barney." This someone managed to get a snort out of the phantom. "He does leave quite an impact.., but I shouldn't stall. I sincerely ask for you help. Unfortunately I cannot do this alone..." She let out a defeated chime, Smith felt bad. This wouldn't be his first bad decision so he walked up to the phantom and nodded. "I said I'd help wouldn't I? What's the game plan boss?" The puppet looked up, it smiled wide. "Now listen closely because there isn't much time, I can only keep HIM still for so long," him? That felt ominous, but he nodded and listened. "There are souls, children's souls that are trapped here. I ask your help in assisting them in moving on. There are... windows to the other side that you can use here. They aren't open now but, you'll know how to reach them once they are." Vague, lovely. But Smith wasn't one to back down from some strange challenge. "Right, so uhhh how will I know this exactly? More spooky dreams?"
"That is the most reliable way for me to share information"
"Great."
"I apologize, but I deeply appreciate you doing this for us mr Smith" the Puppet was briefly cut off when Ethan raised a hand, giving a casual smirk he says.
"Please, call me Ethan"
"Of coarse, thank you Ethan" she replied with a smile.
He slid over to the desk tablet and poked though the cameras. "So that's it? A simple week of helping ghosts? Think I can manage that" He mused. But the puppet didn't leave. Instead she hovered closer, "I'm afraid he won't make it that easy." She warned, Ethan looked over. "He? What is this a 'he who cannot he named' situation?" He scratched his head as he leaned back in the chair. "We call him... Springtrap... he has been very angry since he awoke. I am not able to hold him back for much longer." The puppet looked genuinely distressed. Ethan muttered something under his breath. "Okay, Great, killer animatronic thing is in the building. That's fine, you wouldn't happen to know where he is right now would you?"
"HE MOVED!" Sudden a broken looking phantom fox animatronic was leaning against the window. Ethan let out a very manly scream and fell back. While the man picked himself back up the puppet approached the other phantom."So soon? Oh no, has he left the basement?"
"YAH AND HE ISNT HAPPY- OH! IS THAT THE GUY WHOS HELPING US? HI NIGHT GUARD!" The two headed fox waved. Ethan gave a slow wave back. How many of these phantoms were there? The puppet phantom looked over to the cameras. "The suit is attracted to sound, use that to lure him away, good luck Ethan" and before Ethan could say anything else she was gone. Phantom Mangle looked over to Ethan and blinked, Ethan blinked back.
"So uh... how many of you are there?" He decided to ask.
"SIX! THERES FREDDY, CHICA, FOXY, ME, PUPPET, AND B.B!" And with that she waved and faded. "That's... lovely okay." Ethan tried to remain calm. He checks the cameras and jumps when he is met with a very rotten looking robot with its face shoved into the screen.
"Yikes man... you've seen better days" he mumbles, deciding to try the puppets advice he clicked an audio lure away from him. He heard metal footsteps as the creature trudged away.
"Well.. that was easier then I though-whatthehellisthat" something new has appeared on the screen, it looked like a little boy, but with sharp teeth and those piercing eyes Ethan thought it looked more like a gremlin.
"What the FUU-" he was cut off by his own scream when the boy jumped out of the screen and into his face with a hissing screech. Ethan fell onto his back as alarm lights rang around him, he was only slightly aware of how it suddenly became harder to breathe. "-Vents... shit" he puffed out as he desperately tried to regain some composure, he crawled over to the control panel searching for the vent reset button. "Comeon comeon- Shit" he made the mistake of looking up, because Springtrap was looking at him through the window. Seeing the creature up close was a much different experience than through the cameras, it's fur was matter and torn, bits of wire and something that definitely wasn't metal poking though the holes, it's ears were torn and it's eyes were dark, illuminated by a piercing purple glow. The robot had a cold expression, filled with hate, Ethan didn't even need to think for a second before he just knew.
This thing wanted to kill him.
The vents had reset and Ethan dashed over to the tablet trying to use the sound again, but when he pressed the button it made an error noise, "seriously? Oh screw my luck!" He cursed as he looked over to the doorway, Springtrap was staring him down.
Ethan stared back.
Both locked into a tense standstill,
neither wanted to move first.
'How long is this night?' Ethan wondered to himself. Just as it looked like the monster was about to move until a bell rang out and he froze. Ethan held his breath, waiting a long moment to see if this was just some elaborate trick to get his guard down... but Springtrap couldn't move.
Ethan dared to look at his phone and saw the time
6:00 AM.
Springtrap was completely frozen, and the expression in his eyes showed he definitely didn't expect that.
"...Heh haha! Oh my god the programming kicked in" Ethan couldn't help but laugh. "Guess even the old bunny isn't safe from that." He must have been in shock because instead of running away quickly, Ethan was over the desk, holding his stomach, laughing hysterically. Springtrap could only stand frozen and growl lowly as the man eventually regained his composure.
"Oh! Haha Oh my god heh ...ow my sides" he wiped his eyes, having to move his glasses for it. "Well! Glad to know what I'm up against huh, Big Guy?" Ethan grinned up at the rotten rabbit, it could only glare spitefully at the man as he shimmied past the frozen robot. "Well I'll see you tomorrow night Springy." Ethan waves as he sped-walked away. Springtrap remained frozen. He could only growl in protest.
"Well Gee! Looks Like You Didn't Get Him This Time Huh?" Phantom B.B. manifested next to the rabbit, Floating in circles around him. He knew full well the robot couldn't hurt him. "You've Got Aaaall The Time You Want Tomorrow Though, Can't Wait For The Show!" The phantom laughed as it disappeared, leaving the robot to his own festering, horrid thoughts.
————-
Ethan crumbled into his bed the minute he got home. The exhaustion of the night catching up to him.
"Shiiiiiit" he swore into the pillow.
"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck" he used his second pillow to completely sandwich his head between the pillows.
"That things gunna kill meeeee" he tried to squeeze his head into the pillow sandwich, but all it did was shove his glasses into his nose, which was very uncomfortable.
But Ethan didn't care.
The pain distracted him from things.
Like how he was completely alone in a house made for a family.
Ethan let out a heavy sigh and rolled out of his self made pitty pillow sandwich, looking up at the ceiling. "...heh.. well if I'm gunna die anyway, might as well be while trying to help some kids out." He chuckled darkly, deciding sleeping in his hoodie wasn't the smartest idea Ethan rolled out of bed to get stared in his sleep routine.
Turning his lamp light off Ethan layed back in his bed. It's best to get some sleep in before jumping back into whatever situation he just signed himself up for. His eyelids closed as he slipped into unconsciousness.
When he opened his eyes again he was in a location he didn't recognize.
"Huh?" Ethan looked around, he saw the place was abandoned and forgotten, he found the stage, and he saw the three iconic characters still in their places.
"...oh! This is a memory thing isn't it?" He got his answer when Freddy's head looked up and out, he saw what looked like a purple bear walking in a direction whispering 'FOLLOW ME' Ethan was almost tempted to take his offer... but Ethan had never gotten the chance to explore a Freddy's before.
"Brb shadow guy, gotta check out the local" he quipped while jogging off into another room,
It looked like a Freddy's, he'd been in one before when he went in with his brother. "Looks rotted out though" he mumbles, nothing of note really catching his eye until he was face to face with literal writing on the walls. A sentence was written on one wall, while a code was written on the second.
"Huh... this feels important."
"Follow me" the shadow bear whispered a bit more harshly, Ethan spun back and saw the shadow bear had followed him. "Okay okay geese! I'm coming" he answered as he started to follow the bear. Soon they were back at the stage, Ethan noticed that Freddy was now coming off the stage and following as well, though he didn't seem to notice Ethan there. Pretty soon both Freddy and Ethan were following the purple bear. "Heh, it's like a conga line, not a very fun one though" Ethan joked to ease his nerves, he couldn't shake the feeling something bad was about to happen.
Soon he got his answer.
The gang had arrived to a wall, the shadow bear faded though, but Freddy couldn't seem to go into the room. Ethan couldn't really see into the room either. He squinted and looked back to freddy. "Huh, looks like the end of the line then eh freddy?" The bear soon turned around to walk back into stage when suddenly the purple man ran out from the hidden room with an axe, in a swift motion he attacked Freddy and broke him into pieces. Ethan jumped back with a surprised scream. "Holy shit man!" He looked between the purple guy and the now broken bear on the floor. "Take it easy man!" Ethan put his hands up, worried that he might be next on the axe wielding maniacs hit list.
Just as suddenly as the vision started it ended, Ethan's vision faded to black.
Strangely enough the last thing Ethan thought of was cake.
——————————
Springtrap sat in the basement again, someone had moved him during the day. He hated that the suits programming was still active. It was annoying. That guard was annoying.
Springtrap wanted him dead.
The phantoms were around him, keeping a distance.
Of coarse they would.
The kids were still scared of him.
He didn't care.
He was too angry to care,
He just wanted to break something.
The annoying guards neck would have to do.
The phantoms gathered around the puppet,
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Phantom Freddy asked, worried
"Seems To Me Like That Human Wont Last The Week!" Phantom B.B. laughed
"I LIKE HIM!" Phantom Mangle grinned
"What if Springtrap gets him? Are we going to be stuck here forever?!" Phantom Chica squeaked in fear.
"That man laughed in the face o' danger! Strange one he is, must be a brave idiot!" Phantom foxy cackled
"Everyone please stay calm, I'm... I'm sure this is going to work" the phantom puppet reassured. "...it has to"
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[sorry this took so long! Wanted to get this right. This probably will be one of my bigger projects.]