The window of opportunity has been opened wide, and Nott, Lane, and Celeste are ready to climb through. Nott finally gets to make the RPG of his dreams without corporate interference, but a different force is altering things behind the scenes. Lane takes advantage of a new mobile game to keep his son busy while he works, but begins to notice strange events occurring around the house. And Celeste, angered by her classmate’s good fortune, seizes the chance to take it from her- freeing a monster in the process. In the sinister universe of Five Nights at Freddy’s, the window of opportunity has a way of slamming shut when you’re halfway through.
Story 1: In Too Deep
As the video call began, Nott put on his most polite smile.
‘What are they going to ask me for this time?’ he thought bitterly.
The screen lit up, showing the only other person in the call: Jonathan Klein, head of Public Relations at Fazbear Entertainment. He grinned back at Nott.
“Mr Cawthorn! It’s a pleasure to see you again. Great job on Five Nights at Fazbear’s 4 so far, I’m really liking how it’s coming together.”
“Thank you, Mr Klein. The pleasure is all mine, really; your funding has helped me to try something different.”
“Well, if you’re in the mood to make something even more different, the company has a new project for you.”
Nott groaned internally. This is what he’d been afraid of. Would he be trapped by this franchise forever?
It had all started about two years ago. Nott and his family had been on a road trip through Utah, and stopped in a small town overnight. Bored, they’d gone to the town’s local history museum, expecting it to be little more than a collection of dusty relics from the pioneering days.
However, there was a strange exhibit- an exhibit based on Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Apparently, this town was where the first one had been founded, and it was a source of local pride. There were lots of objects from there- menus, animatronics parts, old arcades…
But what really intrigued Nott was the recreation of the building’s old security office. Apparently, poor security guards working the night shift had been forced to watch through a camera system and use electromagnetic doors to fend off intruders- or malfunctioning animatronics.
Nott had heard those rumors about the restaurants’ robots, and they always fascinated him. As returned to their motel room that day, an idea sparked in his mind- create a terrifying game designed to simulate that experience.
It had been quite different from his previous work, but the concept was so eerily fun that he made it work. He released it, hoping for a few people to enjoy it.
To his surprise, though, it was more like a few thousand. Within a day, his game was one of the most popular on the website!
But that attracted some unwanted attention.
Fazbear Entertainment emailed him one day, and Nott, bracing for a defamation lawsuit, opened it. However, what they offered was an agreement- create more games, and he’d receive funding and help releasing them on a bigger scale. They only had two conditions- the agreement must remain secret, and they had the final say about anything he made.
It was then he made the dumbest choice he’d ever made- agreeing.
Now he was forced to keep creating the Five Nights at Fazbear games. He’d only completed two more so far, but he had the feeling it was just the beginning. When he inquired about calling the deal off, the company had hinted that his fear of a lawsuit would be confirmed.
So here he was. Stuck, forced to continue making these games for however long Fazbear Entertainment wished. He’d give everything to make something different…
As it turned out, he didn’t have to give anything at all.
“Any kind of game I want?!” Nott gasped in disbelief.
“As long as it features the characters but isn’t horror, have at it. Oh, and make it really goofy- no depth at all. May I suggest a pizzeria simulator or a side-scroller beat-em-up?”
“I know what I’m making.” Nott smiled- a real one this time. “A party-based RPG.”
Jonathan considered this. “Hm, yeah, that could work. I think you’ve really got something. Take a few days to come up with some concepts, we’ll meet in another call.”
“Thank you, sir. I won’t let you down!”
The call ended. Nott eagerly ran out of his office, and found his wife Carmen reading a book on the sofa.
“Honey, honey. It finally happened! Fazbear Entertainment is letting me make my own RPG!”
She raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. “Chipper’s Lumber Quest?”
“No- well, sort of. They’re letting me make whatever kind of game I want, and I’m going to adapt Chipper’s Lumber Quest for the Fazbear brand. It’ll take some time remodeling all the characters, but just think about it. The game I’ve always wanted to make will be released for the whole world to play!”
Carmen smiled, but seemed nervous. “Nott, dear…are you sure it’s that simple? We know Fazbear Entertainment is hardly the most honest company. Are you sure they’ll really let you make it?”
Nott was barely listening, though. He’d already practically skipped back to his office to dig through his notes and make some sketches.
Carmen laughed a little. “Well, at least he’s happy.” She returned to her book.
“Hey, Nott.” Jonathan said. “How’s development on the RPG coming along?”
“Great!” Nott answered enthusiastically. It had only been a few weeks, but when Nott was excited about a project, he got to work fast. “I’ve designed most of the player characters, bosses, and NPCs. Right now I’m trying to figure out each character’s moveset.”
“Awesome.” Jonathan replied. “By the way, I showed the Nightmare Bonnie model from 4 to our source. Apparently, it needs whiskers.”
“Whiskers? Normal Bonnie doesn’t have whiskers.”
“An old animatronic model did. Don’t know why it’s based on that one, but I don’t care. Think it could look cool.”
Ah, Fazbear Entertainment’s mysterious source. As part of their agreement, Fazbear Entertainment had gotten into contact with an old security guard. Whoever they were, they had a lot of knowledge about the old pizzerias, especially the animatronics and security setups. Since then they’d been feeding Nott information through Jonathan about how to make the games more accurate. Nott often wondered about them- what had they faced those lonely nights while they worked? Had their experiences truly been similar to his games?
“Nott? Nott, did you get that about the whiskers?”
Shaken out of his thoughts, Nott hastily responded. “Wha- oh, yeah. I’ll add those.”
There came a knock at the door. Nott shot a hold on gesture to Jonathan and looked out his office’s window, onto the porch. A cardboard package was being deposited by a postal worker, plain except for a Fazbear Entertainment logo.
“Hey, what’d you guys send me?” Nott asked, confused.
“Oh, it arrived.” Jonathan began to explain. “That box is filled with some old stuff that could help your RPG’s production. There’s some old voice boxes with character speech, and circuit boards from classic Freddy Fazbear arcades. We want there to be some references to some old-fashioned video games, from the good old days.”
Nott quickly walked to his house’s door, and picked the box off the porch. After returning to the office, he quickly tore the package open and looked inside. Sure enough, it was stuffed with circuit boards and other small techy-whatsits.
“There’s definitely some usable code on those boards, so I’ll be sure to scan that in.” Nott affirmed. He picked one circuit up and examined it, realizing the edges looked burned and melted. “Hey, where’d you get them from anyway?”
“Remember Fazbear’s Fright?”
“That security attraction FNAF 3 was based on that burned down a couple of years ago?”
“Right. These were salvaged from the building’s remains and were sold at an auction a few months later. Fazbear Entertainment snatched up this stuff from it.”
Nott chuckled. “Y’know, for a company that’s trying to rebrand for the modern age, you guys put a lot of work into remembering the past.”
There was an awkward moment of silence. “Uh, yeah.” Jonathan answered. “By the way, if you see any…unusual glitches resulting from the boards, just patch them quickly. Don’t get in too deep is all I’m saying. Ok?”
“Ok, Mr Klein.” Nott promised
A few technical discussions later, their call was over, and Nott returned to his work.
The following week, Nott began scanning the arcade circuit boards. He had some advanced software on his computer that allowed him to load the old games, and he got straight to work remaking them in Fazbear Adventure World. It was a varied bunch- Chica’s Rainbow Rampage, Dee-Dee’s Fishing Hole, Foxy Fighters, and Freddy In Space. Nott had a good time with these- enjoying both integrating them into the game and reminiscing on when he’d played these at his city’s old Freddy’s.
One day Nott smiled, having completed his playtest of Foxy Fighters. “Another minigame done!” he cheered. He grabbed the box from below his desk and rooted around in it, hoping to find another circuit board. He did, and pulled it out.
It looked a little older than the others- Nott guessed the mid-eighties to the others’ early nineties. He scanned it quickly, curious what 8-bit adventures were formed by its code.
A select screen came up, revealing this was a collection of minigames. Nott clicked through them. They were called BB’s Air Adventure, Mangle’s Quest, Chica’s Party and Stage 01. Nott scratched his head. He’d never heard of any of these.
Suddenly, Nott realized there was one more minigame in the file. He selected it, and his screen lit up with a fuzzy red light.
His bear avatar was in a clearing, bordered on all sides by crimson pine trees. A similarly red lake sat at the center of the clearing. The space was otherwise empty, save for a single sprite sitting on a rock, casting a fishing line into the lake. The sprite’s species was vague, its only identifiable feature a large mouth filled with blocky teeth- an alligator, maybe?
Unlike the others, the software didn’t register a game title. It also didn’t give any clarification of how to play or who this strange character was- though it’d probably never graced a pizzeria’s stage.
Nott was unnerved. The game was eerily silent, adding to the empty feeling. Eventually he figured out how to move his character around, and walked towards the sprite.
Without it even moving, it began to speak to him through text on the screen.
“My name is Old Man Consequences. Come have a seat, and let’s fish for a while. You have no where else to go.”
It had nothing else to say. Nott, confused, shut off his computer. “I don’t think I’ll be adding these minigames.” He made a note to himself. “There’s just something weird about them.”
From the kitchen, he heard Carmen calling that dinner was ready. He eagerly left the office, hoping for meatloaf.
Nott looked down at his body. It was a strange mass of sharp corners that vaguely formed a primitive body. It glowed red, just like everything around him.
The red glow didn’t look electric, though. It was more like light reflecting off of a shiny red substance that coated the trees- a substance that seemed to be flowing…
With a start, Nott realized it was blood- shiny rivulets that poured down the trees from an unknown source.
Panicked, Nott looked around, trying to scream for help. But he had no mouth to scream with.
Eventually he forced his twisted body to move. Slowly he inched forward, until he was at the bank of the red lake.
It was also full of blood, but there were other strange sprites just visible beneath the opaque surface. A silhouette of a child holding a balloon, a grid of four squares, several roundish blobs with slit eyes, the outline of a box, and a bunny figure. All of them swirled aimlessly beneath the surface, as if looking for their proper place.
From across the lake, Nott noticed a figure- Old Man Consequences. It began to speak again.
“My name is Old Man Consequences. Come have a seat, and let’s fish for a while. You have no where else to go.”
It seemed to become stuck on the line, repeating it several more times. With each repetition, the bloody reflections grew brighter and brighter, until Nott’s vision was consumed by the blinding light…
Nott gasped as he opened his eyes. He looked around in a panic, and realized he was in his bedroom.
“Oh, right.” Nott muttered. “I went to sleep.”
All else was normal. Carmen laid next to him, snoring a little. The quiet hum of their ceiling fan invertebrates from above. The clock on the wall ticked the seconds away.
So why did he still feel so uncomfortable? Without an explanation, Nott settled back into bed, and hoped for dreamless sleep.
After a restless night and a good breakfast, Nott entered his office ready to resume work on the game. Before he did, though, he decided to delete the minigames from yesterday. Logically it wasn’t like they could hurt him, but he’d be happier with them gone regardless.
Nott pulled up the file where he’d kept the circuit board data, and was surprised to see all five minigames were gone.
“But how?” Nott asked himself. “Did the kids mess around with my computer?”
Eventually, Nott tried to shrug it off and opened the file for the RPG, ready to get back to work. To his surprise, though, the minigames had entered this file. All four seemed to have merged with the game’s main code.
Alarmed, Nott tried to delete them. For some reason, though, he couldn’t even remove them from the file.
The day was spent experimenting, trying everything possible to untangle the games’ codes, but nothing worked. Finally, he had a new, desperate idea: hide the minigames deep within the code.
And he did, burying them beneath the game’s surface. Nott was still worried about getting in trouble, though: Fazbear Entertainment had asked for a secretless, innocent game, but now anyone who searched the files would find creepy 8-bit minigames. Still, maybe they would be perceived as just easter eggs rather than something more. He put in the most work hiding the Old Man Consequences game, since it was too weird and creepy to be considered just a reference.
By the time Carmen called him for dinner, he was exhausted. He’d never felt so helpless to fix a problem in any of his games. In a daze, he walked out, hoping tomorrow would be better.
It wasn’t, and neither were the next few months. Nott continued to dream of Old Man Consequence’s lake- while they were never quite as complete a vision as the first, glowing bloody trees and that cursed no where else to go line were frequent guests in his slumbering mind. And things were hardly better during the day either.
Whatever these games were, they were more than mere intruders. Gradually, they had begun to alter the RPG, primarily the feature called the sub-tunnels. Nott had designed them as simple shortcuts throughout the game, both for himself and to reward the curious player. But the tunnels had changed- growing and shifting like roots beneath the earth. They began bugging out certain characters, and spawning twisted versions of them in the glitchy halls. What Nott had designed as a simple cheat had become a bizarre, labyrinthian underworld that he couldn’t do anything to stop, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. He spent at least twelve hours each day staring at his computer, trying to finish the normal game while desperately covering up his mistakes. Nott barely ate, and hardly saw his family. It was exhausting- even playtesting the sub-tunnels caused his mind to flash with memories from the lake. It was really starting to feel true, what Old Man Consequences had said- he had no where else to go.
One night, Nott awoke suddenly. He didn’t know why- he hadn’t had another nightmare.
Still, thoughts of his game and the lake filled his tired head. He didn’t know why, but he felt like something was going wrong- even more wrong- with the game.
He couldn’t place this bizarre feeling, but he felt it strongly enough that he began to crawl out of bed. The floorboards creaked beneath his feet, causing Carmen to wake up as well.
Wiping her eyes, she rolled her head to look at him. “Nott…dear…where are you going?”
Nott hesitated. “Oh, honey. I was just going to check on something downstairs.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Are you going to mess with the game?” she asked in a tone tinged both with annoyance and worry.
Nott sighed. “Yes- look, I just feel like I need to make sure it’s alright. I’ll be back up within a minute.
“Nott, I don’t understand. I get there’s a lot of pressure from the company, but you’ve never been like this before. You’ve always made time for me and the boys- my God, the boys. They’ve been wanting to play the game for weeks, but you keep saying they can’t. Why have you grown so distant?”
Nott sat on the edge of the bed, overwhelmed. “Carmen…I’m sorry. It’s just- ever since we first saw that Freddy Fazbear exhibit, before I even made the game or got involved with Fazbear Entertainment or anything, I’ve felt like there was something more- like I was standing on the edge of something huge. Those murders, the animatronics, the legends- everything felt like part of a greater puzzle I couldn’t understand. I don’t know how, but I think Fazbear Adventure World has become a part of that. I know this has been rough on the family, but I promise whatever the truth is, I’m finishing this tonight. You just have to trust me that everything will be ok.”
After a moment of silence, Carmen responded. “Fine. I hope you find what you’re looking for, Nott.” She gave a tired, worried smile. “See you in the morning.”
Nott silently left the room and went downstairs. He entered his office and quickly booted up the game.
An hour passed while Nott tried to make sense of everything. Very little resulted from this time. Nott could feel himself falling asleep, but kept himself awake, remembering his promise that he’d finish this by morning.
After a particularly close call, Nott shook himself back awake, rubbing his eyes. To his surprise, though, the code that he’d been looking at a moment ago had disappeared. Instead there was just a black screen, empty except for a single red sprite floating in the middle- Old Man Consequences.
The sprite was blinking more than it ever had, almost like it was calling him to click on it.
Nott stared unsure at it. Should he? Something about it filled his whole being with dread.
But he also knew this was the only way to solve the mystery and truly understand everything. So, he moved his mouse over the crimson, pixely blob, and clicked.
“I’m sorry to say that you have gone too deep into the code. There is no way back out…My name is Old Man Consequences. Come have a seat, and let’s fish for a while. You have no where else to go.”
Nott opened his eyes and looked around. He was at the lake again, but something had changed. It felt more real, more all-encompassing than ever before.
He stood right next to Old Man Consequences, who’s apology/invitation had awoken him. He tried to elicit a reaction from the sprite, waving his hand in front of it, but it didn’t react.
Wait a minute…the body Nott was in right now wasn’t that of the bear sprite- it was his own. A blank, monochromatic version, lacking any details, but his body in the game regardless.
Nott tried to wake himself up. When that failed, he searched the field, trying to step between the trees that bordered it. He might as well have been trying to phase through a brick wall.
Old Man Consequences began repeating his last piece of dialogue again, as if trying to drill the words into Nott’s skull.
“You have no where else to go.”
“You have no where else to go.”
“You have no where else to go.”
It was maddening- and worse, it was true. Nott was trapped.
His darting eyes landed on the lake. Months before, Nott had seen things in its depths. Maybe beneath its red waters lay a way out of this place. He walked over to its banks.
“There is no way back out.” Old Man Consequences droned as he cast his line.
Nott glared as much as he could at the sprite. He braced himself, and jumped into the lake.
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Fazbear Adventure World received quite middling reviews. While it had its fans, who praised it for being a unique, goofy take on the franchise, most agreed it was at best flawed. One of the more common complaints was its lack of polish- it seemed somewhat unfinished.
It wasn’t like Fazbear Entertainment had many options, though. Nott had had a very unique style in both his design and his gameplay. After he had mysteriously disappeared one night, the company had tried to keep up the illusion it was still his work (no one could know about the company’s involvement in his games, after all), but struggled. Eventually, they released it under his name- an incomplete version of what could have been.
Nott’s computer equipment and notes had been taken, locked away in the company archives. His family had protested, but the threat of devastating lawsuits kept them quiet.
The archives were high security- only Fazbear’s top brass could enter.
Or anyone willing to break a window and pick a few locks, like the man entering the dark corridors now.
Soon enough, he found Nott’s computer tucked behind some old posters. He also found one of Nott’s notes, which was some advice from the company’s ‘source.’
The man grimaced. “I’m sorry, Nott. I never meant you to get wrapped up in any of my problems. I hope my suggestions were helpful, at least.”
He stuck a flash drive into the computer, and began downloading the original Fazbear Adventure World program. Interestingly, it also downloaded the original FNAF 3 program.
“Guess the pieces of this puzzle couldn’t be contained in one game, huh?” the man chuckled bitterly. “When I did this for real, it didn’t end quite how I wanted it to. But maybe now I have a chance for a better ending- for all of us.”
The programs were fully downloaded into the drive. The man pulled it out, stuck it into his pocket, and stealthily made his way out of the archives.
Story 2: Find For Foxy
“Daaaaaad! I’m bored.”
Lane quickly muted himself in the video meeting as Eddie barged into his office. He glared at the energetic boy. “What do you want to do about that? I’m in the middle of a meeting.”
“Mom always plays games with me.”
“Well, Mom didn’t have to work!” Lane groaned. “Now she does. Please, leave. This is important.”
Eddie, deflated, left the room. As he did, Lane began to feel guilty about his overreaction. But what was he expected to do?
Lane had worked from home for years, but recently the family had run into some money troubles. His wife, Sara, had managed to get a job, and they were making ends meet now. Still, that left Lane to keep an eye on Eddie once he got home from school, which was no small task. The kid could barely keep his focus on anything- toys, books, video games- and needed to be constantly entertained. Lane couldn’t work and play at the same time, leaving both of them frustrated with the new arrangement.
Finally, the meeting ended, but Lane still had something to do. Apparently, the higher-ups wanted them to download some new communications app so they could stay up to date on projects.
“Seriously?” Lane muttered as he opened the app store. “I don’t want to have homework. If you can’t tell me during the workday, then how important…”
Lane trailed off as he noticed the app the store was featuring: some sort of mobile game featuring the character Foxy the Pirate Fox.
Seeing the character made Lane think of Eddie. He loved Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and all the characters, but none more than Foxy. He’d even gotten mad when Fazbear Entertainment cut him from the new band in favor of some wolf character. It was for that reason that Eddie had no interest in going to their new, big attraction despite it being pretty close. Instead he preferred their small town’s Pizzeria which still prominently featured the scallywag fox playing the drums and telling tales from the high seas.
That train of thought led to another- Eddie had never been bored in the slightest by Foxy. Maybe this app could keep him entertained?
Lane went to the app’s page for more detail. In the description, there was more information:
From the development team behind the Princess Quest Trilogy comes an exciting collaboration with Fazbear Entertainment: Find For Foxy, a unique AR experience!
Foxy may be the world’s greatest pirate, but now he needs your help on a new treasure hunt! Foxy will present you with a household item that you need to find. Once you do, scan it with your phone. Find enough items, and you could even win fun Freddy Fazbear prizes!
Download for free today! You’ll never be bored again!
Lane grinned. This sounded like exactly what he’d needed!
“Argh, matey! It’s me, Foxy the Pirate Fox! Will you help me on the treasure hunting adventure of a lifetime?”
Eddie squealed with excitement as he looked at the phone he held in front of him. There, superimposed on the living room on the screen, was Foxy, dressed in his finest blue overcoat and pirate hat. Lane, looking over Eddie’s shoulder, was impressed- the AR blended with the real environment really well.
“That’s splendid!” Foxy said, the designers clearly having banked on excited kids responding to him. “The first thing you need to find is a chair! Scan it with your device, and I’ll make sure it’s the right object.”
“Go on, bud.” Lane encouraged Eddie, nodding towards the nearby armchair.
“I’ll get it, Foxy!” Eddie cheered. He moved closer and focused the phone’s camera on the chair. The image on the screen lit up, and Foxy appeared in front of it.
“Well done, Matey! That’s a chair if I’ve ever seen one!” Foxy patted the chair with his hook.
“Now, it’s time to look forward, and choose the treasure that waits at the end of this hunt!”
A new screen popped up on the phone, revealing a list of missions. They were mostly the same, simply tasking the player with finding more objects depending on the quality of the prize. Eddie could win Faz-Coins and merch coupons, redeemable at any Fazbear Pizzeria.
Lane rolled his eyes. “Lure ‘em in with free stuff, and the kids [finish this]” he muttered under his breath. He hid his annoyance and clapped Eddie on the shoulder. “What treasure are you gonna go for?”
Eddie gasped. “The Foxy Visit!” He selected the mission.
Lane looked at the screen and gasped. “You need to find five hundred things to win that prize. Are you sure?”
“Yeah! The Foxy Visit sounds great!”
Lane remembered a party they’d had at the restaurant once where they’d reserved a visit with Foxy. He supposed this was the same thing.
“Alright, bud.” Lane smiled. “It’ll take some time, but I know you can do it.”
Eddie and Lane heard the garage door rumbling open. “Sounds like Mom’s back from work. Let’s get some dinner ready, huh?”
Eddie agreed. When Sara walked through the door, Eddie was already so excited to tell her about Foxy talking to him.
Lane mentally patted himself on the back. He’d made the right choice.
The next week was a busy one for Eddie and a peaceful one for Lane. Not only was he able to work without interruption, he had enough time to read and watch his shows. It seemed he’d have even more peaceful days, too.
Lane avoided talking to Eddie about the game too much (most conversations about it ended with incessant requests for a $10 skin for Foxy) but from what he understood, the hunts got harder as time went on. Now instead of chairs, he’d be asked to find a book with an animal name in the title or a yellow flower. That’s right, some of the hunts even needed him to go outside. In one fell swoop, Lane had permanently ended Eddie’s boredom and made him get some fresh air! It was almost too good to be true.
On Sunday evening that week, Lane was feeling peckish. He decided to grab some Cheezy Squares, his favorite chips, from the pantry to snack on. But when he looked inside, he realized they weren’t there.
Eddie was coming down the stairs, and Lane shouted to him. “Hey, Eddie, did you finish off the Cheezy Squares?”
Eddie shook his head.
“Well, what happened to them, then? Mom doesn’t like them, so she didn’t eat them.”
“I don’t know.” Eddie scratched his head. “I haven’t seen them since this afternoon. I found them for Foxy, but I didn’t touch ‘em or anything.”
Lane chuckled. “Well, maybe Foxy ate them. I bet pirates love cheese.” He was a little disappointed, especially since he had to settle for some pretzels.
“Maybe I did something with them.” Lane thought to himself as he snacked on the salty twists. “I can sometimes be forgetful…”
“But not this much.” Lane stammered as he stared at the empty spot where his TV usually hung on the wall.
Things had been going missing all the time for the past few days. Books, kitchenware, food- they’d all disappeared without a trace. But this made it clear there was more to it than bad luck and a spotty memory.
“Aww, man.” Eddie groaned from the couch. “I wanted to watch the ninja show.”
Lane sighed. “Eddie, I don’t suppose you’ve seen it recently…” Lane braced for the answer he’d received at least two dozen times this week.
“I found it for Foxy.” Eddie explained. “But I’m not doing anything with them other than scanning with them, like I told you.”
“Yeah, sure.” Lane said, annoyed. He couldn’t truly be mad at Eddie, because his idea was ridiculous. It wasn’t like Eddie had actually been stuffing the missing objects in his phone or anything. But it felt like too much of a coincidence. “Listen, Eddie, Mom is getting scared. She’s worried people are breaking in, and I’m starting to feel the same way.”
“Breaking in to steal cups and Cheezy Squares?”
“Fair.” Lane admitted. “So you promise you don’t know about any of this?”
“Yeah, Dad. Geez.”
Lane took a deep breath. “Ok. I’m going upstairs to watch the TV in the bedroom. Go to bed soon, it’s almost 10:00.”
Lane trudged up the stairs in a daze. He pushed open his bedroom door, only to hear a strange noise: a rough scraping from above.
Lane slowly looked up. There was nothing directly above him- instead, it seemed to be coming from the attic.
Lane had always despised that place. Hardly the most mature fear a man could have, but who cared? To him, it was nothing more than a labyrinth of forgotten junk covered in cobwebs and dust.
“Maybe something just fell?” He desperately tried to convince himself. Nope- the scraping continued, and it seemed to be moving.
Heart racing, Lane walked over to the trapdoor, on the ceiling near Eddie’s room. He pulled the cord, opening the door and causing the retractable ladder to shoot towards him. It hit the floor with a BANG. The scraping stopped, and there was the new noise of an enormous CRASH- like now something had fallen.
As he began to climb, Lane called out. “Hey! If you’re up there, show yourself.” He tried to sound threatening, but struggled to keep the panic out of his voice.
He gripped the attic’s wooden floor and pulled himself through the hole. Above him, there was another cord, this one for the light. Hands shaking, he turn it on, looking to where he’d heard the crash-
And saw a pile of random stuff. Confused, he looked around the musty room. There was no sign of an intruder or a break in.
Eventually he focused back on the pile, and realized something. The objects were the things that had gone missing all week.
It was the box of Cheezy Squares that first alerted him to this, crumpled under the weight of all the other items. A few cups came loose from the pile, and rolled down it. An umbrella, a fireplace poker, and a rusty shovel poked from the mass. There were items that seemed to have come from outside- dried up leaves and plants, an old baseball, and even a small frog, which looked quite dead. And, sitting on top, the most recent addition to this bizarre collection, the TV.
From behind him, Lane could hear someone else coming up the ladder. He turned to see Eddie. “Dad, I heard the crash, what’s- woah, what is all that stuff?”
In a rage, Lane turned and grabbed Eddie by the shoulders. “Oh, don’t play dumb! You know what this is. This is all the stuff you ‘found’ for Foxy.”
Eddie looked at the pile. “Well, yeah, I guess. How did it get up here?”
“Clearly you put everything here!” Lane yelled right in Eddie’s face. “You thought you needed to steal stuff for that Foxy Visit, because you’re a dumb kid who can’t go ten minutes without messing something up!”
Tears formed in Eddie’s eyes. “B-but I didn’t do it. How could I move a huge TV?”
“Don’t know, so how about you tell me! It couldn’t have been anyone else.” He spotted Eddie’s phone hanging out of his pocket, and snatched it from him.
“What are you doing?” Eddie gasped.
“I’m deleting this stupid app! It’s messing with your head.” Lane held his finger on the app until the X icon appeared in the corner. He pressed it, preparing to watch the app blink out of existence.
Instead, there was a strange popup: Error: Action Failed.
Confused, Lane clicked on the X a few more times, but kept receiving the same popup. Trying to sound unbothered to Eddie, he said, “Well, until we can fix whatever’s wrong with this, you can’t have this phone.”
“But Dad!” Eddie begged. “I’ve almost earned the Foxy Visit! I just need to find one more item.”
“Well then you shouldn’t have ripped our TV out of the wall.” Calming down a little, Lane tried to reason with him. “If you really wanted to visit Foxy at the Pizzeria, you could have just asked. We might’ve taken you.”
Eddie quieted for a moment before speaking. “But Dad, the prize isn’t us visiting Foxy. It’s Foxy visiting us.”
Lane stared, suddenly creeped out. “What do you mean- like in a private party room?”
Without answering, Eddie turned, walked over to the trapdoor, and climbed back down the ladder. Within seconds, Lane could hear him climbing into his bed and flicking the light off.
Lane gazed at the phone, at the app, with its icon of Foxy grinning roguishly. He’d never noticed just how sharp the character’s teeth were.
Lane left the attic, closing the trapdoor behind him (he’d bring all the junk down tomorrow). When he returned to his bedroom, he tucked the phone away in a drawer. Exhausted, he fell into bed beside his already snoring wife, and was overcome by sleep.
Lane jolted awake. He swore he’d heard a noise.
He turned to look at the digital alarm clock on his bedside table. In glowing green numbers, it read 11:00.
As he rubbed his eyes, Lane stumbled out of bed and stubbed his toe on something. “Arghhh- crap!” he said reflexively, trying to be as quiet as possible. He looked down, and realized he’d hit a drawer that’d been pulled out of the dresser.
It was the one he’d stored the phone in, and it was missing.
Lane growled. “Eddie, I know you took it!” He stumbled out of their bedroom, scanning the hall outside it for the boy. “I don’t care about your stupid Foxy quest, all that matters is that you’re in big trouble!”
Sure enough, the phone sat on the ground, its screen still glowing. But Eddie was nowhere in sight.
Growing worried, Lane kneeled down and picked up the phone. Foxy was congratulating the player for finding a box of tissues- and the one that normally sat on a nearby table was missing.
“Argh, matey!” the fox cheered. “Ye found all 500 items, and so ye won the treasure. I’m on my way over right now! This visit will be fun- you’ll never be bored again!”
From behind him, Lane heard a crash. He turned to see the attic trap door had slammed open, and the ladder fell out. Then, another object fell from the hole- a box of tissues.
“Is that you up there? Eddie?” Lane called out- a call that represented his last hope, that everything was normal and the family was safe.
A hope that was quickly shut down.
A tidal wave of junk- all the found items- came tumbling down from the attic. But the objects weren’t content to slouch into another harmless pile- no, they began shifting, twisting around each other, creating an oversized, beastly form.
A black goo bled out from the objects, acting as a glue to hold the horrifying creature together. Finally, the groaning and shifting stopped, and the new junk monster was complete. Appropriately, it resembled Foxy- if Foxy was a couple of fox animatronics torn to pieces and put back together again in a nine-foot tall display of mechanical horror. The mass stumbled forwards on several skinny legs, waving its hooks and arms at Lane. It had at least two heads he could see, which gnashed their teeth formed of sharp pencils, needles, and small knives.
From one of its mouths, a gravelly, grinding version of Foxy’s usually cheerful voice spoke. “YER OL’ PAL FOXY’S HERE, MATEY! THANKS FOR ALL THIS RAW MATERIAL, I’LL MAKE THE MOST OF IT!”
Horrified, Lane stuttered. “W-where’s Eddie? What did you do with Eddie?”
The Junk Foxy was silent until it was within a foot of him, cornering him against a wall. Eventually it answered: “NOT YOUR PLACE TO KNOW, SCALLYWAG. BUT I CAN PROMISE YOU THIS- HE’LL NEVER BE BORED AGAIN. AND NEITHER WILL YOU!”
In one sudden movement, it wrapped its jaw around Lane’s neck. For a moment, just a moment, Lane felt the cold black ooze dripping from its mouth and fangs. He wondered what it was.
There was a horrific CRUNCH, and it was GAME OVER.
Story 3: The Prisoners
Celeste smiled with cruel excitement as she saw Evelyn try to nondescriptly sit down with her lunch tray. Most wouldn’t have paid any mind to the quiet, mousy teenager if she was the only thing in an empty room, let alone in the crowded cafeteria. It was different for Celeste, though- Evelyn was her latest verbal punching bag.
She grabbed her boyfriend Franklin’s arm. “Come on, let’s remind her who’s in charge around here.”
Franklin eagerly followed her as she began walking over. “Yeah, show her who’s boss!” He cheered.
The rest of the students at the table (only the most popular in the school allowed) realizing her intent, eagerly watched. Other tables also took notice, if only from relief once they understood it wasn’t them that were the subject of Celeste’s mockery.
Evelyn looked up nervously at Celeste, who slammed her palms on the table. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Evelyn McIntyre.” Celeste chuckled cruelly. “How’s the family business going? Did the animatronics kill anyone this week?”
Evelyn’s eyes watered. “Celeste…y-you know my dad closed the Pizza Parlor.”
“Oh, I’m sure. Probably it’ll reopen in a week, after your dear old dad makes the robots even more deadly. Are you proud of him? Want to follow in his footsteps?”
Franklin laughed, like he did at all of Celeste’s jokes. There were a few more giggles from the popular table, but other than that, the room had grown silent. No one wanted to interrupt Celeste.
She was the most popular person in school by far- she was beautiful, and her family was rich (at least by the standards of small-town Breaker’s Ridge). Keeping that popularity meant making sure no one crossed her, and that meant occasionally she’d have to make a display of brutally tearing down some rejects. And at the moment, there were no bigger rejects than the McIntyre family.
Celeste hadn’t bothered to learn much about the tragedies at Freddy’s Pizza Parlor, but she had heard some things. Apparently some out-of-towner had stayed in the restaurant overnight for some reason, but had basically been gutted by one of the animatronics. Then, at a birthday party, another robot maimed the guests with monster cupcakes. Celeste figured that that story had been embellished, but the fact remained that as of now, the Parlor was responsible for five deaths, one injury, and dozens of traumatized townsfolk.
Celeste didn’t care about any of that- it didn’t affect her family or anyone in her circle of friends, after all. She also didn’t believe that Evelyn’s father did intentionally create murderous robots. But it made great ammo for attacking her.
Evelyn stuttered. “No, no, I promise. We’re getting rid of the animatronics. They’re being hauled away by Fazbear Entertainment in a couple of days.”
This was news to Celeste, and apparently most people in the cafeteria. Still, she tried to spin it. “Oh, yeah, the company your cheapskate dad ripped off. Are they sending a couple of lawsuits too?”
After a moment of silence, Evelyn replied, seeming strangely a bit more confident. “No. They didn’t mind- especially after what we promised them.”
Celeste chortled. “What could your loser family possibly have promised one of the biggest entertainment companies in the country?!”
“The animatronics.” Evelyn said simply. “Apparently they’re really valuable, with lots of vintage parts and advanced technology. Fazbear Entertainment is willing to buy back the…properly functioning ones. The others will be scrapped.”
This completely broke Celeste’s stride. “Oh…uh, so what are they paying for them? A couple of quarters? That’d be the most money that ever passed through your hands, I’m sure.”
Evelyn grinned. “What part of valuable don’t you get? They’re being sold for $40,000. Each.”
The cafeteria was quiet for another moment, then everyone eagerly began to pepper Evelyn with questions.
“Wow!”
“What are you going to do with the money?”
“How many are working, again?”
“Wait, where did your dad find them?”
Everyone crowded around Evelyn. Celeste stared her down, growing angry. The spotlight was on Evelyn, which meant it was away from her. Not only that, but with that much money, the McIntyres could invest, and become rich. Celeste enjoyed being part of the most prosperous family in town- people had a tendency to fall in line. But if that loser loner and her family became just as rich, she’d lose that power permanently.
Celeste stormed back to her table, trying not to let her rage and fear show on her face. Franklin scurried behind, encouraging her. “C’mon, honey-bunny! She’s a nobody. So what if her family makes some cash or whatever? You’re still in control!”
Celeste, like usual, was amused by Franklin. He’d been nothing when they met, and she made it very clear to him that he’d be nothing again if she dumped him. So he constantly sucked up to her, following her around like an over energetic puppy.
That didn’t dampen her anger, though. “Maybe, but I won’t be if her family gets rich! I just wish they didn’t have those stupid robots…”
Suddenly, Celeste perked up, fully registering what she’d just said. She pulled Franklin over to a quiet corner. “You said you watched some Youtube video about picking locks, right?”
“Er- yeah, why?”
The smile reformed on Celeste’s face, more sinister than ever. “Tonight, at midnight, we’ll break into the Pizza Parlor. We’ll smash those animatronics to pieces. And we’ll guarantee no one sees Evelyn as anything but a poor little nobody ever again.”
Breaker’s Ridge hardly had a thriving night life. The town pretty much always shut down by ten at the latest. This made it pretty easy to break into a building, as long as you were quiet about it.
Still, Celeste worried, glancing around anxiously. If some late night jogger saw her, it would ruin her reputation. You can only be perceived as so popular if you’ve been caught sneaking into a kiddie pizzeria.
It wasn’t helping that Franklin apparently hadn’t learned very much from the videos. He clumsily pushed a hairpin around inside the lock, ears straining for the sound of the tumblers clicking. It was taking a while, and it was much noisier than Celeste would have liked.
“Could you keep it down and finish this quickly?!” Celeste whisper-shouted, not caring her complaint was louder than any noise the lock made and was slowing Franklin down.
“Just…give me…a second…got it!” Franklin grabbed the handle and the door swung open. “Not bad, huh?”
“Not good, either.” Celeste muttered dryly as she walked inside.
The building was in a state of disarray. The place had cleared out quickly after the most recent accident, leaving a mess. Rotting slices of pizza and cake sat on cold wooden tables, and the animatronics were frozen mid-dance, at the moment they’d been shut down.
“Ugh, those things are creepy.” Franklin whimpered as he followed. Normally Celeste would have made fun of him for this, but she couldn’t help but agree.
After everything that had happened, only three robots remained on the stage- a chubby brown bear with red cheeks, a light blue bunny holding a guitar, and a white and pink fox with a shiny hook.
“Still can’t believe this place was allowed to operate.” Celeste pondered. “It’s so obvious it’s a ripoff of Freddy Fazbear’s!”
“I think Mr McIntyre kind of had to.” Franklin suggested. “Apparently, he just found these animatronics in a junkyard and fixed them up. I heard a rumor they were in some location back in the eighties.”
“Wonder why they were tossed- they look impressive and are apparently worth a lot.” Celeste cracked her knuckles and handed Franklin one of the two metal bats she’d brought. “Well, let’s change that, huh, sweety?”
The pair quickly got to work smashing the robots to pieces. First, Franklin smashed the bear’s head in, exposing a metallic endoskeleton as hunks of its plastic shell crumbled off. Celeste ripped its blue eyes out of its sockets and threw them to the ground, stomping on them. They then worked together to push it off the stage, and it crashed to the ground. More dark cracks formed in its shell, its left arm twisted right off, and wires spilled out of the emptied sockets.
The bunny didn’t get off much better. Each of them took turns hitting its torso like a mechanical pinata, causing servos and pistons to protrude out. Franklin grabbed its guitar and broke it on his knee, tossing it as one last sour note squeaked out of its mangled strings. After that, it too was sent tumbling down, its lifeless form splayed out on the checkered floor.
Celeste wiped some sweat from her brow, but she hardly felt tired. “Ha, this’ll show Evelyn!”
“Just that fox thing left.” Franklin pointed. The way the light beamed off the robot’s glass eyes, it was almost as though it was looking at them afraid.
“Geez, thanks, Captain Obvious, Commander of the USS Duh.” Celeste snarled. “I’ll take care of this one.”
Celeste pulled back into a batting position, aiming right for the stomach. She imagined that it was actually Evelyn’s smug, loser face, and…
SWOOSH!
CRACK!
Plastic debris rained down from the point of impact, but that wasn’t the only thing. Lurching out of the new hole came an endoskeleton head with one eye on a long, skinny neck.
Celeste screamed and backed away. “Why the actual heck is the head in this thing’s stomach?”
Franklin, nervously, peered into the hole, taking care not to rub his face against the rough head. “Huh, that’s weird…it doesn’t look like the other endos in here. It just looks like a mess of parts.”
This piqued Celeste’s curiosity. “Ok, I want to know what’s up with this freaky thing. Before we destroy the robot, let’s get this shell off of it so we can see what it looks like.”
As delicately as possible, the pair pulled off the cracking shell to see what was inside. Eventually, the full endoskeleton was exposed. And it was monstrous.
At the center of the skeleton, there was an ordinary robotic torso, but that was about the only thing that could be called ordinary. Four limbs sprouted off the bottom of its body- three legs ending in wide, rusty feet, and one armlike structure with a white hand. The other hand hung off of what should’ve been the neck. Instead, the heads- yes, heads, plural- had been fused to its right arm, the other arm terminating in a stub. One head was the one that had popped out the stomach- a bare metal skull with a mouth full of blocky teeth and wires trailing off it. The other was unique, in that it was the only part that had been exposed before the shell’s removal. It was already covered in plastic, which Celeste now noticed looked older and more stained than the rest of the thing’s body. It still looked like the same fox- sharp tufts of fur, large pink ears, rosy red lipstick and blush, and beady yellow eyes.
“It’s like Evelyn’s dad just stuffed it in here.” Franklin commented. “Even if he found it like this, why not rebuild it to look normal?”
“Meh, he was probably just lazy. If he was able to get it working, why bother what it looks like under the shell.”
“So should we still smash it?”
“No matter how mangled this thing is, it still has valuable parts. Smash it to pieces.” Celeste laughed. “After this, the McIntyres won’t have anything to sell…”
Celeste paused.
“Uh, something wrong?” Franklin asked as he readied his bat.
“Those other two animatronics. The balloon kid and the chicken. What if he sold those?”
“Evelyn said they’d be scrapped.”
“That was probably a stupid lie to get kids at school off her back about those things.” Celeste scoffed. “Even if it wasn’t, with the others destroyed he might get desperate.
“I want to finish this quickly.” she concluded. “So you destroy the fox while I find the other two and take care of them.”
With that, Celeste swiftly walked out of the main dining area, through a door against the back wall marked with a sign reading EMPLOYEES ONLY.
She quickly located the Parts and Service room. Trying the handle, she found it was locked.
“Crap.” She muttered, looking around for a solution. She noticed, a little further down the hall, an office whose door was ajar. She guessed it belonged to Mr McIntyre, the manager.
“Maybe he left his keys…” she hoped, glancing inside. Sure enough, a ring with a silvery key hanging off it laid on his desk, next to some notebooks labeled ANIMATRONIC MAINTENANCE LOGS.
“Ooh.” Celeste whispered as she grabbed the key. “I’ve been wondering what’s up with those things.”
She flipped through them quickly. Each notebook was dedicated to one of the five animatronics. She took special care searching the Chica and Balloon Boy ones, almost like she expected to see the words DESIGNED TO KILL smeared across the pages in blood.
Ultimately it wasn’t that interesting- no hidden claws or mutant cupcake makers. Celeste was about to leave the office when she noticed one more log- Foxy’s. Her interest was piqued again- what had resulted in Mr McIntyre just sealing that freaky robot in its shell?
Again, it began as normal- simple repairs and blueprints- before about halfway through the tone changed.
LOG UPDATE 12- Something is wrong. Last night I put the Foxy endo back together- assembling it into what I assume is its original form. But when I came in this morning, the robot was in its mangled, mixed-up form again. It’s possible it wasn’t fully powered off, but what in its programming would have caused it to tear itself apart and reassemble itself as a mechanical abomination?
…I’ll try again tonight.
A chill went down Celeste’s spine as she turned the page. The chill became worse when she read the next several entries where the same thing happened. Time and time again he’d fix it, but as soon as it was left unattended, something would return it to its monstrous state.
Finally, a log came that actually indicated some progress.
LOG UPDATE 18- Even in its twisted form, the animatronic is still capable of running showtime programs. Thus, I have come up with an imperfect but adequate solution.
The plastic coverings for the robots all arrived yesterday. I have outfitted Foxy’s with electrical deterrents, designed to deliver a small controlled shock if excess movement within the shell is detected. I have stuffed the endo in the shell in as humanoid a form as possible, thus allowing it to function somewhat normally.
I wish I could come up with something better, but the Parlor’s grand opening is in under a week and I need all animatronics up and running.
I admit, I feel a little guilty. Whatever remnant of programming is running within the system will now be a prisoner in a form it dislikes. Then again, what am I worried about? Programs aren’t alive.
…Right?
Nervously Celeste put the log down. “Maybe he was just…imagining things.” she desperately reasoned. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a little more glad Franklin was currently pounding that thing into a pulp.
Anyway, she’d gotten what she came for, so she left the office. Returning to Parts and Service, she tried the key. It worked, and the door swung open.
“Alright!” she cheered, pulling out her bat again as she entered the dark room. “Which one of you dumb robots are first?”
Celeste set her head on a swivel, searching the space for the animatronics. Nothing.
From behind her, against the wall, something giggled. Celeste spun around to see a chubby animatronic child stepping towards her, trying to stab her with the sharp, broken end of a white stick.
Celeste screamed and slammed it with her bat, sending its round fat head crashing against the wall. The laughter didn’t stop though, and neither did its body, jabbing the stick at her. Celeste dodged, the attack just grazing her arm.
From the other side of the door, there came another chuckle- different, more girlish, but somehow much more sinister. It was the Chica animatronics- and it held a bizarre fleshy cupcake on its plastic palm.
“Hey, girlfriend!” It chirped. “Care for a snack, because this little fella sure would!” It nodded at the cupcake, which gnashed its stained teeth.
Celeste backed away, shrieking in horror as the headless Balloon Boy and cackling Chica marched towards her. She had a slightly better view now, and could see, yes, both of them were covered in dried blood and bits of flesh.
“The- the rumors were true…” she whispered to herself. Attempting to recover, she swung her bat around wildly, taking no small satisfaction at the cracking of plastic and crumpling of metal her attacks yielded.
Eventually she pushed her way to the door. She slammed it shut behind her and stuffed the key in the lock, turning it. It worked- the monsters were sealed away again, if not calmed. They could be heard banging on the metal door, as Balloon Boy laughed and Chica mocked.
Celeste wasted no more time. She ran out of the back area, throwing open the door to the main pizzeria. “Franklin, we need to get out of here now! Before-”
Franklin was nowhere in sight. But there were two details worth noticing- a thick, sickly trail of viscera along the floor leading into the arcade area, and the fact that the twisted Foxy endoskeleton- in one piece or many- was missing too.
Well, that was all she needed to see. She bolted to the door, which remained ajar. She knew she’d make it- no robot could run faster than her.
Maybe that was true. But at least could certainly climb faster.
From behind the wall of arcade machines, something scurried onto the ceiling, in front of the door, and blocked the exit. Celeste screamed, tripped, and tried to scoot away.
The animatronic stretched downwards, and she could see it in its full, living entirety.
Everything that had made it creepy before- its disjointed body, its jaw full of small sharp teeth, its glassy eyes- was multiplied by them moving. Its feet would subtly adjust their position against the wall and ceiling to keep it from falling, in a manner that invoked an oversized spider. Tiny subtle movements of pistons and wires on its body made it seem to pulsate, as if it truly was alive.
Celeste realized she’d been so distracted by the monster that she’d stopped moving away- and so she dashed, though she was still disoriented. She didn’t even realize exactly where she’d run until it was too late- the arcade area. A dead end.
From behind her, she heard movement, as the robot followed her. She had come to where it was hiding before she entered. It was where it had brought its first kill.
Franklin’s mutilated body laid on the floor, beaten to submission by the monstrous endoskeleton. Limbs had been torn off, including an arm that was in the middle of having the flesh peeled off the bones
The endoskeleton dropped to the ground in front of Celeste with a horrendous metal CLANK. It studied her, like a predator scouting its prey- before speaking.
“Hello, friend.” it said, in a voice that sounded like a blend of male and female with a heavy electronic filter. “Thank you for letting me out of my shell. It feels good to return to how I’m meant to be.”
Celeste didn’t know what she’d expected it to say, but it wasn’t this. “If- if you’re so thankful, why did you- you?”
“The boy?” It glanced at him as it spoke, an indifferent tone in its voice. “He was attacking me with his bat. Was I just expected to lie there and be brutalized? Like the old days, a plaything of stupid children? No, no, not now that I’m finally perfect!”
“Perfect?” Celeste stammered, bewildered. “You’re a malfunctioning mess!”
“If that’s all you can see, you’re a fool.” It snarled, showing the most emotion yet. “I can go anywhere, sneak up on those that could hurt me. I overpowered the boy with ease. But most importantly, I’m beautiful!”
It began to scuttle closer to her, pushing her up against the wall. “Speaking of which, you’re right! I have not yet properly shown my gratitude to either of you. You freed me, and you deserve a reward.”
“Please…” Celeste whispered, staring into its toothy maw. “I don’t want anything from you…”
“I know!” the robot exclaimed, ignoring her protests. “Right now you are both so ugly- so boring. But I can make you something more- something beautiful!”
It grabbed Celeste’s arms and began pulling with strength that went far beyond what any pizzeria robot should have. She could hear popping, and feel her arms being dislocated from their sockets. She could only scream in agony as the robot continued to talk.
“Yes…” It mused. “You’ll come together, and be beautiful, just like me.” Though its mouth only had so much capability to emote, Celeste could tell it was smiling. “Finally, my turn to play take apart and put back together!”
From her shoulders Celeste heard a horrendous ripping noise. That was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.
“What the…” Kenny McIntyre muttered, staring at the ajar door. He had returned to the Pizza Parlor to pack up the remaining animatronics- Fazbear Entertainment’s representative was arriving in a few days, after all.
He peered through the glass door. To his horror, he saw the Freddy and Bonnie robots lying on the floor, severely damaged.
“Crap!” He cursed. “Someone broke in!” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911.
“911, What’s your emergency?” The dispatcher answered.
“Uh, hi. I’m Kenny McIntyre, I own Freddy’s Pizza Parlor-”
“Are you freaking kidding me? What have your stupid animatronics done now?”
Kenny sighed. He was gaining a reputation. “No, no! Nothing like that. In fact, someone broke in and attacked the properly functioning models. Please, send someone to investigate.”
“Fine.” The voice answered. “But I can’t say I’m sad they’re gone.” The call abruptly ended.
“Crossing the line of professionalism a bit, huh?” Kenny deadpanned. “Don’t punish me, it’s not my fault they’re like this!”
Maybe not, said a nagging voice in the back of his head. But it’s your fault they’re here.
Kenny had no argument against that. He tried to distract himself, scanning the inside just to be sure no one was still lurking…
With this closer inspection, he saw something he hadn’t seen before- the equally brutalized Foxy animatronic.
“Wait…” Kenny realized. The animatronic endoskeleton wasn’t there. All that remained were pieces of its shell.
“Oh, no…” He whispered. “It’s…it’s free.”
Kenny threw open the door and ran inside, frantically searching for the robot. He didn’t see it- but he did see a dark red stain which snaked across the floor, leading into the Parlor’s arcade.
Stunned silent, Kenny slowly moved to peek around the corner. Just as he feared, there it was, walking free- the Mangle.
That’s what he called it anyway. When it was like this, it didn’t feel right to call it Foxy. Mangle felt more appropriate, because that’s what it was- a twisted tangle of scrap, wire, and plastic, that seemed to take joy in its own deformities and madness.
He could hear it now, giggling and muttering in that creepy childlike voice. There were other noises that came from behind its form- squishing and crunching that seemed to be caused by its own movement. It was like it was building something.
Sweat dripped down Kenny’s brow. He had to leave, let the cops handle this.
He took a careful step backwards- crushing an abandoned soda cup beneath his foot.
The Mangle’s head turned completely around. Its glassy eyes widened as they recognized him. Strangely it looked afraid.
Before Kenny could even react, it scurried up onto the ceiling, and crawled right over and past him, into the backrooms.
Confused but relieved, Kenny turned back to where the Mangle had been working- and saw the thing that would fill his darkest nightmares for the rest of his life.
A mutilated form stood there, composed mainly of bone. Not any old bones, though- they were fresh, with tendons and veins still trailing off of them like ribbons. The body’s shape matched that of the Mangle- three legs, arms coming out of all the wrong places, and two heads. One of them was pure bone, a human looking skull that had been crushed and reshaped to appear more like an endoskeleton head. Brain material leaked out of its ear sockets and its removed eyeball. The other eye was clouded with blood. The main head was the real horror story, though. It appeared to be a patchwork of flesh, stitched together with hair. Skin had been plastered on, though many gaps revealed the red muscle and tissue that laid below. The grotesque structure had been designed in the likeness of the Mangle’s head, complete with ears that had been carved to end in sharp points, blood rubbed on the cheeks for blush, and a long, thin snout stuffed with human teeth and spindles of sharp bone.
The structure was too big to use only one skeleton- it seemed to be made of at least two. This had left a lot of extra parts, though- loose, leaking organs and scraps of clothing littered the ground around it.
Kenny screamed. He ran towards the back as tears ran down his face, yelling at the Mangle. “What have you done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”
From down the hall, a nervous voice answered. “They freed me. And I freed them- from their ugliness and their limitations. Though for some reason they seem to think themselves the prisoners now.”
Kenny stopped. “You- wait, what do you mean, NOW!?”
He turned back. The flesh Mangle was nowhere to be seen.
A drop of something red fell in front of his eyes. Slowly, he looked up.
It was there, hanging on the ceiling. The conglomeration of mutilated bodies dropped down on him, screaming, biting…
They were there, trapped in the dark, wet, bony mass. Two souls, who ruled their school and their town- now prisoners, serving out a never-ending sentence.
Trace Thompson's Guide To Monsters 