THE CYCLE OF TORMENT

CHAPTER IX: ENEMY TURNED ACQUAINTANCE

Millie didn't get a wink of sleep that night. She was so confused by what was happening. Funtime Freddy was gone. Her grandpa said that he was too old to move. Was that another thing the bear faked? No, she thought back to that weird vision she had. That dark presence fixed him somehow. Still, she didn't know who or what that presence was. Could it have been that cloaked figure? No. For some reason, Mille felt a different feeling from it when she saw it. She needed to find out more. She got her phone and began scrolling through whatever story she could find.

Millie finally found one story that intrigued her, the urban legend of the Stitchwraith. Millie heard a few students at her school talking about it, but she didn't pay attention to it until now. The way the article described it was uncannily similar to the cloaked figure she just encountered outside. It was apparently digging through dumpsters and taking random objects. Nothing too strange. Just dolls, mannequin torsos, and old toys. Now that she thought about it, that was strange. Why would it go after those things specifically? Maybe that was why it was out there in the first place. It was probably looking for something that peaked its interest. But what could possibly...

Funtime Freddy. It was looking for Funtime Freddy. That... actually made sense. At least, it kinda made sense. What she still didn't understand was why it was trying to find him in the first place.

Maybe it had something to do with that presence she felt. Now that she's thinking about that, how in the world did she have that strange vision?! All of her other visions until now were just dreams and the result of PTSD. This was different. It felt like it actually happened. She could feel everything. She felt the emotions. She actually felt sick from it. Millie also noticed that she had a massive headache while having the vision. This was getting strange. Millie had to find Funtime Freddy somehow. As stupid as it seemed, she couldn't let him hurt anyone else.

***

School went by same as usual. She sat with Dylan and they talked for a while. Her gym class was having a free day, so everyone sat on the bleachers. Millie wrote poems for a while, but she had to look at more stories on her phone. She needed to find something, anything about Funtime Freddy. She looks for a while, but finally finds a small amount of information. Funtime Freddy was from a small group of highly advanced animatronics made by Afton robotics. The robots were located at Circus Baby's pizza world. They were some of the most advanced animatronics ever made by the company. There were rumors about-

Just as she was getting to the rumors, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Millie turned off her phone and looked at whoever it was that decided to bother her for some reason. It was that same jockey that had been bothering her yesterday. She groaned in annoyance and rolled her eyes.

"What do you want?" She asked. He stood there awkwardly for a few moments. "Well? Are you going to make fun of me or what?! I have stuff to do and you're wasting my time, so either get it over with or leave!" She said, aggravated.

He cleared his throat and spoke up. "Listen, I uh... I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I was just making fun of you because-"

"Because what? Because your friends told you to? Because you just wanted to be noticed? Well, congratulations. You've been noticed. And I assume that this is just another sick joke just to make me feel even more miserable?" Millie said annoyed.

"I-... yeah. I was just blending in." He admitted. "So you have no personality of your own? You just let those meatheads mold you into whatever they want you to be?" Millie asked.

"No! It's nothing like that! The guys are just not really into..." The jockey started.

"Not into what? Girls who wear dark clothes and black makeup? Girls with less meat on their bones? That's the problem with the people in this school! You all think you're so fucking popular and that you're above everyone else when in reality, you're not. You're just fakers pretending to have everything people like me don't. You and your "friends" have no personality whatsoever. You're all just guided by your desires and your need for attention. Figure that out, and then we'll talk. Until then, eat shit and back off before I hit you in the face again!" Millie said with anger.

The jockey just sighed and stood his ground. "Honestly... yeah, you're right." He said. Millie looked at him with confusion.

"I never really felt like I fit in here. I joined the team not just because I was good at football, but also because I wanted to fit in and be noticed more." He admitted.

Millie didn't know how, but she had a feeling that he was being honest. Still, she denied it. "Well, that sure was easy for you to say. How do I know this isn't just some scheme to take advantage of me?" Millie said, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess you don't." He said defeated as he started walking away. He suddenly turned and looked back at Millie. "Oh, umm... can I ask what you were doing?" He asked curiously.

"Well, unless you know something about urban legends... get lost." Millie responded bitterly. "Is this about that Stitchwraith thing?" He asked. Millie rolled her eyes. "Why do you care?" Millie asked. "I'm just trying to help." He said.

"Well, I don't need help. Not from the likes of you. Besides, you shouldn't know anything about what I'm doing." Millie said.

The jockey sighed again. "Alright. I won't annoy you anymore I guess. One more thing..." the jockey said before taking out a sheet of paper, writing on it, and giving it to her. "That's my number. If you want my help, call me." He said.

"Why would I ever do that? I don't trust you! I don't even know who you are!" Millie argued. "I'm Glen." He said before walking away.

Millie sat there. She needed to calm herself down. Maybe she should've tried to be nicer to him, but he deserved it. He was bullying her the whole time she's been in school. Besides, she couldn't really help it either way. Her head felt weird while she was talking to him. It wasn't a migraine or anything bad, it was just... weird. She didn't know how or why she was getting these weird feelings whenever she was talking to people. She instinctively felt the cut on her forehead. She felt a weird tingling feeling. That feeling again?

END OF CHAPTER IX