Owner's Trauma

∂ Chapter 07 ∂

It was... odd, the day after the fourth night shift. It was the first time the animatronics within the pizzeria other than Molten were able to remember the night. What made them shocked was the fact that Bryan, AI Afton, and Circus Baby weren't present. They had asked Molten about it, but he said that he didn't know, or he never answered the question.

Half an hour before the start of his night shift, Bryan returned with Baby and AI. "Bryan! Why weren't you on shift last night?" Freddy asked, immediately going on the offensive the moment the owner took a single step into the building.

"Lola offered to take the shift," Bryan shrugged, wincing when he moved his shoulder. No one seemed to notice it which Bryan found rather odd, especially with Freddy scanning his face so intently. "Why? Did something happen?"

"No," Freddy sighed, looking away from the man and towards the camera in the right corner of the main room. "That's just it. We found footage of last night and nothing... odd happened, but we still can't recover the past three nights footage. It's like it's been... deleted somehow."

Bryan glanced towards Molten who shook his head a small amount so it wasn't obvious to anyone looking, unless they were looking for any actions the pile of wires may be making. "I see," the brunette murmured before looking back at Freddy. "But isn't that a good thing? Not the deleted footage part obviously, but the fact that you remembered something from the nights."

Freddy shrugged. "Maybe. But I find it a bit odd. We remembered the night shift when you weren't here, but when you are here we can't remember and the footage is missing in the morning..." Electric blue eyes found gentle brown, a slight curiosity shining behind them. "Bryan, be honest with me here. Does anything happen on the night shift when you're here? Is that why the footage can't be found?"

"No," Bryan shook his head. "It's just a normal night shift. I mean, you guys do act... different, I guess, but it's not a bad different."

"That's not what I meant. What I mean is are we dangerous to you at night?"

Bryan faltered. How was he supposed to respond? The brown bear animatronic was right on the money! How the hell was he supposed to the respond to a question like that without telling them the truth? Everyone knew he hated lying to them, it was a struggle telling them what his past was like. Well, his childhood before everything went to shit, that is.

Noticing the human's hesitance, Freddy's eyes widened. "So we are..."

"No!" Bryan exclaimed, wincing as he raised his hand to place it on the bear's shoulder, straining his own whilst doing so. "No, you just caught me off guard with the question, that's all. You guys aren't dangerous to me. The night shift can just be stressful since, for some reason, you guys like to hang out in the vents... at 3 in the morning... making weird noises... You know, kind of creates a demonic vibe."

Freddy let out a soft chuckle before patting the man on his non-injured shoulder and heading to the Rockstar Stage where he began to speak with his band mates. AI came up beside Bryan shortly after, heaving a sigh of relief. "That was... close. Glad he believed you on the fact that it caught you off guard."

"I hate lying," Bryan mumbled, AI sending him a sympathetic glance before pointing to the clock. "Five minutes... is Baby joining us in the office tonight?"

"She is." AI nodded. "Molten explained how to cheat the... virus...? Malfunction...? What are we calling it?"

"I guess malfunction," Bryan shrugged before he, AI and Baby headed to the office after bidding goodbye to the others. Helpy wanted to join them but Molten was quick to come up with the excuse of it being "too cramped" in the office. Honestly, it kind of made sense and kind of didn't. the original Helpy animatronic was very small, perfectly desk sized. For some reason this Helpy model wasn't quite that small and was probably knee height, much like this version of Circus Baby. "May night five of seven begin..."