Animatronics Awaken

The Start of Something Inexplicable

 "Cheyanne?" My mom knocked on my door a couple of times. My eyes shot open, realizing I had slept in. The alarm went off ten minutes ago, to which I snoozed and fell asleep. I desperately scrambled out of bed and haphazardly made the bed, all while calling, "Hold on!" to my mom, waiting behind the door. I dressed down and tossed my pajamas in the laundry while throwing on jeans with a basic white T-shirt that had a red rose on it. Over that, I put on my favorite hoodie: all black with a teddy bear's face on it.

"You're gonna be late for your lesson!" My mom exclaimed from the other side and knocked again. Usually, she didn't care about the timing of our homeschooled lessons, but this was one of those days when both my parents had to work. My dad had a full-time job as a 911 operator, sometimes pulling nightshift as well in a 14-hour day. My mom took up a part-time job in retail after I was old enough to take care of myself. Sometimes, their shifts overlapped, so I'd be left at home alone. On these days, my mom would make sure we did our homeschooling lesson early, at around 8 A.M., so we'd be done before she left for work at 11 A.M. My dad was already gone at this time, with his shifts starting at 7 in the morning.

"I'm coming!" I shouted, irritated. It's been about a week since the nightmare I had at the high school, and I've barely hung out with any of my friends since then. It was typical for us to go a couple of days without contact here and there as we each got busy with other things, but a week was getting me worried. Was it really because of my outburst that they were ignoring me? Were they mad at me for some reason? I was planning to visit Lilly today after my schooling to see what was up or see if everyone has been occupied with other things.

I also did tons of research on the little boy's case. I discovered that the rabbit in my dream was named Nightmare Bonnie. And it turned out the boy had the same dream every night, where he had to survive against these so-called Nightmare Animatronics. The only weapon he had was a flashlight that he had to shine at them to keep them at bay. The setting was described as the same bedroom I had the dream in, so when someone got close enough to the door that he could hear breathing, he had to shut the door on them. I was put in the same scenario as the kid in my nightmare, same room, same flashlight. It was unknown what would happen if the boy failed to keep the animatronics at bay, and one snuck into his room, for he never let it happen. At least, that's what is assumed. He had died in the middle of the night. So could it be that he failed and one snuck into his dream room the same night he passed away...? And if that's the case, I might've had the same fate if my friends hadn't woken me up at that moment...

A chill went up my spine, and I pushed the thought away, trying to forget it altogether. My friends were probably right; it probably was a stupid, harmless dream. Hell, doing the research and diving deeper into the story might make the dreams worse. But I haven't had another since the one at the high school. I'm overthinking and putting way more thought into this than there should be. Nothing is wrong, and after I get some answers from Lilly and the others later, things can return to normal. But at that thought, I felt another shiver and apprehension overwhelm me.

As soon as I finished getting dressed, I hurried downstairs to meet my mom in the dining room. She had already laid out the papers for our schooling lesson on the table, along with a plate of fluffy pancakes topped with slices of ripe bananas and a generous drizzle of syrup. The sight and smell of the delicious breakfast made my mouth water, and I made sure to thank her for the meal before sitting down in front of the papers.

As I savored the sweet and savory flavor of the pancakes, my mom sat down next to me in front of her plate of food and began the lesson by picking up an English lesson book she had prepared and often referred to. "Today, we're going to learn about synonyms and antonyms and refresh your skills on them," she announced, flipping through the pages. I mentally groaned, realizing that this was going to be a long and tedious morning.