Save Us

Chapter 6

I had kept my distance for the past nights as I assessed the new night guard, well now guards with the new one coming in last night. I can't believe the one with dull, blue highlights almost saw me; I should've been more careful as they were leaving. Good thing Jeremy's friend Mike had been there to convince him not to look down my hall... I don't know if that new guard can be trusted. He's too familiar...

"H-hey W-Will." Jeremy's voice made me glance up from staring dully at the stage... they always played the same old songs. "D-do you k-know how M-Mike's sh-shift was?"

"He made it through." I looked up at him. "What do you know about that new guy?"

"N-not much."

"I don't trust him. As much as I don't want your friend dead... I don't want the other guy around. He's too..." I tilted my head to the side for a moment, confusion going through me. "Familiar in a bad way."

"I'm s-sure he's a-a good m-man." He shrugged it off and turned away to go back to his job, he did have living customers after all and they were much more important.

With a sigh I moved off to the side of the main room, unnoticed as usual, and looked around at the mobs of kids and overwhelmed or bored looking parents. Why did the night guard look so familiar? "His hair style was like my brother's... I think... at least... they both had color in it..."

But that wasn't it. The fact I was finding it difficult to recall things disturbed me. It had happened before on occasion- and seemed typical for spirits given the state of what had become of my friends' minds- but not over important details like this. I looked up at the stage. It had been sickening to learn what had happened to the bodies of my friends- knowing their souls were trapped even after their bones were gone- and even worse when I realized that by the time I had 'woken up' they had already forgotten who I was to them.

"They hated him too though. I could tell... Perhaps his eyes?" I shuddered as I thought back to the glimpses I had gotten of the new guard. Those pale eyes... they scared me more than his sickly looking skin tone and un-kept, wiry hair. "That's right... that purple guy- Vincent I think? He had eyes like that under his mask... right before all the blood..."

I shook the thought from my head as I realized my hands had curled into fists at the anger, my nails were biting into my palm but it wasn't like I could be hurt. I was already dead. "Because of him!"

The air grew colder around me and I swore there was faint laughter echoing around me. However, nothing had changed from the usual chaos of the restaurant. I suddenly felt the need to run away from it all. The screams, the lights, the smell of too cheesy pizza, and the blasted songs repeating into eternity were getting overwhelming for me. I located my hallway and ran down it until I reached the door. The pull to get behind the door evaporated the strange anger that had appeared before and I slumped down against the barricade.

"Eventually I'll get in... I'll find you, brother... we'll be set free of this place." I whispered, knowing I'd get no response, and placed a hand on the door. "...If you're even in there... Wait for me, please...? Just like I did for you."

Footsteps, muffled by the music and cheering from the other room, turned down into the hallway. I muffled my crying, unsure of who it was or why there had come this way. For a moment I thought the person would walk on by... but then a shadow fell over me and when I looked up I saw the new night guard. "Why's he back so soon? The night shift isn't even close to starting."

"You lost?" The pale man- I think he'd called himself Ash- knelt down in front of me with a rustle of his jacket after looking around for anyone else. "Hey, um, I can... help you find your parents."

I stared at him, taking in his disgruntled hair and dark circles under his dead looking eyes. The question of why he was here again filled my mind but it wasn't like I could just ask him that. Still... I'd have to lie my way out whether he really intended to help or not. "N-no... I just tripped looking for the bathroom..."

He gave me a look that suggested he was trying not to call me a stupid or clumsy kid and rose back up with a nod. His tone suggested he was bored of my existence as he stood back up and started walking away. "If you say so."

I watched as he gave a strange look to the boarded up door behind me one last time before he turned the corner. Carefully, I began to follow after him. Ash now had his hands shoved into the jacket's pockets and was looking around, carefully trying to avoid the mess of children as he got closer to the stage. I trailed after him, wondering more and more what he was doing; surely he wouldn't just be here to stare at animatronics right? That's all they were to him; he didn't- couldn't- know they were possessed right?

The three figures on the stage jerked sharply as he continued to watch them but could only continue their programed act. I shuddered to think of the scene they'd cause if the spirits inside could override the day mode coding. I jumped out of my needless worries as the night guard once again was on the move; this time his destination was less than safe: Pirate's Cove. This man had to be a dummy to go up to that motionless, star patterned purple curtain all alone while ignoring the obvious sign in front that clearly read 'Out of Order'. If he got hurt here no one would notice for a while, after all, why would anyone come to this room if the animatronic was broken?

"Even these pirate themed toys aren't enough to warrant coming back here to play. If I could still die and saw that sign I'd know better than to poke around. Who does this guard think he is?"

I moved along the sides of the room, slowly getting closer as I watched him poke around the curtain for a few moments before seeming to gain the courage to pull it back slightly, revealing the tattered and stained red-orange fur and powerful jaws Foxy possessed, and how could I ever forget that sharp hook. How that animatronic had ever been allowed near children I would never understand- and I was a kid- by now I had enough time to realize the maker of these things should've known a sharp hook and set of sharp teeth on a robot was bad, even if the original programing wasn't meant to cause harm. They could've at least used a hook that didn't have an actual point on it... accidents tend to happen when something has a lot of teeth too.

The guard was walking around Foxy, trying not to touch it as he moved on the edges of the small stage, occasionally muttering to himself about something before hopping down and pulling the curtain closed once more. I hid in the shadow of a toy pirate ship as he turned around and started to leave, failing to notice the curtain move a little as the thing inside was disturbed. I gave a sigh of relief that Foxy hadn't activated with the new guard so close- Foxy would of course be on his day mode but that didn't stop malfunctioning animatronics from attacking- once it was night again... I didn't know what Foxy would do. The spirit in him would probably be very unhappy for the visit just now.

"And they no longer listen to reasoning... their like animals now. Just as the suits resemble." I stared at the curtain a few seconds longer, watching as it once again settled down, before turning and walking away with a frown. "I did this to them and now I can't even help set them free."