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Woowww! What an amazing deal! He had passionately thought to himself with a wide grin and beaming eyes as he marched out of the shop, his expression radiating such positivity. Scored a job! Ahahaha… the pay’s eight dollars an hour! I mean, He looked hesitant. that’s good, right? Right…. He dismissively shook his head, ridding of the hesitant expression and allowing his joyful one to return, continuing on his ecstatic march to home.
He still latches onto the fact that it’s an extravagant deal. But was the job fun? Certainly not. It was far from entertaining. And here he thought playing as some security guard at a night shift would be enjoyable at least somewhat, but instead what he sought to be an exciting experience came to be a panic-stricken one.
It was a job, yes, so he obviously stayed for it; he needed the money after all. But it was a horrifying task, and each sound he heard caused him to halt, engulfed in shock, before he could continue with… what was he doing? Twiddling a pencil between his fingers, one hand loosely on his chin, impatiently waiting for the night to end. He was just barely one hour into the job, and the fact that there was a huge lack of lights in the building frightened him. The only lights that were on were dim; they didn’t exactly contribute much, rather than illuminating shadows that he thought to be figures out to kill him.
The room he was in was kind of packed too. Though it had a… somewhat amiable atmosphere, with a poster of the Pizzeria members in front of him. There was a cup beside one of his phones too, but it was crinkled, and appeared old.
Ah shit. I’m supposed to be watching the cameras. That’s, like, the whole part of this job.
He directed his gaze to the short device on the table, clicking buttons at random and shifting through each room, occasionally turning the camera to peer at certain parts of areas. He halted his clicking when he approached a certain room though, sucking in a sharp gasp as his eyes began to widen.
In this room were animatronics; a chicken, a bunny, and a bear. They stood lifelessly, their heads tilted slightly downwards, yet the shadows cast on them and the fact that they were even here at night scared Shin. Their figures resembled the build of a human, and if he saw one of those in pure darkness, or at least couldn’t make out that they were animals, he’d likely pass out.
He knew that this was some kid’s place, a place to snack on pizza, enjoy scenery, play and fool around, and that these animatronics were some kind of mascot, or at least performed concerts there. Nonetheless, even though he practically knew that they wouldn’t get up and start moving because they’re spiritless robots (or are they?), he felt frantic. He knew they ran on some sort of code, some sort of tech-savvy bullshit, but seeing them at night unlocked a whole new perspective on what were supposed to be convivial furry friends for kids to look up to.
Despite all this, despite knowing that no way in hell they could move, he still felt dread, a massive sense of paranoia clawing at him.
I’m just going to keep the camera on these three. Heh.
His eyes traced slowly to the left before snapping back to the device.
Where’s the fox?! I remember there being a fox!
Realization grew upon him that the fox wasn’t there. He flipped through cameras, glaring into each room and taking in each and every surrounding with precaution, overlooking every item he could see before moving to the next room.
Though he finally stopped when he remembered. The fox had his own room. With a shaky sigh of relief, he switched the camera to where the fox was. His area was closed, but he could see the faint figure of the animatronic between the curtains.
It was a good thing he was taught the layout of this place.
He returned the camera back to the area with the three other animatronics before yet again going into another state of pure fear; one was missing. One was fucking missing. How in the world, how in hell could an animatronic get up and walk on it’s own two robotic legs that are supposed to be coded to, what, dance? He didn’t know what the hell was happening but if it was some absurd prank he found it far from amusing.
And it was the chicken that was missing. He had to admit that one scared him the most, with her gaping beak and little shards of teeth scattered within it.
He glanced to his left and right. If there were any animatronic near him he’d be able to see them with the two windows plastered on each side of the wall but they didn’t serve for much.
Though there were large green buttons that opened and closed the two doors beside him. There were also ones for lights.
Is this what those doors are for? I thought this was some simple night job, not a literal hellhole?!
He came to regret signing up for this job, despite its stellar deal. He felt petrified, and he didn’t want to close the door because there was in fact a limit for power. He’d have to be careful.
It’d be best to see where the chicken went.
He placed a trembling hand on the device forth of him, switching between rooms before he had found the chicken; Chica was her name, he believed. She was one room ahead where her other two companions rested.
That was definitely better than what could’ve been worse to come.
Alright. Gotta stay here about… what? Five hours?
“Well.” He quietly chuckled aloud. “Don’t think I’ll make it.”
So I better find a way out.
But just how will I get past those animatronics?
He shook his head. It felt too risky, too hazardous.
Though after all, he didn’t know if the robots were out for blood, supposedly. I mean… weren’t they for kids' entertainment? Maybe they were going to come sing ‘Happy Birthday’....?
Unfortunately, his paranoia swarmed him too much to even trace upon that thought. He was set and firm on the belief that the animatronics were coming to brutally slaughter him.
He returned his focus back onto the device. The chicken was no longer there.
Shit shit shit shit shit.
He surfed between cameras, his eyes grazing for the figure of the chicken, before he halted where the other two were; well, where the other one was because the bunny was gone, oh fuck the bunny was gone, holy fucking shit.
“It’s barely b-been a minute!” He huffed.
He had then shot around toward his left, glaring at the darkness that took over the door as he heard hefty scuffing, something seemingly like metal scritching against tile. He whisked forward and shoved his hand on the light button, staring through the window to be greeted with the grotesque imagery of Chica; her jaws gaped, what seemed like her eyes staring back to him, almost in a taunting sense, her head at a slight crooked angle that certainly contributed to the horror theme she was perfecting. With a muffled shriek he directed his hand downwards, smacking the other button and hearing a slam as the door shut.
He wobbly backed up. “Whew… Jesus…”
At this point he was sweating an intense amount, trounced in utter fear.
And that bunny, Bonnie, was it? is still out there! Gah…
But before he could make an effort to search for Bonnie, he heard hasty slaps against tile. It sounded like… running?
Which didn’t fail to worry him even more.
He raced forward, pressing a hand against a door button, this time for the door on the right. It shut close and he sighed.
But he leaped backwards with a squeal as he heard banging against the metal door. The sounds echoed, bouncing off the walls and the door even shifted a bit too before the banging faded to a halt and defeated, almost dejected footsteps padded off into the distance.
“What… What was that?!” He mumbled, struggling to maintain his voice with how swift his breathing pace was. At this point he could practically even hear his heartbeat pounding ruthlessly in his aching ears.
Wait! The power!
He had abruptly opened the door to the right before approaching the left one, clicking the light button to see if Chica was still there. Thankfully, she was not. She must’ve left when the other door was banging.
He, much to his sorrow, fearfully opened the door. After about a minute of staring into the darkness, he allowed his shoulders to slouch; good, nobody was there. At least as of now.
I need to get out of here.
The power was at 58%. That definitely wasn’t good.
Making his way back to the device, he checked the security cameras. The bear was gone too.
I’m just going to take a break for it. Can’t deal with this anymore.
Luckily, he was supplied with a flashlight beforehand, but he wasn’t sure if had as many batteries as he hoped it would.
I believe there’s a door backstage? Guess we’ll see.
Despite how appalled he felt, he supposed that his impatience was the one that overtook him more, as he placed one shaking foot out to the left door, switching his flashlight on and waving it around. It didn’t provide much light, but it was better than pure darkness.
Just… imagine they aren’t there! Yeah! Have to be brave...
He wandered around, placing a hand against the wall to support his shaky balance. He tried to keep track of where he was going as he glanced at each and every corner he could, desperately hoping an animatronic wouldn’t suddenly pop up. He walked down the long corridor, passing a door with a probably empty room as he approached the dining area. His flashlight flickered and he fluttered it around more, its light flashing against rows upon rows of tables with crumpled purple party hats along with leftover plates of pizza.
His flashlight then traced against the stage where the animatronics usually performed. There were none there.
God, I hate this…
He carried on, swerving past tables and making his way closer to the backstage area. He occasionally stepped over plastic, hearing it crink beneath him, making him jump out of fear only to realize he was the source of the sound.
Suddenly, he felt his body lurch forward as he slipped against some kind of liquidy substance. He face-planted against the floor with a muffled ‘oomph!’, feeling his clothes submerge in whatever liquid he had tripped in. With a sharp inhale and exhale, he pulled himself weakly upwards, shaking his arms with a discontent groan.
Though his eyes had widened and he felt his previous fear increase much more.
“W-What if… they heard me…?”
And with the hitched breath and sounds of metal behind him, he knew they had.
Yet he slowly turned around, very slowly, even though he knew what was to come; he felt as if he were frozen in place as shock overwhelmed him and his flashlight directed itself at the lanky figure looming over him. The robot had tears in its form, and its eyes pointed down at Shin; how the hell could they do that? Nonetheless, he couldn’t question it, how the fuck would he be able to question such a terrible sight, as he gave way to a shriek, oh god, it was the bear, the bear was right behind him and now he’s facing the bear, and he’s not doing anything holy shit he’s gonna d-
He whipped around, snapping out of his thoughts and skidding forward, racing down the hall. His heartbeat felt even more intense now, screaming against his inner horrified monologue as he sped on, halting to an abrupt stop to turn and shove the door to the backstage open.
He ran inside the new room, panting as he shoved away coat racks; his effort didn’t do too much, and the obstacles in his path rather slowed his pace. Pushing his way between items upon items, he headed to the back of the room as quick as he could, getting closer and closer to the room, only to be met with-
-two boxes?
Two boxes covered the door. He could see the door behind the boxes, yes, but the boxes were there, blocking him from entering.
“I…”
By now he could hear items being shoved around and he knew it wasn’t him, but rather the bear. With a muffled squeak he pressed his palms upon the boxes, shoving at them with all the energy and power he could muster, though it was useless. They barely even budged.
“Holy fuck…”
He aggressively shook his head. No time sulking over this bullshit. He had to find a way to escape and fast.
He ran over to the coat rack. To his relief, it was propped up against some wheels. He pushed it forward as hastily as he could, hearing the loud booming of metal clanking against tile. The bear was getting near, at a rapid pace at that. He gulped.
Once he had brought the coat rack to the boxes he moved it to the side of one, shoving the rack forward. With the assistance of the new weight, the boxes began to shift to the left before hitting the wall. Now there was enough space for him to dash through.
He crawled under the coat rack, shuffling past coats and making his way over to the door, when instantaneously he felt something grip at his foot, oh my god the bear fucking had him, he didn’t know how longer he could withstand this he just wanted to go home.
His wide eyes snapped back onto the bear with a frightful look as he flailed his foot around, trying to kick the bear away but it was no use. He was panicking, he was panicking so much he could feel his thoughts crumble away, it was so difficult to form a coherent thought, and here he was so close to victory yet so fucking far.
His eyes traced the coat rack.
The wheels.
He shoved the coat rack with all his might and it sped forward, smacking against the bear and sending the animatronic onto his back. With a trembling, fearful chuckle Shin stumbled to his feet, turning around and twisting at the doorknob. He flung the door open and raced out, jogging out into the street as he heard the door shut behind him.
“I’m out! I… I made it! Oh my…”
He headed over to his car, grabbing his car keys and unlocking the door, quickly making his way to the driver seat as he started the car, hearing its engine revv much to his satisfaction.
“I did it… Fuck! I’m never working there again!”
By now he could feel himself calm down yet his nerves were still tense; he didn’t exactly think this was something he could get over so easily.
Well, as long as he’d get his eight dollars, he’d be content.
Slamming his foot against one of the car pedals and firmly grasping onto the wheel, he backed out of the parking lot, directing his route to home.