Chapter Text
September 15th
"Mike gave me a journal—meaning you—to write in. To write down everything, but I'm not sure I can write that much. It's such a shame. (Mike says to always put periods at the end because it's the right thing to do. I don't see the point here, but since Mike said so, I'll do it.)"
September 22
"It’s going to be cold at home. Not now, but later. The windows in the living room are broken. There’s a reason, of course, but I don’t blame them. They didn’t break the windows willingly. The animatronics are generally kind, very kind. They were just controlled. That guy who’s Vanessa’s brother seemed sad to me. I think Vanessa hurt him. Like I sometimes do to Mike when I do something bad, and then we fight. But we make up almost immediately, whereas Vanessa doesn’t with that guy. I feel sorry for him, he’s handsome (sadness doesn’t suit him, but that’s a secret, diary, otherwise Mike will get mad). And now we have pizza for breakfast and sometimes dinner. Of course, I like it, why shouldn’t I, but I’m starting to miss pasta. Mike says it (breakfast and dinner) is due to “insufficient funds.” I barely wrote it down. What a choice of words he is. And now I'm living with Jeremiah, but I call him Joe. Mike said it's because the house is being renovated. He somehow forgot that it was being renovated before. Oh well. But Joe always has chocolate milk in the fridge, and I eat cereal with milk for breakfast."
September 23rd
"We cleaned the house today. Mike hung sheets on the windows; they fly up to the ceiling in a really cool way. I love hiding behind them and scaring Mike. Every time I scare him, he gets genuinely scared and asks me not to do it again. We also cleaned up all the animatronics. Mike took them to Henry and said they'd be fine. I don't know who Henry is. When I ask about him, Mike waves his hand and says he knows him."
September 25th
"We watched TV today. Cartoons. I really like the cartoons on Channel 54. They’re interesting, not like those on Channel 27. They’re so boring.” Joe laughed, and Mike said it wasn’t the boring cartoons, but the program. He never said what the program was. Vannesa is missing. She doesn’t come to see us anymore. I want to see her, and I also want to go home. I want to go home even more. When I asked Mike about her, he said she wasn’t coming anymore. He said she lied to us. I don’t quite understand him. I lied to him too, saying I ate all the porridge, when in fact I threw it in the bottom of the trash can and covered it with garbage. I didn’t mention that, otherwise he’d start checking there, and I don’t want to look for new places to hide. And Joe doesn’t have that nasty porridge. And Mike got a call. They said we won't be studying for a week. I'm glad. That means I'll be watching cartoons all day long."
September 27th
"We were making cookies. They didn't turn out right. I don't know how that happened; we did it just like in the book. Joe said he might have messed up the portions. I think he said it wrong... I didn't hear him; he whispered it and then waved it off. Mike told me not to be sad about it. Silly Mike, but I wasn't sad. I thought it was funny. Mike sneezed so funny and squinted every time the wind blew flour around. I was having a great time with my brother. But then they kicked me out of the kitchen and told me to go watch TV or play. I wanted to help them clean up after the mess Joe and Mike made. Oh well." (An angry face is drawn in red gel pen at the end of the sentence)
September 30th
"I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, it just happened. It’s not my fault that when I needed Mike to play cop, he was talking to Joe. I didn’t quite understand what they were talking about. Something about that Henry and Mike. I’m not sure. Why did Mike talk about himself as if he were someone else? I don’t know. Maybe they’ve invented a secret language and don’t want me eavesdropping. But I’ve never eavesdropped! (Okay. That time Mike talked to Auntie about Christmas doesn’t count. I needed to be ready for her arrival. And that time Mike got a work call, only I don’t remember anything from that day. It was so long ago, I couldn’t read very well then. But that doesn’t matter! And anyway, I’m telling you this in confidence, diary. Let it be our secret.)"
October 1st
"I didn't want to get up, absolutely not! But that nasty Mike had other ideas: he tried everything he could to get me out of bed—he tickled me, he took my blanket, he even threatened to douse me with cold water (but I know he'd never do that, Mike loves me too much for that... The ellipsis is made up of little hearts). But he managed to drag me out of bed. Mike promised we'd go trick-or-treating today (and we really did). And then you'll ask me, Diary, what all this is about. And I'll answer. It's all because school's back in session. We continued studying. It's a little sad, because I can't watch cartoons for long anymore. But overall, I'm happy, because I like studying. Today in robotics, we learned how to use electricity in robots with fewer risks (not that there were any last time either). Also, Mr. Berg is giving me strange looks for some reason. Could it be because of Chica? And for some reason (we weren't told what exactly), the fair is being postponed and will be held in a month. This gives us "more time to come up with ideas and develop them, and please take this with the utmost seriousness," Mr. Berg said. I'll come up with something, I promise. Not the beautiful mini-animatronic Chika that Chika and I made together. But I believe I can do it!"
October 2nd
"Can you imagine, diary, we have a new kid in our class! But why did he come so late? Maybe he was sick, or something else. School starts in September, after all. Most likely, he just moved with his family (I'll have to ask him). But that's not the point now. Our teacher introduced him and said his name was Gregory. And they sat him next to me. I really enjoyed talking to him. He's so smart, if a little arrogant. Of course, I don't like people like that, but he wasn't that big of a deal. He was tolerant. So, after biology (where he was introduced to us), we went to the cafeteria for lunch. I was really hungry and got myself some mashed potatoes with chicken, and an apple and orange juice for a snack. Gregory got a salad, a banana smoothie, and also an apple. I was surprised and asked why he'd eaten so little; it was lunchtime. And Gregory replied that he had eaten a hearty meal in the morning, and that his guardian cooks deliciously, and that the food from home is better than the school food, (it's true, sometimes I think any food would be tastier than the school cafeteria). I also noticed that when Gregory talked about his guardian, he was very kind in his words. Apparently, he has a good parent. I also know that usually in orphanages (where Gregory most likely comes from) all the children are angry and sad, and when adults come to visit them, they scold them. I don't understand this. But I'm happy for Gregory, he's lucky. Oh, and when I asked about the food from his home, he said he would definitely bring something from home for me to try. And listening to Gregory and his stories about his dad's cooking (Gregory only talked about one guardian, and he was a man), I really wanted to try it. After lunch we went to math. And it turns out I'm smarter than Gregory at it! Ha! I wiped his nose. But then I immediately remembered how the Bowles sisters from my class told me how they were punished for bad grades. I immediately apologized to him, not wanting to get my new friend into trouble. Gregory simply brushed me off and said he doesn't get scolded for that. I believe Gregory and am happy that everything is fine. After math class, we went outside during recess and sat there. The whole time, Gregory and I were throwing papers with notes, drawing faces in our textbooks (in pencil, of course), and drawing our history teacher, Mr. Swan. We almost got caught, but Gregory managed to distract he, and I quickly put the papers in my backpack. After class, we went home (it turned out we were going the same way!). Along the way, we talked about robots and how to build them. It turns out Gregory is quite knowledgeable about that! And when we approached my house, we said goodbye, and Gregory went on his way. I wasn't in a hurry to go home. I watched which way he went. Gregory went left and turned behind the house. I'll remember."