Work Text:
Foxy’s prologue:
It was nineteen eighty seven when it happened. The day that they shut me down. And I remember it so clearly...
“Yarrr Mikey, ye will always be me friend! Ye come to Foxy, and ye be brave for not being scared of ol’ Foxy!” I said to a young child. He had dark brown hair and blue eyes. Always wore a pirates uniform, ready to sail the seven seas..
The lad’s name was Mike. Well, that was all I could remember. He was a great kid. So friendly towards the other lads and lasses... He became a regular to Freddy’s Pizzaria. He never paid mind to me mates, always came right to me..
“Why would I be scared of you, Foxy? You’re my hero!” He exclaimed with a large smile upon his face.
“Hero?” I said, confused. Very few children had called me a hero. Let alone, ‘their’ hero..
“Yeah! You’re a brave and strong pirate! I want to be brave and strong when I grow up too!”
“You are a brave lil’ pirate yourself, Mikey.”
“Really?”
“Arrr, I’d like to hire ye, to be on me hearty crew!” I exclaimed. I knelt down to meet the young lad’s eyes. I had hired many kids before him to be on me “crew”. They all were ecstatic to join. In return, they all got eye patches from the employees here.
“What do ye say, Mikey?”
“Hey kid!” A voice rang out from the side of me stage. I glanced to the side, an employee was looking our way, but he was being tied up with kids asking for things.
“You’re not supposed to be that close to Foxy!!”
“Foxy...?” His voice became echoey...
“Kid!!” The employee jumped the rope into Pirate’s Cove and ran over to us.
“Michael?!” His mother cried out, pushing her way to the front of the crowd.
The child I had grown to love, was lying out cold on the ground. Blood was dripping down from me mouth. I look up to see the entire pizzeria come to a halt. It seemed that everything was in slow motion.
“Call nine one one!”
The employee shouted.. I stood, backing up. I could feel millions of eyes on me, staring on in disbelief. Me fellow mates were looking at me in surprise, though they kept on singing, as if nothing happened. I sprinted back into the cove and the curtains drew shut.
Ever since that day, I grew more and more...depressed. They shut down Pirate’s Cove. While the kiddies were too young to fully understand what happened, it pained me to see the children become sad when learning I was ‘away’.
“Ole Foxy had to go sail the Seven Seas to look for treasure.” They would say.
Of course, the children believed them, and would run off to me mates. But I will always know the truth. The screams, the sirens...parents staring at me in disgust. Not even me mates could cheer me up. What happened on that day, I no control over meself... it was like me body had a mind of it’s own...
It went on for many years, news was brought up about that day, appearing over televisions and in newspapers. People with cameras would come an’ go, questioning the manager an’ employees of the place. I caught the glances of the adults, they all gave me the same glance.
“It wasn’t me fault! I had no control over it!” I wanted to say. Alas, I could not move. I could not speak out of me lines. All I could do, was endure the stares adults would give me.
Then one night, the manager hired a new night guard. I could hear me mates talkin’ about, who the new guy was going to be, but they never told me a word. Then...one night, I overheard the manager talkin’ about the new guy...
“Alrighty then. You put the kid on the schedule then?” He asked the employee next to him.
“Yessir.” The employee flipped through some papers. “A Mr. Schmidt. Michael Schmidt.”
“That names sounds familiar... Eh. Name’s aren’t important. What’s important, is if he does his job well enough. I won’t be payin’ a slacker.” Their footsteps grew quiet, then I was left with me thoughts.
“Michael... Schmidt... Mikey!”