"I'm always watching," a voice whispered, echoing across the room. "Your journey has only begun," the voice whispered. "You have so much potential," the voice said before slowly fading away.
I snapped awake from my slumber, gasping for breath. Someone or something woke me up, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly. It was dark wherever I was. The last thing I recalled was being in the office before the power went out, and Freddy played a lullaby when the power went out. Now that I think about it, the lullaby sounded similar to March of the Toreadors. Perhaps it was. I need to figure out how to preserve power efficiently without completely shutting down the pizzeria.
I shifted my body around to feel where I was in this dark 'room'. However, two problems occurred. 1. My arms were restricted. 2. I couldn't twist or turn my body. Just then, a thought occurred to me. What if they stuffed me in an animatronic suit? The phone guy warned me that it could happen if the animatronics got inside my office. I tried to stand up from my current position to assess my current situation. However, my legs wouldn't move because something heavy held them down, limiting my mobility. I took a deep breath and tried again with maximum effort.
"Jesus, is this fucking thing made out of titanium?" I said it out loud. I paused my efforts to take a short break before trying again. However, I heard a metal groan emanating from somewhere inside, interrupting my break.
Creak. Thud. Click click click click.
The sudden metal thud came crashing down, and the volume of the thud startled me. A metal-clicking sound began playing all around me at a slow rate. My heart started beating briskly as the panic began to settle.
"What's going on?" I thought. I stopped trying to move and returned to where I originally was, hoping I didn't cause a chain reaction of some sort. But my stomach was twisting a different story.
Click click click click click.
It felt as if the walls were creeping closer and closer, preparing to squish me to death. My breathing became limited as the walls kept getting tighter and tighter.
Click click click click click.
More metal clicks played again. This time, they were going at a faster rate. Most of the metal clicks sounded like they came from the top rather than anywhere else. Now I was in a state of panic.
"How many clicks would it take for something to happen?!" I thought. "Help!" I screamed. No response.
"HELP!" I screamed once more. Again, nothing happened.
Click click click click.
The metal clicking is becoming consistent. It felt as if the clicks were music of death. Screaming for help wasn't working either. Just then, a metal door squeaked open, and light came from somewhere behind me, illuminating the room. I was able to see the outside through what looked like eye pockets. As I looked around the inside, I confirmed that I was in an animatronic suit. Paying attention closely to the eye sockets, the shape outside looked similar, but I couldn't grasp what it was. Suddenly, loud, metallic footsteps sounded to my right. The footsteps got closer and closer to me until a pair of brown, fuzzy feet stopped right in front of me.
"Freddy?" I thought.
A loud, distorted laugh played in front of me. That's when Freddy's lullaby played again. It was almost as if Freddy was laughing at me but making sure I was comfortable.
* * *
Afton tightened his red tie and pushed down the edge of his purple suit. He looked in the mirror and pushed his hair back. Afton placed the purple contact lenses perfectly on top of his cornea, changing his originally blue iris to purple. Afton blinked several times to adjust to his 'new eyes' so he could see himself clearly in the mirror. Afton cleaned up his hair a bit before grabbing his suitcase and walking out of the bedroom. He made his way down the hall, towards the front door. He stopped at the kitchen counter first to turn off the music player that was playing The March of Toreadors.
"I'm off to work! See you later, honey!" Afton yelled out. Afton looked back to where the living room was before closing the door.
The living room contained a 6.2-foot-tall animatronic sitting right in the middle of the room. It looked similar to a ballerina with its purple tutu decorated with golden orbs and a blue bikini. The animatronic had pink, rosy cheeks with matching lipstick decorated nicely on its face. It also had tied-up blue hair and blue nails. The animatronic also had an hourglass body and exaggerated eyelashes. One could say it was a beautiful creation and a beast. After the door closed, the animatronic's face plates shifted from right to left, slowly and smoothly, indicating it was awake. The animatronic opened its robotic eyelids slowly, revealing its bright, purple eyes.
"It's my turn for dayshift; such a pain," Afton thought. He sighed and settled on the comfy car seats from his purple 1992 Cadillac Deville, placing his black suitcase on the passenger seat. Afton inserted his keys into the ignition and turned on his car. After a couple of minutes of letting it warm up, he backed up into the dirt road and began driving away from the house. The house sat on top of a countryside hill, surrounded by green pine trees. Miles away from the city.
* * *
"This is fucking bad," I thought. "Is Freddy just going to watch me die?!" I added. I felt around my surroundings, hoping I could find a switch, lever, or anything that could deactivate my impending death or perhaps slow it down. Freddy's lullaby abruptly stopped, and the brown furry feet moved to the right of me; the metallic footsteps behind me slowly fainted away. The light still illuminated the room, making me able to see everything.
"Someone forgot to close the door," I thought. "Now's not the time to joke around, Mike!" I managed to get my arms and hands-free by twisting and turning around in random, odd places in the suit. Although I had light, some areas of the suit were still dark. I felt around the joints, ballpoints, and wires of the animatronic suit for any button or switch that might help aid my situation but found nothing. That's when I looked up. Freddy's upper faceplate was coming down, and it sounded like it was the source of the metal clicking. I was running out of options, and death was looming over me. My adrenaline was pumping more than ever. I could feel goosebumps on my arms. I'm not even sure if I'm breathing properly anymore. As a last effort, I pushed the Freddy faceplate the opposite way. Instead of going down, why not go up?
screeeeee. Click. Click. Click. Click.
The constant metal clicks were much slower now, and the Freddy faceplate was moving in the opposite direction; my plan had worked!
"God damn, this fuckin thing is heavy," I said while huffing and puffing. Freddy's head slowly came back up, giving me room to breathe in the small space that I occupied. I used the energy I had left to push Freddy's upper faceplate back to where it originally was. Thanks to the adrenaline, I did not feel the pain of pushing the heaviness of the animatronic's steelhead.
Click. Click. Click. Click! Thud!
Freddy's faceplate produced a loud, metal thud that at last left enough room for me to wriggle out of the suit. I hastily grabbed the edge of the suit, lifting myself to free my body and legs from the animatronic contraption. I landed on the floor as quietly as I could, but being silent was pretty much pointless now, as Freddy probably heard the loud metal thud. I paid attention to my surroundings, trying to figure out where I was.
"This is the backstage room," I whispered. I turned my attention to the 'employees only' door and made my way there. Suddenly, loud metallic footsteps came towards the door. I dove under the metal table immediately before the animatronic could see me. Freddy came back, probably to see what the ruckus was about. Freddy entered the room and inspected what was going on.
"Please don't see me. Please don't see me," I thought. Adrenaline ran in me once again. I slowly crouched to my right while Freddy steadily went to the left of me. This continued until the door was right behind me. Freddy turned around, probably to check where I'd gone. I seized this opportunity and bolted towards the door. I ran, quickly moving past the dining room tables and heading toward the prize corner. I turned the corner to face the exit of the pizzeria but instead met with a head bump.
"Ow, watch where you're going, idiot," Afton hissed, rubbing his head. I immediately got up and lent Afton a hand.
"I'm so sorry, sir; I wasn't paying attention," I said apologetically. Afton's mood changed when he heard my voice. He took my hand, and I lifted him to the floor.
"It's ok, just watch out next time," Afton said with a soothing smile. "Anyways, why are you in such a hurry to leave?" he asked.
"Oh! Uh.. uh.. a-a-d-date. Yeah! A date, mhmm," I said nervously. I forced a smile on my face.
"Oh, well, sorry to bother you; go get 'em, tiger!" Afton said enthusiastically. He tapped my shoulder and walked towards the dining room; his smile widened even more. I quickly made my way to the exit of the haunted pizza joint, not looking back.
* * *
Afton's smile never left as he was heading towards the office. However, Afton noticed that the backstage door was open.
"That's odd," Afton said to himself.
With curiosity, Afton walked to the door. When he reached the door, he noticed that the endoskeleton that sat on the metal table had a full Freddy suit.
"What the fuck?" Afton thought. He found that the mouth of the suit was fully open. Afton walked closer to the suit, inspecting it further. Afton felt a smile creep around the edges of his face. Afton pushed Freddy's head down and walked back to the backstage door.
*click click click click psh!*
The suit then emitted what sounded like metal needles hitting metal plates. Afton stopped right at the doorway of the backstage room. Afton then walked to the front of the stage. His black leather shoe's click stopped exactly in front of the animatronics. The animatronics stood there, lifeless and blankly staring at Afton.
"Looks like you got some competition, children," Afton said with a big grin.
"Let's see who will win, you or my son."