i’ve been feeling like exploding myself these past few days and it got so bad today that i’m feeling like shit in a fit i always look good on and had a bit of a menty b before leaving. just opened the app only to see this
It had been a long time since Jeremy had reason to comfort anyone. When his younger sister had gone missing in 1985, Jeremy was too steeped in his own grief and frustration to be of any help to his family. His step-father thought so too and had kicked him out of the house for his negligence.
Jeremy had been too preoccupied in 1987 to comfort the parents of the children going missing. He'd been terrified of the animatronics, and it turned out his fears were warranted when they'd attacked him. During his day shift.
Now it was 1993, and Jeremy was once again working behind a desk, clicking through cameras and watching for danger. It was nice to have a day shift, he supposed. And these animatronics did not leave the stage at all. But Jeremy could still feel the itchiness of his face from the pain they'd caused six years ago. The animatronics may have been long gone, but the scars remained.
The shift was easy enough. Arrive at 6 a.m., relieve the night shift, and unlock the doors for the kitchen crew when they arrived at 10 a.m. No need to worry about animatronics in the morning since their free-roam turned off like clockwork. Jeremy could understand why the room had a certain odor in the mornings sometimes. He had worked a nightshift before, after all.
The thing he hadn't anticipated was a near-hysterical high school student curled up in a ball under the security desk. Jeremy peered at the boy, fiddling with the hat on his head. "Kid?"
The boy shuddered as he gasped air into his lungs. "Is it 6 a.m.? Is it morning?"
"Yeah, I'm here to take over. Do you need a minute?"
The night guard crawled out from underneath the desk, nodding weakly. Jeremy grabbed one arm and helped him up. He reflected that this was exactly how he'd reacted after his first night.
Jeremy wrapped his jacket around the kid as he sat down in the chair. "First night on the job?"
The kid nodded. Jeremy flipped through the cameras quickly, ensuring all the animatronics had returned to their places. Everything was fine, but there were clear tears in Foxy's curtain. That wasn't Jeremy's problem, thankfully. Parts and Services would handle that, just like they'd handle the seemingly broken camera.
"I... I don't think..."
"You going to quit?" Jeremy replied, absently pulling his keys from his pocket. He figured there was no way this kid was sticking around for much longer. Jeremy gave him a week at best.
"I don't want to have to do this," the kid said quietly.
A sharp searing pain shot through Jeremy's entire body. He identified it quickly, realizing it came from behind him. From where the kid was sitting. He stabbed me? Jeremy thought to himself as the keys fell from his hands.
"Nothing personal," the kid said, but the terrified undertone was long gone. "I just needed a way to get your keys."
Jeremy leaned heavily on the security desk, reaching one hand toward the phone.
"I cut the line. Maybe you'll survive. Or maybe not." The kid hesitated for a moment. "My boss might decide you don't deserve to live."
When Jeremy stumbled to the floor, he cursed his luck. Of course the killer was back. Of course he had help this time. And of course they'd choose today to steal his keys and prepare their break-in patterns. No one came in on Sundays. The place was completely closed, save for the security guard. That meant this kid and his child-killing boss had plenty of time before the next guard arrived in six hours.
Jeremy wasn't even originally supposed to work today. Fritz had been fired a few days prior, and Jeremy's boss practically had to beg him to cover. Maybe Jeremy could last until the next guard arrived, but he didn't think it was likely.
The tell-tale sound of the power plummeting seemed to echo in Jeremy's ears. Lights out, he thought to himself as the music box started up in his ears. He couldn't see Freddy, but he'd worked here long enough to hear the rumors. Freddy always got up and moved when the lights went out. He always came straight for the security office unless it was after 6 a.m. Jeremy assumed that whatever was going on had broken Freddy's normal routine.
The bear wasn't coming for him though, much to his surprise. He could hear the terrified scream of the other security guard as Freddy sought him out. Always after the night guard, Jeremy thought to himself, feeling his blood soaking through his shirt and pooling around him.
When he opened his eyes again, he didn't expect to be staring a golden bear in the face. He laughed, a gurgling sound as blood filled his throat. "You're not real," he told the animatronic.
One eye gleamed white, studying him. The animatronic didn't move, didn't speak, but it continued to occupy the space in front of the desk. And suddenly the animatronic did move, reaching out to brush the hair from Jeremy's face.
"You were a victim?" the animatronic said in a voice rusty from disuse. It sounded too small, too frightened, to be coming from such a large animatronic.
"We were all victims," Jeremy spat blood, rolling away from the animatronic. "Just let me die in peace."
"You don't deserve to die." There was an underlying fury as the animatronic rose to its feet, scooping Jeremy up in its arms. "We will fix you."
"I don't need fixing," Jeremy whispered, but he had no strength to resist the giant bear.
The carry reminded him of the last time he'd been near an animatronic. All the animatronics at the last restaurant had tried to kill him. But the Bonnie model from the back room hadn't. The old, worn, faceless Bonnie model. Jeremy didn't recall the other models appearing at all though. Just Bonnie.
Maybe it had been sympathy, or maybe it had been something else, but the animatronic rabbit had fought off two of the toys by himself, giving the rest of the staff an opportunity to drag him out of the mess.
The bear carried him gently, like he was something precious. The same delicate way Jeremy had wished to be held as a child in the thralls of nightmares.
"I must be imagining things," Jeremy mused to the yellow fabric of the bear's suit.
"This is real, I swear," the bear replied.
"Who are you?" Jeremy asked, swallowing back another mouthful of blood. "I've never seen you before."
"They buried me. They wanted to forget. They wanted to keep the children from getting nightmares," the bear muttered. "My name has been mostly forgotten. But I remember well enough. You weren't the first bite."
"I'd love to meet the other guy. Compare notes," Jeremy replied, eyes fluttering shut again.
"You already have," the bear whispered, but Jeremy was no longer conscious enough to hear him.
