loki holds her breath, as silent as she can be and as brave as she dares, ducking under the plywood that attempts to bar the way into freddy fazbear's pizzeria—ignoring the stabbing little bit of pain that comes with the head of a bent nail catching on her shoulder, and hoping she's had a tetanus shot recently enough for it to not be a problem.
she knows she shouldn't be here. no one should be here, no one has been here in years. every now and then there's a little news story about kids breaking in, always in broad daylight when it's probably safest. some people say they hear movement or music inside, but it's become legend, the stuff of teenage dares and ghost stories. it always startled her, how easily the town had moved past the tragedy, as if she was not there, as if the other parents were not there, childless and wracked by grief that can't be mythologized and painted away into unreality.
years. she doesn't drive out this way anymore, avoids it like the plague and organizes around it, but her latest change of therapist had left her no choice and only last week she had gone cold at the wheel of her car passing by, stepped on the gas and arrived at the office shaking and sobbing, my boy, my little boy.
and when she had driven home, too exhausted to think after a three hour session and catching sight of it once more, feeling something like a fist closing around her heart and trying to yank her towards the fucking thing.
between the cover-up and the paper trails and the press releases, there were never going to be answers anywhere else.
inside, it looks like a dilapidated pizzeria ought to, she supposes, shining her small flashlight around. the black and white tiling of the floor has dirtied and faded into grey; the metal siding of the old arcade cabinets is all being eaten away by rust, and there's a smell of wet rot and earth. the sound of a restless building creaking, and rats, and dripping water from busted pipes or caved-in ceiling because this place has gone to hell.
it's not clean or whole enough for her steps to echo, and gods, she's thankful for that, not having a clue what she's looking for or why she'd started planning to come, dressed warm for the cold night, carrying a taser and mace with her, small tools tucked away into her pockets just in case (of what?) and 911 on speed dial.
but she's here now, and releases that soundless breath as she starts walking, trying not to let fear grip her too tightly as she starts, slowly, to search.