Five Night At Freddy - The Silver Eyes
Chapter Four
Charlie and John were the last ones to the mall; when they pulled up the others
were gathered tight in a circle in front of Marla's car, as if sharing a conspiracy.
"Come on," Marla said, before they had walked all the way to the group. She
was bouncing on the balls of her feet as if she were ready to run for the door of the
abandoned building. Everyone but Charlie and John had changed their clothing, wearing
jeans and t-shirts, things more suited for exploration, and she had a brief moment of
feeling out of place. At least I didn't wear a dress. Charlie thought.
"Let's go," she said. Marla's impatience seemed to be contagious, or maybe it
just gave Charlie an excuse to let her real feelings come to the surface. She wanted to
show Freddy's off to the others.
"Hold up," John said. He looked at Jessica.
"Did you explain everything?"
"I told them about the night guard," she said. "What else is there?" He looked
thoughtful for a moment.
"I guess nothing," he said.
"I brought more lights," Carlton said, and held up three flashlights of varying
sizes. He tossed one to Jason, a small one with an elastic headband attached. Jason
turned it on and fixed it around his head, and began moving enthusiastically in waves
and circles, making the light bob and dance.
"Shh," Charlie said, even though he was not making any sound.
"Jason," Marla whispered, "turn it off, we can't attract attention, remember?"
Jason gleefully ignored them, spinning off into the parking lot like a top.
"I told him if he's not good he has to wait in the car," Marla told Charlie
quietly. "But now that we're here, I'm not sure which place is creepier." She eyed the
bare branches overhead raging in the wind, threatening to reach down and grab them.
"Or we can feed him to Foxy." Charlie winked. She went to her trunk and
hefted out the police flashlight, but did not turn it on. Instead Carlton switched on two of
his smaller lights, and handed one to Jessica.
They headed into the mall. Knowing where they were going, and what was
waiting for them there, Charlie, John, Jessica, and Carlton moved through the empty
spaces with a sense of purpose, but the others kept stopping to look around.
"Come on," Jessica said impatiently, as Lamar gazed up at the atrium dome.
"You can see the moon," he said and pointed. Next to him, Marla nodded,
mimicking his posture.
"It's beautiful," she said, although she could not see it.
From a distance, they heard footsteps echo in the emptiness.
"Hey, hey, over here!" John hissed, and they hurried as quietly as they could;
they could not run for fear of making noise, and so they walked, fast but careful, hugging
the walls. They entered the black void of the department store, creeping along in the
shadows until they reached the break in the wall. John held back the hanging plastic
obscuring the opening as the others maneuvered around the scaffolding. Jason was slow,
and Charlie put a hand on his shoulder to hurry him up. As she steered him to the
opening, a strong beam of light swept into the room, scanning up and down the walls.
They all ducked through and ran down the alley to where the others were crouched
down against the wall.
"He saw us!" Jason whispered, alarmed, running straight to his sister.
"Shh," Marla said.
They waited. Charlie was next to John this time, and after that moment by the
tree, whatever it was, she was very, almost uncomfortably, aware of him. They were not
quite touching, but she seemed to know exactly where he was, an awkward sixth sense.
She glanced at him, but his eyes were fixed on the opening to the hallway. They could
hear the guard's footsteps now, clear in the empty space, each one distinct. He was
moving slowly, deliberately. Charlie closed her eyes, listening. She could tell where he
was from the sound, she thought, getting closer, then farther, crisscrossing the open room
like he was hunting for something. The steps came right up to the entrance of the ally,
and stopped while they all held their breath.
He knows, Charlie thought. But the steps started again, and she opened her eyes
and saw the light receding. He was going away.
They waited, still motionless, until they could no longer hear the tapping of his
hard-soled shoes, then got up. She and John both stumbled a little as they stood, and she
realized they had been leaning against one another without realizing it. She didn't look
at him; instead she set to work taking the heaviest things off the wooden shelf.
"Will I be needing this?" Lamar said, as Charlie handed him a bucket with a
saw sticking out of it.
"We have to move the shelf," Jessica said. "Come on."
Jessica, Charlie, Carlton and John got back into place and moved the shelf.
Lamar tried to find a place to help, but there was not really room. Marla just waited.
"I'm better suited to supervising," she said, when Charlie mock-glared at her.
This time the screaming of the metal door was not as loud, as if it no longer
protested their entrance quite so strongly. Still, Marla and Jason covered their ears.
"You think that's not going to bring the guard?" Marla hissed. Charlie
shrugged. "Didn't last time," she said.
"I know he saw us," Jason said again. The others ignored him. "His flashlight
went right over me," he insisted.
"It's really okay, Jason," Jessica said. "We thought he saw us last night, too,
but it was fine." Jason looked dubious, and Lamar bent over to his eye level.
"Hey, Jason," he said. "What do you think the guard would do if he saw us?"
"Shoot us?" Jason whimpered, eyeing Lamar warily.
"Worse." Lamar said gravely. "Community service."
Jason wasn't sure what it meant but held his eyes open wide as though it was
something terrible.
"Will you leave him alone?" Marla whispered, clearly amused.
"He didn't see us." Jason reassured himself, though clearly unconvinced.
Charlie turned on the big light and shone it down the hallway.
"Oh, my!" Marla gasped as the first light streaked across the interior of the
pizzeria. Suddenly it became real, and her face flushed with awe and fear.
They went in one by one. The temperature seemed to drop as soon as they
walked into the hall, and Charlie shivered, but she did not feel ill-at-ease. She knew
where they were, now, and she knew what they would find. When they got to the dining
room, Carlton spread his arms wide and twirled.
"Welcome.... To Freddy Fazbear's Pizza!" He said in a booming announcer's
voice. Jessica giggled, but the melodrama did not actually seem out of place. Marla and
Lamar gaped at the room, awestruck. She set the large flashlight on the ground, the beam
facing up, and it lit the main room up in a dim and ghostly illumination.
"Cool," Jason said. His eyes lit on the merry-go-round, and he raced for it and
jumped onto the back of a pony before anyone could stop him. He was too big for it, his
sneakers dangling all the way to the ground. Charlie smiled. "How do I make it go?" He
shouted.
"Sorry, buddy," John said, and Jason climbed off, disappointed.
"Hey, the arcade's still here!" Carlton said, motioning to anyone who might
follow, and Marla went with him, while Jason fiddled hopefully with the carousel's
control box. Lamar had walked to the stage and was standing transfixed, staring up at the
animals. Charlie went over to him.
"I can't believe they're still here," he said as she walked up.
"Yeah," she said.
"I'd forgotten this was a real place." Lamar smiled, for the first time
resembling the little boy that Charlie had once known.
Charlie smiled back. There was something surreal about the place; she had
certainly never told any of her school friends about it. She would not have known where
to begin. Worse, she would not have known where to stop. Jessica poked her head out
from the retracted curtain at the side of the main stage, and they both startled.
"What are you doing?" Lamar said.
"Exploring!" She said. "There's nothing back here but a bunch of wires,
though. She disappeared into the folds of cloth again. After a moment they heard a thud
as she jumped to the ground, and she came strolling over.
"Do they work?" Lamar said, pointing at the animals.
"I don't know," Charlie said. Truthfully, she had no idea how they worked.
They had always just been, set to intermittent life by whatever alchemy her father
performed in his workshop. "It doesn't look like anything is missing." she offered.
"They should work." She reluctantly added, though in her head she questioned the idea
of trying to turn them on.
"Hey!" Jessica exclaimed. She was kneeling by the stairs to the stage.
"Everybody come here, now!"
Charlie went over and Lamar followed.
"What is it?" Charlie said.
"Look," Jessica said, shining her little light. Though well-hidden along the
grain of the wood, there was a door inset into the wall of the stage.
"How did we not see that?" Charlie said.
"We weren't looking." John said, staring intently at the small door. The whole
group had gathered, and now Jessica looked around at them with a grin, put her hand on
the little doorknob, and pulled.
Magically, it opened. The door opened to a small, sunken room. Jessica shone
the light around it; it was full of equipment—one wall was covered in TV screens.
"Must be CCTV," Lamar said.
"Come on." Jessica handed her flashlight to Charlie, and swung her legs
through the door. There was one deep step leading down into the room, which was no
bigger than a large refrigerator turned on its side.
"That's a little too cramped for me; I'll keep looking around out here." John
saluted, then turned as though to stand guard.
"This is like a clown car," Marla remarked as she jostled against Charlie. The
space was too cramped for all of them, but they crowded together; Jason sat on the step,
feeling more comfortable by the exit. There were eight of the television screens across
the wall, each with their own little panel of buttons and knobs, and sticking out beneath
them was a panel, almost a table, covered in buttons. They were large and black,
unlabeled, and spaced in an irregular series. The other wall was blank, except for a
single, large switch by the door.
"What's this do?" Jason said, and put his hand on the switch. He hesitated, just
long enough for someone to stop him, then he pulled it.
The lights came on.
"What?" Carlton looked to the others frantically.
They all stared at one another in confused silence. Jason climbed up and poked
his head out into the main room.
"They're on out here, too; some of them at least." he said too loudly.
"Why is there power?" Jessica whispered, reaching over Jason to pull the door
closed again.
"How is that possible?" Charlie said. "This place hasn't been open in ten
years."
"Cool," Marla leaned forward, studying the monitors as though expecting some
sort of answer to be revealed.
"Turn on the TVs," Jason said suddenly. "I can't reach." Jessica flipped on the
first TV, and static crackled across the screen.
"Nothing?" Charlie said impatiently.
"Just a sec." She twisted a dial, wiggling it back and forth until an image
emerged: it was the stage, centered on Bonnie. The other animals weren't visible.
Jessica turned on the rest of the TVs, adjusting them until the pictures became clear,
although most were still poorly lit.
"They still work," Charlie said almost under her breath.
"Maybe," Jessica said. "Hey, someone go out there, see if the camera is live."
"Ok," Marla said after a brief hesitation, wriggling her way to the exit and
awkwardly climbing over Jason. A moment later, she appeared on camera, onstage
beside Bonnie. Marla waved. She appeared multicolored as the stage lights bathed her
in purple, green, and yellow from different sides.
"Can you see me?" She said.
"Yeah," Carlton shouted. Lamar was staring at the buttons.
"What do these do?" He said with a wicked grin, and pressed one.
Marla screamed.
"Marla are you okay?" Charlie shouted. "What happened?" Marla was
standing still on the stage, but she had backed away from Bonnie, and was staring at him
as if he might bite.
"He moved," Marla yelled. "Bonnie moved, what did you do?"
"Marla!" Jessica yelled, laughing. "It's ok! We pushed a button!" Lamar
pressed the button again, and they all watched the screen this time. Sure enough, Bonnie
turned stiffly to one side. He pressed it again, and the rabbit swiveled back to face the
absent audience again.
"Try another one," Carlton said.
"Go ahead," Lamar said, and climbed out of the little room to join Marla
onstage. He crouched down to inspect Bonnie's feet. "They're attached to a swiveling
panel," he called.
"Yeah?" Jessica called back, not really listening.
Carlton started pressing buttons, as the rest of them watched the cameras. After
a moment, Charlie left the room as well. "It's too stuffy in here," she said. Jessica's
perfume and Carlton's hair gel, both of which smelled nice enough out in the open, were
starting to form a sickly miasma. She stepped out into the open to watch them
experiment with the animals onstage. Most of the dining room was still dark. There
were three colored spotlights suspended from the ceiling, aiming beams of purple,
yellow, and green at the stage. The animals were cast now in unnatural colors, and dust
in the beams of light shone like tiny stars, so many that it was difficult to see through
them. The floor beneath the long table was dusted with glitter that had fallen from the
party hats, and as she looked around she noticed again the drawings that lined the walls
of the place, all at the height of children's eyes.
They had always been there, and Charlie wondered now where her father had
gotten the first ones, when the restaurant opened. Had he used her own childish
scribblings, or had he made them himself and stuck them up, forgeries to encourage
actual children to display their art? The thought of her father hunched over his
workbench, gripping an unsteady crayon with hands accustomed to manipulating
microchips, made her want to giggle. She noticed the flashlight still on in the center of
the room, and went to switch it off. Don't waste the battery, she said in her head, in
chorus with Aunt Jen's voice.
She turned her attention to the stage. It looked like they had gotten Chica and
Bonnie to go through a series of movements, but they were small and specific; they
could each swivel their entire bodies back and forth, and their hands, feet, and heads
could be moved in various directions, but it looked like each movement was separate.
Charlie went back to the control room and stuck her head in.
"Can you make them do the dance?" She asked.
"I don't know how." Carlton said, leaning back away from the monitors. "All
of this must have been used to program the dances. I don't think someone was in here
manually controlling everything during the shows." He shook his head with certainty.
"That would have been impossible."
"Huh," Charlie said.
"Everyone quiet," Marla called out, and they all fell silent. For a long moment
there was no sound, then Lamar said:
"What?"
Marla frowned, tilting her head to the side, listening for something. "I thought I
heard something," she said finally. "It was like... pings of a music box?" Her mouth
barely moved as she spoke. "It's gone."
"Why isn't Freddy moving?" Charlie said.
"I don't know," Carlton said. "I can't find the controls for him."
"Hmm," Jessica said, tapping the monitors. "These cameras don't show the
whole place."
Charlie peered at them, but they were mixed up, in no logical order. She
couldn't piece together a picture of the whole restaurant.
"There's three cameras on the stage, one on each animal, but there should be
one on the whole thing," Jessica was saying. "There's the entrance to the kitchen, but not
the kitchen itself, and you can't see the hallway and the room with the little stage we
were at last night."
"Maybe the cameras are just in the main room?" Carlton said.
"Nope," said Jessica. "There are cameras everywhere out there."
"So?" Carlton said.
"So, there's got to be another control room!" Jessica said triumphantly.
"Maybe down the hall by the other stage."
Charlie went back out into the main room again. She was feeling restless, less
excited by the discoveries than the others, though she was not sure why. She watched the
stage. Carlton was still playing with the buttons, Bonnie and Chica jerking in small,
disjointed motions as Freddy Fazbear remained motionless, his eyes half-closed and his
mouth slack, slightly open.
"Hey," Lamar said suddenly. "Marla. The music. I hear it now." Everyone was
silent again, then Marla shook her head.
"Creepy." She said, more excited this time and rubbing her hands together as
though they were sharing campfire stories. Lamar looked thoughtfuly at Freddy.
"Let's go find the other control room," Jessica said, emerging with a
determined look on her face.
"Okay!" Marla jumped from the stage to join them, and they started scanning
the rest of the stage, looking for a second door.
"I'm staying in here," Jason called from the first room. "This is so cool!"
Chica swiveled back and forth rapidly on the stage as he pushed her button repeatedly.
Lamar went to join Jason.
"Ok, my turn." He said, leaning in the door. He went in, not waiting for Jason's
response.
Charlie stayed where she was, still staring at Freddy, frozen in the middle of
his act. John came up next to her, and she felt a flash of irritation: she did not want to be
cajoled into joining in the search. He stood there for a moment, looking at Freddy, then
leaned in close to her and whispered:
"I'm counting to 100. You'd better hide."
Surprised out of her thoughts, she looked at him for a moment, her irritation
broken. He winked at her, then covered his eyes, beginning a silent countdown. It was
absurd, it was childish, and in that moment it was the only thing she wanted to do.
Slightly giddy, Charlie took off, looking for a place to hide.
Jason pushed the series of buttons again with increasing frustration.
"I'm bored now," he announced.
"How can you be bored?" Lamar said, wide-eyed.
"They aren't working anymore." Jason continued to press buttons, no longer
watching the monitors.
Lamar studied the monitor. Bonnie's head was up and turned to the side, his
eyes appearing to watch the camera. "Well, go find your sister then," he told Jason.
"I don't need her permission to be bored!" Impatiently, Jason climbed up and
out of the control room.
"Everyone is so sensitive." Lamar muttered, suddenly realizing he was alone in
the control room. He climbed out, but Jason was already gone.
Jessica was leading the exploration party, heading toward the little stage they
had discovered the night before. Marla looked back and saw Jason skipping to catch up
just before they disappeared into the long hall.
"Hey, be careful!" She called over her shoulder, as Jason branched off in his
own direction. Lamar caught up to the group, and followed them on their way and into
the hall. The main dining room was empty now, though Jason could hear Charlie and
John's playful shouts echoing from the party rooms that extended off the main building.
Left alone, Jason headed straight for the arcade.
It was more dimly lit than the rest of the place, and without power the arcade
machines appeared as towering black monoliths in a forgotten graveyard; the air was
stale and thin. It felt like the kind of place where you could lose yourself in a game,
playing "just one more time," until coming back to the real world to find that hours had
passed, stumbling out into the sunshine blinking and disoriented, but now it was only
still, the sounds outside muted. Jason went to the nearest console and pressed a few
buttons, some stuck with age, but nothing happened.
Plug it in, duh. He ducked behind the games to check, but even though the
mounds of wires seemed impossibly tangled, it looked like they were plugged in.
Maybe there's a switch for the whole room? He started checking the walls.
There was no obvious switch, but as Jason scanned the walls, he became
distracted by the children's drawings taped in clusters across the walls. Jason was too
young to have any memories of his own from being at Freddy's: even Hurricane itself
was no more than a hazy set of impressions. But something about the pictures brought up
a sense of nostalgia. They were all the same, really, the kinds of drawings he and every
other kid had done—figures with circles for bodies and sticks for arms, in a multitude
of colors. Only a few details showed which figures were the animals: Chica with her
beak, and Bonnie with his ears. It seemed like there had been a bit more attention paid
to the drawings of Freddy Fazbear; they were a little better, the children had been a
little more careful to make the details right. Jason found himself looking at one drawing
in particular. It was the same as the others, maybe a little better: Bonnie the Bunny
hugging a child. There was no name at the bottom. Jason took the picture off the wall,
uncertain why this one in particular had interested him so much.
John burst his head into the room with a wide grin and deep breath, but then
seeing that it was only Jason inside he quickly returned to a stoic demeanor. "What's
up?" He nodded his head, playing it cool, then casually stepped away before silently
returning to a sprint.
Playing hide-and-seek like babies, Jason thought, I hope I never fall in love.
He looked back down at the drawing, and squinted as though not seeing
correctly.
The child was now facing away from Bonnie. Jason stared for a long moment.
Wasn't he hugging Bonnie? He looked out at the main room, but Marla was out of
sight, looking for the control room. Jason folded the drawing carefully and put it in his
pocket. It was suddenly apparent how quiet it had become outside. Jason stepped out
timidly and peeked into the dining room. "Guys?" He whispered, looking back once,
then ventured out to find the group.
Jessica, Lamar, Carlton, and Marla were still creeping slowly through the other
half of the building. The spotlights from the dining room didn't reach this far, only
accenting edges and corners, or specks of glitter. Jessica scanned the wall with her
flashlight, looking for breaks in the plaster, and motioned to Marla to do the same.
"We have to check for a hidden door," she said.
"The last one wasn't really hidden," Carlton pointed out.
"Yeah," Jessica conceded, but she kept her light on the wall, clearly not ready
to give up the hunt. They passed two bathrooms they had not noticed the night before.
"Do you think the plumbing still works?" Carlton said. "I really need to pee."
"What are you five years old? I don't want to hear that." Jessica rolled her
eyes and walked faster.
When they got to the room with the little stage, everyone stopped. Marla and
Lamar went closer to the stage, drawing together slightly as if unaware they were doing
it. Even though Carlton and Jessica had been here the night before, it was as though they
were seeing it anew through Marla and Lamar's eyes. They still had not seen what was
behind the curtain, Carlton realized suddenly.
"I remember these posters," Lamar said.
"I remember this too," Marla said, pointing to the sign that read "Out of Order"
strung across the stage. "My whole life I've felt uneasy when I've seen that phrase, even
if it's just at a vending machine." She laughed insincerely.
"I know what you mean," Lamar said softly, but before he could go on, Carlton
interrupted.
"Found it."
"Maybe," Jessica amended. There was a door, close-set into the wall like the
one below the stage—not quite hidden, but not meant to be noticed. It was painted
black, like the walls of the room. Jessica turned the knob and pulled, but it was stuck
tight.
"Locked?" Lamar said.
"I don't think so."
"Let me try," Marla said. She grabbed the knob and yanked, and it came open,
sending her stumbling back.
"Impressive!" Lamar said.
"Yeah, well, taking care of Jason makes me tough." Marla grinned, as she knelt
down to squeeze through the small door.
It was almost the same as the first room: a set of eight TV screens, and a large
panel of unmarked black buttons. Carlton fumbled to find the master switch, reaching his
hand into a dark corner. Then, with a click, the power came on and a soft buzzing sound
filled the room. Rich, bizarre reds and blues began streaming in under the door from the
stage lights outside. Jessica and Carlton began switching the televisions on; they fiddled
with the knobs until they were showing pictures, though most were very dark. From
here, they could see a long shot of the main stage, just as in the other room, but the rest
of the cameras were showing other places and angles. While the first control room had
only had shots of the main dining room, here they could see into other areas of the
restaurant—the private party rooms, which were set up with glittery decorations for
events that would never happen; hallways; an office; and even what looked like a
storage closet. The room behind them was visible as well, the camera trained on the
"Out of Order" sign, now lit with otherworldly shades, and the curtain behind it. On one
screen they could see Jason, ducking back into the arcade.
"Maybe I should go get him," Marla said, but no one responded.
Carlton started pressing buttons. Spotlights appeared and vanished onstage as
he did, illuminating first one animal and then another, lighting up empty spaces where
someone once might have stood. He flipped a switch and it seemed, for a moment, that
nothing happened, then Lamar started laughing, pointing at one of the screens. The pizza
decorations lining the walls were spinning wildly, as though they might leap off and go
rolling away.
"I forgot they used to do that," Lamar said, as Carlton brought them slowly to a
halt.
There was a large black dial to one side of the buttons, and Carlton spun it, but it
seemed to do nothing.
"Let me try," Lamar said. He elbowed Carlton to the side, and pressed another
button. There was a high-pitched whine; they all jumped, and it quickly faded down to a
static hum. Lamar pressed the button again, and the sound was gone.
"I guess we know what turns the speakers on," Carlton said.
"I bet we could figure out how to play the music," Jessica said. She reached
forward and pushed something else, and stage lights popped up while the main lights
dimmed. The figures on the main stage suddenly stood out a little, commanding attention.
She pushed it again and the lights faded back to normal.
"I love that," Carlton said.
"What?" said Marla.
"Stage lights," he said. "One switch, and it's like a whole 'nother world up
there."
Another button flickered the stage lights on and off in the room behind them,
while another started and stopped the little merry-go-round, its tinkling music grinding
too slowly, as if the ride itself were trying to remember how the song went. They
managed to get the speakers on again without the feedback whine, but there was still
only static.
"I have an idea," Jessica said, and pushed to the front of the group. She
switched on the static again, then started turning the knob back and forth. The hum grew
lower in pitch, then higher, responding to her adjustments.
"Progress." Carlton said.
"It's still just static," Marla said, unimpressed. Jessica turned it lower again,
then snatched her hand from the dial like she had been bitten and punched the button,
shutting the speakers off.
"What?" Marla said.
Jessica remained motionless, her hands still suspended in the air.
"What happened? Did it shock you?" Carlton said.
"It sounded like a voice," Jessica said.
"What did it say?" Marla said, apparently interested again.
"I don't know. Let me try again."
She turned the speaker on again, calling forth the static, and lowered the hum as
they all listened, intent on the sound. As it sank to a lower register, just below the range
of a human voice, they all heard it: grinding and broken words, almost too slow and
distorted to be considered speech. They looked at each other.
"What on Earth?" Marla said.
"No, it's just random static," Lamar said. He reached for the controls and
dialed the pitch back up slowly. For another fleeting moment, there was a purposeful
sound.
"That sounded like singing," Carlton said.
"No," Lamar said, but sounding more unsure this time.
"Do it again," Marla said. Lamar did, but this time the static was empty.
"Is that Charlie?" Marla suddenly became focused on a blurry figure moving down the
dark hall toward them, sliding along the wall as though to remain unnoticed.
Charlie was hurrying, almost skipping, trying to find another place to hide. She
glanced behind her, vaguely suspecting that John might be cheating. She moved through
the darkness and toward the colorful glow of the small stage curtain, which was
throwing eerie reds and blues onto the tables and party hats. Going down this passage
had always felt like a long and perilous journey, one not to be made alone. She kept her
gaze fixed behind her, letting the wall beside her guide her step. She knew John was
close, probably creeping up on her in the dark. Suddenly she backed into something,
stopping short. She had been moving faster than she thought, or more likely the hall was
not as long as she remembered.
She saw his shadow at the end of the hall—if he turned his head, he would see
her. Without thinking, Charlie climbed up onto the platform that she had bumped into
and ducked behind the curtain, tucking herself between the wall and a large, bulky prop,
trying not to breathe.
"Charlie?" He called, still far away. "Charlie!" Charlie felt her heartbeat
quicken. There had been boys she liked, now and then, but this was something different.
She wanted him to find her, but not quite yet. As she waited, her eyes adjusted to the
darkness, and she was able to make out the shape of the curtain, and the edge of the
stage. She looked up at the object in front of her.
No. Her body shuddered, then froze.
It was standing over her. It was the thing from her father's workshop, the
misshapen thing that hung in the corner, shaken by random convulsions as its eyes
burned silver. Does it hurt? Now it was still, and its eyes were blank and dull. It was
staring straight ahead, insensate, and its arm with its hook hung useless at its side. She
recognized his eyes, but he was somehow worse now, encased in hollow body parts and
matted with red fur, with a stench of oil and glue. He had a name now: they called him
Foxy. But she knew better.
Charlie shrank away, pressing against the wall. Her heart was racing, and her
breath was shallow, too fast. Her arm had been touching its leg, and now she felt a
sudden itchiness from it, as though she had been contaminated. She wiped her hand
violently against her shirt as she began to panic.
Run.
She sprang away from it, pushing off the wall to get away, to move before it
saw her, but the edge of the stage caught her foot. She stumbled forward, momentarily
becoming entangled in the curtain. She struggled to get free when suddenly the thing's
arm jerked up, and the hook slashed at her arm. She ducked away too late, and it cut her,
the pain shocking, like freezing water. She tripped backward, and felt herself falling for
long seconds, and then she was caught.
"Charlie? Are you ok?"
It was John, he had caught her. She tried to nod, but she was shaking. She
looked at her arm: there was a cut above the elbow, almost four inches long. It was
bleeding freely, and she covered it with her hand, the gaps between her fingers welling
over as her own blood leaked through.
"What happened?" It was Marla, rushing up behind her. "Charlie, I'm so sorry,
I must have hit a button that caused it to move. Are you okay?"
Charlie nodded, a little less shaky. "I'm fine," she said. "It's not that bad." She
moved her arm around experimentally. "See? No nerve damage," she said. "I'll be
fine."
Carlton, Jessica, and Lamar came hurrying out of the control room.
"We should take her to the E.R.," Carlton said.
"I'm fine," Charlie insisted. She stood up, refusing John's help, and bracing
herself on the stage for a moment. She heard her Aunt Jen's voice in her head. How
much blood have you lost? You don't need to go to a hospital. She could move her arm
just fine, and she would not bleed to death from this. She felt dizzy, though.
"Charlie, you look like a ghost," John said. "We need to get you out of here."
"Okay," she said. Her thoughts were scattered, and the injury hurt less than it
should have. She took deep breaths as they headed for the exit, grounding herself. John
handed her a piece of cloth and she put it to the cut to slow the bleeding.
"Thanks," she said, and looked at him. Something was missing "Was that your
tie?" She said, and he shrugged.
"Do I look like a tie person?"
She grinned. "I thought it looked good on you."
"Jason!" Marla yelled as they passed the arcade. "Move it or I'm leaving you
behind!"
Jason ran to catch up.
"Is Charlie okay?" He said anxiously. Marla caught her breath and put her arm
around him.
"She's fine." She reassured him.
They walked briskly through the same corridor that they entered through. Jason
looked back as he was being guided out, studying the pictures on the wall once more
before losing sight of them. The colored lights from the stage were fading and the
flashlight was throwing shapes and shadows on everything, making the drawings
difficult to see, but Jason could swear he saw the figures moving in the pictures.
They all hurried back through the empty building and out to the parking lot, not
keeping watch for the guard. When they made it out to the car, Lamar, who had grabbed
the big flashlight, flipped it on and shone it at Charlie's arm. She looked down at the
cut.
"Do you need stitches?" Marla said. "I am so sorry, Charlie."
"We were all being careless, it's not your fault," Charlie said. She knew she
sounded annoyed, but she didn't mean to: her voice was tight and clipped with pain. The
shock had worn off, but that meant the wound had begun to hurt.
"It's fine," Charlie said, and after a long moment the others gave in somewhat
reluctantly.
"We should at least get you some stuff to clean that up and bandage it," Marla
said, wanting to do something to atone, however small.
"There's a 24-hour drugstore just off the main road," Carlton offered.
"Charlie, why don't you go with Marla, and I'll drive your car back to the
motel?" Jessica said.
"I'm fine," Charlie protested half-heartedly, but she handed Jessica the keys.
"You're a good driver, right?"
Jessica rolled her eyes. "People from New York know how to drive, Charlie."
John lingered a moment as Charlie was getting in to Marla's car. She smiled at
him.
"I'm fine," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow." He looked at her like there was
something more he wanted to say, but just nodded and left.
"Okay," Marla said. "To the drugstore!"
Charlie twisted in her seat to look at Jason. "Did you have fun?" She asked.
"The games don't work," he said, obviously preoccupied. The drugstore was
only a few minutes away.
"You stay in the car." Marla commanded as they pulled to a stop.
"Don't leave me out here," Jason pleaded.
"I told you to stay," she repeated, a little confused by the fear in his voice. He
didn't answer, and she and Charlie headed inside.
As soon as they were gone, Jason pulled the drawing out of his pocket. He held
it up under the faint lights of the parking lot to examine. It had not changed back: Bonnie
the Bunny was reaching toward a child, who was facing away from him. Curious, Jason
scraped at the crayon lines with his fingernail; the wax came off easily, leaving its trace
on the paper.
As soon as Marla passed into the florescent-lit, air-controlled drugstore, she
sighed and put her hands to her temples.
"Oh, he's such a little brat," she said.
"I like him," Charlie said honestly. She was still using John's tie to stanch the
bleeding, and now in brighter light she peeled it back to see the cut. The bleeding had
almost stopped; it was not as bad as it had first appeared, though the tie was irreparably
ruined. "Hey," she said. "How come you brought Jason, anyway?"
Marla didn't answer right away, setting her sights on the first aid aisle and
heading for it.
"Here we are," she said. "What do you think, gauze?"
"Sure, but don't call me Gauze." Charlie leaned into Marla but was ignored.
"Antiseptic." Marla continued, grabbed the items.
"The thing is," she said, "so, Jason's dad and our mom have been married
since before he was born. I mean, obviously. And they're probably getting divorced. I
know about it, but Jason doesn't."
"Oh, no," Charlie said.
"They're fighting all the time," Marla went on, "and it scares him, you know? I
mean, my dad left when I was still a little kid, so I grew up with that, I was used to it.
Plus I got to have a great stepdad. But for him, it's gonna feel like the end of the world.
And they're sure not doing anything to make it easier; they're fighting right in front of us.
So, I didn't want to leave him alone with that for a week."
"I'm so sorry, Marla," Charlie said.
"Yeah, it's okay," Marla said. "I'm leaving in a year anyway. I'm just worried
about the brat out there."
"He's really not a brat," Charlie said, and Marla grinned.
"I know, he's pretty great, right? I kinda like having him around."
They paid for the supplies. The clerk, a teenage boy, didn't bat an eye at
Charlie's moderately blood-spattered appearance. Outside, they sat on the hood of the
car. Marla started to open the bottle of antiseptic, but Charlie held out a hand for it.
"I can do it myself," she said. Marla looked like she was about to argue, but
she swallowed whatever she was about to say and handed Charlie the bottle, and a
piece of gauze. As Charlie awkwardly cleaned her arm, Marla smiled impishly.
"Speaking of people we like having around, are you having fun with John?"
"Ow! That stings. And I don't know what you mean," Charlie said primly,
suddenly putting all her attention on her task.
"You do, too. He's following you around like a little puppy, and you are loving
it." Charlie bit back a smile.
"How about you and Lamar?" She retorted.
"Me and who now?" Marla said. "Here." She held out a hand for the bloody
gauze, and Charlie handed it to her, reaching for a clean strip. "You're going to have to
let me tape it," Marla said. Charlie nodded and held the gauze in place as Marla
reached for the tape.
"Come on," Charlie went on. "I see the way you look at him."
"Nope!" Marla smoothed down the last piece of tape and put everything back
in the bag.
"Seriously," Charlie said as they got back into the car. "You're adorable
together. And your names are anagrams of each other. Marla and Lamar! It's meant to
be!" Both laughing, they headed back to the motel.
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