Celebration [OLD]

(I forgot to upload this story to pastebin. It kind of sucks. If you're reading this in July 2018, Eyes Wide Shut is still being worked on, I'm just beefing up some parts and writing the ending. Sorry for the wait.)



"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Chica shouted out to the teeming crowds of young children. Most of them were fat.

I hate this job.

"It shore has, Chica!" said Freddy, in his voice, which was a disconcerting mixture of Mickey Mouse and Goofy, with Mickey's legibility and Goofy's awkward enunciation. "We wore gawn for uh while there, fellas. But now we're back!"

Like nails on a chalkboard, Freddy's voice grated on the ears the most out of all four robots. Chica and Bonnie sounded like actual humans, Chica and Bonnie supposedly getting voiced by actual voice actors But Freddy Fazbear was so disassociated from the relatively human-like environment of these animal robots that he came across as less sincere than Bonnie, which was a surprise since her voice actress sounded clinically retarded. At least she was realistically dopey; Freddy sounded artificial.

Like someone had blended everything kids liked separately into one voice, and didn't understand that some elements don't work well with each other. Like plutonium and hydrogen.

In fact, why DID they decide on this? Why did management have so many heads up their coll-

"Hey, Evan", said an older woman's voice.

I put the tablet down onto the desk and straightened my posture. The manager was at the door.

"Yes, Jan?"

"Juan called in sick. Said he's throwing up, and sounded like it too over the phone. We're gonna need you to take his place tonight. Just one night."

"But-"

"Someone's gotta do it," Jan said. "And that's that. Just do what you're doing right now, but at night. Try not to get killed before your shift, and you'll be fine."

I fell silent, and turned my gaze towards my coffee as she walked away, and stared into it for what felt like an hour. Feeling my mouth turn dryer than the Sahara, I stood up and took a short walk to the break room, where the cooler was located. I heard laughter echo down the halls as I flattened myself against a wall to let a performer shuffle by, the unmistakable sound of metal pounding plastic tile lingering in the air after he had turned the corner down towards the main stage for a special appearance.

Since it was two in the afternoon, it had to have been Fred who was in the golden Freddy suit. Fred's name was the source of less jokes than you'd think, primarily because he just punched in, and handed junk out at the prize counter before punching out on most days. Fred was a nice guy who knew how to put a smile on people’s faces, So of course he’d make sure to be around on Golden Sunday, which was when we rolled out what were essentially wind-up soldiers; crank the robots, step in, and deliver cake or tell jokes or whatever it was that needed to be done. I always made sure to be out of sight when Jan started assigning people to different hours so I never had to go inside them. They were like tombs; they closed you in and wouldn't let you go until the time was up. That was if things went as planned, of course.


Inside the break room, I grabbed a cup of water, and fucked about on Pac-Man for a while, using my key to open the bottom part of the arcade  machine to get back my quarters. The break room wasn't supposed to be a recreational room for employees, at least according to the higher-ups. It was a safe-room for employees to find in case an accident occurred with the golden suits as not to traumatize Little Johnny, with first aid kits, defibrillators, and fire hoses stocked inside. But these same higher-ups put an iced water cooler and arcade machines in as well, which makes me think they're full of shit and just spewing memos from their higher-ups. I was about to beat "ASS" in the high score when something metal broke, and the screaming started.

As I stepped out of the break room, I could hear the echoes.  As I stepped closer to the corner, I could hear the screaming grow louder and frantic.

I saw Fred lying facedown on the Party room floor, with a broken chair underneath his suit.
“Call an ambulance!” someone shouted.  Everyone had formed a ring around the scene, but nobody was actually moving to help Fred. The bystander effect in action.

I sprinted down the hall, forcing my legs to move as fast as they could. I felt something inside me as I ran, almost like an epiphany as I was suddenly aware of my footsteps. All I could hear were the sounds of my soles striking the tiling. And when I reached Fred, someone had slowed the film.

I pushed Fred over onto his back with some difficulty, and saw what was once his legs twist and distort in the process of my moving him. The knees were broken, with some bone sticking out of the suit, and the red fabric twisted and distorted as the legs moved with the body.  Part of the chest had somehow been sucked into the mechanical workings, with a gaping hole where the abdomen once was; a ring of red marking it’s location. Blood oozed from the sockets, but that was all I could see inside the head. Fred’s head was hidden behind Freddy’s maw. I  didn’t know where to start with him, so I ignored him as my attention went to the kid he had fallen on .

The kid twitched underneath a broken chair. He was covered in blood. If it was his or Fred’s, I wasn’t sure. I lifted the dented and warped remains of a chair off his body, as I checked for a pulse. My eyes flickered up for an instant, and everyone was still standing there, staring. I tried to ignore them.

I couldn’t feel anything, as his neck lolled around. I shook and slapped him a little, trying to get a sign out of him, any life. By now the screams had become background noise, and I didn’t notice they had stopped until I heard Fred moan as he got to his feet.

I stood up and backed away as his moans intensified. A deep, pained voice, the kind of grunt you make when you have a headache. Blood cascaded down Freddy’s eyes, as the neck slumped forward. His shattered legs quivered, and the quivering moved up his body. Freddy began to writhe and shiver, his limbs moving spastically. His moans turned into shudders, as his jaw began to open. Slowly but surely it opened, and I heard the sound of ripping inside.

Fred’s head was now visible. Both halves of it. I could have sworn he made eye contact with me as his upper jaw, speared on the robot’s skeleton,  moved up and up. But it was only for a split second. He gave one last moan, and collapsed for good.

Some repairmen came in the morning and took away the suit saying it was to “help the investigation”. The kid’s body was returned to his parents. Sometimes in my sleep I hear Fred’s groans.

I really hate this job.