003: Terrified

            My next shift was two days later. When I entered the building, I already noticed the strange amount of noise. It was just the noise that people had when they were busy at work. I heard people talking to one another and I heard mechanical noises. Mechanical voices. The dark, dingy halls were fully decorated. Sam wasn't playing around about meeting the opening deadline.

             "Hey." I jumped. It was Adam, emerging from the locker room. He had an AirPod in.

            "Oh, hey." I slid into the locker room while he was leaving. "What's all that about?"

            "New people for you to meet." He was looking at his messages again. "Also, your friend is looking for you."

            I laughed, putting my stuff into a locker. "Sam? What, he can't let me have a day off?"

            Adam didn't seem amused. He didn't even seem like he cared too much at all. "No. Springtrap. See you."

            He just shut the door. I froze, hand still in the middle of going through my bag. I wasn't entirely sure what Adam meant by that. I didn't think he would've become so well acquainted with humans that quickly. I just pulled out my wallet and phone and proceeded to clock in.

            When I walked out of the door, I was met with an unfamiliar face. A very tall, sporty white guy with long, brown hair. A lot more built than Adam, but very much not my type. I just said, "Hey. You new?"

            "Yeah." His voice was deep. Reminded me of a brainless athlete. "Jason."

            "Emma." There was a silence, so I asked, "So, what animatronic are you babysitting? Did Sam give you one yet?"

            He blinked, like his only brain cell was trying to formulate an answer. "The fox."

            "Ah, Foxy. He's cool." I heard something crash down the hall. It sounded like a plate. "I'd better go. I have my own robot to look after."

            Jason didn't say much. Either he wasn't a man of many words, or he just didn't think. When I walked down the hall, I caught sight of another guy that I hadn't seen before. He was yet another boy that seemed like someone I would find crawling around in the I.T. building at my college. He looked at me, seemed petrified, and turned back around to mess with Balloon Boy. I just sighed and kept walking. It was like I was trapped in a building with all men.

            By that time, I'd figured out how to take the shortcut hallways. They were always dark, yes, but they let me get to the office quicker. Right when I got to the office doorway, I heard the back door of the building slam open. It scared the daylights out of me, but all I heard was, "Hey, Emma! Nice to see you!"

            I exhaled. It was just Sam. "Hey. You didn't tell me we had new employees."

            "Yeah! Didn't want to bother you on your day off." He was carrying a large, cylindrical, green bin of masks that he placed in the corner of my office. "They're from your college. They're nice! I've hired more people too, but they're starting tomorrow."

            Sam just walked off down the hallway past my window, and stopped just beyond my view to say 'excuse me' to someone. I'd barely even gotten the chance to start up the security system before I noticed the large shadow peering down at me through the window. It pretty much made every hair on my body stand completely on end. I just managed to say, "Hello, Springtrap."

            I was watching the other employees in the cameras until I heard, "Where have you been?"

            I flinched. That dark, evil voice was something I wouldn't be getting used to anytime soon. How it noiselessly got to the doorway, I wasn't too sure. I did have a knack for ignoring people, so that was working out, but just by a slight margin. "Home. I had a day off."

            "You belong here."

            My eyes widened a bit. It stepped into the room just slightly. "And why is that?"

            It was looking through that large bin Sam had just dropped off. "The others bore me. You do not."

            I was still watching the security cameras, half amused by the kid chasing around Balloon Boy. I wondered if it was equipped with drone technology so it could fly around. "Oh yeah?"

            "You look at me when I speak to you."

            I almost jumped out of my chair. How it'd managed to get so close to me, I wasn't sure. It was leaning on my desk, the large hands gripping the edge of it. When I turned, its face was looming over mine, the large eyes burning themselves into my pupils. My heart was pretty much in my throat. Again, I had to convince myself that Sam blocked these robots from killing. I couldn't manage to say anything in response. I just looked at it with wide eyes, praying that it wouldn't do anything else. It just laughed in response. It tried laughing loudly, but it sounded like it couldn't. I understood that William's lungs had been impaled when he got trapped in the suit, and it amazed me that Sam paid that much attention when designing this thing. He paid attention to every bit of the lore he could.

            It just hummed, "Oh, I've missed you."

            With that, it backed up and retreated to almost the doorway. I could barely breathe. I just shook my body slightly and said, "I didn't miss you."

            "Sure."

            Springtrap just left. It was an amusing robot, to say the least. I just did what I could and looked at the cameras. Jason was with Foxy, who had Sam's attention. Either it was supposed to look like it was malfunctioning, or it actually was. Foxy always had a tendency to do that. I laid eyes on Adam, who looked like he was managing Freddy. I squinted at the camera number, and saw that they were in camera two.

            And in a moment, I saw the large, hunched over figure of phantom Freddy trudging down the office hallway. Adam followed it like nurses follow residents in nursing homes. I was trying not to look, but I couldn't help it. Phantom Freddy was almost as large as Springtrap. Then, without warning, Freddy's neck slowly turned around to look at me. His eyes were that same glowing gray color. I squeaked and looked down at the table, half expecting Freddy to jump right through the window.

            Then, I almost jumped out of my own skin when Adam peeked into the office. "Whoa- hey, didn't mean to scare you."

            I just brushed my hair aside and pulled the chair into the table. Freddy was right beside him, looking in the room as well. "You're fine. Freddy's just creepy."

            For some reason, the robot looked a bit dejected by that statement. Adam just patted his back. "You see your friend?"

            I rolled my eyes, looking at my fingernails. "Yup."

            Adam was on his phone again. He was lucky I was on security and didn't give a damn about people being on phones while clocked in. "Bro, he knows you by name. It's crazy."

            That made me look at him. "What?"

            "Yeah, dude." Freddy twitched, which scared both of us. "He asked me where you were yesterday. He's scary."

            I leaned back in the chair, crossing my legs. "Who told him my name?"

            Adam shrugged. "No idea. Probably Sam. Maybe..."

            He drifted off and my eyes widened when I realized I heard something moving around in the vents. It took me a second to determine the direction of the movement. When I realized it was gradually getting louder, I jumped out of my chair. I forgot the vent entrance was right beside me. I backed up enough to see it clearly, and I jumped again when I heard yelling come from down the hallway. Part of me thought it was the end. Part of me thought Springtrap started its killing spree, but to my surprise, I saw the dorky looking employee that seemed terrified of me running down the office hallway. He quite literally slid to a stop in the office, his glasses almost falling off his face. All he said was, "I am so sorry!"

            I blinked at him, and Adam had the same blank look I did. I just said, "You okay?"

            This employee's voice was stutter-filled. He reminded me of the one kid with the yellow shirt from the Polar Express. "Yeah, he just got into the vents. He's hard to keep track of."

            My eyebrow raised a bit. "Who?"

            The thumping in the vents was a lot louder, and Adam said, "Who, bro?"

            The employee just got closer to the vent opening, and part of me wanted to grab him and throw him backwards. The only animatronic known to use the vents in this game was Springtrap, and I really didn't want to see someone's head get ripped off. However, this guy seemed cool as a fucking cucumber about it.

            Then, a head popped out of the vent and said, "Hello."

            It was fucking Balloon Boy.

            I just exhaled and leaned against the window. That was too much. This employee seemed to just parent Balloon Boy, urging him around like a child. He was too wrapped up in his own activities, too. Muttering to Balloon Boy was pretty much the only thing he did.

            "Bro, what's your name again?"

            Thank God Adam asked that question. The employee just looked upwards like we interrupted something extremely important. "Me?"

            Adam looked completely unenthused. I was too busy still catching my breath. "No, bro, the robot. Yeah, you."

            "Oh. I'm Chris."

            I snorted. Of course his name was Chris. Adam just said, "Cool, I'm Adam."

            "I'm Emma, if you didn't know already." Chris looked at me with that same petrified face. I was almost too busy straightening out my shirt to notice. I looked at him and said, "What?"

            "Um. Um... behind you?"

            I blinked a few times before slowly turning around. I just saw a dark silhouette. When I looked upwards, I couldn't tell if I was pleased or not to see my new best friend. It was just staring down at me, and I was staring upwards. I was so close to it, yet so far away on the other side of the glass. Springtrap eyed me, then the two guys in the room. Both were completely silent in its presence. I don't think either of them took a breath, especially Chris. It looked back at me once more before stalking back down the hallway. The three of us finally exhaled, and my eyes lingered on where it stood before.

            Adam inquired, "What the fuck was that about?"

            I shrugged. "No clue. Usually he talks. He seemed angry."

            "Angry?"

            We both looked at Chris, who used the same tone as a scared five-year-old. I just said, "Yeah, it's Springtrap. He's always angry."

            Adam snorted. "He's even nicer when you're not here. I don't even think he talks. He just stares at people."

            I sat down again, laughing a little. "Staring is enough to make someone piss their pants. Right, Chris?"

            Adam laughed, and Chris tried to protest, but it didn't work. I wondered how that guy ended up working at a haunted house in the first place given a fly could probably scare his soul out of him. Jason was just standing by Foxy in the cameras, scrolling through what looked like Tiktok. He didn't seem too interested in socializing. Again, these guys were lucky they had me working in this room. I had the worst fucking job of all, but maybe if I could laugh about it, it'd get a little better.