Long Distance Call
Night 1 - Sunday
 
>You are Phineas Guy. And it’s quiet.
>Very, very quiet.
>Not that you can say you’re surprised.
>After all, the pizzeria’s not open at this hour.
>You glance back at your watch again; 11:30pm.
>If only there was a coffee machine at this place.
>You’re not used to being up this late.
>For all you know Ed bought one.
>Given how long it’s been…
>Shrugging, you bring up the camera display, flicking through. Eventually you set on the kitchen.
>The cameras are actually pretty slow in how they scroll.
>At least, it seems pretty slow. You’re not overly familiar with security cameras, all things considered, though. This IS your first ‘security’ shift, after all.
>Ultimately, you can’t tell for certain if there’s anything there.
>After a moment, you glance to the shelf-desk across the room from where you’re sitting.
“Wonder if there’s anything in there I could use…”
>Standing, you quickly shuffle over to it, opening up the shelves one after the other.
>To your pleasure, there’s a flashlight in the bottom drawer. You pick it up.
>Looking into the dark hall, you point the flashlight.
>You half expect someone to be standing there, ready to scare you, but you’ll never know since the device doesn’t turn on.
>You roll your eyes and give the device a shake.
>It remains silent.
>You pop the back off, revealing the problem: there are no batteries.
“Figures…”
>You head back to your chair, picking up the tablet again. You glance over the interface showing all the cameras.
 
>Kitchen, Hallway A, Hallway B…
>Storage. There we go.
>Putting down the tablet again, you glance towards Hallway B.
>You poke your head out and notice it’s rather dim.
>However after squinting your eyes you can clearly make out a doorway in the middle of the hall.
>Quietly you head down the hallway and try the door’s knob. It’s locked.
>Reaching into your pockets you grab the key ring Ed gave you.
>It’s impossible to make out which key is which, so you begin to brute force it, one by one.
>The fifth key is the one you’re looking for and with a bit of a creak the door opens.
>You’re quick to notice the storage room is just as dark as the hallway.
>Sighing, you enter, figuring you’ll just take a quick look around but not waste too much time trying to read labels in the dark.
>There’s a number of shelves on each of the walls.
>One by one you look them over. There’s a few boxes here and there on all of them.
>Most were empty. Others had non-descript cans or smaller boxes in them.
>You glance about. You kept hearing some noise coming from somewhere in the room, but you couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from.
>It was like a raspy breathing. But there was nothing around that could make those sounds.
>About to give up, you check one last box.
>Reaching in, you pull out another small box. It’s slightly darker than the others near it.
>You bring it up to your face, to try and make out what it says.
>Thankfully you don’t need to do so since a familiar rabbit with a drum is on the front.
 
>Smiling, you quickly pop open the box, pouring out two double a sized batteries.
>You hear that raspy noise again.
>Quickly shaking it off, you return the small box to its large home and pop the two batteries into your flashlight.
>Heading out of the room, you flick the device’s switch, but there’s no response.
>Frowning, you consider for a moment that someone put dead batteries in storage, but realize that’s rather silly.
>Popping the lid back off, you pour the batteries into your hand. That throaty noise sounds off again.
>Ignoring it, you replace the batteries, placing them in the other way around.
>You move to pop the lid on but it slips from your grip, falling on the ground with a rather loud clatter.
>Groaning, you squat down to pick the thing up.
>Finally popping it on, you hit the switch once again.
>The hallway ahead of you brightens up immediately. It’s quite a bright despite being such a small and light flashlight.
>Nodding, you smile, glancing down the hall briefly before turning back to—wait, what was that at the end of the hall?
>You sharply turn back, brightening up the end of the hall.
>A tall, purple humanoid creature stands there, looking away, into the main room. It takes you a second to realize that it’s just one of the animatronics.
>Turning off the flashlight, you quickly shuffle back to your office, your heart skipping a beat just barely.
>As soon as you’re back in the light you glance down at your watch.
>It’s almost half past twelve.
 
“Heh… guess I got carried away in that storage room.”
>You turn to the chair, walking over.
>However, you stop suddenly when you realize your steps sound far too heavy.
>Maybe if you had worked at the store for these last few years and ate lots of pizza during your stay, you could understanding it.
>But no, a twig like you isn’t that loud.
>As you stand there quietly, the steps continue.
>Oh, right. The animatronics.
>Somehow you forgot that Ed clearly stated the bots are in wander mode after twelve.
>Sighing, you sit down in the chair. Shaking your head you wonder why you’re all worked up for.
“They’re performance robots, Phineas. Relax.”
>You close your eyes and take a deep breath, counting to ten.
>Opening your eyes, you look down at the flashlight you’re still holding.
>Turning it back on, you scan the room’s darker areas, like that under the desk.
>There’s a bit of a cobweb growing that you hadn’t notice. Perhaps you should have looked for a brush or broom while you were in storage.
>Continuing to scan—
“Oh Jesus!”
>The rabbit animatronic is right at the door, starring at you.
>Time seems to slow as you stare at the rabbit. What was this one’s name? It’s not Bunny, surely.
>It just stands there, looking at you. Not moving an inch.
>You don’t remember these things looking so… off. It’s the lighting, probably.
 
>A few minutes pass as the standoff continues.
“Uh…”
>You need to think. These things are supposed to understand basic commands, right?
>Oh! Maybe they remember you, back when you managed the store.
“H-Hey, uh, Beatrice? It’s me! Phineas. You remember me, right?”
>It turns its heads to the side questioningly. So far so good, maybe?
“You know, the assistant manager! Phineas! Or Phin… whatever.”
>The robot blinks, its head returning to a neutral position.
“…You don’t remember me, do you?”
>It doesn’t respond.
>You wheel the chair back slightly, though the machine doesn’t move from its place in the door.
>It’s about then when you notice there’s a button beside the door.
>It is unoriginally marked ‘Door’.
>Glancing cautiously above the rabbit, you see what you can assume is the door.
“So, uh… I’m your new security guard! Um… Ed wants me to watch the place, so…”
>The robot opens its mouth and to your surprise it begins to… speak?
>Speak isn’t the right word. ‘Play sound’ is more appropriate.
>”Hello! A-And welcome to Freddy Fazbear’s piz-zza!”
>You recognize that as the store’s greeting. All of them said the phrase to customers in the store they didn’t recognize.
>It continues. “A m-magical place for k-k-k-k—“
>The device twitches slightly, locking into the phrase. You do not want to be in here with a malfunctioning metal rabbit.
>Thinking quickly, you reach over and slam the button down. On cue a large door drops down from above, a thick metal wall landing between you and the machine.
 
>The message continues despite the metal blockade muffling the sound.
>”—k-kids and grown-ups alike, where f-fantasy and fun c-come to life!”
>You take a deep breath, as the recording stops. Leaning back in the chair.
>The message ends and the room quickly becomes quiet again, beyond the fan which has been running since Ed turned it on a few hours ago.
“Uh, hm.”
>Leaning forward, you look about for the flashlight, which slipped from your grip when you reached for the door.
>You flick it back on, and cautiously point in toward the other hallway. To your relief, nothing is there.
>The reprise gives you to think. Unless anything’s changed, there should be four animatronics.
>Freddy was the bear. There was a Chicken, the rabbit, whom you just ‘talked’ too, and…
>Foxy. The one who bit the kid’s face off, all those years ago.
>As the name suggest he was a fox. And a pirate. You never quite understood the choice.
>You recall suggesting once that he could be a “scurvy” dog. Ed wasn’t a fan, unfortunately.
“…I suppose I should check the cameras.”
>Taking the tablet, you flick through said cameras, especially the ones in the halls beside you.
>Your rabbit ‘friend’ is gone, but you’re not quite keen on opening the left door yet.
>You look at your watch, once more. It’s around 1 am.
>Shaking your head, you wonder for a moment why exactly you’ve been all jittered by the… sort of creepy looking robots being around you.
>Just because Foxy bit a child’s face off didn’t mean they’d all do that.
>Besides, the Bite of ’87 was an accident.
 
>Surely the machines are just wondering what the light is.
>After all, the pizzeria is currently closed.
>This reminds you of what Ed said years ago, the one time you asked him about his prized animatronics.
>You honestly didn’t remember the details, but there were supposed to be a bunch of rules which they followed.
>’Greeting all the visitors’ is one you remember. The rabbit—why can’t you remember its name?—did that just fine.
>Shrugging, you bring up the tablet to check on the machines.
>The rabbit was standing about the dining area, Freddy was on stage still; you weren’t sure he had moved at all.
>It takes you a second to find the Chicken, who is standing about the kitchen.
>You find it odd how they don’t seem to move unless you aren’t looking, though it’s probably nothing.
>It’s not like you’re starring at them non-stop.
>Shrugging, you keep checking the cameras, eventually looking at the Pirate’s Cove.
>Your blood runs cold as you notice a familiar pirate looking out the curtains.
>A part of you assumed Ed would have scrapped this one, or at least turned it off until further notice…
>The sign outside the place does say, ‘Sorry, out of order’ after all.
>Putting down the tablet, you look toward the closed door.
>You bring up the flashlight, pointing it at the mental slab before pressing the button.
>The hallway is empty.
 
>Time goes on, without any sign of the animatronics.
>Thankfully, you remembered the name of the other two robots. The rabbit is Bonnie, the chicken is Chica.
>How you forgot such a thing, you couldn’t guess. Though hindsight is 20/20, after all.
>Soon enough it was six am. Checking the cameras once more, you found all the machines were back in their proper places.
>Humming a little tune, you stand, stretching out a little. Time to go.
>You figure it’d be frowned upon to bring the flashlight home with you, so you deposited it back into the desk, where you found it.
>Leaving down the left hallway, you continue to hum a little tune.
>Entering the main room, you stop for a moment to glance towards the deactivated Pirate’s Cove.
>The curtain is still slightly opened, but Foxy is nowhere to be seen.
>Shrugging, you head for the door. It’s only now you realize that Ed never actually mentioned how much he was paying you for this.
>You’d need to call him and ask later on, as well as figure out the rest of your hours.
>But Ed was right. This wasn’t a tough job at all. Though you’re not so sure on how your sleep cycle’s going to handle working so late.
>Locking the front door, you figure you can figure it out later.
>You head off, starting on the walk home.