Animatronic Eyes

On Sunday morning, I found myself dreading it more. I laid in bed from six to seven with no intentions of getting up. As I laid there, I devised ideas in my head how to get out of it. But I knew it was already too late, and I was stuck.

After a while, I did have to get up, and get dressed. But honestly, I didn't know what to wear. What do normal people wear when they meet their nightmares? Mom came fifteen minutes later with expertise. She filed through my closet in under twenty seconds and tossed a yellow blouse and faded blue jeans at me.

"Be yourself, but the nicer version." She said with a smile, handing me my converse and closing my bedroom door on her way out. I think she could sense my horror. I have to do this. Even though Jack'll be there, it will still hit me as hard as though he wasn't.

I showered, took my time and then looked at the clock and spun out in a sprint. I was going to be late if I didn't hurry now. I pulled the yellow shirt over my head, yanked up my jeans and laced up my converse in under thirty seconds, I brushed out my hair and pulled it back into a dripping ponytail. I grabbed my jeanjacket and phone, shoving it into my back pocket and jogged down the stairs to almost collide with Jack in the hall.

"You're here." I smiled and patted his shoulder, then went searching for my school bag. I found it hanging on the back of one of the kitchen chairs, I dumped out the textbooks and made sure I had my school slip.

"Bye mom!" I called out and tugged Jack's hand out the door behind me.

"Nervous?" Jack asked when we were in my car. I fidgited with my seatbelt, still fighting the urge to call in sick or something pathetic like that.

I look over at him. "You?"

He doesn't answer, instead he turns his head away to look out the window at the rain beginning to trickle down the glass.

The drive through town is silent, except for the quiet mumble of the radio with low volume I gripped the steering wheel with both hands in a tight grip. Trying to focus on the task at hand, arriving to the place without going off the road in a fit of nerves.

I haven't seen the building in a few years, it was on the outskirts of town, yet hoards of families make it that way every night for parties, pizza and the entertainment of the animatronics.

Through the blurred screen of rain running down my windshield, I could make out the building. A long, squat building, painted red and white with a redshingle roof and a red brick foundation.

"There it is." Jack whispers in awe from beside me. As far as I know, he hasn't seen it in a while, either.

From the highway, it looks like your regular old kids playplace. It's cheerful exterior and bright neon sign of the cartoon animatonics on the roof and the sign on the road. But as we get closer, the details become clear, and it's really just a sat old building with paint peeling in places, a few of the red and white checkers tile on the walls are chipped or falling off, an half the sign on the roof remains unlit do to it burning out.

I make a face as I pull into a parking place, and I look up at the building. Deterioating in shame, chunks of he red shingles on the roof are missing, rain running straight off the roof into puddle on the sidewalk, half of the gutter had torn away at some point and now only half of it remained. There were dead plants in pots beside the double glass doors and fliers caked to the windows with Help Wanted written on them.

"Ready?" Jack asks, looking over at me, breaking me from my thoughts. I look back, and pause. Am I ready?...

I nod, and begin climbing out. The time is eight-twenty-three. I grab my school bag, sling one strap over my left shoulder and I stare up at the blinking, flickering sign on the roof.

We walk towards the door, Jack pulls it open and we duck inside.

I'll admit, the interior is way more welcoming than the outside. It looks different than last time, remodeled, maybe? The red leather seats aren't cracked and repaired with duck tape anymore, but still those sappy "Let's Celebrate!" Banners hang criss crossed across the ceiling, as well as posters on the walls, with pictures of the characters.

"Whoa..." Jack muttered from beside me, also looking around.

There were long rows of tables, checkered tile table tops and floors, balloons, streamers and confetti decortation the walls. The arcade had more games now, and there wasn't a animatronic in sight.

I looked over beyond the arcade, and saw the purple curtains with the silver stars that led to pirate cove. And the wooden sign nailed to the stage, out of order

One less animatronic for me to worry about... I think to myself.

"Hello!" a voice exclaimed behind us, causing both me and Jack to jump and spin around.

A man stood there, he wore a charcoal grey shortsleeved polo with a design of the characters ironed on the left breast. He wore glasses, thick rimmed and wide, he had small, but wide eyes. And he stood about a foot taller than us, his brown hair thinning.

"You must be the volunteer, Mrs. Hunter." He held out it hand, and I slowly took it and shook it.

"Decsi." I corrected with a nod.

"Of course!" He smiled and turned to face Jack. "and who might you be?"

"This is Jack." I answered for him when he didn't "the email stated that I could bring a friend..."

"Ah, yes. Good to meet you, lad." Jack shook hands with the man.

"I am Mr. John Miller, you can call me John. I'll be guiding you through your community service, so will the other employees. I'd let Freddy himself do it, if only, oh nevermind. We haven't had anyone volunteer in a long time, due to the uncomfortable workspace. So we've done everything we can to make your time with us go smoothly." He smiled warmly, and for a moment, it reminded me of how my dad smiles.

"Ok." me and Jack say at the same time.

Mr. Miller rubs his hand together "Ok, before we begin, we'll let you guys get acquianted with the crew and cast." He's looking past us, and Jack exchanges a look with me.

We look over our shoulders as three things roll/walk out from behind the red curtains of the main stage at the far end of the room. First a bear, then a bunny, then the chick.

I cross my arms nonchalantly, but pinch my forearms viciously and bite my lip to keep it from trembling.

Then the kitchen door opens and three people walk out. Two women, one man, they walk towards us as well.

"Are these the volunteers?" On girl with cropped red hair and light green eyes asks Mr. Miller.

He nods "They are. Decsi, Jack, this is Cyrus. That's Jess," He said, pointing to the other girl with long blond hair with purple streaks, she smiled and waved. "and that's Blake." He pointed at the boy. He didn't look any older than twenty-three, short black hair and blue eyes.

"Hi" I waved halfhearted.

"Cyrus, Jess and Blake are waiters, washers and cashiers. They multitask, and so do you. You'll learn the loops of the business and be pros in no time."

"Right this way." Cyrus says, tugging on Jack's coat. Jess taps my shoulder. "You're with me." She said with a big smile. I couldn't help but smile back.

But then, there was the animatronics... They stood in a uniform line in front of us. As still as marble statues, I'd swear they were turned off.

"Freddy Fazbear, Chica and Bonnie." Mr. Miller introduced them. Their eyes didn't move, they didn't exhibit any signs of life among them.

"Foxy's in the morgue." Cyrus snickered, covering her mouth delicately with her hand.

Mr. Miller glanced at her and cleared his throat. "Jack, Cyrus will show you how to set tables, Decsi, Blake and Jess will show you around. You'll switch in thirty. Good luck!" Mr. Miller called after us, we were already being pulled away by our counterparts.

"Ok, we open in fifteen minutes. Same time every day, not a minute late. So you can turn on the sign!" Jess exclaimed happily. Blake rolled his eyes beside her "She's very... Theatrical."

Both Blake and Jess wore uniforms similar to Mr. Miller's. Only their polo's were yellow. I knew there was a catch to what my mom made me wear...

"I just like the theatrical-ness of this place." She grinned, motioning around her.

"Ok, so this is the main dining hall. You'll seat families here, if there's a party, you'll seat them in there," Jess pointed through a wide hallway at a dimly lit room with long tables with white tablecloths and party hats at every seat. More banners and confetti on the tables.

"Kind of creepy..." I say outloud, peeking in.

"Well, we haven't turned on the lights yet, silly." She kept walking.

"There's arcade, Pirate Cove is in there, try to keep the kids out, though. It's currently out of order, and we don't want anyone getting hurt."

I nod, glancing over at the purple curtains, pulled together tighter than a drum.

"What happened?" I wondered outloud.

Jess slowed a little and looked over her shoulder at me. "Oh nothing, really. They're just remodeling it, we don't want the kids into the tools and equiptment, getting hurt."

I was grateful that her answer didn't involve blood, gore and murder.

"Ok, so here's the restrooms, boys and girls. Kitchen is through here, on the other side of the party hall, is the animatronics stage. Where they go into sleep mode. You shouldn't need to go in there for anything, oh, and stay out of that room, ok?"

Jess pointed at a door across the dining hall, the sign said staff only.

"More security percautions." She said with a shrug.

"More remodeling?" I asked doubtfully.

"Yeah." She nodded, then turned to Blake, who had been following silently. "Blake, got the time?"

"Uh, yeah. It's eight-fourty-three.

"Oh! Let's get to the door."

I followed Blake and Jess to the front door me and Jack had come through, they counted down together, Jess with enthusiasm, Blake... Not so much.

"Four, three, two, one! Ok, do it!"

I flipped over the sign in the window, and the applause of one person sounded behind me.

"You can plug in the sign, too." Blake says quietly, pulling Jess away, pointing up at the neon sign in the window.

"Cyrus will catch up with you in a moment!" Jess calls.

I nod and turn away, looking for the plug. It was pretty easy to locate, it hung limply from the lower right corner of the dark neon sign. I held it up and dusted it off, then looked along the wall for an outlet.
"There..." I murmured to myself and crouched, pushing in the plug.

In my perhiphal vision, I saw someone walk through the dining hall, I looked over but no one was there.

I stood up straight and spun around. "Jess? Blake?" I walked towards the kitchen and pushed open the door, they stood inside, laughing with some burly guy flipping wads of biege dough into the air.

"Hi Decsi!" Jess greeted, but I couldn't shake the weird feeling.

"Did one of you guys walk through the main dining hall just now?" I asked, looking between them. They exchanged and look then shook their heads, "no, we've been in here since we left."
I looked down at the white checkered tile of the kitchen and shrugged it off, they're going to think I'm insane.

"Oh, nevermind then. Must have been my eyes."

"Decsi, this is our cook, Cole." Jess grinned, gesturing towards him.

"Is there any other members of the crew I should know about?" I asked in confusion. Jess laughed and shook her head. "No, it's just us. Except for two other waiters, they're not working today."

The door swung open behind me "There you are!" praised a girls voice. I looked behind me. Cyrus walked towards me, Jack beside her. "I'll give you the same run-down I gave Jack, and you can help with the first customers, and when you get the hang of it, they're all yours."

Cyrus tugged me out of the kitchen before I could do anything else. She strikes me as the kind of girl who's authority is not denied, and she typically does get her way and isn't used to the word no...

"Ok," She cleared her throat and pushed her red bangs out of her eyes. "I'll show you how to set the tables, it's pretty self explanitory, but we have a certain way of doing it-"
I scanned the room again. Standard lighting coming from the few flourescent lights along the ceiling and coming through the front windows of the resturant. My eyes fell on Pirate's Cove again, and I could swear I saw the curtains twitch.

"Decsi, did you hear what I said?" Jess interrupted my thoughts in annoyance.

"Oh yeah, sorry..."