I was in complete darkness, save for the red light from the exit sign. It was tempting to run back through the door, but I had just entered, and I had to go through the entire place; I had little choice.

I slowly walked along the hallway. Aged children's drawings could be seen on the walls. They mainly consisted of a cartoon bear, but a few contained a purple bunny and a yellow chicken.

I then turned towards the doorway on the left and found a new hallway going right with brighter lights. Or rather, one spotlight on the ground shining on my face. From what I could see, there was what looked like a yellow head on the ground. It was clearly from an animatronic animal. There were more drawings on the wall, as well as a broken mask. It looked like it belonged on some sort of puppet.

At the end of that hall was a miniature game arcade full of old-school game cabinets. With the sudden dim background lighting, the lights on the screens seemed like the sun! The hallway went on towards the left a bit before I had to make another left and enter a new hallway. The lighting here was dim, as well, but I could still see more drawings decorating the walls.

A little bit forward revealed a new room with a purple animatronic shell to my immediate left with a single blaring light shining out its right eye socket. The only thing present on the shell was a head and torso. I kept going forward and entered yet another room with another animatronic head to my left, only this time, it was a red fox head with an eyepatch covering an eye socket. The other socket had a light illuminating the hallway to my right, which was my only option to move towards.

As I went down this hallway, I heard what sounded like a music-box style song coming from the ceiling. It sounded familiar, yet catchy.

I turned right and found myself back in the hallway with the purple animatronic. I kept going forward, though, and I found a hallway with a greenish tint. To my left was a giant glass window. A peek inside revealed what looked like some sort of office. I saw a black chair, as well as a few drawings ono the walls. Everything else was hard to picture.

Finally, I made another left. Within a few feet, I saw a red-green hue on a wall. It was a door with a giant EXIT sign on it. I walked towards it, feeling somewhat relieved. Along the way, I saw an animatronic shell similar to the other one, but was brown.

"AIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"

At the sound of that screech, I screamed loudly and bolted towards the exit door! I almost tripped as I pushed the thing open and ran for a few more feet before slowing down and clutching my chest.

I looked up and saw two men my age on the ground with laughter. Their faces were as red as Super Mario's hat! Finally, the one with the golden hair got up and wiped tears from his eyes.

"Dude, you should have TOTALLY seen your face!!!" he said as he took slow, deep breaths with a giant grin plastered.

"Okay, I admit you got me," I told them both with a smile.

"GOT you?!" the other one with the dark mullet and sunglasses asked. "Dude, we scared the living hell out of you!"

"Okay, yes," I admitted, "but I think if you're going to be adding frights like that, it shouldn't be at the dead end of the attraction."

"Yeah, we're aware of that, Eric," the blonde said as he quickly got into a serious mood. "Guy and I have been trying to find ways to add more scares besides the darkness and occasional empty shell."

"I did like the use of that music, though," I told Guy. "Where'd you find it?"

"In one of the endoskeleton voice boxes," He replied as he readjusted his shades. "Chuck said the old employee we're working with said it was called the, uh...Tor-something March."

"Toreador," Chuck corrected.

"Well, I like it!" I told them. "I really am liking how the place is progressing!"

"And just in time for the attraction to open next week!" Guy said with a fist pump towards the sky.

"Speaking of which," Chuck said with a smile, "have you guys read today's paper?"

Guy and I shook our heads. Chuck grinned even more when he ran towards his car in the parking lot of the strip mall. He opened the door, grabbed something, and ran back towards us.

"Check it out!" He commanded as he shoved the paper in my face.

I took it from him and glanced it over. Near the bottom was a picture of an empty animatronic mask of a brown bear. Next to it read:

COMING SOON!

Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction!

"Local amusement park is getting ready to scare your socks off with a new
attraction based on the unsolved mysteries of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza!

Featuring actual relics from the decades-old pizzeria, this new attraction is guaranteed to bring back your childhood in the worst possible way!

Opening next Monday in the Scottsdale Strip Mall, cost of $8 a person. Enjoy your sanity while you still have it!"

"Well?" Chuck asked with a snug grin.

"I love it!" I told him as I handed the paper to Guy, who began reading.

"I was thinking that maybe we could give a first-week discount or something," Chuck continued. "Like, say, 50% off if you're in cosplay!"

"Do you WANT the place to be crammed with furries?" Guy asked as he folded the paper back up. "Because you know nobody's going to be dressing as BB or the Prize Puppet."

"Hey, anything to attract business!" I told Guy. "But let's wait until we start making a profit before giving discounts, okay?" I then asked Chuck.

"Alright, fair enough," Chuck said in reply.

"Hey, Eric, can I ask you a favor?" Guy asked.

"Sure thing."

"I need you to watch over the place again tonight."

"Guy, I've been filling in your spot for the last 3 days so you could go out to the beach and party!"

"Yeah, I know, but there's something more important I need to do tonight! For the business!"

"Well, you're lucky I'm free again tonight. Fine."

"Thanks, man! You won't regret it!!"

"Well, I think that's everything we needed to do tonight," Chuck told us. "What do you say we head to the bar real quick and celebrate?"

"Celebrate what?" I asked.

"The fact we've come this far in making what will soon be the scariest horror attraction in the United States!"

"I'll drink to that!" Guy said with a raise of the hand.

"Eh, why not?" I finally said in agreement.

With that, we walked towards our vehicles to head over to the local bar. Chuck does have a point that coming this far in the project is a big deal.

When Chuck first told me and Guy about the idea of making a haunted house-like attraction based on Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, the unsuccessful family pizza place that has opened and closed many times in its history, I was a bit intrigued. The three of us had a lot of history with that restaurant; we first met each other in the final location that managed to stay open in our area. That particular location closed in 1997 due to sanitation purposes. It was rumored, though, that there was a darker reason.

Anyway, we were all 6 years old when that restaurant closed, but that doesn't mean we forgot about it. All throughout middle and high school, and even college, we would never stop talking about the place and why it closed. We, of course, did our research along the way.

Turns out the establishment started in 1966 with a different name: Fredbear's Family Diner. It contained 2 animatronic characters, each yellow in color. After reports of a child being murdered at the establishment in 1972, though, it then closed and was bought by a new company. A year later, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza came to be, with new robot characters and a new design. Unfortunately, that particular restaurant didn't last long; less than a week later, 5 children were reported missing at the location, promptly causing THAT restaurant to close.

Then, in 1987, it opened yet again with all new, redesigned animatronics. That time, there was a report of a man getting severely bitten in the head by one of the animatronics. It apparently was a miracle he's still alive to this day! Many claim this 'bite' never happened, but we have a reliable source who has proved its existence.

From there, it closed again and finally opened back up in 1997, with yet another character and building redesign. Many claim the reason this restaurant failed was because of reports of blood and mucus on the animatronics. People imagine this is connected to reports of 5 more missing children within the year, but it was never completely proven.

Oddly enough, a man claimed he earned employment at that particular building in 2014, even though it had been closed for years! He claims that after a week of working there, he suffered two broken arms and one broken leg, but not before apparently 'releasing spirits' or something like that. He and his sister both claim this is true, but the three of us have our doubts. Nonetheless, they've been helping us a lot with Fazbear's Fright, so we can't complain too much.

Since 1997, 3 more Freddy Fazbear's Pizza had opened, only in different states around the country! They all eventually closed, though. We don't know the full stories on all of them, but we know that one of the restaurants was apparently using human meat in their pizzas! Of course, this info came to us from the guy who apparently lifted the 'curse' of the other restaurant.

Anyway, the three of us went to the bar and ordered our drinks. When they finally arrived, Chuck proposed a toast.

"To Fazbear's Fright!" he said as he raised his beer.

"To Fazbear's Fright!" Guy and I repeated as we all clinked our bottles together and started drinking.

We could toast all we want, but the fact was the attraction isn't fully complete; we need to find something truly scary soon, or this place will flop for sure. But what could possibly make this place so unique yet so terrifying?