“What do you mean you think he might have gotten killed? Wouldn’t the cops know? Wouldn’t everyone know?” Christine seemed very disturbed. She might have been scared before, but now she just seemed paranoid. The story must have gotten to her head. She was trying to deny what I was telling her. I didn’t blame her, and tried to not get frustrated at her insistent and frequent questions.

“We didn’t know. No one reported it. And I haven’t actually found his body. Just the recorded message he left.”

“Wouldn’t that one other guard before you that was fired have heard the message, too? Why didn’t he go to the police?”

“I’m not sure. But here, I’ll play you the message so you can hear for yourself.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the tape recorder that I had been using earlier.  Rewinding it a bit, I hit play and handed it to her. While she was listening, I checked on the camera feed.

“Hello, hello! Hey. Wow – day four. I knew you could do it. Uh, hey, listen. I – I might not be around to send you a message tomorrow.” A banging sound could be heard clearly. “It’s – it’s been a bad night here… for me. Umm… I – I’m kinda glad that I recorded my messages for you… uh, when I did.” More banging sounds. “Hey, do me a favor. Maybe sometime… uh, you could check inside those suits in – in the back room? I’ma try to hold out until someone… checks. Maybe it won’t be so bad. I – I – I always wondered what was in those empty heads… back there.” Some kind of music box-style music started to play, it obviously upset the guy on the phone, who reacted by saying, “oh no… oh no…” Bonnie was coming down the hallway and was closing in on my blind spot. I shut the door just as the recording played an awful screech. Christine jumped about two feet out of her chair.

“What do you think?” I asked her.

She handed the recorder back to me with slightly shaking hands. “I think you’re right.”

“If we make it through the night, want to help me nab this company?”

“If we make it through the night, I’ll do whatever you ask.”

“Good to hear.” I gave her an encouraging smile. “This is my fifth night. I’m an expert by now. You don’t have much to worry about now that we’re in the office.”

She gave a nervous laugh and rubbed her palms on her pants. They must have been sweaty. “Yeah, not much more to worry about than the looming threat of being shoved in a Freddy Fazbear suit.”

“That’s the spirit!” I turned on the hall light to see if Bonnie was still there. He wasn’t in the hall. I reopened the door. “Well, you know a bit about me, but I don’t know anything about you besides your name.”

She glanced down at her name tag, probably forgetting that she was wearing it. She shrugged her shoulders.

“What were you still doing in the restaurant two hours after closing time? You should have left by eleven. You didn’t have a date on a Friday night?”

She looked at me sideways and narrowed her eyes slightly, as if a bit embarrassed by the question. “No.”

“What,” I shrugged. “No guy wants to go out with you on Friday nights?” She was staring at me and I couldn’t tell if it was a glare or just a nonchalant look. Maybe she just had a resting bitch face? “Maybe I just got it wrong. You don’t look old enough to go clubbing. How old are you anyways?”

“Nineteen.”

“In college?” She nodded. “So… what made you stay so late?”

“I don’t know… I guess I forgot the time,” she answered, looking down at the floor.

 “You enjoy cleaning tables for a living?”

“No. I just… got carried away.”

“You wiped down the table cloths and figured ‘why not just scrub down the entire table? And the chairs while I’m at it?’” I smiled jokingly. I don’t think she thought it was funny.

“No, that’s not what I was thinking.”

“I don’t understand what would possess you to make you stay here until midnight?”

“I have OCD, okay?” She took a deep breath. “I started to clean the tables and I couldn’t stop until they were perfect. Happy now?”

“No,” I said, snapping back into serious mode. “I’ll be happy once the clock hits 6 AM.” Christine wouldn’t look at me. “Hey, why don’t you work the cameras?”

Christine pulled the chair up to the desk and turned on the monitor. “Umm…. Bonnie seems to be back in the party room,” she said as she started to flip through the camera channels. “Oh my god!” Christine pulled her face back from the screen. “Chica’s in the hall,” she screeched. “She’s in the hall!”

In three bounds, I made it to the other door. Just to check, I turned on the light. Yep, she was definitely coming. Good thing Bonnie and Chica weren’t nearly as fast as Foxy. I turned off the light and shut the door at the same time. “Could you do me a favor,” I told Christine, rubbing a hand down my face. “and keep your voice down? The more noise we make, the more they’re attracted to this room. Let’s not make the situation worse than it actually is.”

“Sorry. I panicked.” Christine was holding her shoulders.

“Check on Foxy really quick and then turn off the monitor.”

“Alright.” Christine reluctantly turned back around and glued her nose to the computer screen. “Still behind the curtains. Just like always.” She switched off the display.

“Has Freddy moved yet?”

“Nope. He’s still on the stage. Does he ever move?”

“Oh yeah. But not like the others.” Christine gave me a look that seemed to say “you have got to be kidding.” I gave her a cheery look. “We’re off to a good start.”

“I was just thinking: if the characters are only allowed to move at night, why have a night guard? Can’t they just lock the doors and leave them alone?”

“They probably couldn’t stand being in the building when it’s dark and quiet. I think they would try to break out and go find where the party is.”

“So you’re here to keep them reined in,” she worded her question as a statement.

“No, it’s more like I’m live bait. I’m only off the hook when the sun comes up.”

“When does the sun come up?”

“A bit after 6 AM.”

“Great. Only four more hours of this hell hole.”

“More like three more hours. It’s almost 3 AM.”

“Way to look on the bright side,” she said sarcastically.

“Not really,” I replied with a half-smile. “3 AM is when things start to heat up.”

“You’re insane. You know that?” She returned my smile. I think she forgave me about the OCD issue.

“I think anyone would be after seeing what happens at night in this place.”

“Touché.”