“Foxy inched out of the curtain a little bit more. Not enough for him to bolt yet though. Bonnie’s in the supply closet. Chica’s back in the party room.” I was surprised that none of them took the opportunity to reach us through the opposite door. Surprised, but relieved.

“And Freddy?”

I had to sweep through all of the cameras again to find Freddy. “In the party room, too. You can see his eyes there.” I pointed to the screen. “He knows where the cameras are. He deliberately hides.”

“Unlike Bonnie and Chica.”

“Yeah. He likes playing games with your head. He really creeps me out. It’s like he studies your behavior. He takes his time.”

“Please stop talking about it,” Christine pleaded. She sounded like she was still crying.

“Oh, and what would you like me to talk about?” I snapped. “How I’m gonna go to Dairy Queen and buy a sundae? Maybe I’ll ask them for extra caramel since I’ll be celebrating getting out of this hell hole. We’re probably not going to get out of here.”

“Don’t say that,” she whispered. I could hear her sobbing. I turned to see her hugging herself. She was biting her lip in an attempt to stop bawling, or at least to keep from making too much noise.

“Hey, I’m sorry, alright? You just really freaked me out back there. I’m trying to keep my cool for your sake, but I’m just as scared as you.” This seemed to calm her down a bit. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

I swept through the cameras again. Bonnie was coming. “Shut the left door.” Christine didn’t waste any time. I checked on the power level, making sure to lean in extra close so Christine couldn’t see. 22 percent. As I watched, it went down to 21. How were we going to make it to 6 AM?

“I can sit and watch the screens if you want me to,” Christine asked. I was tempted to allow her, since she was so much better at systematically checking the cameras. I declined her offer. I didn’t want her to check the power supply.

We waited in silence for a while. I asked Christine to open the left door. Then I asked her to shut the right. I checked on Foxy. Still no change.

“So, do you always close on Friday nights?” I asked her.

“Just for the summer.”

“You start back at school in the fall? Open the door.”

She hit the button. “Yeah.”

Christine seemed like she was shutting down. No emotions registered on her face and she didn’t seem like she was in a talking mood. I continued with the game of twenty questions anyway. Anything to fill the silent void. Where was Freddy? He was peeking out of the girls’ bathroom. “Right after graduating high school, I went to the police academy. What’s your major?”

“Don’t know yet.” I turned around to look at her again. She refused to meet my eyes. Maybe she hated me. Personally, I didn’t care if she liked or disliked me. All I needed her to do was follow my orders so we could continue living.

“Well you’ve got plenty of time to figure it out. I figured it out early. I’ve known what I wanted to be since I was seventeen.”

“That’s nice.” I took a deep breath. I’m not sure what bothered me more: her asking a whole bunch of questions or her being almost completely silent.

“Once I was confirmed the job here, I got to start my investigative work.” I paused for a moment to be sure that Christine was listening. “On my first night, in between looking at the cameras and shutting the doors, I searched the files in this desk. Found documents kept since the last Freddy’s location, back when I used to go there a lot with my younger brother.” I paused again, this time to check the monitor. “I found the address of a former night guard.” Hallways were clear. “One that received workman’s comp,” Bonnie, Chica, and Freddy were all present on cameras, “for an accident that happened on the job back in 1987.”

I finished my sweep by looking at camera 1C. “Hang on, Foxy’s gonna run any second. Keep your hand over that close button but don’t hit it until I say so.” Although keeping on the camera system to watch Foxy ate up energy, it didn’t sap the power as much as the extra-secure metal doors. “Hang on.” Foxy just stood there, staring at the camera. Did he know we were watching him? I flicked the camera to the main party room and back again. Still no movement. Come on, you son of a bitch. You’re eating my power!

“Not yet.” I watched Freddy for a second, still in the girl’s bathroom, before switching back to 1C. He was gone. “Now!” Christine slapped the “close” button as I changed the feed to watch the left hallway. Foxy ran down just as he had earlier, except this time we weren’t threatened by certain death.

Bang! I winced. Christine didn’t seem bothered. “Can I open the door now?” she asked.

“Hang on just a second. Let him make his way back… alright you can open it now.” Bonnie was in the employees only room. Chica was in the hall. “Close the right door.”

We waited in silence for a few minutes. I had temporarily turned off the camera feed.

“What’s that moaning sound?” Christine asked.

“Not sure. I’ve never heard it before.” Christine turned on the light. We saw Chica just outside the small, slightly dirty, security window. Her head was malfunctioning again. “Please turn off the light,” I told Christine. I convinced myself that I wanted it off to save power, but I really just didn’t want to see Chica’s disconcerting head anymore.

I sighed, resting my elbows on the desk and rubbing my temples. I wanted nothing more than this job to be over. Was it really only quarter to five? I forced myself to check the feeds again. No change. Chica was still in the hall, but it seemed like she was leaving. I waited a whole minute before asking Christine to open the door.

“What were you saying earlier about the files in the desk? The old night guard who got workman’s comp?” That was the longest thing Christine had said for a while. I turned off the monitor and faced her.

“Oh yeah, the guy was relieved of work in 1987. It had his address on the paperwork. I did some digging and found the guy. He still lives in town. Figured I could interrogate him for the investigation. When I met him… I was amazed… and appalled…”

“Appalled?”

“Yeah. I remembered the guy. He worked a birthday party my brother went to. I couldn’t believe he was still alive.” I leaned forward in the chair and rested my forehead in a hand. “He… well, I didn’t really know what happened to him based on the paperwork because they kept it very vague. He was bitten by one of the animatronics.” Christine raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize he was the same employee who worked the birthday party. The guy should have died. I saw what happened… er, at least the aftermath of what happened. I didn’t actually see him get bitten. But… his head… his forehead was completely ripped off.”

Christine slapped a hand over her open mouth. “Skull and everything,” I continued. “It was… it was more than bad. I can’t really describe it. I tried not to look at his body on the floor… when I first saw it. But the important part was that he lived. And I asked him questions. He couldn’t remember the incident but he remembered working the night shift at the old location. His testimony… as well as the guy on the phone’s messages… brings me one step closer to bringing this place down.”

A banging noise came from the door on the left. “What was that?” Christine asked, her head shooting to the doorway. She turned on the light. I jumped out of my chair and she screamed.

Bonnie was one step away from entering the security office. Damn it! I should have checked the feed! I was too busy recalling a gruesome memory to remember how much danger we were in now! Christine banged on the button that closed the door a split second after her initial reaction. Her quick thinking saved us from what could have been a very painful death.

“How much longer do we have to deal with this shit?” she exclaimed, hand on her heart. She leaned against the wall and sank to the floor. My own knees were weak.

“Another hour,” I panted.

“One more hour,” she repeated.

We looked at each other with the same expression on our faces. Could we last that long? Remaining power: 9 percent.