Five Nights at Freddy's_The Silver Eyes

by Scott Cawthon

  Memory overtook her, and she closed her eyes, not fighting against it.

  Her feet were wedged in the dirt, and two large and calloused hands covered her eyes. Suddenly there was a bright light, and Charlie squinted, squirming impatiently to see what was before her. Three complete and gleaming figures towered over her, motionless, the sun reflecting off every edge and contour: they were blinding to behold.

  “What do you think?” She heard the question, but could not answer it: her eyes hadn’t adjusted. The three masses of standing metal all looked similar in structure, but Charlie had grown accustomed to seeing more than was there, imagining the final result. For a long time now, there had been three empty suits, hanging like carcasses from a rafter in the attic. Charlie knew that they had a special purpose, and now she understood what it was.

  Two long beams protruded from the top of the head of one of the hulking masses. The head itself was solid and skull-like; the beams looked as if they had been violently thrust there.

  “That’s the rabbit,” Charlie squealed, proud of herself.

  “You aren’t scared of him?” The voice asked.

  “Of course not. He looks like Theodore!”

  “Theodore. That’s right.”

  The figure in the middle was more clearly rendered: its face was chiseled, its features distinct. It was clearly a bear, and a single metal beam stuck out from the top of its head as well. Charlie was puzzled for a moment, then smiled. “For the top hat,” she said with confidence.

  The last form was perhaps the most frightening: a long, metal clamp protruded from its empty face, in the place where a mouth might go. It was holding something on a platter, a metal structure that looked like a jaw, wires running like strewn spaghetti up and down the frame and in and out of sockets.

  “That one’s scary,” she admitted hesitantly.

  “Well, this part will look like a cupcake!” Her father pressed down on the top and the jaw snapped shut, making Charlie jump, then giggle.

  Suddenly, her laughter stopped. She had been so distracted she’d forgotten. I’m not supposed to stand here, I don’t stand here! Her hands were trembling. How could she have forgotten? The corner. She looked at the ground, unable to lift her eyes, unable to move. One of her shoes was untied. There was a screw next to her foot and an old piece of tape, opaque with dirt. There was something behind her.

  “Charlie?”

  It was John.

  “Charlie!”

  She looked up at him.

  “Sorry. Just lost. This place…” She stood, and took a step forward, positioning herself in the place she remembered. She glanced behind her, as if the memory might manifest. The corner was empty; there was nothing. She knelt again and put her hand on the ground, fishing around until she found a small screw in the bare dirt. She palmed it, then looked closer: there were small holes in the ground, exposed when she moved the loose dirt. Charlie ran her fingers over them, thoughtful.

  “Charlie, I have to tell you something.” There was something urgent in John’s voice. Charlie looked around the workshop and stood up.

  “Can we go outside?” She said. “I can’t breathe in here.”

  “Yeah, of course,” he said. He followed her out into the yard and back to the hide-and-seek tree. She was tired, a wrung-out exhaustion deep inside. She would be fine in a minute, but she wanted a place that held only silly childhood memories. She sat down in the grass, leaned against the trunk, and waited for John to talk. He settled himself cross-legged in front of her, a little stiffly, smoothing his pants and she laughed.

  “Are you worried about getting dirty?”

  “Times change,” he said with a wry smile.

  “What do you have to tell me?” She asked, and his face grew serious.

  “I should have said something a long time ago,” he said. “I just—when something happens like that, you don’t trust your memory, don’t trust your own mind.”

  “What are you talking about?” Charlie said.

  “Sorry.” He took a deep breath. “I saw someone that night, the night Michael disappeared.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Remember, we were sitting at the table by the stage, and the animals started going crazy?”

  “I remember,” Charlie said. It had been bizarre, their movements upsetting. They were moving too fast, bending and spinning, cycling through their limited, programmed moves over and over. They seemed frantic, panicked. Charlie was mesmerized. She should have been afraid of them, but she was not; she saw, in their juddering motion, a kind of desperation. She was reminded, for a moment, of dreams of running, dreams when the world depended on her going just ten steps forward, yet her body could only move in slow motion. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. Chaotically, violently, the animatronic animals on stage thrashed robotic limbs in all directions, their eyes rolling in their sockets.

  “What did you see?” Charlie said to John now, shaking her head as though she could rid it of the image.

  “There was another mascot,” he said. “A bear.”

  “Freddy.” Charlie interrupted without thinking.

  “No, not Freddy.” John took her hands as if trying to calm them both, but let go before he spoke again. “It was standing right near us, next to our table, but it wasn’t looking at the stage like everyone else was. That technician came over, remember, and even he was just watching the animatronics, I guess he was trying to figure out what was happening. I looked over at the mascot, and it looked back at me…” He stopped.

  “John, what?” Charlie said, impatient.

  “Then the animatronics on stage stopped moving, and I looked over at them, and when we all turned back around, Michael was gone. And so was the mascot.”

  Charlie stared at him in disbelief.

  “You saw the kidnapper,” she said.

  “I didn’t know what I saw,” John said. “It was all chaos; I didn’t even think about it, I didn’t make the connection; it was just another animal at Freddy’s, I didn’t think about who might have been inside it. I was… I was a kid, you know? You figure that the grown-ups already know everything you know.”

  “Yeah,” Charlie said. “I know. Do you remember anything? What the person looked like?” John was staring up at the sky, as if he were seeing something Charlie could not.

  “Yes,” he said. His voice was deliberate, steady. “The eyes. They were all I could see, but I still see them sometimes like they’re right there in front of me. They were dead.”

  “What?”

  “They were dead, just dull and flat. Like they still moved, and blinked, and saw, but whatever was behind them had died a long time ago.” He fell silent.

  It was growing dark. There was a bright, almost unnatural streak of pink across the Western sky, and Charlie shivered.

  “We should go get the car,” she said. “It’s almost time to meet everyone.”

  “Yeah,” John said, but he didn’t move right away, still staring into the distance.

  “John? We have to go,” Charlie said. He seemed to come back to himself, slowly.

  “Yeah,” he said. “We should go.” He got up and brushed off his pants, then grinned at Charlie.

  “Race you?” He said, and took off running. Charlie chased after him, her feet pounding the asphalt, and her arms swinging free.

  Chapter Four

  Charlie and John were the last ones to the mall; when they pulled up the others were gathered tight in a circle in front of Marla’s car, as if sharing a conspiracy.

  “Come on,” Marla said, before they had walked all the way to the group. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet as if she were ready to run for the door of the abandoned building. Everyone but Charlie and John had changed their clothing, wearing jeans and t-shirts, things more suited for exploration, and she had a brief moment of feeling out of place. At least I didn’t wear a dress. Charlie thought.

  “Let’s go,” she said. Marla’s impatience seemed to be contagious, or maybe it j
ust gave Charlie an excuse to let her real feelings come to the surface. She wanted to show Freddy’s off to the others.

  “Hold up,” John said. He looked at Jessica.

  “Did you explain everything?”

  “I told them about the night guard,” she said. “What else is there?” He looked thoughtful for a moment.

  “I guess nothing,” he said.

  “I brought more lights,” Carlton said, and held up three flashlights of varying sizes. He tossed one to Jason, a small one with an elastic headband attached. Jason turned it on and fixed it around his head, and began moving enthusiastically in waves and circles, making the light bob and dance.

  “Shh,” Charlie said, even though he was not making any sound.

  “Jason,” Marla whispered, “turn it off, we can’t attract attention, remember?”

  Jason gleefully ignored them, spinning off into the parking lot like a top.

  “I told him if he’s not good he has to wait in the car,” Marla told Charlie quietly. “But now that we’re here, I’m not sure which place is creepier.” She eyed the bare branches overhead raging in the wind, threatening to reach down and grab them.

  “Or we can feed him to Foxy.” Charlie winked. She went to her trunk and hefted out the police flashlight, but did not turn it on. Instead Carlton switched on two of his smaller lights, and handed one to Jessica.

  They headed into the mall. Knowing where they were going, and what was waiting for them there, Charlie, John, Jessica, and Carlton moved through the empty spaces with a sense of purpose, but the others kept stopping to look around.

  “Come on,” Jessica said impatiently, as Lamar gazed up at the atrium dome.

  “You can see the moon,” he said and pointed. Next to him, Marla nodded, mimicking his posture.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said, although she could not see it.

  From a distance, they heard footsteps echo in the emptiness.

  “Hey, hey, over here!” John hissed, and they hurried as quietly as they could; they could not run for fear of making noise, and so they walked, fast but careful, hugging the walls. They entered the black void of the department store, creeping along in the shadows until they reached the break in the wall. John held back the hanging plastic obscuring the opening as the others maneuvered around the scaffolding. Jason was slow, and Charlie put a hand on his shoulder to hurry him up. As she steered him to the opening, a strong beam of light swept into the room, scanning up and down the walls. They all ducked through and ran down the alley to where the others were crouched down against the wall.

  “He saw us!” Jason whispered, alarmed, running straight to his sister.

  “Shh,” Marla said.

  They waited. Charlie was next to John this time, and after that moment by the tree, whatever it was, she was very, almost uncomfortably, aware of him. They were not quite touching, but she seemed to know exactly where he was, an awkward sixth sense. She glanced at him, but his eyes were fixed on the opening to the hallway. They could hear the guard’s footsteps now, clear in the empty space, each one distinct. He was moving slowly, deliberately. Charlie closed her eyes, listening. She could tell where he was from the sound, she thought, getting closer, then farther, crisscrossing the open room like he was hunting for something. The steps came right up to the entrance of the ally, and stopped while they all held their breath.

  He knows, Charlie thought. But the steps started again, and she opened her eyes and saw the light receding. He was going away.

  They waited, still motionless, until they could no longer hear the tapping of his hard-soled shoes, then got up. She and John both stumbled a little as they stood, and she realized they had been leaning against one another without realizing it. She didn’t look at him; instead she set to work taking the heaviest things off the wooden shelf.

  “Will I be needing this?” Lamar said, as Charlie handed him a bucket with a saw sticking out of it.

  “We have to move the shelf,” Jessica said. “Come on.”

  Jessica, Charlie, Carlton and John got back into place and moved the shelf. Lamar tried to find a place to help, but there was not really room. Marla just waited.

  “I’m better suited to supervising,” she said, when Charlie mock-glared at her.

  This time the screaming of the metal door was not as loud, as if it no longer protested their entrance quite so strongly. Still, Marla and Jason covered their ears.

  “You think that’s not going to bring the guard?” Marla hissed. Charlie shrugged. “Didn’t last time,” she said.

  “I know he saw us,” Jason said again. The others ignored him. “His flashlight went right over me,” he insisted.

  “It’s really okay, Jason,” Jessica said. “We thought he saw us last night, too, but it was fine.” Jason looked dubious, and Lamar bent over to his eye level.

  “Hey, Jason,” he said. “What do you think the guard would do if he saw us?”

  “Shoot us?” Jason whimpered, eyeing Lamar warily.

  “Worse.” Lamar said gravely. “Community service.”

  Jason wasn’t sure what it meant but held his eyes open wide as though it was something terrible.

  “Will you leave him alone?” Marla whispered, clearly amused.

  “He didn’t see us.” Jason reassured himself, though clearly unconvinced. Charlie turned on the big light and shone it down the hallway.

  “Oh, my!” Marla gasped as the first light streaked across the interior of the pizzeria. Suddenly it became real, and her face flushed with awe and fear.

  They went in one by one. The temperature seemed to drop as soon as they walked into the hall, and Charlie shivered, but she did not feel ill-at-ease. She knew where they were, now, and she knew what they would find. When they got to the dining room, Carlton spread his arms wide and twirled.

  “Welcome…. To Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza!” He said in a booming announcer’s voice. Jessica giggled, but the melodrama did not actually seem out of place. Marla and Lamar gaped at the room, awestruck. She set the large flashlight on the ground, the beam facing up, and it lit the main room up in a dim and ghostly illumination.

  “Cool,” Jason said. His eyes lit on the merry-go-round, and he raced for it and jumped onto the back of a pony before anyone could stop him. He was too big for it, his sneakers dangling all the way to the ground. Charlie smiled. “How do I make it go?” He shouted.

  “Sorry, buddy,” John said, and Jason climbed off, disappointed.

  “The arcade is over this way!” Carlton said, motioning to anyone who might follow, and Marla went with him, while Jason fiddled hopefully with the carousel’s control box. Lamar had walked to the stage and was standing transfixed, staring up at the animals. Charlie went over to him.

  “I can’t believe they’re still here,” he said as she walked up.

  “Yeah,” she said.

  “I’d forgotten this was a real place.” Lamar smiled, for the first time resembling the little boy that Charlie had once known.

  Charlie smiled back. There was something surreal about the place; she had certainly never told any of her school friends about it. She would not have known where to begin. Worse, she would not have known where to stop. Jessica poked her head out from the retracted curtain at the side of the main stage, and they both startled.

  “What are you doing?” Lamar said.

  “Exploring!” She said. “There’s nothing back here but a bunch of wires, though. She disappeared into the folds of cloth again. After a moment they heard a thud as she jumped to the ground, and she came strolling over.

  “Do they work?” Lamar said, pointing at the animals.

  “I don’t know,” Charlie said. Truthfully, she had no idea how they worked. They had always just been, set to intermittent life by whatever alchemy her father performed in his workshop. “It doesn’t look like anything is missing.” she offered. “They should work.” She reluctantly added, though in her head she questioned the idea of trying to turn them on.

  �
��Hey!” Jessica exclaimed. She was kneeling by the stairs to the stage. “Everybody come here, now!”

  Charlie went over and Lamar followed.

  “What is it?” Charlie said.

  “Look,” Jessica said, shining her little light. Though well-hidden along the grain of the wood, there was a door inset into the wall of the stage.

  “How did we not see that?” Charlie said.

  “We weren’t looking.” John said, staring intently at the small door. The whole group had gathered, and now Jessica looked around at them with a grin, put her hand on the little doorknob, and pulled.

  Magically, it opened. The door opened to a small, sunken room. Jessica shone the light around it; it was full of equipment—one wall was covered in TV screens.

  “Must be CCTV,” Lamar said.

  “Come on.” Jessica handed her flashlight to Charlie, and swung her legs through the door. There was one deep step leading down into the room, which was no bigger than a large refrigerator turned on its side.

  “That’s a little too cramped for me; I’ll keep looking around out here.” John saluted, then turned as though to stand guard.

  “This is like a clown car,” Marla remarked as she jostled against Charlie. The space was too cramped for all of them, but they crowded together; Jason sat on the step, feeling more comfortable by the exit. There were eight of the television screens across the wall, each with their own little panel of buttons and knobs, and sticking out beneath them was a panel, almost a table, covered in buttons. They were large and black, unlabeled, and spaced in an irregular series. The other wall was blank, except for a single, large switch by the door.

  “What’s this do?” Jason said, and put his hand on the switch. He hesitated, just long enough for someone to stop him, then he pulled it.

  The lights came on.

  “What?” Carlton looked to the others frantically.

  They all stared at one another in confused silence. Jason climbed up and poked his head out into the main room.

  “They’re on out here, too; some of them at least.” he said too loudly.