The exhaustion from yesterday is killing me.
I shouldn't have gone with my friend to his girlfriend's party. Seriously, what the hell was I doing there? I didn't even have fun, I just sat watching people I didn't know, listening to horrible music and pretending everything was fine.
Because of going to that party I didn't do the work I have for today. I haven't been able to sleep at all and now I have a thousand things to do. My head feels heavy, as if someone had stuffed rocks inside my skull.
When I moved my left hand from the desk, my cell phone accidentally fell to the floor, making a loud thud.
—Just what I needed…
I picked it up quickly, heart racing. The screen was black, with a crack running across it from side to side.
I broke my phone.
Now I'm completely screwed. How the hell do I do my damn work now?
I looked at the desk full of papers, notes, the cup of cold coffee from dawn, and felt an enormous urge to throw everything out the window. But I didn't even have the strength for that.
At that moment, as I tried to get up from my chair, I felt my legs starting to lose strength.
I grabbed the desk reflexively.
My eyes, at the same time, began to lose vision, starting to see blurry until I couldn't see anything at all. It was as if someone was slowly turning off the light in my head.
—What… what's happening to me?
I brought my left hand to my face, but instantly I lost strength, falling to the floor like that.
A loud "crack" sounded.
I heard it in the background, but I didn't know what it was. I didn't feel immediate pain, just a strange sensation, as if my body no longer belonged to me.
Instantly a phone began to ring near me and at the same time a strong pain started in my chest. I tried to move, but my body had no strength, no way. Until the pain began to fade little by little.
My breathing was weak.
Everything felt distant.
I tried to open my eyes once more, until the phone noise kept ringing nonstop.
Until, suddenly, the darkness surrounding me vanished before me.
But a strong light suddenly hit my eyes when I opened them.
I brought my hand to my face to block the intense light of the place, until my eyes adjusted to the illumination.
The first thing I thought was:
"Am I still in my room?"
But no.
When I looked around, I saw that I was no longer in my bedroom, but in a different place. For some strange reason, when I looked at myself in detail, my body was different. It was no longer mine, but someone else's.
I looked at my hands.
They were bigger, rougher.
They weren't my hands.
I was wearing different clothes. The shirt was long-sleeved purple with black buttons and a tie. On the left side of the shirt, it had a logo of a strange doll, and on the right side a nameplate that said:
Jeremy Fitzgerald.
I was also wearing black pants with shoes of the same color and a black cap that said "security".
—What…?
For some reason I didn't understand what I was doing in that man's body.
I looked around once more. In front of me was a huge desk with a computer, and to the right there was a strange mask and a flashlight. On the other side there was a phone.
The whole place had a weird smell, like old plastic and dust.
I wanted to get up from my seat, but immediately the phone on the desk started ringing.
I froze completely because I didn't know where I was.
Maybe it was just a dream.
I must have fallen asleep from extreme exhaustion, that had to be it.
The phone didn't stop ringing until, suddenly, a voice began to speak from it.
—Uh, hello, hello… how are you, Jeremy? That's your name, right? Well, this is your first day. You're unlucky to get the night shift, but look on the bright side: no one will be there to bother you while you work. Well, now, leaving that aside…
The man paused before continuing. It seemed like he was catching his breath.
I didn't move.
I wasn't even breathing properly.
—As I was saying… ah, yes! Welcome to your new job at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. I'm here to talk about some of the things you can expect to see in your first week here and to help you get started on this new and exciting path.
I didn't know what the guy was talking about, but I knew I had to listen, at least to understand what this place was about or why I was here.
I also didn't want to move from the spot. In front of me there was a huge door with danger symbols, and everything was completely dark. It gave me a bad feeling.
—I know some people still have a rather negative impression of this company, but… this old restaurant was trash for a long time. But I want to assure you one thing: Fazbear Entertainment is committed to entertaining the whole family and, above all, safety.
For some reason, that didn't give me any relief at all.
It actually sounded like a lie.
—You must already know the animatronics that are around the pizzeria, right? You must have seen them on the cameras.
Animatronics?
What the hell is he talking about?
—Relax, don't worry. They won't attack you, since they have facial recognition. They also have advanced mobility, which even allows them to walk during the day… like at night.
He cleared his throat.
—But most importantly, all of them are linked to some kind of criminal database, so they can detect a predator from a mile away.
Well… that reassures me a little.
But then, why do they need a person guarding this place?
—Damn, we should pay them to protect you. Don't you think? You're now the most protected man in the place, haha. Uh, now that I mention it, there's no new system without its…
Damn, he paused.
This isn't good.
—As I was saying… its problems. Uh… you're only the second guard working here. The first guy finished his week, but he complained about the conditions… but we switched him to the day shift, so well, lucky you, right? Uh, he mainly expressed concern that certain characters seemed to move at night, and even tried to get into the office.
This isn't good.
Not good at all.
—Now, from what we know, that should be impossible. Uh, this restaurant is the safest place on earth…
Sure.
Super safe.
—So, while our engineers don't have an explanation for this, the working hypothesis is that… the robots were never given a proper "night mode".
I felt a chill.
—So when they're still, they think they're in the wrong room, so then they'll try to find where the people are, and in this case… that's in your office.
Ah, of course.
Since I'm the only idiot in this place, let them come and give me a hug until they break my damn bones.
What a fucking dream I'm having today.
—But relax, our temporary solution is the following: there's a music box by the Prize Counter…
I tried to concentrate.
If this was real, I had to survive.
—You have to wind it up from time to time from your monitor. It doesn't seem to affect all the animatronics, but it does affect… one of them.
Well… seems simple.
—And as for the rest, we have an even easier solution. We've given you an empty Freddy Fazbear head. Problem solved!
Excuse me?
—You can put it on at any time and stop acting for as long as you want.
WHAT!?
—With time, everything that went in, will come out.
No.
No, no, no.
—Another thing to highlight is the modern design of the building. You may have noticed there are no doors to close, heh. But well, you have a light!
I looked at the flashlight.
—Remember not to waste too much battery. If you run out of light, you'll be blind.
Great.
Wonderful.
—Well, I think that's all. Have a good night, and I'll talk to you next shift, if I'm around.
The phone sound went silent. The recording he had left me, or the call, I don't know what it was, had ended.
I was completely shocked listening to that guy's words whom I didn't know at the end I didn't understand anything either but I could only think of one thing this is just a dream and I'll wake up any moment