Horror Fan Fiction ❯ Endings and Beginnings - A Five Nights at Freddy's Story ❯ One-Shot

Author's Note:  Short prequel to - Ashes, Ashes, They All Fall Down but can be read by itself.

Flames will be used to keep me warm while I write and will only serve to make me more determined to continue.  (They may also cause me to break out in bouts of maniacal laughter.)  Soooo......come at me bro.

Summary:  After witnessing so much tragedy and death, with a little help Phone Guy finally decides it's time to leave Freddy Fazbear's for good.  His boss asks him for one more week, time enough to find a new night guard, should be a breeze right?

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Stepping into the dimly lit Parts and Service room, the slim figure of the young security manager walked over to where the original animatronics lay and stared sadly down at them.  Today mechanics were dismantling the Toys down to the very last nut and bolt before they wiped the hard drives clean.  As far as the company was concerned the flawed and buggy facial recognition programming was too dangerous to ever be used again.  Then tomorrow he'd be over-seeing the sealing of the safe room along with the Spring Bonnie suit and its' new permanent "resident".

At least the old animatronics would survive.  His childhood friends would live again, fully restored and updated in time for the remodeling to be complete...but the company could never fully wipe away this tragedy.  Five children.  Children they were supposed to entertain and protect...

"I'm sorry.  It's all my fault.  If I'd just payed attention....the Toys weren't malfunctioning, not in the beginning.  They knew.  Somehow they knew and I put him right where he wanted to be!"  Uttering a hoarse cry, he punched the wall, tears streaming down his face.  He would never forgive himself.

Unseen, the spirit of his young friend, the first and oldest child to go missing, appeared behind him.  "It's not your fault!  He tricked you like he tricked us!"  Wrapping his arms around the guard's waist, he rested his head on the older boy's back.  "Please don't cry."

Wiping the tears from his face, he turned back to the old animatronics, "the restaurant is going to re-open but I-I ah, don't know if I'll be coming back."

A sharp spike of fear lanced through the twelve year-old spirit, he was leaving?   Desperate, he clung tighter to the older boy, so tight his "body" dissipated and suddenly he was wrapped around the other's very mind and soul.  'Don't leave us alone...don't leave me.'

'Who?'

'It's me.  It's me.  It's me.  It's me.  It's me.  It's me.   It's me.'  the spirit chanted over and over, even as his grip loosened and he was forced from the other's body.

Dizzy from the near-possession, the young guard staggered forward, just barely catching himself on a wall as his body lurched violently to one side.  He felt like he'd just gotten off a five hour ride on a mega loop rollercoaster.

"Are you all right?"  His world spun again as he tried to focus on the approaching figure of Jeremy Fitzgerald.

"I-" he stumbled forward and had it not been for the other guard's quick reflexes he'd have crashed face-first on the floor.

"Good thing I came looking for you, huh?"

Feeling his world finally stop spinning, he gave the other man a quizzical look," How'd you know I'd be here?"

"I believe somebody once mentioned that he liked the old animatronics better..."

"Oh, y-yeah," blushing in embarrassment, the slightly older guard pulled away and under Jeremy's watchful eye stood on his own.  Nodding his thanks he headed for the door, Jeremy close behind.  The other guard didn't want to stay around the broken and dismantled bots any longer than he had to.

Honestly, Jeremy never even wanted to set foot in this place again.  It was only for his own piece of mind that he had come to watch the Toys being dismantled.  After what he had seen this week, he needed to know those things would never move again before he could even consider getting a decent night's sleep anytime soon.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Look at what that place has done to you!  You're not even thirty and you've got gray hair and stress lines that belong on a man twice your age!" his friend and longtime roommate lectured, holding up his girlfriend's hand mirror to the guard's face to emphasize his point.

"Has it really been ten years?"

The other man sighed and put the mirror down.  "It's not too late to start over.  Stop punishing yourself for something that wasn't your fault," his friend fixed him with a glare that promised fierce retribution if he tried to disagree.

Shoulders slumping forward, the guard sighed heavily.  "I'll do it."

Still not entirely convinced, his friend handed him the phone, "call your boss now."

"I should really tell him in person-"

"Like you did the last time?  Or the time before that?  No way man.  Everytime you go in that building to quit, you change your mind and it's months before you'll listen to reason again.  No, you are gonna call him now and quit right where I can hear you do it."

Another sigh.  "Fine."  As much as he hated to admit it, his friend was right.

Dialing up his boss' home, he felt a knot forming in his stomach with every ring.   It only took a couple rings before the line picked up and he began talking immediately before he could lose his nerve.  "Ah, hello, hello! Uh sir, I ah- I......I quit."

"It's about damn time."

"What?"  Well that wasn't the reaction he'd expected.

He heard his boss sigh on the other end.  "I wondered when you'd finally get fed up with all this crap and go.  Just do me a favor and give me a week to get your replacement.  You've done night shift long enough, you can record some kind of, I don't know, training messages for the new guy okay?"

"Sure.  I can do that."  He'd done some for the spring suits back when he was a new employee and later when the suits were retired, so it shouldn't be a problem.  "You're ah, taking this...kinda well sir."

"No one can be as selfless as you for that long without reaching their limit.  You've gone through more for this place than it deserves."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

He'd have to be careful with his recording, if he came on too strong, the new guy might think he was crazy and cut the recording too early.  But if he was too vague, then that would be a disaster too.  'I wish the boss had let me do these when he tried to switch me back to days-'  Taking a quick drink from a water bottle he shook the thought from his head, there was no sense wishing for things in the past.  All he could do now was move forward.  Clearing his throat, he pressed the record button and began...

x-x-x-x

"He's leaving?!" the spirits cried, their voices filled with shock and fear.

The Marionette nodded, "wIlL yOu KeEp HiM oR WiLl YoU lEt HiM gO?"

"He's always been here."  Foxy.

"He's the only one we can trust."  Bonnie.

"He promised to keep us safe."  Chica.

"He's not allowed to leave."  Freddy.

"I won't lose him now.  He's MINE."  Golden Freddy.

x-x-x-x

Flashing images of a black-eyed Bonnie, a human-eyed Freddy, and an eyeless Golden Freddy suddenly flashed across the tablet screen, the words "IT'S ME." popping up before, inbetween, and after each image.  The sound of pounding footsteps on his left, a feeling of being watched on the right, before the thought was even finished he'd pressed both door buttons.  Checking the right-side light he found Chica staring at him through the window while Foxy banged on the left door.

Determined, he settled back into the chair and flicked through the cameras with the ease of familiarity.  "I will get out of here.  I'm finally going to move on with my life."

Mocking laughter echoed through the tiny room.  Unseen, a spectral form clad in purple hissed in his ear, "YOU CAN'T."

-

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May 12, 2015

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Aaaand we all know how this ends...three nights later.

Once again, if you haven't read Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down then now's a great time to do it and if you like that one, then move on to the sequel, Full Circle.