More Than You Knew

3

Oh, Veronica, I'm so sorry..

Through the crack in a nearby door, James could see the yellow emanating light from the nearby thing that he had created. He shuffled away from the door, trying to make as little noise as possible in the process. He covered his mouth with one of his hands, muffling the sounds of his uneven breaths.

Thud, thud, thud.

Louder the footsteps sounded as the thing thumped closer to the room. The yellow glow outside the door grew brighter, stronger, as it approached. James sucked in an anxious breath.

"James?" The thing spoke, causing a jolt of uneasiness to run down James' spine.

It sounded like Veronica, enough that it may have even fooled him if he hadn't been paying close enough attention. In fact, it sounded similar to how Veronica had when she spoke through the AI that she'd left behind in his house. The only thing that gave away the fake was the way that the robotic quality never went away.

No matter how hard the monster in the hallway tried to trick him into coming out, he wouldn't budge.

"Are you hiding from me, James? That's not very nice.. you know that. Is that how you g-g-g-greet all your old frie-friends?" It spoke again, it's voice box glitching with the complex dialogue. He had heard something similar in the past, with each night shift that he had done in each of the Fazbear locations. Those voice boxes held within each and every animatronic within the establishments weren't initially programmed with complex dialogue, which is why it always had to be programmed in.

James remembered Veronica having explained the process to him in the past.

Thud, thud, thud.

It was making its way down the hallway. Closer, those thumping footsteps sounded to the other side of the door of the room that he was hiding in.

As the footsteps sounded closer to the door, he was finally able to get a solid look at the monster through the open crack in the door.

Red fur that had been matted with a mess of unrecognizable liquids made up most of the monster's form. It was large, inhumanely large--two pointed ears rested on the top of it's head; moving with the sounds that it was undoubtedly hearing as it searched for it's target. As it turned to the side, James saw a huge set of pointed teeth held in strong jaws--dried and coagulated blood rimmed and stained it's artificial pearly whites--staining them with the dark shade of red that made up the thick layer of blood that coated the animatronic's maw. It's eyes seemed more human than the average animatronic, but he wasn't willing to get closer to find out the actual answer to his suspicions. Blood had leaked out of the eye sockets, staining the fur underneath it's strangely organic-looking eyeballs.

"You can't hide forever James."

Parting it's jaws with a mechanical hiss, it turned towards James. He then found himself caught in the bright yellow headlights of the animatronic's gaze.

It's jaws parted wider, revealing the endoskeleton within. Fresh blood dripped from the animatronic's chin, a sign that it had likely taken the life of someone else recently. The closer he looked, he realized that a second row of bloodstained teeth lay beyond the first--mucus and other horrifying liquids, causing the teeth to look shiny and wet in the dim lighting of the now abandoned mall. It looked similar to the aftermath of sticking a chunk of meat into a rusted wood chipper. James froze.

It almost looked.. excited.

James felt a sinking feeling in his gut.

Eerie giddiness dripped from the animatronic's voice as it spoke once more, "Found you!"

All at once, the animatronic was on the door; bursting through it with the force and energy of a feral animal. In the brief few seconds it took for the animatronic to shake off any lingering disorientation, James bolted from his hiding place and darted between the bowed legs of the animatronic.

"Wh-wh-what's the matter, James? Don't you recognize m-m-me? I said I'd come back," It spoke again, it's voicebox glitching as the string of dialogue went onward. It turned its head 180 degrees to watch James scramble out of the room and search for another place to hide. It's body then followed suit, swiveling on a hinge so that it was now facing the open door. It's movements were far too fluid for any junky old animatronic that he had seen in past locations.

For once, he wished that Veronica hadn't been so talented with robotics.

It lowered itself into an anticipatory pose, similar to the way that a dog would crouch just before giving chase. It's voice dropped an octave, two voices mixing into one horrible amalgamation of the two people responsible for the horrors that went on in the Fazbear locations: "I always come back." It repeated the phrase that had haunted James for years now, with it having been repeated so many times in his life over the years--just before Veronica went to prison, in the event where Veronica had faked her death.. Not to mention how many times he's heard the phrase uttered from William.

Looking into the animatronic's eyes now, he realized that they had shifted from the golden yellow that they had been before. No, whenever he stared at the animatronic, it was like staring into the void. Where gold had once been, a deep, endless black had taken its place--it nearly threatened to swallow up the two white pinpricks it had for pupils. Finally, James managed to utter the phrase; "You're.. Not her. If you were Veronica, you wouldn't be acting like this."

"Hm?" It spoke, tipping it's head to the side as it feigned innocence--it's voice sounded different than it had been before. Deep, calm, and sophisticated despite the feral appearance of the animatronic--it was emulating William's voice, as it had heard him speak before. "Ooh," It repeated, sounding as though a realization had just dawned on it. "Little Ron didn't tell you, did she? How sad for you to find out like this.."

"Veronica.. innocent, sweet, Veronica.. There was more to her than you knew, James."

James's brows knit together in confusion as he stared towards the animatronic, trying desperately to put as much space between him and it as possible. "What're.. you talking about?"

The animatronic let out a dark chuckle, "Quite the actor, she was--or should I say is, considering how her spirit lives on. Her act after the murders nearly had me fooled; so I don't blame you for falling for it. Although.. I'm quite surprised she didn't tell you."

James stared at the animatronic in confusion, didn't tell me what?

When the animatronic saw that he was struggling to put it together, it rolled it's eyes slightly; "Haven't you figured it out yet?--"

"--Veronica helped me murder those children. She killed them too, James."