Total Insecurity

Time for Sleep

It took what felt like forever, but Chica eventually left. Gregory let out the breath he had been holding, rubbing his sweaty hands on his shirt. He felt light-headed, the adrenaline from earlier slowly leaving him. Gregory crawled out of the stroller, stumbling towards the counter not far from him, and fell to his knees behind it.

Letting out a soft whine, Gregory buried his face in his hands, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. Gasping for breath, the boy scrubbed at his face, sniffling too loudly for comfort. Looking up, Gregory spotted the upgrade machine. Crawling towards it, the boy couldn't help but wince at every loud noise he heard, freezing up at the sound of footsteps passing him. Shakily standing, Gregory put the Entry Pass in the machine and felt his heart drop when it gave nothing back.

"It-it ate my pass!"

"Perhaps there is a way for you to hack it back out... Why don't you try Glamrock Gifts? They have lots of trinkets, knickknacks, and doodads that could help."

Gregory couldn't help but giggle at those words.

" Doodads. That's a silly word."

He looked around for another exit, not wanting to risk running into Chica again at the stairs, and found a few doorways with folding doors. Pressing a button, Gregory was able to leave Customer Service and head across the room towards the gift shop. He managed to somehow dodge all of the Security Bots and barely made it past a patrolling Chica.

Gregory let out a sigh of relief when he arrived at the second-floor entrance, squeezing through a small crack in the door. He ducked behind counter after display, desperate to stay hidden, but he couldn't help but let out a soft cheer when he came across a small present box. Inside was a magnet with someone he'd never seen before.

"Freddy, I found a free gift! It's a magnet with some purple hippo on it? Weird."

"Good job, superstar! You should be able to use that magnet on the upgrade machine."

Gregory hummed softly, looking out of the display windows to watch where Chica would end up. Deciding to risk it, Gregory ran to where he knew Customer Service was, letting out a half-hearted cheer when he made it. Placing the magnet on the upgrade machine, Gregory felt a wave of relief flood over him when a card came out.

"The magnet scrambled the machine! It's some kind of Daycare Pass, now."

"Oh, that's great news! I will be able to meet you in the daycare. The entrance is on the second-floor balcony, not far from where the gift shop is."

Gregory let out a noise of understanding, walking up the stairs that led to Faz-Pad. Moving to crouch behind the counter, Gregory looked at the cameras, watching and waiting for the right time to move. When the coast was clean, the boy made a run for it, pushing open the large doors that led to the daycare. He happily walked past the bathrooms, staring at the murals painted on the brick walls.

"Sundrop and Moondrop? Are they in the daycare?"

Frowning at the thought of more animatronics, Gregory continued down the hall, stopping at the sight of another save point.

"It's been a while since I've seen one of these..."

Placing his hand on the screen, Gregory felt a little tingle travel down his arm, making him shudder. Turning towards the painted rolling door, Gregory crawled under it, gasping at the sight of a giant room filled with nothing by bright, happy colors and sweet music.

"Son, I am unable to reach you. If you could check the Daycare security desk for a security badge, you should be able to let me in."

Gregory hummed, looking around for what would be a security desk until he saw one inside the daycare area. He approached the slide, taking a breath and launching himself down with a burst of laughter.

He couldn't help but giggle when he landed in a ball pit, happily wading through the plastic when he saw it. On a ledge attached to the wall, there was a little stage holding what looked to be one of the two animatronics from the murals.

Sundrop.

Sundrop laughed loudly before raising his arms and diving into the ball pit, not far from where Gregory was at that moment. Fear and adrenaline coursed through the boy's body as he made his way to the edge of the pit, desperate to make room between himself and the animatronic. However, he was stopped when long, yellow arms scooped him up under his arms. "Hello, new friend! You sure are up late! Are we having a surprise slumber party? Where are all your little friends?"

Sundrop sat Gregory down on a bright green chair, happily swaying in front of the child. "We can finger paint, tell stories, drink Fizzy Faz until our heads ex-PLODE and stay up all night! There is only one rule, though!" Sundrop leaned down and forward, forcing Gregory to make eye contact with the animatronic. "Keep the lights on. On. On..."

Gregory nodded, swallowing thickly as he leaned back to look around. He could see that the security desk was close, so if he could find some kind of distraction, he could make it. Turning to his right, he managed to knock over a pile of blocks stacked by his chair. It was an accident, but it worked well enough when Sundrop started whining and cleaning up.

Jumping from the chair, Gregory rushed to the security desk, desperately looking for some kind of card.

"N-New friend, this-this area is off-limits! You're gonna get us in trouble!"

Gregory held back a whine as he looked faster, not wanting to be caught by the caretaker. Eventually, he saw a small Freddy head with a security hat on, and when the nose was pressed, it opened to present the security card he had been looking for.

"Don't you want a puppet show? I have glitter glue! Do you like glitter glue? Googly eyes?"

Grabbing it with a small cheer, Gregory hadn't noticed the light switch that had been dangerously close to being flipped.

And then the lights went out.

Gregory froze, holding his breath as he looked over to where Sundrop had been standing. The animatronic was now on the edge of the desk, staring straight at Gregory.

"No-no! Why would you do that?! Lights on! Light's On! I warned you-Oh I Warned You!"

Gregory was forced to watch as Sundrop pulled at his face, screeching in almost pain before falling back.

"It-It was an accident! I sw-swear! I didn't mean to!"

A hand appeared where Sundrop had been standing, and a darker voice, almost sinister began talking. "Naughty boy. Naughty boy." Red eyes appeared, and Gregory fell back, scrambling to get away but being blocked by a few stray boxes. "It's past your bedtime. You must be punished."

Gregory felt his breath leave him at that. Punished. He was gonna get punished. Punishments were never good. They were always deserved and they were meant to make him learn.

But punishments always hurt.

Gregory tensed as Moondrop approached him, the animatronics grin almost widening at the sight of the still boy. "Nighty-night."

And then he attacked.

Gregory couldn't help but scream as claws dug themselves into his arm, no doubt drawing blood. Moondrop laughed, grabbing Gregory's wrist and pulling him out from behind the desk, throwing him towards the jungle gym. He made a strange noise, feeling his breath forced from his lungs before turning to see Moondrop rushing towards him. Gregory tried to get away, he really did, but nothing could have stopped Moondrop at that point.

Gregory cried as the claws from before dug into his back, tearing his shirt and even catching on his legs. He couldn't stop Moondrop from forcing him on his back. He couldn't stop Moondrop from wrapping his blood-covered hands around his throat. He couldn't stop Moondrop from choking him, from starving his lungs of air.

He couldn't stop the punishment.

It was what he deserved.

And as the life faded from his eyes, Gregory couldn't help but think that he did deserve it. He didn't deserve Freddy's kindness. He didn't deserve happiness. He didn't deserve to live like a child. He deserved to die.

So why did he open his eyes to the save point?