Distorted Senses

Chapter 2

The pizzaplex did have power strangely, lights flickering and generators humming confirmed this. Marie seemed to notice that by the walls and carpeting, no one had really stepped in there in a while. Walking through the ticket booths and towards the main area, she squinted as she looked around. Neon light signs flickered and tried to stay alive. Marie raised her camera, snapping pictures at the signs and dimly lit hallways. As the young girl went about taking notes and pictures, another figure was moving about. The quiet humming of the lights was broken by the sound of footsteps. Red eyes seemed to pierce through the darkness and stare at the brunette. Marie suddenly felt a chill on the back of her neck and turned around, her brown eyes glancing around her. But there was nothing there. She shook the sensation away before going back to walking down the hall and taking photos. The unknown figure re-emerged and followed her movements.

It was surprising to the figure that she wasn't aware of it following her, considering how loud and heavy its footsteps were. As Marie kept walking, so did the figure. After a few minutes, Marie again had the same chilling feeling as before and slowly turned around. Standing almost 8 feet, dawning a red mohawk and a very long, thick tail, stood a green, gator-like animatronic. Its red eyes glared at her and she could see the many sharp teeth curling into a snarl. Marie's eyes widened as the gator swiped at her, attempting to grab a hold of her. She took a step back, a wave of fear sweeping over her. The gator opened its mouth, a look of anger crossing its face and Marie suddenly felt the floor vibrate. A roar escaped the animatronic's mouth and took another step towards her. It was then that Marie decided to book it in the opposite direction, running as fast as a skittish cat down the hall away from it.

She could feel the floor's vibrations from the gator. Her heart felt like it was about to come out of her chest, adrenaline pounding through her head. Ahead of her, there was a left turn down another hallway and some stairs. Skidding around the corner, Marie slid down the railing and hid behind another corner. Her chest heaved to catch her breath. The vibrations seemed to slow and then stop. It felt like the scaly gator was gone. She let out a shaky breath. Sinking to the ground, Marie clutched her chest. What the heck was that doing chasing her? Was it because she technically broke in? That was a security alarm thing? If it was, that was very effective.

Marie sat there for a few minutes to collect her thoughts and bearings. Then, she glanced around to see where she was. It looked as though she stumbled into a backstage room. There were various arcade games and cardboard cutouts. Some had pictures of other animatronics on them, like a fox, a bird, a wolf and so on. There were video games like Pacman, and others she had never heard of. Standing from her place on the floor, she dusted herself off. Now that she wasn't being chased, Marie could resume her search for clues. There were broken chairs, clothes and various plushies scattered about the floor as she roamed around. Kneeling down, the fifteen-year old saw an old Bonnie plush. She gently picked it up and examined it. It had star shaped sunglasses, the exact same as the gator. That stood out to her and it made her frown in thought. Why did the gator have them? Where was Bonnie?

Pocketing the plush into her backpack carefully, she stood back up and kept looking around. She stumbled across a few name tags on a nearby table that appeared to be old employee name tags. Her hands pushed away some of the tags and her eyes scanned through the pile before she froze. One of the name tags had the name 'Marty' on it. Her dad's name. Shakily, she held it up and glanced around. He was here last! This is where he was last seen! Gripping the name tag, Marie started searching all around the room for anything else that was her dad's but to no avail. Just as she was leaving through the door and search in another room, the teen stopped in her tracks to come face to face with the green gator from earlier. Her eyes widened as the animatronic growled and started picking her up with his long claws by her shoulders. Marie squirmed, her legs kicking and arms struggling to pry his claws off. Fearful eyes looked up at red eyes and she could see that the gator was not intending to let her go. His grip on her shoulders tightened as he roared in her face. She winced, feeling the pressure and his claws started to dig into her skin.

It was then she had an idea. Her camera was still around her neck. Hands managing to reach the Polaroid, Marie found the button to take a picture. A whining sound came followed by a flash of light, causing the gator to roar in anger and cover his eyes. He let go of Marie, who fell to the floor. She scrambled to get up and run away. Seems like those sunglasses weren't helpful at all. Glancing behind her, she saw the gator's red eyes flicker to orange. Marie looked surprised at that and tore her gaze away to pay attention to where she was going. Once again, the vibrations of her attacker's strides trailed behind her. Something wasn't right here. She ran down a few hallways and managed to spot an elevator at the end of one hallway. Her pace quickening, she pressed the Open button to the machine and ducked inside. Turning, she slammed her fist down on the Close button. The doors closed just as the menacing gator slammed his body against them. The entire elevator shook and Marie held onto a railing, staring at the door.

The elevator began to move downwards, causing Marie to sink to the ground in relief. That was a close call. Pain flared in her shoulder and she glanced at the area that the gator gripped her. There was blood starting to drip down and a bruise forming. She held her shoulder and closed her eyes. This place was not what she thought her dad worked at, not at all. There seemed to be more questions than answers to her. Why did the gator take Bonnie's glasses? Why did her dad leave his nametag? Where was he? And why was the gator attacking her? Staring at the door, Marie hoped that wherever the elevator was taking her would provide her with more answers.