Foxy's eyes glowed in the open, flashing sharp teeth. Foxy lifted his hook and slashed its sharp tip in front of Pete’s face, the hook whizzing by his nose. Pete rolled off the
bed, his body shaking. His stomach pitched as he lay helpless on the floor and Foxy pivoted, looming over him. The shifting of gears filled the room as Foxy swung up with his hook.
“You can be a pirate, but first you’ll have to lose an eye and an arm.” “No,” Pete breathed.
When Foxy slammed his hook down into Pete’s eye, an audible pop sounded. Blood poured from his eye socket as Pete screamed …
Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza was crowded with crazy little kids and their harassed idiot parents. Music bellowed through wall speakers, and arcade games pinged and vibrated. The scent of burnt pepperoni wafted through the air, mixed with the scent of cotton candy. Pete was slouched against a wall, ankles crossed and ball cap turned backward, drinking a cherry-flavored cola while chewing watermelon gum. His little brother and his friends were crowded around an arcade game.
Pete didn’t want to be there, but his mother had to work and Chuck had to be with his friends after school again. So that left Pete to play babysitter. For the hundredth time, he asked himself, why was it always his job? And was the little snot grateful?
Nope.
Chuck was always whining about his inhaler. Always whining he was hungry. Always asking a bunch of questions. Always something. Since their dad had left, Pete was saddled with everything Chuck.
His mom’s words were stuck in his head. You’re the man of the house now, Pete. Take care of your little brother.
How was Pete supposed to be the man when he was just sixteen? Did anyone ask him what he thought of his new responsibilities?
Double nope.
Pete watched a little kid walk up to a couple of employees cleaning up birthday tables. He pulled on a guy’s sleeve. The man looked down at the kid and smiled. “Can I help you with something?” he asked.
“I was wondering, where is Foxy the Pirate?” the kid said.
The man’s voice was syrupy sweet. “Oh, Foxy’s on vacation at the moment. We hope to have him back soon.”
The little kid stuck his lip out, but nodded as he walked away. The other employee chuckled. “Good one,” he told the man.
“Yeah, on vacation in the maintenance room. Don’t know when they’ll bring the show out again.”
Pete was thinking that over when he realized someone was saying his name. “Pete?”
He pulled his attention from the conversation and moved his gaze toward Maria Rodriguez, who was standing beside him. Her black hair brushed her shoulders and her lips were glossy red. She had these bright green eyes with long lashes and a few freckles on her nose. She was a cheerleader at their high school and he’d known her since the sixth grade. So why did he suddenly feel so nervous around her?
“Hey, Maria,” he said.
“Stuck here with little Chuckie, huh?” Pete scowled. “Yeah.”
“Same here. My little sister’s birthday.” Maria motioned to a birthday table in front of the stage, with little kids wearing cone hats and eating cake. “Can’t believe we used to be like them.”
He smirked. “Don’t know about you, but I was never like that.”
Maria smiled. “Sure. So, where you been? Haven’t seen you at practice lately.”
He’d been benched from football for unnecessary roughness and having a bad attitude on multiple occasions. Hello? This was football! So he’d just quit altogether. The truth was, Pete never used to quit anything. He used to finish whatever he started. But after seeing his parents quit each other, finishing things didn’t matter so much anymore. Plus, he didn’t need any more grief from the coach—he got enough of that from his teachers and his mom. A kid could only handle so much griping.
He shrugged. “Got tired of it all, you know?”
“Yeah, I guess. So, what are you going to do with all your free time now?”
“Well …”
Someone waved to Maria from the party table and her face lit up. “Yes! Finally time to leave.” Before she left, she added, “Hey, a bunch of us are meeting under old Beacon Bridge if you want to come to hang out later.”
Pete smiled. “Yeah?”
She nodded. “It’ll be fun.”
Then he shook his head. “Can’t. I have to watch Chuck the Chump.” “Oh, okay. Maybe next time. See ya around school.”
Irritation washed over Pete as he watched Maria walk away. This was all Chuck’s fault. Little brat. Everything was always about his little brother. Didn’t matter what Pete wanted because nothing mattered when it came to Pete. Dad had left. Mom was in her own little world. They figured they’d just put Pete in charge of Chuck because they didn’t have the time to deal with him themselves. But Pete had never signed up to take over their responsibilities. He was a kid and kids should be free, not worrying about stuff. They should be able to do what they wanted, like hanging out with other kids instead of watching little brothers. But his parents didn’t care about any of that, obviously. After all, they never asked Pete if he had wanted them to split up in the first place. They just divorced, and that was that. None of it was fair.
Pete had so many emotions inside of him that sometimes he just didn’t know what to do with them. Sometimes he felt like a ticking bomb about to explode, like the tension in his body was just under his skin, begging for release. For a while, football had helped. He’d been a beast on the field, taking down players, throwing people out of the way. By the end of practice, he’d been exhausted and empty. Empty was better. It was good. But since he was off the team, Pete was stuck without an outlet. He hated these feelings. He hated everything sometimes. He watched his brother break off from his friends to head to the bathroom and his eyes narrowed on the fresh opportunity. Pete tossed his soda at an empty table and walked quickly to his brother’s side, latching on to his arm forcefully.
Chuck’s face screwed up. “Ow, Pete!”
“Shut up and walk,” he muttered, then blew a bubble till it popped. “Why? Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” With a quick look over his shoulder, Pete hustled his little brother down a long and darkened corridor. The floor was faded and old, and peeling posters of animatronics lined the walls. The place needed a serious upgrade. Pete had wandered down here before and discovered the large maintenance room. Now that he knew what was taking a vacation inside, he couldn’t wait to take Chuck along for a little adventure, considering his brother had always been scared of a certain animatronic.
