Alone With Them

Chapter 8

Her mom had been late, which hadn't bothered Cathryn at all. In fact, she'd been praying her mom forgot to come. Yet, when she finally arrived to give Cathryn a ride to her new job, Chance was sleeping and everything was ready to go. Cathryn had a beach bag slung over her shoulder. It was bright yellow and covered in a floral pattern, but the obnoxious bag was the only one she could find.

Besides, it was worth losing a bit of her pride in order to bring some entertainment with her into the dark restaurant. Cathryn was not going to sit by herself all night with nothing to do.

Her mom sat in the driver's seat, her supportive smile glowing, despite the minivan's lightless interior.

"Are you excited?" Her mom certainly was. Cathryn couldn't begin to describe the painful nauseous sensation building in her chest.

"More nervous, I think," she replied hesitantly with a faltering smile. Good thing her mom couldn't see it anyways, she was too busy grinning at the road.

"You're going to do great, honey! Just pay attention and ask lots of questions."

"Got it."

"I'll be outside by 6 to pick you up, just like it said on the paper. You do have your application, right?"

"Right here," Cathryn said, lifting the paper up and giving it a weak wave. Her mom had already signed it, as well as the leisure.

Leisure.

Cathryn couldn't get Sam out of her mind. He'd said something about signing the leisure. She'd seen the section on not disclosing how Freddy's machinery works, which must've been what Sam was referring to. It was probably so that no one could steal the secret behind Fazbear's "realistic moving" robots. Please! As if anyone else wanted to own giant, evil stuffed animals that could talk.

Suddenly, the car came to a halt. Cathryn's seat belt tightened around her chest, as if begging her to stay sitting where it could protect her. But it wasn't her that needed protection. Right now, her mom needed all the help she could get. Slowly, Cathryn released her seatbelt and placed her hand on the smooth, frozen door handle.

"I'm so proud of you, honey," her mom said, catching her in a side embrace before she left the safety of the vehicle.

"Thanks, Mom." After her mom pulled away, Cathryn opened the door and stepped outside. She held her breath, the chilled air nipping at her arms through her thin hoodie sleeves. Cathryn wrapped the navy fabric closer around her body, suddenly needing its extra protection. It seemed to keep her safe from more than just the slight cold.

It was twilight, and the sun was almost down. She could see purples and deep reds peering around buildings at her, watching as she slowly shuffled towards the building. In the past week, Cathryn had already entered Freddy's more times than she'd wanted. In fact, if she didn't have to do this for her mom, she would choose to never touch the slick metal handle on Fazbear's front doors again.

Cathryn tried to build up the courage to push the glass doors open, but she couldn't muster the strength. Craning her neck, she looked back to see her mom's eager expression. They both gave each other a thumbs up, which in most cases would mean the situation was okay. But Cathryn couldn't help but notice an uneasy feeling that insisted everything wasn't okay.

She wiped the perspiration building up on her palms off on her jeans, before opening the door. A blast of putrid air and body heat hit her in the face, reminding her of the reality of her situation. Reminding her that entering this restaurant wasn't going to be a piece of cake.

Cathryn stepped inside anyways.

The loud crash the door made behind her let Cathryn know she'd been sealed inside. The car headlights, which up to this point had been lighting her path forward, slowly grew dimmer as her mom backed away. She took a few steps inside, her tennis shoes squeaking loudly as they hit the floor tiles, which must've just been mopped. The sound echoed throughout the room.