Born to die (A Mike Schmidt fanfic)

Chapter 7. Shirt

The next two months were spent by frantic job searching, I applied literally everywhere and now work at a very poor burger joint called "Bailys Burgers". Nobody knows about it, and it's in a super shady part of my town but again, it was the only place that accepted me. The pay is actually alright too, and the hours are decent, I work Monday-Friday from 8AM-5PM but sometimes- no actually every shift my boss lets me off an hour early because of how lonely the restaurant is. I still get full pay though so it's great. I managed to convince Mike to work there too after a month of begging. Now I actually look forward to work, unlike the last job.

I like to tell myself that I've gotten over Freddys, but I haven't. People who are over things don't wake up in the night screaming because of a dream they had of the place they used to work at, but I do so I am definitely not over Freddys. I like to imagine that I'm getting better but I'm not. The month I worked there really messed me up. 

Today Holly and I are hanging out. We had to move our hangout days to Saturdays because I work on Tuesdays now. We are going to a new café I found, it's next to my work and I found it one morning on the way there. I'm here before her so I find a seat at one of many empty tables outside the café. I anxiously look around the complex for Holly, her dark red hair is all I need to see to feel safe. My eyes flick to the clock tower near the entrance of the complex, 9:23. We arranged to meet at nine so where is she? Holly wouldn't ever stand me up, so I cross that possibility off. There wasn't any traffic on the roads when I drove over, or any construction, those two possibilities are marked off. My mind darts all over the place thinking of more possibilities, an accident? Did Holly die on her way here? The thought of Holly lying dead on the road, ambulances rushing around her, yanks my breath away and suddenly I'm breathing so fast, up and down and again and again. My tight chest finally breaks as I feel a soft hand place on my shoulder. I shudder and jump up letting out a deafening scream.

Holly, surprised by my reaction stumbles back. My heavy breathing slows, and I look around soaking up the situation. Holly is in fact alive.

"Gwen are you okay?"

She walks towards the table and takes a seat across from mine. I sit as well.

"Yes! You just caught me off guard."

Holly brings her bag up to her lap and makes herself comfortable.

"Are you sure? I've noticed you've been off recently. What's up?"

My arm raises and my hand wraps around the back of my neck as I look everywhere but Holly's eyes.

"It's just my old job. The weird hours screwed me. I'm fine now, just some of the nights were horrible." 

This isn't a complete lie I mean, the hours did entirely screw me up but not in the ways Holly would imagine. I was literally being tormented by giant deadly machines every night I worked there and the lack of sleep didn't help my situation at all. I'm not fine now, the nightmares still keep me awake during the night and creep up on me when I least expect them. But I need to convince Holly I'm okay so that she doesn't worry.

Holly looks at me with pity in her eyes. She can see right through me and can see that I'm struggling to stay sane. She knows what it's like to slip away from reality without even knowing, she knows the feeling of finally realising that you're too far gone and need help. So, I understand why she wants to help me and stop me from reaching that point but it's no use because, I'm already far past that point and besides, If I can't really tell her what happened at my old job then there's no way she can really help me.

Holly grabs my spare hand on the table, this causes me to lock eyes with her.

"Just know I'm here for you. Okay? I love you girl."

A tear wells up in my eye, but I quickly force it to go away and smile at Holly.

"I know... I love you too."


I want to see Mike. I haven't seen him in a week because our shift times got changed and now, we don't work together. When I found out about this I broke down, the act of having my only sense of security ripped away from me was enough to send me over the edge and into a downward spiral. I'm scared that one of those deadly animatronics could jump out at me again and kill me. Or worse, jump out at Mike while he's alone and kill him. Either way I'd die, just in different ways.

I long for Mike in many ways that I'm unsure about. I want to protect him but at the same time I want him to protect me, and love me. It's difficult to explain so usually when I get those thoughts, I just push them away. 

When I get home it's 5:47PM. This is good timing because I know Mike gets off work at five. Whenever Mike and I hang out, he always has to come over to my house, never his. Whenever questioned, he just comes up with a weak excuse to avoid his house. My personal favourite was when he told me his toilet exploded because I could just imagine him running around with a plunger in his hand. But today I wasn't going to let that slide anymore, it's unfair how I must host every time we see each other so why not give him no choice but to let me come to his house.

I know Mikes number off by heart now so dialling it into the phone isn't difficult. He answers just after two rings.

"Hello Mike speaking."

"Hey Mike, it's Gwen."

"Oh hey, I was wondering if you were going to call."

I can't help but feel a slight redness to my face and I laugh a little.

"Uh yeah, I was just... I was just informing you that I will be coming over to your house right now! Because we always hang out at my place and it's about time I get a house tour, okay?"