Five Nights at Freddy's: The Lost Souls [Reboot Book 1]

Chapter 4: Second Night

I arrived at Freddy's right before midnight. William was standing outside the restaurant. His eyes met mine. “Ah, you're here,” he said, almost disappointedly. “I tried calling you at the end of your shift, but you never picked up.”

“Oh, my cell phone broke. I fell during the night,” I lied.

“Ah, well that's no good,” William exclaimed. “Here.”

He handed me a cell phone. I hesitantly took it. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it's my old work phone. Not much use for it now that only you and I work here,” he explained. “This way I can get a hold of you or you can get a hold of me if the need arises.”

“What about the office phone?” I asked.

“It's a glorified tape recorder at this point,” William said with a chuckle. “Its only use is playing those old training tapes.”

“About that,” I said with an awkward chuckle. “What was with that weird first message?”

“Oh right!” William exclaimed and laughed out loud. I could only compare his laugh to the Joker once again. “The animatronics used to wander at night like he said. Since they're not powered regularly, you really only need to worry about making sure they don't get stolen. Nothing weird happened, right? I expect you to tell me if something did.”

His last statement seemed oddly serious. He was no longer smiling. I don't think he'd ever not been smiling his Joker-like smile since I'd met him. Did he know about them? It was unclear.

“Nothing weird happened, no,” I lied again. “I just kept my eyes on the cameras.”

“And kept the place tidy I hope,” he said with a laugh again.

“Of course,” I stated.

He smacked my back a little too hard. “That's great! I hope all goes well tonight.”

He turned and walked towards his purple car. He really liked the color purple it seemed. As he drove away, his gaze never left me until he was long gone.

I walked inside and opened the stage curtains. The animatronics immediately powered on and started getting off the stage. It was amazing how well they could move. It was uncannily human.

“Mike, welcome back,” Freddy announced in a sing-song voice.

“Yeah, I'm back,” I replied awkwardly. I still wasn't used to seeing them move like this. Honestly, talking to possessed animatronics was throwing me off quite a bit still.

Bonnie approached me. She seemed excited to see me. I guess fifteen years alone made them all very happy to meet someone new. I felt bad for them.

“I found out some stuff about you guys,” I announced.

They all stopped and looked at me. Bonnie tilted her head. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, I read some old newspapers from around when, well…” I trailed off. “You know. Well I found an obituary with your names.”

They didn't respond right away. The mood fell somber. I felt as if I just made a mistake in telling them this out of the blue. I only thought it would help them.

“Sorry, I guess I didn't think about a better time to tell you,” I said.

“No no,” Chica chimed in. “It's ok. You went out of your way to help us.”

“Yes, we've never had anyone do something so kind,” Freddy added. “Tell us what you found out.”

“Well, I know that your names were Jack, Ben, Kasey, Cheryl and Logan,” I explained. “Unfortunately without your memories, it's going to be difficult to determine who was who.”

“Not much help then, is it,” Foxy grumbled.

“Foxy!” Bonnie shouted. “He went out of his way for us.”

He huffed and wandered down the hall, out of sight.

“Don't mind him,” Freddy stated. “He's always had trouble trusting people.”

“He's a jerk,” Bonnie added while folding her arms.

“Hey hey, let's not go name-calling each other,” Freddy said. “Foxy didn't mean it.”

Bonnie huffed. “He should learn when to be grateful.”

I looked at the hallway where Foxy went. It was the hall where parts and service was located. I made my way there and peeked inside. The small cramped room was lined with animatronic costumes. It was somewhat unsettling seeing parts of these characters scattered and disassembled like this. Foxy stood in a corner by what looked like a giant present box. It was partly open and a beedy pair of eyes stared out. It seemed like he was talking to someone. I knew I shouldn't have been eavesdropping, but I wanted to hear what he had to say.

“The new night guard…” he muttered. “He's not like the others. He's…trying to help.”

Whoever he was speaking to didn't reply. Foxy stood there in awkward silence. He sighed.

“You haven't left that box in five years,” he said. “We all miss you. This guard…he might be our last chance.”

Once again, silence. There was no reply. I backed away before I was discovered. I made my way back to the stage where the others were. Bonnie and Chica approached me. They seemed eager to ask me something.

“Do you like video games?” Bonnie asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I've played a decent amount of games.”

“There's an arcade here, let's go play something,” Chica said excitedly.

“Sure, sounds fun I suppose,” I replied.

Freddy got up. “I'll join you three later. I'm going to talk to Foxy and you know who.”

Bonnie and Chica pulled me along to the arcade. They basically dragged me. We got to that area of the pizzeria. It was dim and poorly lit. Nothing appeared to be powered on. There were dozens of arcade cabinets, ranging from Pac-Man to Street Fighter and even Freddy's brand games like Mangle's Quest and Foxy Go! Go! Go!

“Ah shoot, the power's out again,” Chica whined.

“Mike, could you go and flip the breaker in the office?” Bonnie asked.

“Oh, uh, sure,” I replied.

I walked to the office and stepped inside. It was as I left it the day before. Even the lighter was still on the ground. I picked it up and put it in my pocket. Looking around, I noticed the breaker at the back of the room. I opened it up and looked at the labels. There was one clearly labeled as the arcade. It was flipped off. I turned it on and the whole thing sparked. The lights went off in the office and the hydraulic doors slammed shut.

“Well shit,” I muttered. I flipped the office switch over and over, but nothing happened.

Suddenly, the monitors all came to life with static. I approached them slowly, unsure how to react to this. I stared at the static for a few moments until two words appeared on the screen.

It's Me