FNIA: Love and Loss

That Fateful day

The incessant beeping of Alex's alarm drug him from the wonders of dreamland back into the hellscape that had become his life. He was about to get suited up for his job, but then he remembered he was fired a little over a week ago. Not for any good reason, mind you, but for the fact that a customer had complained and his manager, who had hated him since day one, decided to get rid of him. 

Alex: "Fuck, right. Not a mechanic anymore."

Alex, a 28-year-old man, was not the best build, but certainly not shrimpy. High cheekbones, blue eyes, a very hollow face, mid-length black hair, and a lean build with a bit of muscle on it certainly made him look striking, but not as much as the people who paid tens of thousands of dollars to have their faces reconstructed.

Now, having spent over $200,000 in school to get a master's degree in mechanical engineering, he had watched as the job market wrote off his qualifications in a few years. Now, machines do all the work. You give ChatGPT's newest MK17 software a prompt, and it would be able to do his job in a fraction of the time at a fraction of the cost.

Now, he just waited. Either for something to come along and save him from the downward spiral he had been on since the day he had exited university, or for the chance to visit the pearly gates and see his Fiance...

Alex: "No Alex, don't think of her like that. She's not dead, she can't be..."

Alex's Fiance and soon-to-be wife Freya had gone missing a little over a year now, and it still hurt like hell to even think about her. She had gone missing on her way home from the bar, where she and her friends had been celebrating their engagement. But she never made it back home, nor did any of her friends. 

Remembering all the memories, and overcome with the grief of losing her, Alex hit the floor in tears, and stayed that way for a bit, until he heard the mail arrive through the letterbox. Six heavy thumps, likely bills, and then three softer impacts. Going to retrieve the mail, he saw he had been wrong. Seven bills, a letter from his family, and a flyer. Looking through the bills, all of them with OVERDUE written across them in red ink, he finally saw how hopeless his situation was.

Not even looking at the content of the bills, he took the letter from his family and opened it. His face immediately soured, and the letter immediately went into the fireplace. 

Alex: "Dont know what I was hoping for, those people will never change..." he muttered to himself, clearly either disappointed or pissed off, or both.

Looking at the last item, a flyer, he was immediately curious. It was an ad for Fazbear Entertainment's side brand, the "Freddy Fazbear's Anime Convention." Reading more, he discovered that they needed a nightguard, working a shift from closing at 10 PM to the first shift at 6 AM, and would be more than willing to pay handsomely. It said that the starting wage was $60 an hour post taxes, or $480 a night, working every day of the week. Not to mention the benefits listed seemed to be every single medical field under the sun.

Alex: "$480 a night?!? Holy hell that's..." He paused as he did the mental math. "$3360 A WEEK?!?!? What do the qualifications look like, and how much can I dig up about this company!"

A few quick searches later, he saw why the pay was so high. Fazbear had a terrible safety reputation and horrible employee retention, with most guards leaving after a week, or less. A bunch had never been heard from again. This was not super good for his take on the job. But on the plus side, he was way overqualified for the job. They only asked for a bachelor's degree in most forms of engineering, so having a master's meant he would be a perfect fit and likely have the job with little to no effort.

Alex toyed with the idea of taking the job and then looked back at the stack of bills. That was all he needed to see to finalize his decision.

Picking up the phone, he called the number on the flyer, and after a few rings, connected with a person on the other end of the line.