[OLD] Deep Underground

13. Answers

I yawned as I sat up in bed. I felt terrible.

Glancing at my alarm clock I noticed that it was only a little after ten in the morning. I had only had about three hours of sleep.

The nightmarish creature I had seen in the restaurant last night had plagued my dreams, sometimes joined by the other animatronics at Circus Baby's, sometimes joined by other creatures that looked more or less like it. All were in a state of decay. All had this weird rotting smell. All chased me throughout my dreamscape, hunting me down. Drowning me in my fears.

I swung my legs out of bed, exhausted, but knowing that sleep would be a lost cause. My thoughts wandered back to Mike.

I knew the he worked the day shift at Circus Baby's but why had he been in the elevator? There was no reason to be in there because he had an office in the main building, so why?

I swung my legs out of bed and slowly made my way to the kitchen. I knew sleep would now be pointless anyway. Once there, I made myself a cup of coffee. Taking the steaming cup, I shuffled back to my room and sat down at my desk, opening my laptop.

As I sat there, staring at the dark screen, I thought about how all of this had started.

I'd been fired from my job and come home. The same day I had found a new job and when I went to apply, I had been immediately hired. I frowned, realizing something.

How much of a coincidence is it that I'm fired and find a new job on the exact same day? Something isn't right...

I turned on my laptop and opened a search browser, then typed in the name of the previous company I had worked for. I was surprised to see that the very first result was a news article. I opened it. My eyes widened as I read the title.

Local Company, Bot License and Funding, Shut Down on Account of Covering Up Murder.

I continued to read the article. It was published only three days after I was fired.

Local company, Bot License and Funding, has been shut down on the accusation of covering up several murders from 1975 to current times. Officials arrived two days ago for local health and safety checks and noticed, throughout the whole day, that employees had been dutifully doing their jobs. The one thing that didn't make sense, was the slight fear in their eyes.

"It's like they'd been held at gunpoint. Not one of 'em would look us in the eye and would only speak to us when spoken too," said an official who was present that day.

Mildly disturbed, the officials continued their inspection of the building. It was on the thirteenth floor they made their discovery, in the big man himself's office. Frederick (Freddy) Thonwac was not in his office when officials first peaked inside. They had been in his office for five minutes when they heard a commotion down the hall. The officials rushed to the door, which for some odd reason was closed, and locked. The officials were further alarms when they began to hear screams and what sounded like the crackling of flames outside the door.

The officials were lucky enough to find an axe conveniently taped underneath Mr. Thonwac's work desk. They broke the door down and the sight was nothing they'd ever seen before.

More coverage on this event will be added to this page once the investigations have been cleared, all carpets have been thoroughly washed and bleached, and the trial of Mr. Thonwac is under way.

I sat staring at the screen, completely confused. This hadn't answered anything, only made more questions arise. The main ones being: Why does the page claim they are covering up for murder, if there is no information to support it? What happened to the company, employees, and officials? Finally, why hasn't the article been updated since?

I stood from my desk and walked to the bathroom, looking in the mirror. Heavy purple bags were visible under my eyes, stress lines were visible in various places on my face, my skin was pale from not being out during the day in a while, and there were a few cuts, as well as one large bruise across my bottom jaw, on my face. I sighed as I took out the one thing I hated most, but knew would be crucial to making myself look normal again.

Make-up.

I cringed as I applied the (mostly non-toxic) chemicals to my skin, hiding the cuts and bruise, getting rid of the stress and worry lines, making the purple bags "disappear," and returning my skin to a more-or-less tan color. Satisfied, I put the bag of (death) make-up down, and performed what I guess was my morning- well, nightly- routine.

I grabbed my keys, phone, and bag and walked out the door to my car. I got in and proceeded to drive to the place where I could start looking my investigation: Bot License and Funding Headquarters.

Time to get some answers.

Word Count: 871 words

Edited: 11/23/17