Blurred Childhood

Dead Connections

A few days later, I was back at Freddy's, sitting in front of the stage, hoping something would happen. Last time I was here, Chica freaked out and broke, but the robots haven't even seemed to notice me yet. Freddy's was pretty empty today and I didn't want to seem like a weirdo who talks to dancing robots, so I tried to whisper to the spirits and even see if I could talk to them through that.

Getting to Freddy's in itself was a disaster, because Mom quickly caught onto my little plan. She assured me over and over that I was fine, alive, and just had some amnesia. Dad figured out that I got the window open, and sealed it back shut. I noticed Terry's window is open, so I've been trying to get out whenever he's at school, which Mom has started making him go back to.

He'd been going to school since I died, but when I woke up, Mom said he could stay home for a couple days to spend time with me. But since Terry was pushing the limits a little bit, Mom made him go back. Which is fine, because with both him and Dad gone, I pretty much had free roam of the house, and Mom didn't get in my way either, since she spent all day in her room. I was never sure why.

In the middle of a Wednesday morning, I snuck into Terry's room and hopped out the window, making my way to Freddy's.

I made sure Dad wasn't around when I walked in, and took extra precaution as I walked over to the show stage. All I had to do was wait for the robots to do something.

Which really took a while. They did nothing except sing and move. I wonder what happened with Chica.

"Hey, what's going on?"

I looked beside me to see another kid standing next to me. He was looking at the robots. He had red hair and green eyes, but not the orange red of my mom and sister. Almost unnaturally red.

"Oh, nothing, something happened a week or so ago with Chica, and I'm gonna see if it'll happen again," I explained.

"The malfunction?" The kids asked, sitting down next to me. "My sister was here once a few days ago when she said that the robots started spazzing out and Chica fell over."

"Why do you think that was?"

"Crappy engineering," The kid said. "Well, that's what Dad said. Maddie and I think it's the souls of the kids stuck in the robots." I noticed the boy's eyes were fixed onto Freddy. He had a slight smile, and looked somewhat focused. "It's creepy, but kinda cool, you think?"

"It's more creepy," I responded. "When Chica fell over, I passed out or something, and then I woke up in a void, with all the dead kids. One attacked me, and that's when I woke up. And they keep... talking to me. And saying I'm one of them."

"That's weird," The boy said. I was expecting him to laugh or mock me or something, but he seems to believe this just as much as I do. "What do they mean, you're one of them? Like, you're dead or-" The boy stopped dead in his tracks when he turned over and looked at me. "Michael?"

"Yeah?"

"You... is it really you?" He asked, leaning in closer to me.

"I- uh... I think?"

"For real? But how?" The boy was getting more excited and it scared me somewhat. "Oh my God! Everyone thought you were dead! It's been almost a year! Where have you been? What happened?"

"I have no idea?" I said. "Better question: who are you?"

"Tyler! Tyler Vail! Don't you remember me?" He asked. I shook my head, and the excitement in Tyler's eyes was replaced with disappointment.

"No... I don't remember you. I'm sorry."

Tyler nodded and looked back up at Freddy.

"Should I?"