The One Behind It All

Mangle

      I heard laughter. It was an adult. Two. They were joking around, one giving a fake tour to the other. "And here, we have the scraps, or my childhood heroes," he said referring to Freddy and the other old ones.

      Then they stopped in my room. He stared for a moment. "And this ugly piece of trash is what the other workers call 'The Mangle'!" He waved his hands in a joking motion.

      Pain shot through me at the insult. But it was true. I had heard many of the workers call me Mangle,  but never an ugly piece of trash.

    Endo shot me an apologetic look and I shook my head silently. The children were about to come. I had to smile.

      They were older. I don't know why but only a few old kids came instead of young kids. Maybe it was a party.

       They had cigarettes and odd drinks. One kept glancing down the hall. It was obvious they were doing something wrong.  Then one took an empty bottle and threw it at me. I dodged it narrowly and shot him a glare. "Hey guys! Look! It's 'The Mangle'!" He laughed.

     Another one laughed way too hard at that,  while the third grunted. "I don't see anything so great about Vixen- I mean Mangle. She's just a pile of trash."

      The one who was laughing stopped for a moment. "Yea! She's a pile of litter!"

     I looked at Endo, when a sharp pain raced through my head. The bottle shattered and fell to the floor. I lost control of my movements and started to glitch out. Sparks flew from my mouth and pain wracked me.

     "Vixen!" Endo gasped.  I lost it and slammed my head into the wall. Then everything slowly faded to black.

 

     When I awoke I felt horrible. My head hurt and I could see a crack on my upper jaw. Endo was staring at me, eyes worried. 

    "What happened?" I asked.

"The staff heard the bottle shatter and removed the kids. No one else came. The lights went out earlier and you started to power up slowly. It's 3 Am."

     I pulled my head into the shadows wishing I could vanish.

    "This ugly piece of trash is what the other workers call The Mangle!"

      "Hey guys look! Its the Mangle!"

    "I don't see anything so special about Vixen- I mean Mangle!  She's just a pile of trash!"

  "Yea! She's a pile of litter!"

I closed my eyes and sat alone with my thoughts.

     Foxy came in about 5 am. I looked up but didn't leave the shadows.

     "Vixen? Are you ok?" He asked. I let out a small laugh. My head jerked violently and a spark flew from my mouth.  Foxy stared in shock as I pulled my cracked, one eyed head from the shadows.  "Don't call me Vixen!" I growled.

     "It's not my name!"

   I studied a wire dangling from my hand. "Call me...Mangle."