Chapter 1

A Glitch in Reality

The building was loud, and full of people. The sounds of chatter, dishes clanking together, and loud arcade games filled the place. One could barely hear the singing of the animatronics in the room, as the screams of joyful children and sounds of an active kitchen easily overran the robots. The sun was hanging low, the sky slowly turning orange as the bright light streamed in through the windows, the setting sun casting a light glow against the plastic robots. Among the large crowds and the sounds of a party, two kids were nestled in a corner room. Surrounded by plushies and small cheap toys, these children were clearly in awe as they stepped in.

"Please, big brother?" said the smaller one, pointing to the massive present at the end of the room. The bigger child sighed and put his hands in his pockets.

"I dunno, Alfie. I was really wanting the Foxy figure…" the older brother gave another sigh, giving his little brother a teasing smile.

"Come on, Cliff! Please…?" Alfie looked up at Cliff with big, sad eyes before Cliff sighed and gave in.

"Alright, alright. Here you go."

Cliff took his hand out of his pocket, holding a large handful of prize tickets he had won at the game area. Alfie jumped for joy, brushing a piece of his short, brown hair off of his face before he grabbed the tickets and pulled out a slightly smaller handful himself. Then, Alfie ran over to the giant present and found a small slot labelled "Insert Tickets Here". He did as instructed, inserting the first strand of tickets, and the present sucked the tickets in with a loud whirr. A deep, quiet voice whispered from within the box.

"13 tickets."

Alfie grinned and continued putting the tickets in the box. Cliff, meanwhile, sighed and looked around the Prize Corner. He saw a few action figures of the characters, the older versions. The cartoony bipedal bear, bunny, chicken, and fox, back when they were made of cloth. Ever since the building's remodel, everything looked weirdly shiny compared to the original building. It seemed so new, so futuristic. Even the characters looked new. He couldn't tell if Foxy was a boy or a girl now, even though it didn't really matter...Foxy was just a mess of parts. He kind of missed the days where the robots were steel and felt, not plastic. It was then that he was broken out of his stupor by a light music. From within the giant present, he could hear Pop goes the Weasel chiming as the gravelly voice spoke from inside it again.

"200 tickets. Congratulations! You may select any of the prizes from the wall that say 200 on them."

"I want the stuffed animal of you!" responded Alfie excitedly, pointing to a plushie on the wall. The plushie was humanoid, with a black body, white buttons, and a white comedy mask complete with red cheeks and purple lines coming down the face.

"Good choice. Allow me to get it for you."

Suddenly, as Pop goes the Weasel stopped, the box popped open and a tall, lanky puppet suspended from wires on the roof popped out. Cliff backed away slightly, he wasn't a fan of the puppet. This puppet looked just like the plushie Alfie had pointed out, only much taller and thinner, able to easily reach the roof from the floor. The puppet moved from the box, suspended from the wires, so it seemed more like it was flying than anything else as it reached over and grabbed the plushie of itself from off of the wall. It came back down into it's box, and placed the plushie into a cardboard, present-colored box next to it. It then put a lid on the box, and handed the box to Alfie.

"Thank you, puppet!" said Alfie, before walking over and giving the fabric creature a hug...or at least, the closest he could give to a hug, "You're my favorite."

The puppet patted Alfie on the head, and Cliff had to hand it to the creators...having a puppet that could respond to a hug without someone controlling it remotely was impressive. He wished he could get a better look at the machines behind it but he'd probably get kicked out. So he just smiled a little bit and waited for Alfie to let go of the puppet. He kept waiting and waiting, until finally he decided Alfie wouldn't be letting go on his own. So Cliff walked over to Alfie and put a hand on his shoulder, gently tugging him away from the puppet.

"Come on, Alf. Let's get going, alright?"

"Murderer…"

Cliff raised an eyebrow in surprise. That wasn't Alfie who said that. Alfie was still happily hugging the puppet. It took him a second to recognize the gravelly, whispering voice as he looked up and saw the puppet staring right at him. Tiny ghostly white dots had appeared in the black spaces that were his eyes, and they were looking right at Cliff.

"Get away from me…"

Cliff stepped back, and as he did he saw the puppet's head start to freak out. It twitched, and as it did, he saw it shift and distort. It's mouth would twist into a frown for a brief second, and it's whole face would turn blue. It's head kept twitching, until it was little more than a blur of motion. He stepped back even more, not sure what to do as he felt his whole body freeze in fear. It raised one of it's long, skinny hands and pointed right at Cliff. Cliff couldn't move, couldn't scream, all he could do was stare as he could swear that he saw sharp teeth appear in the puppet's mouth between the blurry twitches. Then, suddenly, he heard someone calling out to him from outside the prize corner.

"Cliff! Alfie! The show's about to start."

It was the voice of his mother, and he finally snapped out of it, turning to the entryway.

"Mom! Dad!"

Cliff called out, before glancing back at puppet. Suddenly, puppet was back to normal, simply smiling and returning Alife's hug. Alfie turned back to Cliff and tilted his head, his eyes showing a mixture of worry and confusion for his older brother. Cliff pointed to the puppet as it slid away from Alfie and glided back into it's box. He could have sworn it turned back and looked at him before the lid closed, and the puppet disappeared.

"Clifford, what's wrong?"

Cliff heard the voice of his dad behind him in the entryway to the Prize Corner. Cliff was shaking and sweating as he remembered the look of the puppet's twitching face. It was like it was a glitch. A glitch in reality, and after seeing something like that Cliff wasn't feeling so well.

"Puppet...the puppet...it…"

He tried pointing back at the present, before realizing how stupid he looked. He sighed and put his hand down.

"...Nothing. I think I'm just seeing things."

"Oh Cliff, you're probably not feeling so well. I knew that pizza tasted weird. Here, why don't we just head home?" asked their mom. She leaned down, gently rubbing his long, brown hair. Cliff stepped away from her hand and shook his head.

"No, mom. I'm...I'm alright. Can we at least stay for the show?"

"I don't know, Cliff...if you're not feeling well…"

Then, their dad walked up to Cliff and placed one of his large, powerful hands to Cliff's head. He smiled, before rubbing his hair too, but in a more playful and reassuring way.

"Come on, Crystal. He doesn't have a fever, and the kids have been looking forward to this show for weeks. We can at least stay for a little while." said their dad.

Alfie ran up next to Cliff and looked up at their mom with the same eyes he had given Cliff for their tickets. Cliff smiled at this, his brother had a way with people that only small children did.

"Please, mom?" asked Alfie, his lip quivering slightly.

Their mom sighed, before responding, "Alright, alright. We'll stay for the show."

The children both cheered as they ran out of the prize corner, Alfie's new plushie flailing around behind them in his arm. They ran into the dining hall, and at the end of the hall was a large, purple curtain. Cliff sat down in his seat, and Alfie flopped into his next to his brother as they both waited for the show to start. Then, Alfie leaned over and whispered to Cliff.

"So...what really happened?"

Cliff's eyes opened wide and he turned around to face Alfie. The child was looking at Cliff, excited and curious.

"...What do you mean? I was just seeing things."

"Sure…" Alfie sniped at his older brother, pouting that he wouldn't talk about it, "I know when you're lying, big bro. Dad says it isn't good to lie. So tell me...what happened?"

Cliff sighed. Alfie was young. Only a year or two into grade school, but he wasn't an idiot. At least when it came to his older brother. Cliff leaned in to talk to him as other people started filing into the dining hall, being careful to whisper as he did.

"The puppet...I think it's alive."

"Alive!?" Alfie yelled.

"Shhhh! Be quiet, you dingus! Yes, alive!"

Alfie suddenly looked a lot more nervous. He clutched his puppet plushie tightly, yet he maintained a deadly eye contact with Cliff.

"What makes you think that?"

"I saw him moving."

"Isn't he supposed to move?"

"Not like this, bro. His head was freaking out, I could swear it was changing right in front of me! It talked to me too."

"What did it say?"

"It called me a murderer, and then it told me to get away from it."

"A murderer?"
"Someone who kills people."

"Oh...that doesn't sound good."

"It's not. It isn't supposed to say things like that. According to my book, that isn't any of the messages that it can learn. Plus...I saw it's eyes."

"Eyes? How did it…?"

It was then that their parents finally caught up. Their dad sat next to Cliff, and their mom sat next to Alfie. Alfie sat back in his chair, clearly much more nervous now after that little conversation. Cliff was nervous too, and the two of them looked around the room in silence, keeping watch to see if maybe the puppet was hiding, getting ready to attack them. When suddenly, a nasally, nervous voice came over the speakers.

"Uh...hello...hello, hello everyone! Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life, home of the new and improved Freddy Fazbear and friends! Fazbear entertainment is not liable for any damage to property or person as a result of faulty animatronics. Ehem...now, please, sit back, enjoy the pizza, and give a warm welcome to our Fazbear family!"

Upon the final line, the purple curtains at the end of the hallway opened up. The lights of the dining hall dimmed, as the spotlights on the stage went up and three giant, plastic-looking robots were on stage. Cliff was familiar with these characters, and normally he adored them, but after what he saw he was shaking with fear. He glanced to Alfie, and Alfie was curled up in his chair, clutching his plushie tightly as he stared at the robots, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"Hey kids! Welcome to my pizzeria! How are you liking my pizza?" said the bear in the center stage. His voice was deep, yet clearly synthesized as it had a very robotic twinge to it. The response from the other children in the dining hall was a mixture of children screaming hello to Freddy, and commenting on how they loved the pizza.

"Hey! Your pizza!? Kids, don't believe him! Look at his belly, all HE does is EAT the pizza!" A feminine voice with an equally robotic twinge came from the right to Freddy. The spotlight on her turned on, and a bright yellow bird appeared in pink shorts and a bib saying "Let's party!" Her hand was on her hip, giving an aura of sass about her as she held a cupcake in her other hand.

"Oh, come on Chica! Taste tests are important to making sure the pizza tastes good!" Freddy said, before giving a hearty robotic chuckle, "Say...wait a minute...aren't we missing someone?"

"Yes!" responded the crowd of children. Cliff turned to Alfie. Alfie was near in tears from seeing the robots, worried that now they would start freaking out like the puppet. Cliff sighed. He took a few deep breaths, calming himself, before leaning over to Alfie.

"Hey buddy, are you alright?" asked Cliff.

"No…" responded Alfie, quietly. He had curled himself up, looking incredibly tiny in his little seat. Cliff sighed again and leaned over, putting a hand on Alfie's shoulder.

"Don't be scared, alright Alf? Those things are just robots."

Meanwhile, Freddy and Chica were moving around on stage, awkwardly jerking their hands up to their eyes as if searching for something. A loud robotic snoring was heard from the left of Freddy.

"Huh, sounds like he's asleep! That's just like him." Chica squaked.

"Maybe we should wake him up! Oh Bonnie!" Freddy said, the snoring still continuing, "C'mon kids, maybe if you join in, he'll wake up!"

The room then quickly filled with the screams of children as many of them in unison screamed for Bonnie to wake up. Alfie visibly winced at the loud noise, just before the final spotlight turned on and the light blue, plastic bunny animatronic to the left of Freddy jerked it's eyes open.

"Wha...wha...what in the world? Awwww man, I was just having the most wonderful dream…" said the bunny, a slight southern robotic drawl to his voice.

"Come on, Bonnie! The kids are waiting for us!" said Freddy, turning his torso to face the rabbit.

Alfie's eyes were open wide, not moving an inch away from the rabbit as he simply stared at it. He looked terrified, and Cliff felt awful. It was his fault Alfie was so scared. He shouldn't have brought up the Puppet. He put his fear of the Puppet away from his mind for a second.

"Hey, Alf, let's play a game, ok?" said Cliff.

"O-Okay…" Alfie trembled, "What game?"

"These things are just robots, right? Remember me saying that?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"So they're basically just really big washing machines."

Alfie giggled a little bit at this, cuddling his little plushie tightly as he looked up at Cliff. Cliff smiled and scruffed up Alfie's hair, before pointing to the robots.
"So the game is, every time we can find the robot parts on one of those things, we get a point, okay? We each take turns, and the winner is the one who finds the most." said Cliff. Alfie clapped and nodded.

"Okay, Cliff! Hmmm…"

Alfie thought for a moment, looking around the building. After a few minutes of thinking, he cuddled his plushie again, before looking down at it. Cliff could almost see the gears turning, before Alfie looked up.

"The strings! Puppet has strings! Those are his robot parts!"

"Oooh, good one Alf! Hmmm…"

Cliff looked up on the stage, examining the now singing animatronics. Bonnie's ears started moving, and as they did, he could catch a slight glimpse of the metal rods that were allowing them to move.

"Bonnie's ears. You can see the robot parts between his ears and his head."

Alfie squinted his eyes and looked at Bonnie, before nodding.

"Okay...hmmm…"

Alfie thought again for a moment, before grinning.

"Foxy! New Foxy is all robot parts now!"

"Okay, now that's just cheating. Also, my book says that this new one is called Toy Foxy."

Alfie giggled again, and grinned proudly. Cliff rolled his eyes.

"Foxy's kinda scary, isn't he?" asked Alfie.

"This new one is, I guess. He...she...looks all broken now." Cliff said, before noticing Alfie's smile fade as he thought about the scary mess of parts that was the new Foxy. Cliff gave his brother a light tap on the nose.

"But hey, just a big washing machine, remember?"

Alfie smiled and nodded, before going back to being smug.

"Your turn!"

"Alright, alright." Cliff laughed, before looking back at the stage. He looked between Freddy and Chica, trying to see the glimpse of steel that signaled a robot part. Then, as Chica opened her beak to sing, he smirked, "Chica. Look inside her beak, a mini robot mouth."

Alfie nodded, at this point assuming his brother was telling the truth. Catching on to his brother's tactics now, he looked up at the stage too, staring intently at Freddy. After a while, he pointed excitedly.

"His eyes! His eyes!" Alfie yelled, pointing at Freddy. Cliff looked up at the stage and examined the bear.

"I don't see anything on Freddy." said Cliff.

"Look at his eyes when they're closing!" said Alfie.

Cliff rolled his own eyes and looked harder. Just as Freddy's eyes were shutting, for a moment, they retracted into his head, turning black as they did. If Cliff had blinked, he would have missed it, but sure enough Alfie was right.

"Wow, good spotting Alf. That's a really good one."

As Alfie cuddled his plushie in celebration of a victory point, Cliff looked around the building. They were running out of animatronics quickly. He looked over at the Game Area, not far from the Dining Hall, and saw a small plastic child animatronic giving a balloon to a parent. He stared intently at the Balloon Boy, determined to find some sort of robotic part.

"Give up yet, big brother?" Alfie said with a smug grin.

"Wait, give me a minute." said Cliff.

Alfie turned to look where Cliff was looking, and saw the Balloon Boy too. They both stared at it for a long time, until finally the Balloon Boy turned. It looked like a small child, wearing a propeller beanie and carrying a large balloon in it's hand. But inside it's mouth, he saw something that looked kind of like a speaker. He grinned, and pointed. Alfie pouted as he saw it too.

"Okay, okay." said Alfie, before looking around. Cliff grinned and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. He knew he had won. There weren't any animatronics left for Alfie to find. He listened to the sounds of screaming children and singing robots, until Alfie started tugging at his shirt.

"Hey Cliff, you win."

"Ha ha, I knew it." laughed Cliff, grinning in a brotherly teasing way. Alfie flopped back into his seat, defeated.

"Yeah...I can't find the robot parts on the last animatronic."

"Last animatronic? Bud, there aren't any left." Cliff asked, sitting bolt upright and looking right at Alfie.

"Yeah there are! The yellow Freddy that's talking to the kids back there."

Cliff was completely caught off guard as he turned to look where Alfie was facing moments ago. Sure enough, in the doorway leading to the Main Hall, there was a large yellow version of Freddy standing there, talking to two children. Cliff's eyes opened wide.

"Oh my gosh, that's a spring suit!"

"A what?" asked Alfie, tilting his head curiously.

"A long time ago, they used robots that you could squeeze until it was tiny, and then hold it there with springs, so that then a person could climb inside and walk around."

"Oooh! Is someone in that one?" Alfie asked, now climbing up and peering over his chair too, watching as the kids followed the golden Freddy into the Main Hall.

"If there weren't any robot parts, then yeah!"

"Do you think it was that nice guard we met? The one who helped us win all those tickets for my puppet here?" Alfie pointed to his puppet plushie.

"Mr. Fitzgerald? Maybe. If it is, we NEED to ask him about that suit!"

"Okay!" Alfie said. He was clearly excited for an adventure, along with the chance to maybe see one of his new favorite people, the security guard, "But how are we gonna get away?"

"Hmmm…" Cliff thought, before turning back to their dad, "Hey dad, can I take Alfie to the bathroom really quick? The soda's getting to him."

It didn't take long for Alfie to catch on, as he quickly started shifting around uncomfortably, going a sort of sitting dance, acting like he really needed to use the bathroom. Their dad looked at them, before nodding.

"Sure thing, kids. Just be careful, there's lots of people around."

"Thanks dad!" the boys exclaimed simultaneously, before jumping down from their seats and attempting to casually walk to the Main Hall, Cliff taking Alfie's hand in his.

When the two boys got to the doorway, Cliff peeked into the Main Hall. Due to the show going on back behind them, the Main Hall was empty, and the whole building's lights were dimmed to the point of being near turned off. They looked down the long, empty hallway, only seeing a pair of bathrooms to the right wall, and another hallway to the left, along with a door at the end of the hall.

"Where'd they go, Cliff?" asked Alfie, tugging on his older brother's shirt.

"Not sure, bud." Cliff said, walking into the hallway. Cliff looked into the men's bathroom for a minute, the bathroom being just as dark.

"Hello…? Anyone in here?" He called out, to no response. Suddenly, he looked to his side, and Alfie wasn't there, "Alfie…? Alfie!?"

Panic and dread came over Cliff. Something felt off, and then suddenly his brother was missing. He ran out of the bathroom, and looked around the hall, before suddenly seeing Alfie at the end of the hall, clutching his plushie as he had an ear pressed against the giant metal door. As Cliff ran over, he read the label on the door. The label read "Parts and Services"

"Alfie! Don't go running off like…"

"Shhhh…" said Alfie, putting a finger to his lips before pointing to the door. Cliff raised an eyebrow and went over to the door, pressing an ear to it as well.

"Please...sir...I won't tell anyone...just let me g-go…"

Cliff heard the sound of a small girl inside, probably not much older than Alfie, clearly upset as she was sobbing loudly. He could hear really loud footsteps walking around, before he heard the girl start gagging, as if her mouth was being covered up. Then, the sound of sharp metal slicing hard into flesh rung through the room. The girl's ear piercing, muffled scream was only audible to them, and it sent chills up Cliff's spine. He grabbed Alfie's arm, in a panic, and pulled him away from the door. But just as he did, the screaming stopped. Cliff turned to Alfie, who's skin was pale as a ghost as they heard the footsteps approaching the door. Cliff started breathing heavily as he looked around, trying to find someplace to hide. He looked over, and saw the entryway to the women's restroom very close to them. He grabbed Alfie and dragged him in, the two of them ducking behind the entryway wall. Cliff put a hand around Alfie's mouth, forcing him to breathe quietly through his nose as he tried to slow his own breathing. Then, they heard the sound of a door creaking open. All they could do was listen as the loud footsteps walked away from the back room. With every movement, the being would let out a metallic clicking and a heavy breathing, as if it was some strange combination of both man and machine. The footsteps kept getting closer, and soon the weird yellow bear was right on the other side of the wall. Cliff kept his body pressed against the wall as he peered around. For a brief second, he felt his heart stop as he looked up, the massive golden Freddy standing over him. It didn't seem to notice him, as he could now see that this wasn't a young suit. It reeked of dust and rotting felt, as it's fur was falling apart from age. The normally fully golden suit was covered in deep red blood stains, and smelled like a combination of rot, blood, and vomit. Cliff looked up, and saw through the darkness a pair of eyes inside the suit. They were beady and bloodshot, the pupils being only barely visible as they were mere pinpricks in the massive white and red orbs that were his eyes. Cliff watched in a strange, terrified awe as this creature looked around, surveying the area, before beginning to walk down the side hallway, the opposite direction from the boys. Cliff breathed a sigh of relief, but after having been keeping his breath quiet for so long, the sigh was a lot louder than he intended. He looked up at the beast, and saw as it stopped and started turning back.

Cliff ducked back behind the wall and clung to Alfie tightly. He looked around, before grabbing Alfie's hand and running deeper into the bathroom. He turned the corner just as he felt the ground tremble with the sound of metallic footsteps. He looked around, before running and opening a bathroom stall as quickly and as quietly as he could. He threw Alfie into the stall.

"Hide in here, Alfie. Close and lock the door, then climb onto the toilet seat. Don't let your feet hang down, and don't make a noise."

After Cliff gave his command in a shaky whisper, Alfie nodded and quietly closed the door. Cliff looked down, and saw Alfie's legs disappear above the stall walls. Cliff was relieved, and started running to the next stall, before he heard the footsteps about to turn the corner as well. Cliff started panicking, he wouldn't have time to hide in one of the stalls, so he quickly dived under one of the sinks and curled up. Then, the beast walked in. It was so huge it barely fit into bathroom. It stumbled around, as if it's whole body was a heavy burden on it as it looked around. Cliff could only barely make out it's silhouette in the darkness, and he silently prayed that it was the same for the beast. It looked around, it's body staying firmly in place for a while, before finally it's beady eyes settled on Cliff. Cliff remained perfectly still, hoping it would go away, but it didn't. Then it started walking towards him. Slowly, like it wasn't quite sure if he was there. Cliff didn't move, and simply prayed that he would lose interest. The beast kept stumbling closer and closer, and he could hear the sound of metal, man, and fabric all combined into some unholy creature as the beast was nearly on top of him. It looked down, the darkness still shrouding Cliff as he closed his eyes, feeling the breath of the beast on him as it reached towards him.

Then, suddenly, from behind the wall Cliff was leaned against, he heard a toilet flush. Someone was in the men's bathroom down the hall. Cliff opened his eyes and looked. The beast wasn't looking at Cliff anymore, and instead looked at the door. It paused for a moment, contemplating if it should try to make a run for it, before finally deciding. The beast left, it's loud footsteps leaving the room and it's metallic clicks following behind as Cliff could hear it trying to run.

"What the...hey! You! Get back here!" he heard someone yell. He recognized the voice, it was Mr. Fitzgerald the security guard! He had been the one who was using the bathroom. Cliff cheered quietly as he heard the creature run down the side hallway, with Mr. Fitzgerald chasing after him. Cliff stood and walked over to the stall he had left Alfie in. He knocked on it a few times, before whispering.

"The coast is clear, Alfie. Mr. Fitzgerald is chasing him!"

Cliff saw Alfie's feet slowly sink to the floor, clearly shaking as he walked over and unlocked it. Cliff saw poor Alfie, pale as a ghost and cuddling his plushie tightly, with tears streaming down his face. He jumped into Cliff's arms and started crying.
"Big bro! I heard him! I thought you were gonna die!" cried Alfie, sobbing uncontrollably. Cliff gently rubbed his back as he hugged him, trying to comfort him.

"There, there baby bro. I'm never gonna leave you alone." Cliff said, trying to steady his shaking voice, "Let's get back to mom and dad."

"O-okay…" replied Alfie, taking Cliff's hand as the two ran out of the restroom. As soon as they got back into the main hall, they looked around. The guard and the bear had disappeared, and the festivities were still going on in the main show stage. That was when Cliff saw, the Parts and Services door had been left open. He paused for a minute, before turning back to Alfie and kneeling down, putting his hands on Alfie's shoulders.

"Alright, little bro. You gotta go back to mommy and daddy and tell them about what happened, okay?" said Cliff.
"Where are you going?"

"I need to try to help the kids that were in there." responded Cliff, pointing back to the Parts and Services.

"Then I'm coming with!" shouted Alfie, slamming his foot on the floor.

"No way! Not after what just happened!"

Alfie then leapt onto Cliff, hugging him tightly, before looking up at him with a determined look, his face still covered in tears.

"I'm never gonna leave you alone either!"

Cliff sighed, before smiling a little bit and hugging Alfie tightly.

"Alright, alright. But you need to stick with me, okay?"

"Yes sir."

"Alright."

Cliff took Alfie's hand and slowly walked towards Parts and Services. As they approached, Cliff kept his eyes open wide, making sure that the man in the yellow suit wouldn't come back. As they got to the door, Cliff froze for a second. Maybe they should turn back. Maybe they should get an adult. But when he thought of that girl's scream, he knew he had to try and help if he could. He grabbed the large metal door, to his knowledge the only door in the building, and pulled on it hard, swinging it open. The hallway behind them was dimly lit, but this room was pitch black. Cliff couldn't see three feet in there, and as soon as he looked in, the smell of sweat, blood, vomit, and oil filled his nose, the same sort of scent that was on the golden Freddy suit. However, this was even stronger. He gagged a little from the overpowering stench.. He lifted his shirt and draped it over his nose and mouth, trying to filter out the smell. Alfie saw this and replicated his brother as they stepped inside. They took a few steps in, and Cliff let out a light whisper.

"H-Hello? Anyone in here?" Cliff called out. His quiet, timid voice echoing throughout the shadows. Then he heard Alfie scream.

Cliff jumped from surprise, before turning around, seeing Alfie pointing at something in the darkness.

"What is it, Alfie?" Cliff asked.

"I felt something there…" Alfie replied, his poor little body shaking with fear. Cliff walked slowly over to where Alfie was pointing. He kept his hands outstretched, feeling around in the darkness, until his hand touched something soft, like felt. He jumped, the image of the yellow bear's blood-stained fur flashing into his mind, before he realized whatever it was wasn't moving. He got closer, and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could barely make out the glint of a curved metal object and a bunch of old, red fur. He sighed with relief, before gesturing to his brother.

"It's okay, Alf. It's not anything scary...it's just the old Foxy."

Alfie hesitantly walked over to his brother and the broken animatronic, before giving the robot a slight poke. After a few moments of waiting, Alfie smiled as he realized it wasn't going to move.

Cliff watched Alfie and felt a little relieved. These robots weren't as scary to him. He grew up with them, and they were his friends in a sense. Thanks to his book, he knew how they worked in and out, and so they didn't give him a weird sense of terrifying mystery. He squinted and looked around the room. Now that his eyes had adjusted, he could make out the outlines of the other main characters surrounding him. He saw a broken version of Chica, and he smiled. He wasn't a huge fan of the new, thinner Chica. This one seemed more real, and so it made him a little sad when he saw her jaw hanging far down her face and her hands removed, with her arms seemingly stuck in an outward, cross-like position. He looked over at Bonnie. Bonnie was missing an arm, and the felt on his one remaining hand, but the most noticeable sign of decay was that his entire face was missing, leaving a lower jaw and ears in a sort of grotesque maiming. Finally, he saw Freddy. Freddy seemed in pretty good condition, all things considered, and that cheered him up a little. At least one of them made it out okay. He squinted a bit more, before seeing two more silhouettes, and his heart sank. Slumped against the wall right next to the broken Bonnie, were two small shapes, those of children. He ran over to the shapes and as he did, he felt his shoe come into contact with a thick, sticky liquid.

"No, no, no, no…"

Cliff kept repeating that, in a state of shock as he got down to his knees in front of the two bodies. One was a young boy, looking to be about 8, like Cliff. His throat slit and gushing blood and his body clearly beaten and maimed. The second was the girl. She was between Cliff and Alfie, about 6 or 7. Her throat was gagged, and she was missing her arms. Tears covered her face as her throat was covered in bruise marks, like she was strangled. Cliff couldn't hold back his vomit this time and only barely got his shirt off of his face in time, throwing up and covering himself in a mess of the blood and his own vomit. Alfie started to walk over to Cliff, but Cliff held up a hand and yelled at him.

"No, Alfie, don't! You shouldn't see this...:" Cliff said, before throwing up again. Cliff couldn't help but start crying. He had wanted to help them. Maybe he could if he had been quicker...or got an adult...or something. He was crying and vomiting so much, he almost didn't notice the light sound of a music box playing from down the hallway. As he heard it, he paused for a second. He recognized the song. He started whispering the lyrics to himself as he thought.

"Ninety years without slumbering…

Tick tock, Tick tock

His life's seconds numbering…

Tick tock, Tick tock

It stopped...short...never to go again

When the old man died…"

"Cliiiiiiff!" cried Alfie as he pointed outside the door. Cliff finally snapped out of his shock and turned back, before he felt his heart drop harder than any of the previous times that night. Across the hallway, a dark, lanky, ghostly figure was floating right towards them. It's body was limp, and it looked as if it were being dragged by wires from the ceiling that simply didn't exist. It didn't take long for Cliff to realize that not only was this form emitting the ghostly, chiming song he remembered from his childhood, but also that this strange form was the Puppet. Cliff grabbed Alfie and reached out, slamming the metal door shut. As he did, he saw the Puppet's eyes begin to glow so brightly, it nearly blinded him, and it's head begin to twitch again. Cliff dragged Alfie behind a broken up arcade machine, it's wires and computer chips laid fallen out of the giant box like a set of robotic entrails as they ducked behind it, hiding. Alfie clutched his plushie of the thing, tears streaming down his face as he tried not to sob and alert the creature. Cliff cuddled his little brother and closed his eyes, uttering a little prayer to anyone who'd listen, before he heard the door squeak open.

The music returned now, louder than before as the room filled with a bright white light. Cliff could only guess that the light was the Puppet's line of sight, and that stepping into it would be a horrible idea. He watched the light, treating it as if it were lava as he saw it slowly turn towards them. He looked down, and saw that his leg was still lying just outside of the arcade machine's hiding space. He quickly pulled his leg in just as the light of the Puppet's eyes approached them. He saw the light wrap around the arcade machine, him and Alfie just barely in the shadows, and as such out of sight, as Cliff held Alfie tight. Cliff was afraid that his brother might start blubbering, or make another noise that would alert the Puppet, but Alfie remained silent.

After many painstaking minutes, the light finally drifted away as they heard the noise of the Puppet's music slowly make it's way towards where the two bodies were. Cliff placed a finger to his lip and turned to Alfie, Alfie giving a nod of understanding as Cliff turned around the corner of the arcade machine to look. He saw the Puppet, floating limply near the two corpses and staring down at them. Cliff watched as the Puppet just kept eyeing the corpses, not moving from that spot. Cliff hid back behind the arcade machine and turned to Alfie.

"Go, move, we can make it while it's not looking. Hurry." Cliff whispered. Alfie nodded and got up, but just as he did a loud, metallic noise sounded. Alfie dived back down and Cliff turned to look again. Cliff couldn't believe his eyes as he saw the broken robots starting to move. Cliff was completely frozen now, watching the horror show that was taking place.

The animatronics somehow never seemed this big on stage, but here Cliff

could have sworn they touched the ceiling. The brown, tattered fur covering Freddy robot seemed to shift and move as it slowly lifted itself up. It moved slowly, like every part of it's body weighed a ton. It's black top hat fell off of it's head, discarded by the walking robotic corpse which then casually kicked it away as it shambled towards the floating puppet.

"Cliff! Look!" Alfie whispered, gesturing for Cliff to join him on the other side of the machine. Cliff crawled as quickly and quietly as he could towards his brother. He peered around that corner and jumped as a large yellow form started moving in front of them, the torn-apart Chica. She moved differently than Freddy, walking with frequent pauses, like her body parts were freezing up as she moved. The metal clanking of her feet hitting the ground resonated in Cliff's ears like gunshots as she walked mere feet in front from them. Once she was out of sight, Cliff grabbed Alfie and the two of them quietly maneuvered around the cables and wires behind the arcade machines, moving to the machine next to them.

Upon ducking behind the second machine, Cliff looked back at the scene. The Puppet was still standing in front of the two children's bodies, staring down at them, with Freddy and Chica standing next to it. After what felt like forever, Freddy and Chica walked over to the bodies and grabbed them. Freddy grabbed the boy with his hands, and Chica snapped her arms together around the girl, carrying her body to the Bonnie suit that was nearby. The Puppet then floated over to Bonnie and reached down, removing the head with a ghostly fluidity. Chica then slammed the child's corpse down into the chest of the purple rabbit, using her upper body to force it even further down into the machine. It was as if her metallic body was a hammer and the corpse was a nail. Pieces of flesh and spurts of blood shot out with every strike, leaving the rabbit looking like something out of a snuff film. Once the body was completely inside, the Puppet placed the head back on the robot, before floating over to Freddy.

Freddy was patiently waiting next to Foxy, which Puppet quickly approached and removed the head of as well. Freddy was a lot less brutal with the child's body, doing his best to force it in without tearing apart the body, but the wiring inside made that near impossible, leaving Foxy covered in blood and flesh as well. Once this bizarre ritual was complete, all the robots stepped back.

Cliff held back the need to vomit, before grabbing Alfie and ducking behind the next arcade machine. This was the last cabinet, and it was next to the corner of the room, which meant it was very close to the door out. Cliff looked back at the robots, who were still standing completely still.

"Come on, Alfie. Let's run to mom and dad." Cliff said, grabbed his brother and preparing to make a break for it. Cliff took one step out from behind the cabinet and towards the door, before looking up and seeing Foxy and Bonnie start to twitch. Cliff's heart skipped a beat and he stopped, trying to quickly run back out of fear. However, as he did, his foot got caught on the cables of the arcade machine. He tried to reach out to catch something, but instead his hand slammed against the power button on the back of the cabinet. The machine whirred to life, the bright light and loud retro noises filling the room. Every being in the room turned to stare at the machine as it let out it's mechanical songs, and Cliff and Alfie ran back behind it. Cliff held Alfie tightly as he heard the loud mechanical footsteps approaching the machine. Alfie started to sob a little bit and Cliff held him tightly, gently petting his head, trying to calm him. Then the footsteps stopped in front of the machine, and everything went eerily silent.

Cliff stayed silent for a long time, shutting his eyes tight in an attempt to cut himself off from reality. He pretended it was all a dream, a horrible nightmare, and when he opened his eyes he would wake up from it all. After what felt like an agonizingly long time, he finally slowly opened one of his eyes. A bright white light was staring right back at him. He screamed and opened both eyes, seeing the ghostly form of the Puppet mere inches in front of his face, and scrambling to get out of the tiny space he was in between the arcade machine and the wall. He leapt out of the space with Alfie in tow, now completely ignoring the giant robots in front of him. He could hear the ticking of a music box following him out, along with whispers.

"Murderer…you killed me...you monster…"

The whispers were the voice of Puppet, but now even more raspy and hoarse, like he had been crying for hours and hours. It also seemed like it was in Cliff's head. He tried to cover his ears as he darted under the metal legs of the twitchy Foxy, but the voices just got louder and more angry, like screams ringing inside his brain.

"You killed me...why...I was just a kid…"
Cliff was mere feet from the bright light of the door when he felt a tug on his hand, before suddenly grasping at empty air. In his panic, it took him a second to realize Alfie wasn't there anymore.
"Cliff!" Alfie screamed, being dragged away by the stripped, metal hand of Bonnie. Cliff turned and charged at him, tackling Alfie hard enough to tear him out of Bonnie's grasp and sending both of them tumbling against the other wall, the one furthest from the door. Cliff rubbed his head, before looking up and seeing the giant looming forms of the robots. Puppet snaked it's way out from behind the arcade machines, staring at the two kids as it and it's robotic minions slowly approached them. Alfie was crying loudly and Cliff just held him tight, preparing for the end.

Then, suddenly, the Freddy robot gave a slight twitch, before stepping in front of all of them, it's arms outstretched. Cliff looked up and saw Freddy standing between them and the other members of the onslaught. Puppet approached Freddy and stared into his eyes, completely still. As all the robots had their attention focused on Freddy, Cliff felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down at Alfie, but Alfie was still crying. He looked next to himself and saw a small, pale child staring back at him. The child's skin was nearly white, with the only splash of color being the grey streaks down her face.

"Hello Cliff. We don't have much time." said the child.

"Who...who are…" Cliff stuttered.

"The Puppet, it's controlling those spirits. The spirits don't want to hurt you, Puppet's making them. I'm helping Freddy resist Puppet's influence for now, but I can only hold him back for so long."

"What...spirits...who are you?"

The figure looked down a little bit and sighed.

"A friend of Puppet's...before he became what he is now. Look, there's no time to explain. Take your brother and run, Cliff! Run!"

Cliff nodded shakily before grabbing Alfie, darting as quickly as he could to the other side of the room. He saw the dim light of the hallway approaching like the gates of Heaven and let out a loud battle cry as he charged through the doorway. He almost tripped as he launched himself and his brother through into the corridor. He looked around, seeing the bathrooms, the main hall leading to the security office, and the large crowd in the main party room. His time in Parts and Services felt like it had been an eternity, despite having only been a matter of minutes. As such, this calm, happy scenery almost seemed foreign to him. He shook himself out of it before he ran down the corridor towards the Party Room, with Alfie closely behind and still clinging to his plushie. As they headed towards the crowded room full of music and people chattering, the two of them were quickly swarmed by their parents and Mr. Fitzgerald.

"Cliff, Alfie, where were you?! What on Earth are you covered in…?" Their father said, gesturing to the blood that coated their clothes. Their mother scooped up Alfie, who was sobbing and pointing towards the Parts and Services door.

"Alfie...what's wrong? What happened?" Their mother said, trying to comfort her hysterical child. Cliff was panting, the shock of the situation only now catching up to him as he felt his whole body freezing up. Mr. Fitzgerald grabbed him gently by the shoulders and kneeled down, looking at Cliff.

"Cliff...tell me...what happened?"

Cliff then spent a few minutes trying to fight back the shock and his need to cry and vomit. He managed to choke out words that somewhat resembled what had happened. His parents looked horrified, and while Mr. Fitzgerald's eyes were wide with fear, he nodded with understanding.

"Thank you Cliff. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

He then stood, and turned to their parents.

"You two stay here, make sure no one goes anywhere near that room and call the police. If you see the man in the bear suit, don't approach him. I'm going down to the security office to make an announcement for the crowd. I'll be right back."

The parents nodded and, with Alfie in their arms, turned and started doing as was told. Cliff panted and started letting tears flow. He didn't feel like he needed to cry, but for some reason he was still crying, sobbing even. He reached his hand up to wipe his eyes, but noticed that his hands were coated in blood. Then, he heard the intercom static start, and the voice of Mr. Fitzgerald blast through the building. People looked up and a silence swept over the building, leaving only the plastic robots merrily singing in the background.

"Attention all customers, we have reason to believe that a man has entered the building and attacked two children. The building is being searched, and police will be arriving soon. Please find your children and evacuate the building in an orderly manner, and do not approach any of the animatronics. Repeat, do NOT approach ANY of the animatronics."

An immediate panic swept the building as people scrambled to scoop up their kids and run out of the building. Cliff could hear people calling out for their kids, and couldn't help but feel part of his heart breaking as at least two of those calls would go unanswered. Then, he heard it again, even over all the commotion. The sound of the music box. He looked over and saw, in the doorway to the Parts and Services, the Puppet was floating there, staring right towards the crowd. A moment of silence happened. Cliff stared at Puppet, and the Puppet stared back. It was a moment frozen in time, a moment of eerie tranquility, before chaos erupted once more. Suddenly, all of the old animatronics burst out of the Parts and Services room, their broken voice boxes letting out bizarrely cheerful cries of pain.

"AHOY MA-MA-MA-MATEYS, THARRRRRR BE BEST NOT ME-ME-MESSING WITH THE LIKES OF FOXY."

"Gee whiz, I sure am hung-hung-hungry for pi-pi-pieces of flesh-pizza! Wouldn't you agree, Bonnie?!"

"I dunno, Chica! I just wanna ma-ma-ma-maim-ma-make some sweet music on my guitaaaaaaar."

Cliff stared in fear at the monsters he had just avoided, before hearing the sound of static and twisting metal coming from the dim hallway too. Suddenly, from a vent in the roof, out popped a twisting mass of metal and parts, complete with the bright white and pink head of Foxy.

"Toy Foxy…? What…?" Cliff whispered to himself, before turning back to the stage. Foxy wasn't the only one malfunctioning. The new and shiny Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica all started twitching before getting down off of the stage, attempting to grab at the random members of the crowd. Screaming filled the room as robots were everywhere, attacking everyone. Then, Cliff heard a familiar voice.

"Cliff, get out of here!"

Cliff looked back into the hallway and saw Mr. Fitzgerald, rounding the corner into the main hall. He looked up, and saw the mess of parts that was Toy Foxy awkwardly turn it's head towards the Guard, before starting to leap at him.

"MR. FITZGERALD, LOOK OUT!"

Cliff tried to warn him by crying out, and Mr. Fitzgerald turned to look. The next few seconds would haunt Cliff for the rest of his life, as he saw the mangled pieces of parts leaping at the man's head, before bringing it's metallic jaws down on his skull. Cliff heard the sounds of bones snapping and saw blood spurting all over the white and pink fox, before seeing the limp form of the guard fall to the ground. He could see a pinkish-grey mass sticking out of the robot's mouth, and when he looked at Mr. Fitzgerald's head and saw the wound...he realized what that mass was, and he threw up all over the floor until it felt like there was nothing left for him to throw up. The rest of that night all seemed to blur together for Cliff. The flashing of red and blue lights, screaming, his father grabbing him and dragging him out of the building and into the cold night air. Cliff answered the police officers' questions, and the memory of that night would never leave his mind. To him, that night was the second worst night of his life, but for everyone else...that night would forever go down in infamy as the night of the bite. The Bite of '87.