First day of the new job…you’ve got this- I’ve got this? I’ve got this…
Aly recited the encouragement to herself as she got in her car and made her way off campus. The job itself wasn’t really stressful on paper, but she wouldn’t be herself if she didn’t stress about it. The uniform wasn’t very hard to come by, a simple button up, black pants, a belt, and a black baseball cap.
“Alright, this is gonna be just fine. Sure, you’ll have to be around some creepy animatronics, at night, with no other person around you for hours. But hey, the pay is actually really good at least.” She murmured to herself as she drove, “Almost too good honestly. But college isn’t gonna pay for itself, and money is money…. It’s just a couple of nights, what’s the worst that could happen?”
She approached the huge building, pulling into the large parking lot that she guessed was usually packed during operating hours. It was about closing time if the website was right, and most of the stragglers were probably on their way out by now.
Well, there it is. “Ellise’s Magic Kingdom: Indoor theme park and party palace”. Kind of a mouthful if you ask me… Jesus this place is huge- she thought to herself, before heading inside.
Ok, if I remember from training, the office is…this way? Yeah…yeah that sounds right- Down this hallway and… yes!
She’d been to training a couple days before this and vaguely remembered the way to the security office, though she wasn’t 100% confident until she spotted the security office, and upon opening the door, she saw her manager, and the day nightguard, Jamie, waiting for her. Jamie was a kind woman who Aly knew was around her late thirties but could easily pass as mid to late twenties. She smiled as Aly walked in, her tight curls peeking out behind the bright bandana, a different color than it had been the last few days. It seemed like the woman had a different colored bandana for each day. It was a quirk Aly found really enjoyable.
“Ah, there you are! Right on time. A little early, actually” she said as Aly nodded and adjusted her black cap, and her ponytail that was sticking out of it.
“Uh, yes ma’am-” she said, stuttering a bit.
Jamie chuckled a bit, “Oh please, you can call me Jamie, you know- I’m not gonna bite your head off.”
Aly looked sheepish, “Uhh, yeah, sorry, I knew that-
“And you don’t need to apologize so much” Jamie added with a small smile.
“Right, sorry- shoot, I mean-” Aly stuttered, and Jamie laughed gently, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“You’re fine- Now, I'm just here to tell you what you’re going to do for the next couple of nights.” She stepped back and gestured around, “This is your security office, you can see the camera screens over here. You’ll be here most of the night, but every so often I would like you to walk around certain areas and make sure everything looks in order. You don’t have to walk through the whole place every time, it’s way too big for just you and I don’t want to do that to you.”
“I appreciate that…” Aly nodded, before thought occurred to her, and she asked “Wasn’t there another night guard that was supposed to work tonight? The quiet, grumpy dude? He’s usually the nightguard right?”
She couldn’t remember his name off the top of her head, he hadn’t spoken much, and when he had he’d been… a bit of a prick, if she was being honest. Jamie sighed,72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4xeACUhKzO
72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEcgOReBYrS
“Yes, there was supposed to be, but he called in sick with not much more explanation. He never calls in sick, so it must be something serious. So unfortunately, you’re on your own, at least for tonight.” the womans smile was quick to return, “I believe in you though, ok? So don't stress out too much about it. You’re a capable person.”
“Thank you, ma’am- Sorry, I mean Jamie, shoot sorry-” She really needed to just stop talking-
Jamie laughed again, patting Aly’s shoulder, “You need to relax a bit kid- Save yourself the stress. You still have my number from training, right?”
Aly nodded, only having to think about it for a split second, “Oh, uh- yes! Still got it-”
Jamie nodded, “Good. You need anything at all, give me a call. Or text me, if that’s easier.”
Aly nodded again, smiling a bit herself, “Right- yeah! Thank you, again”
Jamie smiled warmly too as she started towards the door, “No problem, Aly, you’ve got this, your shift is about to start.” She stopped at the door and turned towards her again, “Like I said, call me if you need anything, alright?”
Aly nodded and gave two thumbs up, “Yup! See you later!”
She gave Jamie a little wave that the woman returned as she left, closing the door behind her. Aly went over to the chair by the security camera screens and sat heavily with a sigh.
“Alright, social interaction over, let’s get a look at those cameras- … Everything looks good so far. Hopefully, this is just a boring night, and I get paid to just sit around for the next several hours…” she said to herself, hopeful. And of course, she’d check the different areas, but for the most part, she was hoping for an uneventful night.
It had only been about 20 minutes into her night shift when her phone buzzed, reaching back to grab it and recognizing the caller ID, “Hm? Oh-” She answered, bringing the phone to her ear, “Hey Ben!”
Her best friend, Ben, answered, and she could hear the grin in his voice, “Heyy, how’s the job?”
“I mean I started not even an hour ago, but so far so good- Kinda boring though, I’m just watching cameras right now. I probably shouldn’t be on the phone with you, but nothing else is going on at the moment” she answered, smiling herself.
“Isn’t there supposed to be another security guard there? That place is huge from what I remember. Granted I haven’t been in years but still-”
Aly nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t see her, glancing at the security cameras every so often, “Yeah, it’s hella big, but the other guy called in sick, so I’m on my own for tonight at least”
“Damn, that blows-” Ben said, and Aly could almost hear the mischievous smile return to his face “Want me to drive over to keep you company? Campus isn’t too far-”
Aly chuckled, “I appreciate the sentiment, but I would probably, definitely get in trouble for that, and I’d rather not piss off my manager on the first night. She’s nice, but she’s probably scary as all hell when she’s angry-”
“Eh, Fair enough.” Ben sighed, pausing for a moment before he changed the subject, “So, have you checked out any of the animatronics yet? It’s some wicked tech from what I read.”
“Not yet but considering that they talk about them in college robotics classes, I figured it was some impressive stuff. That’s what made me look into this job in the first place. Being a night guard is easy enough, but maybe I could get an internship as a robotics engineer in the future-”
It was true, her robotics professor had spoken highly of the place. That, and Ben having gone there as a kid was some of the main reasons she’d applied.
“Dude, that would be awesome! You should definitely ask your manager about that-” Ben said excitedly.
“Well, I want to prove I can do this job first- Plus the night guard pay is surprisingly good for…” Aly’s voice trailed off as she glanced at the security camera screens, some movement catching her eye. It was so quick she almost missed it. But she hadn’t. She was quiet for so long, Ben spoke up again,
“Hey, you good? What’s up?”
Aly snapped out of it, shaking her head, “I’m fine, yeah, I just- I think I just saw something on one of the cameras…”
“Oh, very funny-”
“No, I’m serious- I’m checking it out. Maybe it’s one of the animatronics? Like, a free roam situation?” She didn’t necessarily believe that… the movement had been too quick… whatever she’d seen had to move fast, and she didn’t know if the animatronics could move that fast, advanced technology or not
“Be careful dude, free roam animatronics can be dangerous- remember that old diner place a while ago? Fazbears or whatever it was called? They had their fair share of incidents.”
“Trust me, I’m aware- But this is more modern technology, right? Less kinks in the programming. It’s closer to AI than anything else, and I think this place has only had two incidents in the decades they’ve been around- I’m supposed to walk around some of the areas every so often anyways, so might as well check it out. I’ll call you back, so you know I’m not dead, yeah?” Aly offered, watching the screens as she talked, looking for any more movement. She wasn’t worried…yet at least. It probably was an animatronic or…something.
“You better, or I'm driving over there, for real” Ben said, his tone more serious than it had been.
Aly smiled, “You are such a drama queen- but I appreciate your concern” And she meant it. Even if she didn’t necessarily think this was anything too serious, it was nice to know someone was looking out for her.
“What are best friends for? I’ll talk to you in a bit,” Ben said, his usual demeanor returning, before he added, “or else-”
Aly laughed lightly, “Yeah yeah, I will. Talk to you later man”
“Talk to you later!” was his answer, before she hung up, and pushed herself up from the chair with some creaking. She muttered to herself, turning in a slow circle as she looked for her flashlight. There were a few lights in the building that were on 24/7 but it was still dark enough to warrant using an extra light source.
“Flashlight…flashlight…there! Sweet-” She grabbed it and glanced at the screens, “The camera I saw movement on was…by the arcade, I think? That’s what it looks like at least…Alrighty-” Dragon’s Den Arcade… a fun name, based on its Mascot animatronic.
She made her way out of the office, flicking the flashlight on as she walked towards the arcade area, thinking to herself as she walked through the darkened building.
Alright, so far so good…Not much of anything going on right now. I mean obviously… Maybe I'm just seeing things. Still doesn’t hurt to check though.
Her thoughts paused for a moment as she kept walking.
I don’t see any animatronics either, so maybe they’re not free roam? They probably shut them down after hours, though it’s not like they talk about that all that much to the public. Or really during training. I mean considering what happened all those decades ago with the Fazbear franchise i don’t exactly blame them….
Another pause
You know, this place is really creepy at night-
She was pulled away from her thoughts by the sound of small footsteps, head whipping in the direction they came from just in time to see something, or rather someone dart into the arcade.
The hell? Did someone just run into the arcade?
She started inside, slowly and quietly. Someone must have snuck in or…something. She saw a figure trying to hide in front of her, assuming they were crouched down, and she quickly reached out to grab their arm in case they tried running again-
“Gotcha! What the hell-” Her expression quickly turned to confusion as she registered who exactly was in front of her. A kid… One that couldn’t have been older than ten years old. They were wearing old sneakers, sweatpants and an oversized hoodie with their hood up, their bangs obscured their eyes a bit, but Aly still caught glances of them. They looked wide with fear. That wasn’t right…how did a kid get in here? “Wait, a kid? What are you-”
The kid suddenly ran, taking advantage of her loosened grip and darting deeper into the arcade
“Woah, hey! Kid, come back-” She called, running after them, not noticing the sound of heavy, metal footsteps approaching.
She ventured farther into the dark arcade, looking around, and under a few machines, one of which was where she found the kid again. Their eyes were wide with fear, but Aly wasn’t sure why. Hell, she didn’t even know how they had gotten in, but it was clear something was wrong.
“Hey, what’re you doing under there? There’s no need to be scared of me, I’m harmless-” She said softly, smiling softly and trying to calm them, “Why don’t you come with me to the security office, ok?”
The kid shook their head frantically, speaking in a frightened whisper, “Y-you need to hide too!”
That confused her. Hide? “Why would I need to hide too? And again, you don’t need to be scared of me, I’m not going to hurt you-”
The kid looked at her, and shakily uttered six words that sent a shiver down her spine, “You’re not who I’m afraid of”
“…what do you mean I’m not who you’re scared of? Who- wait, what the hell is that?” Aly had finally heard the footsteps, which had only gotten louder as the animatronic approached.
“Come out come out little one…” came the deep voice of the large bipedal green dragon wearing a toga, with large, but still not proportional wings, and bright yellow eyes, towering over her at easily over 8 feet tall.
The Dragon? Aly thought as he got closer, Shoot, what’s his name- Des? Dex? Dexter! That’s it- Maybe they are free roam then?
The mascot of the arcade. In the daytime, he must have looked super cool, and maybe just a little scary, but now? She could tell why the kid was so scared… She turned to them again, “It’s ok Kiddo, he isn’t gonna hurt you, the animatronics are around kids all day, let’s go up to him and I’ll show you.”
The kid shook their head so fast Aly thought they’d make themself dizzy. “N-no! Please! Please hide! I don’t want him to find me! Or you!
“Kid, calm down, please-”
The footsteps stopped behind her and she turned around, backing up a bit and looking up, a bit wide eyed.
“There you are, Tiny…and another person? How interesting…I suppose it doesn’t matter...” The dragon rumbled.
“Oh Jesus-” Aly muttered to herself. He was definitely over 8 feet tall…. Alright, this was fine- “uhh hi Dexter? Mr. Dexter? I’m Aly, the new security guard- Um…I think there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding here- woah!”
She was cut off when the large animatronic swung at her, hitting the floor where she’d just been, managing to dive out of the way just in time-
“Holy shit!” she exclaimed, out of shock more than anything, before muttering, “The kid was right-”
Dexter stared at her “Security guard? Intriguing...”
He suddenly stomped at her again, and she barely managed to roll away. His voice seemed to glitch a bit as he spoke,
“That won’t stop me though. The hunt has only begun...”
Nope, no- do not like that- “oh what the hell, Kid grab my hand we’re getting out of here-” Aly turned to the kid under the arcade game, offering her hand. They took it and as soon as she was sure she had a good grip on them, the two of them ran.
Dexter called out after them, “You think you can run? You're sorely mistaken little humans!”
“RUN!” Aly cried, not sure if the dragon was following them. Her heart was pounding, and her mind was racing about a mile a minute.
I don't know what the hell just happened, but that dragon was not acting like an animatronic would- if I hadn’t dodged, I might be in seriously bad condition… Dexter is big but he’s slow so right now we just need to hide- ah- there!
She’d noticed a hall of Party rooms, dubbed “The Party Zone” and gesturing to the nearest open door, “Here, Kid, into the party zone- this room right here c'mon-”
She and the kid ducked inside. The room was dark, but they both leaned against the wall. Aly took a deep breath and slid down the wall into a sitting position. She heard the Kid do the same, though she’d closed her eyes for a moment, just… breathing.
“I think we lost him- holy shit….” She breathed out, before she remembered that there was in fact a child present and her eyes shot open, “Oh Christ, don’t repeat that ok?” She turned to them, before noticing the kids expression, their short, panicked breaths, and how they were rocking a bit. Aly turned to them fully, voice gentle,
“Hey hey hey kid, I need you to calm down for me, ok? I know this is scary, beyond scary, but getting hysterical isn’t going to help anyone, especially yourself.” The kid looked up at her, tears threatening, and Aly continued, “Take deep breaths with me alright? In…out….in…out…” She breathed in and out as she said each word, and to her relieve, the kid did start mimicking her, taking deep breaths with her, and eventually on their own after a while, even if the breaths were shaky at first.
Aly smiled “there you go. Keep doing that, alright?”
The Kid nodded, their deep breaths were slowly getting steadier and steadier.
“Alright, can I ask you a few questions? The more I know the more I can help you. Is that alright?” she asked gently, and the kid nodded again, “M-mhm…”
Aly nodded as weel, “Ok…First of all, what’s your name?”
“Charlie…”
“That’s a nice name, I’m Aly. It’s nice to meet you. How did you end up here?”
The kid, Charlie, looked down, still hugging their knees, and started talking.
“I… I was walking in the park. And- And this guy came up to me. He was nice at first, but… but then he grabbed me and then I woke up in here… in another room… I heard- I heard someone in another room talking about what the scary dragon said. A “hunt”... And I got scared and ran! But I couldn’t find a way out, and I got chased by the big dragon!
Aly sat in shock, and horror the more the kid spoke. She was quiet for a moment after they had finished talking, before saying, “Jesus kid, I’m so sorry…”
That hunt…Dexter did say something like that. He was acting weird…I mean, weirder than animatronics usually are. But apart from the hostility, he also seemed…alert. Like he was sentient. But…that’s impossible, right? She thought to herself. This was way above her paygrade, they needed some kind of authority on this-
“Ok Kiddo, I’m gonna get you out of here.” She said, getting up again, “I was gonna bring you to the security office, but this sounds like an issue for the police or something- this is bigger than a lost child after hours…The doors should be nearby, so we’ll get out, get to my car and drive to the station. Or the hospital-” A thought occurred to her, and her eyes went wide again, “oh hell are you hurt? I should have asked that before-”
“N-no, I’m not hurt… Just some bruises, I think…” they shook their head and Aly sighed in relief.
“Ok…ok good- police station it is then. Just hold my hand and stay close alright?”
“Mhm…” Charlie nodded, reaching out to take her hand again.
Aly nodded, “Alright, let’s go-”
The two made their way out of the room, starting towards the exit.
“Ok, the exit is super close, just a little further-” Aly said quietly, before the sound of approaching metal footsteps, not nearly as loud as Dexter's, and almost sounding like little bells accompanying them. Distantly, but getting closer, they heard an eerie, feminine voice.
“Oh chiild~ Are you lost? I can help you…”
“Oh christ, that’s Ellise, I think? Sounds like she’s behind us, just duck in here real quick-” Aly pointed to the closest room, and they ducked inside as the Mascot animatronic got closer.
Aly glanced at Charlie and put a finger to her lips, “Shhh…”
Charlie nodded, mimicking her, as if to say they understood.
Aly didn’t want to risk another hostile animatronic. If Dexter was acting all weird, I think it’s good to be cautious of the others as well. Better safe than sorry…
The footsteps got closer as Ellise passed their hiding place.
“You must be so scared…” The elf animatronic called out, “don’t worry! I can help you…I can take away all your fears…”
Her tone made Aly think that she made the right choice in hiding…
Peeking out after she was sure Ellise was gone, looking back at Charlie, “well, that was creepy- it’s ok Kid, we’re almost there, just hang in there-”
They started to run towards the exit, Aly wanted to get Charlie out of here as fast as possible, when they heard something that made Aly’s stomach sink. An automated voice came over the speakers.
“Security shutdown initiating…”
“Wait what? Oh crap-” Aly’s eyes widened. They were so close to the exit, before security shutters started lowering over the doors, fully covering them before Aly and Charlie could get to them. Aly tried to push them up with no luck.
“No no no come on!” She cried, unwisely hitting the metal with her fist and instantly regretting it
“Shit, bad Idea, ow- ok think Aly, think-”
“Aly...?” Charlie's small voice drew her attention, “What…what does this mean?”
Aly sighed, but smiled weakly, tried to keep calm, for her own, and Charlie’s sake.
“For now…this means we’re stuck in here. Let’s get to the security office and try to figure out what’s going on, yeah?”
Charlie nodded, and the two started making their way back to the security office, Aly trying to figure out what to do next.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
