Alone With Them

Chapter 7

That had to be it.

Without another word, Cathryn gave a nod and pulled open the glass door. The clean air, one lacking the stench of old food and sweaty kids, hit her square in the face and made her smile. She must be insane to want to work somewhere that smelled like the inside of a jock's gym socks.

The air was bright and joyous; birds were whistling in the distant blue sky.

"There's no way I can work there," she muttered to herself a few feet away from the building. Cathryn shifted her path to avoid an oncoming van with small wheels and a bold red exterior. Her foot hit the grainy sidewalk, riddled with pebbles and weeds poking up from in between small cracks, as a river of children flowed out from the car's sliding doors.

Cathryn let out a sigh as she walked home. The pressure that had been building inside her lungs throughout the whole interview process was finally escaping. She'd feared feeling uneasy going home by herself, especially after being inside a restaurant haunted by glassy-eyed, giant animatronics, but the truth was, just being outside of Freddy's had her smiling and her body relaxed.

She swung her arms with glee and enjoyed her new feeling of exhilaration. Cathryn knew it wouldn't last long anyways. Soon she would be back at home, her mom's face expectant and ready to hear the details as Chancellor played in his room. Since she'd worked long hours the night before, her mom had asked to come into work a little late. All so she could hear how grabbing the application went before she sped off to work.

Or maybe to hear if Cathryn had changed her mind after entering the creepy restaurant again.

Once, while swinging her arm in a wide arc, her hand smacked the bulging shape in her pocket. That's right! Cathryn had brought the walkie with her so she could tell Markus she'd gotten the application.

"Nerd27?" she asked, while holding down one of the many sleek buttons. Cathryn hadn't noticed until now how jittery her hand was. "Come in, Markus."

"What's the report, KittyCat? Mission success?"

"I've got the job."

"You must be joking!" Markus was hissing quietly into the device, his voice barely understandable. His family must be nearby. "I thought you were only going to get an application."

"I was, but the assistant manager with the creepy mustache told me I was practically hired."

"Sweet," he congratulated, barely waiting long enough for his words to register before disappearing again into the static.

"Not really," Cathryn tried to explain. She needed to tell someone else about the weird way the employees looked at her. Their twitchy and nervous glances, the way all their faces looked blank and scared. Cathryn couldn't tell her mom or there'd be no chance of her getting a job to help out. But apparently, she couldn't tell Markus either, since as she went to speak, she was cut off by a loud buzz. She took her finger off the walkie only to hear Markus say, "–have to talk to you later. I'll call tonight, Cat."

The noise from the device evaporated, taking Cathryn's optimism and carelessness with it. Now there was nobody around to talk her out of working at Fazbear's! She grumbled the rest of the journey to her house, wondering over whether or not it was worth getting a job.

But it was. She knew it was when she got home, and her mom's face beamed with pride.

"They already said they'd hire you?"

"Pretty much." Her mom was bent over their kitchen counter, spreading a silver butter knife coated in peanut butter smoothly across a piece of bread. Cathryn hadn't even had time to take off her shoes before her mom responded.

"That's great! They can already tell how much of a hard and dedicated worker you are." If she hadn't known her mom was skeptical about Cathryn getting a job before, she would've never been able to tell now. It was like she'd had a complete personality shift! Even the dark spots under her eyes were brighter and the way she made herself a lunch to take to work was peppy and with a smile.

Cathryn only sat at their kitchen table, working on removing her tight shoes, as she was slowly crushed with a feeling of responsibility. She had to go through with working at the restaurant. She just had to. If getting hired already brought her mom this much joy, Cathryn could practically picture the way she'd react after she brought home her first paycheck. It'd been forever since she'd seen her mom this excited.

"I was told I could come in at closing time and start working tonight."

"That's wonderful! If you put Chancellor to bed early, I'm sure Brandon will let me leave quickly to give you a ride over."

"Okay." This definitely felt anything but okay. Her stomach felt like a swirling pit of anxiety and Cathryn could only hope it would calm down after she had some lunch.

Hope you enjoyed it! We're starting to get into some of the really interesting scenes now. Thanks for sticking around this long!