Alone With Them

Chapter 11

There could only be one solution. Cathryn forced herself to roll off the couch and began searching their kitchen drawers for food. Sugary snacks, granola bars, soda, and most importantly...energy drinks. Her mom had a few buried in the back where she thought no one could find them.

Cathryn had seen her mom trying to sneak them to work on days she knew she'd be gone for a while. Luckily, there were quite a few, so she wouldn't notice if Cathryn only took one or two.

The second step to her plan: find a flashlight. That way, she could conserve power for as long as possible. When she'd been really young, her mom and Uncle Brandon had taken both their families camping. They'd had a flashlight then, so surely there was one around the house somewhere.

It took an hour of searching – which halfway through was interrupted by another short chat with Markus – until Cathryn finally found one.

"Bingo," she mumbled to herself, her fingers grasping the awkwardly thick handle. It was dead, but a few batteries later and it was ready to go. "What else will I need?" She had snacks to keep her awake, a flashlight, a few extra hours of sleep... Was there anything else she could use?

A loud sound came from outside, making Cathryn's heart jump. Moments later, a knock sounded at the front door. She realized she was letting her anxiety get the best of her, but Cathryn couldn't help but stay frozen, staring in the direction of the noise.

"Let me in!" cried Chance, his small fists pounding against the wooden door. Cathryn's mind flashed with images of the animatronics; the way they had stood outside the metal doors laughing and laughing and laughing...

"Sorry!" she called back, shaking her head to snap herself out of the trance. Cathyrn was fine, she was safe back in her home. She quickly let Chance inside and waved thanks to Josh's mom, who was sitting parked in their large, navy truck.

"What took you so long?" Chance huffed.

"I was busy," Cathryn shrugged. Even the memories of Fazbear's had her petrified. "Sometimes you just have to be patient."

"Well, I don't have to be patient at Josh's house!"

"Oh really?" she chuckled, a warm feeling drenching her fear now that another person was running through the empty house.

"Yeah! And I got to have a sandwich and we played games and went outside to his big tree and hit the bark with sticks. The cats thought it was so funny and they chased us!"

"How exciting, sounds like you had a blast." Cathryn forced herself to let out a sigh. She needed a break from her hectic, terrifying thoughts anyways.

"Yeah, but now... Is Aunt Aundrea home yet?"

"Nope, it's just you and me, Chance."

"Aw," he said with a sad huff, making Cathryn laugh.

"What's so bad about that?"

"Because you're boring."

"I am not," she said, poking him lightly in the belly to get her point across.

"Sometimes you are, because you never play with me."
"If we play with your toys for a while, will I still be boring?"

"No! Let's play!"

'Playing' consisted of watching Chance smash cars together, but it was a surprisingly effective way for Cathryn to get her mind off things. Like surviving, or demonic robots. Once he let her hold one of the cars, but in the end, that resulted in her watching him again, now nursing two crushed fingers.

"Are you still having fun?" she asked after a while, her voice monotone. Chance had been playing with his cars for an eternity. She felt like she was stuck in a time loop.