Alone With Them

Chapter 21

She shunned the thought and squeezed the strap of her neon beach bag once again as she journeyed into the restaurant. She made careful effort not to look at the animatronics as she crossed to the right hallway. Then she stopped. The lack of light filling her office did nothing to bring her comfort.

Chills raced down Cathryn's spine. She wasn't late, was she? Her office had never been completely dark when she arrived. Were the animatronics already poised for an attack, and she'd missed the warning signs because she'd been too scared to check if they were on their stage?

She whipped her head cautiously from side to side before speed walking the rest of the way to the open sliding door. Cathryn had no clue where the light switch was, but that didn't prevent her from slowly shuffling inside.

Her bag rested on her shoulder as she brushed her hands against the wall. Surely, with all the drama from the robotic mascots, she'd missed seeing the light switch somewhere in plain sight? She started towards the left, her fingers cold from touching the metal, until she felt an odd shape jutting out from the wall. At first it caused a spike of adrenaline – some part of an animatronic she couldn't see, maybe? – until she realized it actually was a light switch!

She scoffed at herself under her breath. Maybe Sam hadn't entirely been in the wrong when he'd called her an idiot.

The dull, fluorescent lights chased the shadows and some of her nervousness away, and Cathryn sighed in relief, setting her bag on the ground. Then her shoulders tightened. There was a presence watching her from somewhere. She could feel the bore of eyes targeted on her. Her mouth turned dry as her focus darted between both side windows in the room. Nope, nothing in the hallways.

"Boo."

The voice wasn't her own, and Cathryn wasn't sure what made her do it, but she launched her body sideways towards the office chair like it would offer her some type of protection. A scream tore at her vocal cords and her adrenaline spiked as she flailed mid-air, smacking the back of her stronger hand into the arm of the chair and causing it to throb in pain. Her jump hadn't been strong enough to land her in the seat and she crashed into the side before landing half-sprawled on the floor, squealing. Her tailbone didn't appreciate the landing.

There, behind her in the corner, stood the purple animatronic that had haunted her mind all day, bent over at the waist cackling his horrific laugh she always heard on the monitors. The sound was untamed and unmerciful as always.

"You!" Cathryn let out another blood curdling scream as she kicked herself backwards across the floor. Was he going to attack? Was this it? Where was Freddy? Had her work from the night before done nothing?!

Because this was Bonnie's true form, she thought to herself. He wasn't broken. He was simply evil. A pure evil stain that could never be scrubbed out from her mind and would haunt her until she died.

"How blind are you?"

Cathryn stared; her attention permanently honed on the rabbit as his laughter died. Had he . . .? No. No! How could–

"Why wouldn't you check your surroundings?" His voice was higher than Freddy's and much more mechanical. It held a sharpness to it that hurt her ears.

"Y-Y-You," Cathryn couldn't help but tremble and her eyes hurt because they refused to blink. She softly cleared her throat. "You can talk."

She didn't expect the unbearable, high-pitched hiss that echoed from the rabbit's body, almost like a gasp, and she flinched away. He placed a hand to his muzzle, his eyes widened, and his voice seemed to resemble . . . sarcasm? . . . when he spoke, "So can you."