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Chapter 5: Catching Up

A loud ringing pounded through your ears are you reached for the alarm clock. You yawned as you struggled to open your sleep-caked eyes. Finally finding the button, you practically punched the alarm.

Slowly and groggily you threw off your covers and stepped out of bed.

The morning was bright and you felt it was determined to give you a headache. With your eyes barely open you stumbled to the bathroom to brush your teeth and take a shower.

Finishing up in the bathroom, you got dressed and headed out into the kitchen were you grabbed a plate out of the cupboard and heated up some left over supper from the day before.

As you made you way to sit at the table and eat, the phone rung and you groaned. It was almost as bad as the alarm.

You grabbed up the phone. “Hello?”

The cheerful voice of your beloved friend almost screamed in your ear. “Oh ___! You’re up!”

You grumbled while rubbing the bridge of your nose. “Yeah. I just woke up.”

“Oh.” She giggled. “I’m sorry.”

You sighed with a smile. “It’s alright.”

“Well, I was just calling to invite you to come with me and my family to Freddy’s Pizza. I thought maybe we could catch up and talk after so long.”

You smiled again. “Yeah, I think that would be fun.”

“Cool!”

A faint voice in the background could be heard.

“Yes, she’s coming with us.” (f/n) spoke to the disembodied voice. “So did you want to go now?”

You glanced at the clock. 10:25. “I suppose. I was just about to eat last night’s supper. But I would rather eat pizza.”

“Super! We’ll meet you there in about…..say thirty minutes?”

“Sure. I’ll see you then.”

“Yep! See ya!” you heard the faint click of the ending phone on her line. You smiled as you shut off your phone and put it back on the base. With a sigh, you began your daily mission to try and look presentable to go out on public.

As you pulled up to the building you noticed (f/n) already standing up at the entrance doors. She was alone, so you imagined her family was already inside.

You parked and got out, walking up to the entrance. She smiled as you came toward her. She wrapped her arms around you in a strong embrace. You almost lost your breath as she practically crushed your ribcage. “Oh ___, it’s so nice to see you!”

You returned the organ bruising hug. “It’s nice to see you too.”

She pulled away. “Well, let’s go in.”

Inside it was quite busy. Busier than usual for a normal day.

Party streamers of all colors decorated the ceiling. And the long family sized table in the center was lined with children eating and laughing. You could tell it was someone’s birthday.

(f/n) lead you to a table with a little more privacy that sat father from the stage. Her husband stood politely and smiled as the two of you approached. “___, this is my husband, (guy name).” he reached out to shake your hand and you politely accepted. “And this I our son, Perry.”

The boy looked up at you with big, innocent green eyes and you couldn’t help but melt inside. He smiled and revealed one of his baby teeth missing in the front. “Hi!” he said excitedly.

“Hi.” You said back, smiling brightly.

“Well, come on ___. Sit down.” she motioned you to sit. She turned to her son. “Perry, scooch in.” her son obeyed and moved to the inward side of the booth. You sat down beside him. (f/n) and her husband took the opposite seat.

“So ___, it’s nice to see you’re still breathing. How’s your job here coming along?”

“Oh! It’s great! I missed being here for so long, I love coming here every night.”

(guy name) spoke up. “So, there isn’t anyone that sneaks in at night?”

You shook your head. “No, nothing like that.”

“Anything that goes bump in the night?” he grinned.

You smiled. “Well, there are some things that do, but I’ve been able to handle them so far.” The three of us laughed.

A waitress came and got the orders for drinks and came back soon after.

“Daddy, can we go to the arcade?” Perry stared at his father, quickly growing bored with the grown-up conversation that couldn’t interest him.

(guy name) sighed before regretfully agreeing. “Alright. But you’re not using all my change like last time.”

You stood to let the small boy out of the booth and he and his father walked away, well more like
(guy name) walking away, Perry sprinted, quite eager to play the games.

“Hey, ___?” (f/n) spoke, earning your attention once more as you returned to the seat. She had a distant look on her face, thinking hard about whatever was on her mind.

“Yeah?”

“Since you worked here, have you ever found out why Pirate Cove is shut down?” she stared at you anxious. “I just took notice last time we were here and no one who worked here would tell me.”

You looked down at the brightly colored, polished table. “I actually just found out yesterday. Back in 1987, there was a pretty gruesome incident. A girl climbed up on the stage and got too close to Foxy’s mouth and….” Your voice trailed off, not really wanting to say the rest.

(f/n) caught on and you could sense her discomfort. “Oh my god.” A hand came to her mouth as she tried to visualize the event in her mind.

“The girl survived.” You continued. She looked up at you. “Just lost a large portion of her brain.” Her eyes slid shut and her hand remained over her mouth. You searched for something to change the subject. “So who’s Perry’s favorite?” you asked.

She glanced at the stage. “Bonnie.” She nodded with a smile. “Bonnie is his favorite. Perry’s got this thing for guitars so when he saw Bonnie playing, it was instant.

You chuckled while look over toward the stage. They did those same jerky movements over and over. You wondered if they did that naturally or not. You lifted your drink to your mouth.

“So do you still have a crush on Freddy?” (f/n) practically shouted and of course, during a break in between songs so it was even louder. You swallowed your drink before you were ready and fought against the violent coughing and sputtering that came after. Just to add to the fun, the parents of the children that heard her outburst cast glances over and started laughing under their breath.

Recovering from your episode, you earned her a stone cold glare. She didn’t mind however from the grin plastered on her face.

“What was that for?” you growled.

“When have you ever known me to not give you trouble?” she started giggling and you couldn’t help but join in.

“Thanks to you, everyone who heard that probably thinks I’m super weird.” You gently punched her in the shoulder.

“You were already weird.” She countered.

You grunted in defeat before devising a comeback. You grinned mischievously. You waited for a pause in the song before… “Have you ever gotten over being in love with Foxy?”

She stopped and her mouth hung open. Her cheeks when beet red as she tried to hide her face from gawking eyes.

You smirked in triumph. “Don’t like it, do ya?”

She glared at you, but a smile eventually bloomed. You both burst out laughing, but you mentally couldn’t help but hope that Freddy didn’t hear her outburst.

“___.” An unfortunately familiar voice came up behind you. You turned and met the dark eyes of James. He motioned for you to follow him. You shook your head and he motioned again with wide, threatening eyes.

You turned back to (f/n). “Excuse me. I need to talk to him.” she nodded in understanding and you followed him to the back of the restaurant.

“Listen, ___.” He began, his voice was cool and low. You crossed your arms over your chest. “We’re letting you go.”

You blinked. “What? You’re getting rid of me?”

He nodded, staring everywhere except your face. “You’re not needed anymore. You can come back tonight to collect your pay for your first two nights.”

He walked off, without another word.

You stood dumbstruck.

(f/n) stared at you as you made your way back to the table and sat down.

“I’ve just been fired.”