Two Page Shorts - Nick Venom (big ebook reader txt) 📗

“With the success of sister locations and a company change, a Freddy Danger’s Pizzeria location in the West Heights community will be opening up. Now under Danger Entertainment instead of Fred Strange Inc; this location has been said to be ‘grand’ and ‘game changing’ by Danger Entertainment's CEO, Roger Willow.” Mike read out loud from a newspaper he grabbed. He glanced up, feeling a stare on him. He looked around for the cause of the stare, noticing a person darting behind a building. Was that person… Were they staring at me or am I going crazy? He thought to himself. I’m probably going crazy… there’s no reason for them to be staring.

Mike shook his head, throwing the thoughts in his head away. He pressed forward, following his phone’s directions. He headed towards the location noted in the newspaper, the new Freddy Danger’s Pizzeria. This new location was meant to disperse good rumors of the company and disintegrate the bad ones. An incident that occurred a week ago remained fresh on everybody’s mind as the bodies of the night guards weren't found, details about the murderers were never released, and the future of the animatronics was unknown. Some say that the animatronics were scrapped while others say that they were being remodeled to be transferred to sister locations. However, nobody was sure what exactly became of them.

The new location, meanwhile, needed two people to take over the night duties as night guards. Fortunately, two people applied for the job. One of them was a young man of twenty years with short dark red hair and pale skin. His hair sat on his head messy and curled. He wore a grey night guard uniform with a star over his heart and a black thin sweater over the uniform, slightly blocking his name tag. The name tag read Mike Summers.

A young lady of eighteen stood in front of the pizzeria, some distance away from Mike who arrived several minutes before her. She wore a similar uniform to Mike’s, except that her name tag read her name instead - Chloe Ryder. She had long sky-blue hair that went down past her shoulders. Her skin was devoid of blemishes and tanned, unlike Mike’s skin. In contrast to Mike, she was slightly shorter than Mike’s 5’11 height.

She stood by the entrance of the pizzeria, hesitating to go any further. The pay is good, but… is it really necessary to take the risk. I don’t want to find out if the rumors are true, but I need money for school. She thought. Well… One week shouldn’t be that bad, right? Yeah, it’s just one week and I can pay off this month’s bills. Then I’ll go get a new job and pay off next month’s bills. Yeah… just one week.

The two stood in front of the pizzeria, both hesitating to enter. They arrived at midnight, the moonlight lightening up their path and a sign on the side of the building. The sign read, “Grand Opening! Freddy Danger’s Pizzeria’ in bold print. The building’s paint was brand new (which hadn’t been tainted by spray cans and unique artworks) and the windows gathered little to no dust. The windows were very much transparent and the door was left ajar, seemingly beckoning them to enter. 

After some hesitation, Chloe entered first. Mike followed after her, watching as she approached the receptionist’s desk; both were hit with the strong smell of paint, even though the paint had settled already. On the desk were a few items - a Freddy plushie, half an apple, and a name tag that read “Ian Tremors”.

“Weird,” Chloe thought out loud. She turned away from the desk and towards a door behind it. “Hello? Hello?” She shouted, glancing at the name tag. “Hello, Mr. Tremors?” She got no response. She repeated her words but received the same response. 

Mike, who was standing some distance behind her, now approached the desk. He took a look at the items before shifting his attention towards Chloe. “The email I got said that the manager was supposed to be here.”

Chloe turned to face him before nodding. “I got the same email, but… there’s nobody here.” She glanced at the door behind the desk. “We’re supposed to be training with the manager.” She muttered, looking past the desk and towards a hallway. She headed towards the hallway, being followed by Mike. They went through the highway and entered a large room with tens of party decorations, the theme being the animatronics, and tables positioned for the birthday kid and their guests. At the back of the room was a large stage holding the animatronics, all of them deactivated and quiet. 

Chloe approached the first animatronic, meeting with Freddy Danger, a bear animatronic with chocolate-brown fur, a red splash at the stomach, and a cartoonish small black hat. It towered at a terrifying height of 6’6.

Standing on the left of Freddy Danger was Ruby Reindeer, a reindeer-inspired animatronic with reddish-brown fur, a brown tail, and a black circle over its right eye. It was shorter than Freddy Danger at 6’4.

On the right of Freddy was the third and last animatronic, known as Echo. It was a fox-themed animatronic with yellowish-brown fur, black circles around its eyes, and sporadic black dots over its fur. This one was the shortest at 6’2, but something was strange about it. Its jaw was unhinged.

“Weird,” Chloe muttered. “You think for such a large company, they could have the animatronics fixed before they arrive at their locations.”

Mike nodded, glancing off to a door beside the stage with a large “Employees Only” label on it. He headed towards the door, pulling on the handle. It refused to budge, staying in place. He attempted again to open the door, smelling a rancid smell from the other side of the door, but it was all to no avail. It wouldn’t move no matter how much he tried to force it open.

“Hello!” A person said behind them. Mike and Chloe turned around to see a guy standing behind him. He was dressed in a tuxedo, black dress pants, and matching black dress shoes. He had blond hair that was slicked back and a mustache that was styled in a straight line that slightly curved up. He resembled a stereotypical butler. “Hello, you two must be the new night guards. I’m your supervisor, Ian Tremors. It's nice to meet you both.” He stuck his hand out to Chloe, shaking her hand before moving to Mike. He shook both of their hands before motioning them to follow him. “Can I get both of your names?” He asked, not looking at either of them.

“My name is Mike. Mike Summers.” Mike introduced himself.

“I’m Chloe Ryder.” She said.

Ian thanked them before arriving at his destination, another “Employees Only” door on the opposite side of the stage, but this one could be opened. In bold letters, under the “Employees Only” sign was the word “office”. 

Ian opened the door, leaving it wide open for Chloe and Mike to follow. They went through the door and approached Ian, who sat down at his desk. He intertwined his fingers on the desk, staring up at them. “Before anything, let’s go over some basic information. Why did you two apply amidst the rumors of the last pizzeria?

“I thought I was a good fit for this position as I already have experience-” Mike started before Ian stopped him.

“Tell me the real reason, not the one you put on your resume.” He said.

Mike nodded, apologizing. “I wanted to diversify my resume and I thought this wouldn’t be that bad of a job to work at. Plus the pay was good.” 

Ian nodded, turning his attention to Chloe. “What about you?”

“I… I’ve been having money problems, so I needed this job.”

“I’m guessing the stereotype of a broke college student?” Ian asked purely based on her birth date.

“Yeah,” Chloe said. She looked around the office. More plushies were laid everywhere, creating a horrifying sight for people afraid of the staring eyes of the plushies. One of the plushies caught her attention, being a blackish-purple Freddy plushie. The eyes were glaring at her with great intensity, sitting behind Ian.  

“Is there a problem Ms. Ryder?” Ian asked. Chloe’s gaze snapped to Ian.

“I’m sorry, my mind got distracted,” She muttered.

“No worries, Ms. Ryder.” He said before taking out two pieces of paper. “I need you both to fill in these sheets and then we’ll start training.” He said, handing the sheets to them. They both nodded before grabbing the sheets and scribbling onto them. Most of what was on the sheets were basic information, but there were a few strange questions on it. They asked if they had any living relatives and whether or not they would be able to track them if something happened as well as whether or not they were taking any pills for suicide. 

After finishing the sheets, they handed them in. Ian quickly skimmed through them before nodding his head, remarking. “Alright, let me give you a quick tour and instructions for tonight’s work before I have got to go.” He said. He stood up, leading them around the building and introducing the different rooms - the five party rooms, security room, three bathrooms, janitor’s closet, the receptionist’s room, and two storage rooms. However, he never mentioned the room Mike tried getting into, on the other side of the stage. 

With the tour done, Ian explained the basic rules. “Stay awake and pay attention to the cameras in case burglars target the building, never leave the building unless given explicit permission to, and check on the animatronics every hour. Some of them are older models and they need a quick kick in the shins to keep working. Is that clear?” He asked. Chloe and Mike both nodded. “Good, then I’ll see you tomorrow. I need some rest.” He turned away from them and headed towards the door. He left the two new night guards behind, both watching Ian until he disappeared from their sight. They noticed that he wasn’t headed to the parking lot, but somewhere on their left. However, they figured that his car was parked somewhere close nearby. It didn’t seem out of the ordinary. Everything looked normal.

***

Four nights later, Mike and Chloe appeared for the last night of their first week. It had been an easy week for the two as nobody attempted to break into the pizzeria and there hadn’t been much trouble aside from a few and distant mishaps during the first four nights. 

As they entered their last night of the week, they walked into the security room. Mike followed the same routine as the previous nights, staring at the security cameras and seeing if anything was different. Chloe, meanwhile, was staring at her phone. She bit her lip as she was staring at whatever was on her screen, glancing up at Mike to make sure he couldn’t see it. 

Mike didn’t pay any attention to her, noticing something strange. The door that had been locked since their first night was opened ajar. It was out of place. “Hey, Chloe. Wasn’t that door closed yesterday?” He asked, pointing at the door on the security cameras.

“Maybe Ian forgot to lock it?.” Chloe suggested.

“That’s weird, he usually had it locked. He even warned us to never touch the door.” Mike said.

“Maybe he wasn’t in the right space. He seemed to be going through something?” Chloe said.

“You’re right… But I don’t have a good feeling about it. I’ll be right back.” Mike told her. He walked out of the security room and headed to the now unlocked room. The security room was close to the main party room, but still a considerable distance away. 

He approached the room, peering into the room. He couldn’t see anything amidst the darkness, smelling the intense foul stench. He searched for the light switch, fumbling in the darkness for