Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes(27)

“Must be CCTV,” Lamar said.

“Come on.” Jessica handed her flashlight to Charlie, and swung her legs through the door. There was one deep step leading down into the room, which was no bigger than a large refrigerator turned on its side.

“That’s a little too cramped for me; I’ll keep looking around out here.” John saluted, then turned as though to stand guard.

“This is like a clown car,” Marla remarked as she jostled against Charlie. The space was too cramped for all of them, but they crowded together; Jason sat on the step, feeling more comfortable by the exit. There were eight of the television screens across the wall, each with their own little panel of buttons and knobs, and sticking out beneath them was a panel, almost a table, covered in buttons. They were large and black, unlabeled, and spaced in an irregular series. The other wall was blank, except for a single, large switch by the door.

“What’s this do?” Jason said, and put his hand on the switch. He hesitated, just long enough for someone to stop him, then he pulled it.

The lights came on.

“What?” Carlton looked to the others frantically.

They all stared at one another in confused silence. Jason climbed up and poked his head out into the main room.

“They’re on out here, too; some of them at least.” he said too loudly.

“Why is there power?” Jessica whispered, reaching over Jason to pull the door closed again.

“How is that possible?” Charlie said. “This place hasn’t been open in ten years.”

“Cool,” Marla leaned forward, studying the monitors as though expecting some sort of answer to be revealed.

“Turn on the TVs,” Jason said suddenly. “I can’t reach.” Jessica flipped on the first TV, and static crackled across the screen.

“Nothing?” Charlie said impatiently.

“Just a sec.” She twisted a dial, wiggling it back and forth until an image emerged: it was the stage, centered on Bonnie. The other animals weren’t visible. Jessica turned on the rest of the TVs, adjusting them until the pictures became clear, although most were still poorly lit.

“They still work,” Charlie said almost under her breath.

“Maybe,” Jessica said. “Hey, someone go out there, see if the camera is live.”

“Ok,” Marla said after a brief hesitation, wriggling her way to the exit and awkwardly climbing over Jason. A moment later, she appeared on camera, onstage beside Bonnie. Marla waved. She appeared multicolored as the stage lights bathed her in purple, green, and yellow from different sides.

“Can you see me?” She said.

“Yeah,” Carlton shouted. Lamar was staring at the buttons.

“What do these do?” He said with a wicked grin, and pressed one.

Marla screamed.

“Marla are you okay?” Charlie shouted. “What happened?” Marla was standing still on the stage, but she had backed away from Bonnie, and was staring at him as if he might bite.

“He moved,” Marla yelled. “Bonnie moved, what did you do?”

“Marla!” Jessica yelled, laughing. “It’s ok! We pushed a button!” Lamar pressed the button again, and they all watched the screen this time. Sure enough, Bonnie turned stiffly to one side. He pressed it again, and the rabbit swiveled back to face the absent audience again.

“Try another one,” Carlton said.

“Go ahead,” Lamar said, and climbed out of the little room to join Marla onstage. He crouched down to inspect Bonnie’s feet. “They’re attached to a swiveling panel,” he called.

“Yeah?” Jessica called back, not really listening.

Carlton started pressing buttons, as the rest of them watched the cameras. After a moment, Charlie left the room as well. “It’s too stuffy in here,” she said. Jessica’s perfume and Carlton’s hair gel, both of which smelled nice enough out in the open, were starting to form a sickly miasma. She stepped out into the open to watch them experiment with the animals onstage. Most of the dining room was still dark. There were three colored spotlights suspended from the ceiling, aiming beams of purple, yellow, and green at the stage. The animals were cast now in unnatural colors, and dust in the beams of light shone like tiny stars, so many that it was difficult to see through them. The floor beneath the long tables was dusted with glitter that had fallen from the party hats, and as she looked around she noticed again the drawings that lined the walls of the place, all at the height of children’s eyes.

They had always been there, and Charlie wondered now where her father had gotten the first ones, when the restaurant opened. Had he used her own childish scribblings, or had he made them himself and stuck them up, forgeries to encourage actual children to display their art? The thought of her father hunched over his workbench, gripping an unsteady crayon with hands accustomed to manipulating microchips, made her want to giggle. She noticed the flashlight still on in the center of the room, and went to switch it off. Don’t waste the battery, she said in her head, in chorus with Aunt Jen’s voice.

She turned her attention to the stage. It looked like they had gotten Chica and Bonnie to go through a series of movements, but they were small and specific; they could each swivel their entire bodies back and forth, and their hands, feet, and heads could be moved in various directions, but it looked like each movement was separate.