Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes(71)
As Carlton held the creature’s gaze, he felt himself begin to calm. His heart’s pounding eased, and his breath grew even; it was as though suddenly, he were safe, though he knew the suit he was wearing was still only one flinch, one startled jump, from killing him. Carlton kept looking at those two pinpoints of light, and as he did, he heard a voice, and in a gasping instant it was as if all the air had been sucked from his lungs. As the voice spoke, that voice he would have known anywhere, that voice he would have given anything to hear again, Carlton began to weep, using all his will to keep his body from shaking. The eyes in the dark were intent on his face as the voice went on, speaking secrets to Carlton in the ringing silence, telling him things that he dreaded, things that someone had to hear.
Chapter Ten
The screens all lost their pictures and flipped to static.
“Hey!” Marla cried. She banged against the side of a monitor, and the imaged lurched and distorted, then sputtered and went out again. She hit it again, and with another spasm of static the image slowly cleared; as it resolved, the stage appeared.
“Something’s wrong,” Lamar said, and all three leaned forward, trying to get a better look.
“Bonnie.” Jason said in a grave tone.
“Bonnie,” Marla said, looking at Lamar with alarm. “Where’s Bonnie?” Lamar hit the button on the walkie-talkie.
“Charlie” he said urgently. “Charlie, don’t leave the control room.”
In the control room under the stage, Charlie and Jessica were peering at the monitors, scanning for signs of life. “It’s too dark; I can’t see anything on these.” Jessica complained.
“There!” Charlie said, pointing. Jessica blinked.
“I can’t see anything,” she said.
“It’s Carlton, right there. I’m going to get him.” Not waiting for a response, Charlie crawled toward the exit.
“Charlie, wait,” John said, but she was already out the door. It slammed shut behind her, and all three of them heard the dull metal thud of the drop lock falling into place. “Charlie!” John yelled again, but she was already gone.
“It’s bolted shut,” John grunted as he pulled on the door. The walkie-talkie sputtered, and Lamar’s voice came choppily from the little box.
“Ch-lie, don’t leave—r-m.” Jessica and John exchanged a glance, and John picked up the radio.
“Too late,” he said, looking to Jessica as he lowered the walkie-talkie.
Charlie made her way unsteadily between chairs, but after only moments she realized she had gotten herself turned around. The lighting had changed; now a single, blinding blue light was strobing on and off above the stage. Over and over, the room flashed with a blinding burst, like lightning, then was instantly dark again. Charlie covered her eyes, trying to remember what she had bumped into first. Metal chairs and foil party hats pulsed like beacons in the dark with each burst of light, and Charlie’s head began to throb.
She squinted, trying to orient herself, but beyond the tables surrounding her, all she could see were a thousand afterimages burned into her retinas. She had no idea which way to go to find Carlton. She leaned against a nearby chair and pressed her hand tightly over her forehead.
A table screeched against the floor briefly and Charlie knew that it hadn’t been her. She turned around but the light had gone dark. When it flashed again she was looking directly at the stage; where there should have been three sets of eyes, she saw only two. Freddy and Chica stared down at her, their plastic gazes catching the light, twinkling with the strobe. Their heads seemed to follow her as she moved along the table. Bonnie is gone.
Suddenly, she felt exposed, all at once noticing just how many places there were in the open room for something to hide, and just how visible she was to anyone — anything— that might be watching. She thought briefly of the little control room she had just left, and felt a pang of regret. Coming out here might have been very stupid…
Another screech sounded and she whirled around to see the table behind her moving slowly away. She turned to run, but slammed into something before she could take a step. She jerked up her hands in the darkness to shield herself, and touched matted fur. The strobe threw its light out again, and this time there was sound: garbled noise blaring from the gaping mouth in front of her. Bonnie. Bonnie was standing only inches from her, his mouth opening and closing rapidly and his eyes rolling wildly in his head. Charlie jerked away, then backed up slowly; the rabbit did not try to follow, just continued his bizarre and silent incantation, his eyes aimlessly ricocheting in is head. Her foot caught on the leg of a metal folding chair, and she fell back, landing hard on her bottom. She started to crawl, staying low, hurrying to get away from Bonnie. A spotlight flashed from the stage, this one clearly aimed at her. She raised her hand to see who was there, but the light blinded her, and all she could make out were two sets of eyes continuing to follow her.
Charlie screamed and scrambled to her feet. She took off running, not looking back, and made it across the room and to the hallway that led to Pirate’s Cove, then ducked into the bathroom along its wall. The door echoed when it shut behind her; the room was empty, with nothing but three sinks and three stalls. Only one of the fluorescent lights was on, and just barely, only enough to color the room dark gray instead of black. The metal walls of the stall dividers looked flimsy, and Charlie had a sudden vision of Bonnie, larger than life, grabbing the metal frame with his paws and ripping it up from the ground, the bolts tearing right out of the floor. She banished the thought and ran into the farthest stall from the door, slipping the lock—so small it looked almost delicate—into place. She sat on top of the toilet tank, her feet pulled up on the seat and her back pressed against the blue tile wall of the bathroom. In the empty room, Charlie could hear her own breath echoing; she forced it to slow and closed her eyes, telling herself to be silent, to hide.