i always feel like somebody's watchin' me

who's playing tricks on me?

Rockwell

Somebody's Watching Me

Artist: wainbow_wopes

Artist: Salix

TW: slight sexual content

  Michael was silent from his end as Gregory and I scoured out a place to hunker down in while we brainstormed a way to hide from the rogue animatronics. The distraught disbelief I felt after staring at the shutters had quickly passed in favour of necessary levelheadedness; we needed a game plan if we wanted to survive.

  Gregory knelt in the corner of the coat storage room behind the customer service's desk. It was one of the few places that the roaming security bots didn't bother to check. I noticed with growing fear that there were a lot more than usual - and most likely all hooked to the same network that the copycat killer was tuned in on.

  I sat down on the floor beside Gregory and pushed away the thought that I'd doomed him by not getting him out fast enough, and that I'd let Michael down for the same reason. But this was no time to go all 'woe is me.' I could do that later. When I was dead, most likely. Maybe.

  "Any ideas?" Gregory asked from where his head was buried in his knees. I shook my head. He turned onto his cheek with a despondent sigh. "This blows."

  "What if we ram the shutters with a chair?" I suggested. "Or Freddy could punch them."

  The watch crackled to life for the first time since Michael heard of our state. "I am sorry to inform, but the shutters are made of high-grade military titanium to prevent the theft of Fazbear animatronics. All you would do is cause a scene."

  I dropped my head back against the wall.

  "I would advise to keep moving," Michael continued. "It is harder to pinpoint a location if it keeps changing."

  "I suppose that makes sense," I sighed, "but my ID isn't working, we can't go anywhere. We'll have to get a ticket and..." I peeked over the lip of the customer service's desk. "... it's a minefield of bots out there, so... any ideas, geniuses?"

  "Blow 'em all up," Gregory muttered, head pitifully buried in his arms.

  "Thank you, future criminal," I said dryly. "Any ideas that are feasible and won't kill us?"

  Michael remained quiet. I huffed and stared over the desk again - fine, I'd make a plan, which was the worst thing for me to do but was the hand they had given me, anyway.

  "They're following loops," I noted after a brief survey of the scene. Gregory picked his head up. "If we can work our way around their programmed routes, we should be able to find some place less populated." Because of course the entrance would be this guarded.

  I looked at the routes for a few seconds and, after realising that I did not have the right brain to mentally map out fifteen different robot laps, decided that a good old distract-and-dash would have to do.

  I looked over at Gregory. "How attached are you to those shoes?"

  Gregory looked down at his tattered kicks and then spared me an insulted look. "They might be bad shoes, but at least I have them."

  "I'll steal you a new pair from the gift shop."

  Gregory's expression deepened. "Don't you work here? Shouldn't you be discouraging that?"

  "I'm off the clock, kid," I shrugged. "Rule number one of being an adult - work only to your pay check and not a minute more."

  I didn't even know if he knew what a pay check was.

  Gregory narrowed his eyes before reaching for his laces. Then, a breath away from untying them, he glanced up at me again.

  "Can I get a new jumper, too?"

  "I don't see why not."

  His eyes began to blaze with the temptation of new things. "And socks?"

  "Sure," I said, and held out my hand. "Shoes."

  Gregory tsk'd and shoved his shoes off before rolling them over toward me. He made sure to mutter just loud enough for me to catch his grumble; "so demanding."

  "I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that," I said. I inched my way over to the entrance to the customer service centre and held each shoe by its laces. "Ready to dash?"

  "What?!" Gregory crawled over with a frantic scramble. "No! What are you doing? Where are we going? Why don't you ever talk your plans through?!"

  I shot him a look over my shoulder. "I throw the shoes, the robots are distracted, we run."

  "That's not a plan!"

  "Plan enough," I said, before lobbing the shoes over the desk as far as I could.

  The robots whirled at the sound of the shoes tumbling against the glossy floor and sped over to investigate. I grabbed Gregory's sleeve and hauled him after me as we bolted across the lobby's open space and up the stairs.

  I pushed our way into the back entrance to Glamrock Gifts and, upon seeing it vacant from any roving security bots, gave a sigh of relief. Gregory turned to me with a scrunched-up look of indignation.

  "You're trying to get me killed!" Gregory accused with a hiss. I ignored his jab and gathered any new clothes from the racks that he needed.

  "Y/n? Gregory? Are you two okay?"

  "Your 'trustworthy friend' is insane!" Gregory turned to his watch with a spit to his voice. "She's gonna get us both murdered!"

  "Here," I said, dropping the new clothes into his arms and pushing him to a changing room. "Get changed."

  "What?" Gregory blinked up at me. "Now?"

  "You wanna stay in those old clothes?"

  Gregory, who did not want to stay in those old clothes, promptly shut the door behind him with a scowl.

  I closed my eyes in exasperation and leant against the wall. Gregory may as well have been right about me trying to kill him - each idea I had almost had the both of us at the mercy of the animatronics that were no longer the friends I knew.

  I turned towards the entrance of the gift shop. I didn't know much about survival (my years of eating ramen noodles instead of making myself a proper dinner in my perfectly fine kitchen could attest to that), but I did know to keep an exit in sight. Just in case... just in case.

  "Y/n?" Michael's soft voice slipped from the watch. "Are you okay?"

  I stared at the door for a few beats before lifting my hand. "Not really. How far away are you?"

  "Not far," he answered quietly. "I am just waiting for my charge to finish. With how fast it depletes... and the mere fact that I'm able to communicate with you while charging is further proof that the virus affected me in some way."

  "I'm glad you're able to speak," I murmured. "I couldn't do this without you... plus, I think the kid hates me."

  "I'm sure he does not."

  "Kids hate really fast at that age," I pointed out. My smile turned rueful. "Maybe it's a good thing I'm not a mother. I'm doing a piss-poor job at it."

  "That is not true."

  "You're just biased because you love me," I murmured, quiet and under my breath so Gregory wouldn't hear.

  "You are being too hard on yourself, sweetheart," Michael said softly. "Anyone else would let their panic control them. You are keeping your cool and are making plans to survive. It is an admirable quality of yours." His voice warmed. "And that is why I love you."

  I stared at a spot on the door with bright cheeks. The urge to fold over on myself and yell was high, but I kept it down to a clench of my hand. How could he make me so flustered even during the most intense, violent night of my life? There were killer robots outside the door, Y/n.

  "When we get out of here, I'm so riding your face," I whispered.

  His chuckle was low in promise. "I look forward to it."

  I closed my eyes at the absurdity of it all. But, alas, if I were to die in a my place of work that truly does underpay me, then I'd rather be thinking of blissful thoughts - like my boyfriend's giant robot bear face between my thighs.

  The changing room's curtains were shoved back with a huff, and Gregory stomped out. He looked like a walking Pizzaplex advertisement. Even his socks had tiny Monty faces on them.

  "Fashion icon," I said. The kid gave me the stink eye and crossed his arms.

  "I don't like you," Gregory said shortly.

  "Told you," I muttered to the watch. Freddy didn't reply. "Don't have to like me, kiddo. Just have to trust me to get you out of here alive."

  "I don't."

  "That makes two of us," I confessed, because I wasn't going to lie to this bastard of a kid. No matter how much he looked like he wanted to wring my neck. "We need a plan."

  "I may have one."

  "Thank god," both Gregory and I said in unison. I shot him a half-hearted glare before returning my attention to the watch. "What's up, doc?"

  "I have been in contact with Sundrop," Michael said. "He seems to be unaffected by the virus. Or, at least, as unaffected as I am."

  My brow furrowed with doubt. Michael had a soul to keep him from falling right under, what did Sun have? As much as I adored the daycare attendant, currently I would rather lob his head off with a chainsaw.

  Better to rebuild him than have Gregory and I permanently dead.

  "How's that possible?" I asked. "Chica tried to sucker punch me right into unaliving. And she's Chica."

  "The Daycare Attendant has... a different type of AI than the rest of us," Freddy explained. "Whereas we have single strains that can be easily infected, the Attendant-"

  "Has two," Gregory finished with wide eyes. At my bewildered look, he scowled and shrugged. "I've been here for a while."

  "Are you saying that Sun's fine?" I asked. A creeping sense of relief began to loosen my tense spine.

  "Yes, however Moon is not," he said, and the relief quickly sunk away. I raised my face to the ceiling in exasperation. "As long as the lights stay on, you should be safe to hide in the Daycare. Hopefully the copycat is not aware of the virus failing to infect Sun and won't bother to look there."

  "So, lights on, we're good," Gregory said. "Lights off..."

  "Game over," I murmured. I held a palm to my aching forehead and sighed. "How can we even trust him?"

  "We can't," Gregory said. A troubled look swept away his bratty countenance and his frightened eyes turned up to me. "But we don't have a choice, do we?"

  I closed my eyes. No, we didn't. We really didn't.

  "I will meet you there presently," Freddy said. "We will hunker down until morning."

  "I thought you said a moving target was a harder one?" I asked.

  "I say a lot of things, Manager Y/n," Freddy said. I rolled my eyes. "I will meet you there. Be..." he hesitated. "Be safe."

  A short feeling of terror flared at his fear. It must've been really fucked of a situation if Michael - the resident cool-head - sounded rattled.

  "You, too," I said softly. Gregory eyed me at my lovey-tone and I cleared my throat to throw the trail. "Bitch." What.

  "What?" Gregory asked.

  "What?" Michael echoed.

  "Nothing-" I pointed quickly to the exit of the gift shop "-let's go."

  I leapt to my feet and beelined it with a burning face. Gregory caught up and sent me an odd look. 

  "You're weird," he said.

  "You've got bad manners," I said.

  "You swore," he pointed out.

  I sighed. Touché. I edged the door open a bit and stuck my head out to check our surroundings.

  "We're good," I whispered, before ushering Gregory out and closing the door with a near-silent click. I paused, swallowing, before turning to the Daycare Pick-Up zone, which was fortunately right beside us.

  "If this robot kills me, I'm gonna haunt you forever," Gregory hissed as we snuck along the shadowed side.

  "If this robot kills me, I..." I trailed off. "I don't know, but I bet it will be awful."

  I could practically hear Gregory rolling his eyes at me. We entered the Pick-Up Zone and scanned the area for security robots and, upon finding none, snuck forward towards the turnstiles down to the Daycare.

  That's where the security robots were. The ball of stress within me flared but I patted it back, if only to keep my cool in front of the child.

  "Phooey," I said, then glanced at the kid-only Daycare entrance slide. Beside me, Gregory followed my thoughtful gaze.

  "Do you want to go down the slide?" he dryly asked.

  "I kinda wanna go down the slide," I admitted.

  "Go on, then."

  "I feel like you're judging me."

  "I've been judging you the entire time."

  "God, you're making me really glad I don't have kids," I grumbled.

  "It's all part of my charisma," Gregory impatiently said. He pushed me towards the slide. "Now hurry up before we get mauled!"

  "Alright, alright," I conceded. "You go first."

  "Why do I have to go first?!" Gregory shrilled. "What if it's waiting down there to kill me?!"

  "Good point," I said. "Counterpoint - there's a bunch of robots coming down the hall because we've been talking too loud."

  "What?!"

  Gregory whipped around at my announcement and, sure enough, a handful of beady-eyed, squeaky-wheeled robots were hoofing it past the party rooms towards us. Gregory leapt towards the slide with a frightened squeal and promptly disappeared into the brightly-lit Daycare. I slipped in right after with my stomach left behind.

  I gasped when I skidded into a pit of germs and coloured plastic balls before flailing to surface. My arm swiped some balls away with a grunt and I scanned the area, searching for the disgruntled, messy-haired tween.

  "Y/N!" the disgruntled, messy-haired tween screamed.

  "Fuck." I scrambled for the edge of the ball pit and hauled myself up, only to see the resident robot dancing about a cowering Gregory in a glitchy, erratic, excited jig. "Sun! Sunny, baby, don't scare him!"

  Sundrop's head snapped to me and he let out a static-peppered gasp. "Friend Y/n! Friend Y/n!" He bounced over and pulled me into a tight hug. "You're here, too!!"

  "Oof - ease up on the strength, buddy," I squeaked. I sighed in relief when Sun's viper grip eased. "You doing okay, Sun? Nothing weird going on?"

  "Oh, yes, yes, weird," Sundrop said with an intense seriousness he usually didn't adopt. "Something strange is certainly going on up in here!" He tapped a lithe, slender finger to the shell of his forehead before gripping my hands with a shudder of his frame. "It's Moon. He's angry - so, so angry, my friend! He's scaring me!!!"

  "It'll be okay," I reassured with a rub of my thumb over his. I pulled back to check on Gregory, who was still cowering on the floor behind me. "Hey-"

  "What are you doing, friend Y/n?" Sun nervously giggled. His hold on my hands turned to steel. "Please don't turn the lights off! Lights stay on, on, yes, yes, yes! The lights stay on in here!"

  "The lights will stay on, I promise," I reassured. "I just need to check on Gregory."

  Sundrop held on for a second more before reluctantly letting me slip my hand from his. He anxiously hovered, tapping his fingers, as I approached the shaking boy.

  "Hey, you alright, champ?" I asked. Gregory's shaking hands clasped onto my sleeve. His gaze never left Sun's as he gasped for breath. "What did he do?"

  "Nothing, just-" Gregory broke off with a close of his eyes and a clear of his throat. He let go of my sleeve and stood, brushing off invisible dust from his Roxy-themed sweatpants. "Nothing. I just got surprised."

  I lifted a brow in doubt. He was pretty young to already be emotionally constipated - this was mid-teen Michael level bad. Then again, he looked to have had a tougher upbringing than Michael. At least Michael had a roof over his head.

  "That's okay," I said, sarcasm gone. I needed to be like Freddy; confident and soothing. Goddamnit Mike, hurry up with that charging. "This is Sun. He's a friend."

  "Friend, friend, yes yes yes," Sun agreed.

  I turned to the robot. "Why don't you go grab your favourite drawings to show Gregory, Sunny?"

  Sun straightened to his normal height with an excited spin of his faceplate. He nodded exuberantly before skipping past us and to the Arts and Crafts station. I knelt by Gregory once more and placed my hand on his shoulder.

  "I know this place is pretty scary, but we're safe here," I reassured. "Sun's got an extra line of coding to protect him. As long as the lights stay on, we'll be okay."

  "And then in the morning, I'll go to who knows where," Gregory mumbled.

  I fell silent as he shrugged off my hand and turned away to sit at one of the many Arts and Crafts tables. He crossed his arms and lifted his chin, but he couldn't quite hide the very real worry in his eyes.

  I sat back onto my haunches with a sigh. He was right, really. Neither of us knew what would happen after I dropped him off at the station. He'd probably end up in the foster care system, and then what? He'd go to some far away home that, like many real horror stories, would abuse him? The thought made me sick.

  I rubbed my tired eyes and stood, watching as Sun carefully approached Gregory with a bunch of drawn-on papers in his grasp. He spread them out on the table like a proud collection and nervously stood back for Gregory to inspect.

  I closed my eyes. I didn't know what to do. It wasn't as if I was in any position to look after a child, and Gregory seemed to dislike me, anyway. There could be a family out there perfect for Gregory to slot himself into and be happy with. I was too damaged to play mother.

  My hand clasped around my Faz-Watch. I hoped Michael was doing okay battling the virus' effects.

  ... he would've made a perfect father for Gregory. He would've known how to calm him down, what to say, what to do. Instead, the poor kid was stuck with me.

  I crossed my arms and leant back against the play palace's cushioned beam. I could worry about Gregory's future when we made it through the night, when I was sure he still had a future. Right now, though...

  Right now was doze time.

  Content that Sun had calmed down a little and Gregory had grown more comfortable with the robot, I let my exhausted eyes slide shut. Even without this crazy killer robot shit, I'd already had a long day. My body was gunning for a nap.

  I think I slept for about ten minutes before the lights overhead began to ominously flicker, making me squint my eyes open with drowsy confusion.

  It was Sun's inhuman shriek that pulled me violently from slumber, leaping to my feet with my gaze snapping around the daycare for Gregory.

  He was scrambling back from the Arts and Crafts area with frightened yells, watching as the robot's metal body convulsed and shifted beneath the flickering lights.

  "YOU!" Sundrop screeched at Gregory. "Your fault, your fault!!!! Your fault she's turning the lights off!!!! Now-!!!"

  Sun straightened before his entire frame bloomed dark blue. His sun spokes snapped back into his head, replaced with a sleeping cap that sent a bolt of fear tumbling through me. Eerie red eyes opened. He hunched over forward with a chuckle that sent shivers down my spine.

  The flickering lights finally gave way into darkness. A dim blanket swept over the daycare, reducing my sight to mere silhouettes and vague hues.

  "Now it's my turn," Moon cooed in a gravelly, inhuman voice that sounded nothing like his usual lullaby-like lilt. I leapt to my feet and booked it towards Gregory's direction.

  "Gregory-!" I called, only to have the robot swipe an arm at my gut and send me careening through plastic chairs and fragile tables. Agony from the impact seared through me, crossing up my back and sending my darkened vision blurring into indistinguishable muck.

  A frantic, tinny voice was nothing but murky background static. My vision twisted as I grimaced in pain.

  "- respond, please!" It was Michael's frantic shouts erupting from my Faz-Watch. "Y/n!"

  "Yeah." I lifted my heavy hand and blinked slowly, stunned. "Yeah, m'here."

  "Thank god," Michael cried in relief. "The lights to the Daycare have been manually overridden by an outside source."

  I stumbled to my feet with a low groan, hand against my forehead as the world spun. "I got that."

  "You've been a naughty boy," Moon's crooning snarl pierced through my watery hearing. "Running around this place like you own it."

  "Leave me alone!" I heard Gregory's shrill voice shriek.

  "Fuck," I panted as I stumbled towards where the cowering kid's voice was coming from. "Mike, you gotta- I can't do this."

  "I'm on my way," he assured. My hands grabbed the back of a plastic chair. "Just hold out. Protect Gregory."

  "Yeah, okay," I wheezed, and lifted the chair over my head. "I can do that."

  Moon flinched from his stalking when the chair barrelled into the backs of his knees. He whipped around with a static-shot growl, red eyes zeroing in, before changing his target and beginning after me.

  "Oh, fuck me," I whimpered, before turning on my heel and bolting. The robot gave a guttural, throaty snarl at my flee, spurring me on faster.

  I could barely breath, and when I checked over my shoulder and saw Moon nearly upon me, I felt my strained throat rip a cry in fear. I snagged one of the plastic chairs beside me and swung it back against him and he batted it aside as though it were just a pesky fly.

  "Y/n!" Gregory cried. Moon's attention snapped to him and he changed course, barreling in the direction of the child's wail.

  "No!" A new burst of energy had me grabbing another chair and throwing it wildly at Moon. It didn't make contact but it caught his attention enough for him to falter. "Hide, Gregory!"

  Moon bellowed with frustration. "Naughty, naughty! Both of you have been naughty! Punishment! Punishment!"

  About a million panic-induced jokes ran through my mind, but I was too busy catching my breath and trying to keep Moon from hunting Gregory to speak any of them. Instead, I threw another chair towards him with a grunt of effort. Chairs made surprisingly effective melee attacks.

  Moon snatched the chair before it could hit him square in the face and threw it to the soft-padded floor, where it promptly shattered to bits. I flinched at the power behind his careless toss and scrambled backwards at his predatory advance. I'd been cornered and there was nothing else for me to throw at him.

  "Hey, hey now," I whimpered with my palms raised. "Moony, it's me, remember? Y/n?"

  He continued, unaffected. I scrambled for something else.

  "What about Tilly?" I prompted, breathless with terror. "You remember Tilly, right?"

  Moon paused. His eyes flickered blue for just a second, but it was enough to inspire hope to bloom in my chest.

  "Yeah!" I gushed, grasping at straws. His eyes returned to their unusual, frightening red. "Tilly! Tilly wouldn't want you to hurt me, right? And you don't want to disappoint Tilly-!"

  A deafening roar burst from Moon's frame. I cowered with a yelp, shielding my head. My eyes caught sight of Gregory as he snuck forward, eyes wide and terrified and determined. In his grasp was the leg of the chair Moon had broken, its shattered end wickedly sharp.

  He caught my shocked gaze. I gave an imperceptible shake of my head, but he just ignored me, continuing his stalk forward.

  We're both gonna die.

  Moon raised his arm to strike. His fingers weren't sharp, but he had enough power behind them to render claws useless, anyway. I cringed back against the wall I was cornered against and braced myself for impact.

  "Naughty children need to be put in time out," Moon sneered in his bone-chilling voice.

  Gregory launched forward with the chair leg just as Moon brought his hand down to mortally swipe me straight into the arms of death. The chair leg pierced through the fragile joint of Moon's arm, off-shooting his attack and snatching at the air above my head.

  I squeaked and ducked, rolling out of the way as Moon stumbled in shock. He stared at the chair leg sticking out of his sparking joint with an unreadable expression. It gave us enough time to dart away and find a place to hide until the lights came back on or Freddy rescued us.

  We slid into a well-hidden spot beneath the Daycare's security desk. My eyes were wide with amazement at Gregory as we shuffled inside. There was no way a twelve-year-old boy should've been able to do that much damage.

  "How the hell did you do that?" I whispered. He just shot me an irritated expression and pressed a finger to his lips. When the tell-tale jingle of Moon's slippers came and went, I grabbed Gregory's shoulders. "Are you on steroids? Did a strange person give you something?"

  Gregory slapped my hands away. "No!" he hissed. "And... I don't know, I just... I guess I've always been strong."

  I pointed in the direction of the play palace through the back of the security desk. "That wasn't just being strong, little man. That was like being the Hulk."

  Gregory gave a helpless shrug. "Adrenaline then, I don't know! Just - whatever, alright? How far away is Freddy?"

  I didn't have time to answer, because just at that moment the lights returned, and the an orange-coloured ball of fury crashed through the Daycare doors and sent them tumbling across the floor. Gregory and I shrieked in surprise before being hit just as fast with relief when the orange ball unfurled itself to reveal the anxious face of Freddy.

  "Sundrop!" Michael bellowed shakily. "Where are they? Where are Gregory and Y/n?"

  Sun must've returned as soon as the lights did, because it was his trembling voice that answered. "I- I- I don't know, friend Freddy!!!"

  I managed to shove my stiff legs out from under the desk and warily peer over at the two robots. Sun's face was nervously spinning as Freddy clapped his hands down onto his spindly shoulders.

  "Did Moon hurt them?" he frantically asked. Freddy's head swivelled across the play palace, trying to find signs of us. "Are-"

  "Freddy," I cautiously called out, then flinched when two pairs of robotic eyes found me. Gregory clambered out beside me. "We're okay."

  "'Okay,'" Gregory echoed incredulously. "You were thrown across the entire floor!"

  My back gave an ache in reminder and I huffed. "Alright. We're not dead, then."

  Michael sighed in relief when he saw the both of us relatively unharmed. Sun, however, was far from sharing that sentiment. His shoulders bunched up with frustration and he pointed towards the destroyed doors.

  "Out! Out!" he shrieked. "You are banned from the Daycare!!!"

  "Now, Sun," Freddy tried to soothe, only to get shoved towards the exit by a furious Sun. "Hey-"

  "And you're conspiring with them!!!" he accused. "You all turned off the lights and let him out. All of you!!! Banned!!!!"

  The ruckus made a few security robots peek their heads in. I gripped tight at Gregory's shoulder.

  "Uh, Freddy-"

  "I see them," Michael said, pushing aside a tantrum-having Sun and crouching down to let Gregory clamber inside. He quickly did, relief evident in his smile. "This area is no longer safe. We will have to make a break for it."
 
  "And go where?" I asked nervously as his chest slid shut and he rose back to his feet. "This was the only place that wasn't guarded."

  "We will find somewhere," Michael confidently assured. He swept me off my feet and I gasped at the action. This felt familiar. "Until then, we run."