Night 2

(Afton's POV)

Daddy, you let the other children go see her. Why won't you let me go?

The voice of my hand unit snapped me out of my thoughts. Every time I walked into that elevator, I heard her.

"Welcome back to another night of intellectual stimulation, pivotal career choices, and self-reflection on past mistakes. We're committed to creating a unique and fulfilling work experience. One part of that commitment is that you don't get tired of the voice that you're hearing right now." I had to admit, his voice might get annoying over time.

"Using the keypad below, please select a new companion voice. For male, press 1. For female, press 2. For text-only, press 3. For other options, press 4." Now I was confused. There were no numbers on the keypad, just letters. Did A equal 1 or something stupid like that? Or was this recording just really dated?I tried to press the A button, but the screen flashed an error directly after. 

"It seems that you had some trouble with the keypad. I see what you were trying to type, and will auto-correct it for you. One moment." Oh boy! What could it possibly be this time? 

"Thank you for choosing: Angsty Teen." Well, they got the A correct at least. Would the voice modulator really sound like an angsty teen? Then, the elevator was still.

"The elevator's stopped. You know the routine. You can get out now or... whatever. Stay here if you want." I couldn't help but chuckle. Why was this even an option? I opened the elevator door and began my crawl through the vents.

"So, funny story; a dead body was found in this vent once. Okay, so not that funny, but it's a story." I shivered. Had people died in here? Why did nobody tell me? I suddenly wished to be anywhere but here. 'Four more days' I told myself, then I would quit. As soon as I reached the main control module, my hand unit spoke again. 

"Okay, let's start with your nightly chores. You should check on Ballora and make sure she's on her stage, but whatever." I was already beginning to get the hang of this. I turned on the light. I saw a giant shadow of Ballora on the wall behind her stage. Like she was standing in front of the light. It sent shivers down my spine. I was getting goosebumps, and it wasn't even cold.

"Huh, I guess Ballora has better things to do. Let's zap her, that should be fun." This time, I found myself obeying without a moment's hesitation. Blue light illuminates the gallery, and I could've sworn I saw Becca, on the stage. Not posing, just staring straight into my eyes, blood running down her face like tears, before the blue glow disappeared. I heard a deep, warbled voice, cutting in an out like a malfunction. I backed away from the viewing window, pressing myself against the back wall. I could make out a few words that seemingly had no connection to each other. Argumentative. Standards. Elevation. Passive. Heights. None of the words made sense as a sentence, but I know I missed some of the words. It seemed to come out of Ballora, echoing through her room. When it stopped, the silence was overwhelming.

"Let's check on Funtime Foxy, make sure he's ready for showtime tomorrow." Wait, but I didn't check the light again! I pushed the blue button, but the light wouldn't turn on. Frantically, I pushed it about 20 times to no avail. I guess I was moving on then? I pushed the light for Foxy's room. The light had barely flickered, then went out, inviting that garbled voice to come back. It repeated 'Great' over and over again until the voice seemed to come from my hand unit, the room, and everything else around me. It all stopped at once, like before. However, this time the silence was replaced by my hand unit without the teen voice. 

"There seems to have been a problem with the voice synthesizer. Default settings have been restored. Please proceed through the vent ahead of you to Circus Baby's auditorium." I didn't even see Funtime Foxy, but once again, the button refused to work. Did I really have to just move on? There really wasn't another way to go about this. I found myself crawling through the vent, hearing the female motion sensor voice. Why did this even exist? There was no other person in the building but me. When I reached the other side, my hand unit began to speak again.

"CIrcus Baby had a busy day today! Let's check the light to make sure she is in proper working order." I pushed the button, hearing the familiar buzz from the light fixture as the light flicked on. Once again, the stage was empty, and I began to fear I would never see her again, and that this whole ordeal was pointless.

"Oh Circus Baby, we aren't here to play hide-and-seek. Let's encourage Baby to come out of hiding with a controlled shock." I couldn't help but think of who I was really shocking. No tears came, but I felt nothing but sadness as my hand pressed down on the button. When I checked the light, she was still missing. 

"Let's try another controlled shock." Once again, I braced myself, waiting for something bad to happen. It didn't take long. Instead of the bright blue glow coming from the window, there was only a small spark, then nothing. No sound. This didn't look good.

"There seems to be a power malfunction that is affecting our ability to properly motivate Baby," Oh, just great then! "please stand by while I reboot the system. I will be offline momentarily during this process. Various other systems may be offline as well, such as security, doors, vent locks, and oxygen. Commencing system restart." I really didn't process what was happening until the lights went off and I was alone in the dark.

Continued in Chapter 4