#was feelin kind of eepy

[midnight-mourning]

DCA Promptober Day 15: Hide

Way behind with this but as most of you know, had some stuff going on. Really like how it turned out once I got past the block I was having. Hopefully you feel the same ^-^

Content warning: Mentions of blood, injury, death, reader discresion is advised

Word count: 1799

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It's quiet tonight. No one but yourself, feet propped up on the desk and the hum of the fan in the background of the security office. 

Which is, odd. You're pretty sure there's at least a few others on the schedule tonight. Did they just get started on their rounds before you came in? You were later than usual, but to be fair your shift was for later in the night than the others. You just came in early for the comradery and chit-chat. 

Your eyes lazily scan over the camera feeds, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. On the other hand however, you also realize you aren't seeing anyone. You sit up and start to click through the feeds, rewinding them to catch any trace of another person. 

Not a one. 

Frowning, you double check the group text. Sure enough, Rhoades, Conner, Jenson, and Garcia are all supposed to have a shift tonight. Rhoades, Jenson, and Conner were supposed to be here at six. And from what you can tell, they aren't. Garcia was on the late shift with you, so maybe he just decided to come in later like you had? You would have figured he be here by now though. 

You go back to the cameras, searching back further in the feed. After a good ten minutes-during which, it's still just you in the office-you finally spot something. Or someone, rather. Your eyes stay trained to the screen as you watch Connor jog across the atrium, in the direction of, the Daycare? Why in the world would he head over there? You keep watching. 

Sure enough, once he gets there he knocks on the door. It opens, and he's greeted by a red-eyed animatronic, who ushers him inside. There's no sign of Connor or any of the other guards on the cameras after that. 

An animatronic with red eyes... which one was that again-

Moon! That's right. Naptime attendant, blue and white color scheme, the hat. You'd told him you'd play a game with him sometime. You'll admit it had just been to get the, slightly creepy, animatronic off your back. But you can't deny he was kind of sweet in his own way. Maybe just misunderstood.

Since it seemed like he was the last person to see at least Connor, maybe he knew where the other two had ended up as well. It was worth a shot, anyway. You could also use it as a chance to play that game finally. 

You get up with a stretch, grab your keys and head out. Whistling a little tune while on your way. When you get to the Daycare, you see it's still on the night cycle, which is fine with you, you don't know if you really felt like dealing with the sunny counterpart of the bot you were looking for. 

You knock on the big wooden doors, and wait. 

There's a jingling sound from up above you, you look up. 

Moon's perched on the ledge above the great doors. 

You lift your hand in greeting, "Oh, hey Moon! Have a question for you real quick. You free?"

His faceplate spins, you take that as a yes. 

"I'm looking for the other guards," You shove your hands in your pockets, "You seen 'em? Looked like Connor may have swung by earlier."

His voice is a rasp as he answers you, "They're playing a game."

"What kind of game?"

The bot's eyes narrow with glee, "Hide 'n seek."

"Oh, that's fun. I still owe you a round of something don't I?" You ask.

He nods.

You nod as well, thinking for a moment then shrugging, "Well, guess that answers that question. I'll be on my way then."

You turn on your heel and start walking away, when Moon speaks up.

"Would you like to play?"

You pause, another shrug and you look back to him, "Sure, I don't see why not. Any special rules?"

Moon jumps down from the ledge with a whoosh. Once he stands he points a finger at you, "You hide," Now back to himself, "I seek. Don't get caught."

The 'Or else.' isn't said aloud but you can certainly feel it. You ignore the feeling in your stomach.

"Okay, how much time do I have?"

Moon jumps back up, latching himself to the wire which hangs from the ceiling, "Ten minutes. Good luck~" Then he's gone without much more than a chuckle.

You set off, in the hopes of also finding everyone else while you're at it. You know your coworkers well, or well enough anyway, and if you had to take a guess, Rhodes would probably hide away over by El Chips because he liked to swipe wrong orders and make them his dinner. 

You make easy time-still about seven minutes left to hide-and find El Chips, totally abandoned. Rhoades must not be here. Not even any staff bots are around, and the lights are out. Weird, but the Plex was closed so there wasn't really a reason for the place to be open, though you recall it usually is regardless of the time. Fazbear Entertainment didn't care about electric bills, or the environment. 

You walk in, unsure, but reason if nothing else it'll make a good hiding spot. Your first thought it is to duck underneath the counter, so after leaping over it, you do. As you squat down you're surprised to find the very coworker you'd been looking for. 

"Oh, Rhoades! Nice hiding spot-"

He shoves his hands over your mouth, "Don't. Make. Another sound. Please."

Taking a second glance you realize he's shaking, and overall looks disheveled. His eyes are wide and his hair is all over the place. 

Confused, you nod slowly and he relaxes, removing his hands. There's a metallic smell under your nose now. You soon find out why. 

"I can't believe you even made it this far, how the hell did that thing not catch you?" He whispers harshly, rubbing a hand across his neck and wincing. It's dark in here, but you can clearly tell that it's blood. 

You keep your voice just as low, now worried, "What thing? What are you talking about? What's going on? Are you alright?"

"The daycare attendant. He's been plucking us off one by one all night. Lured us in during patrol, said he wanted to play a game. Little did we know it'd be fucking bloody murder," Rhoades shakes his head, "He only nicked me, but Christ when he caught Jenson, the poor girl, she just wouldn't stop screaming."

He puts his head in his hands, you hear a muffled sob, before he sniffs, looking back to you, "I don't know what's happened to the others. Thought Connor would be safe since he was the last one in the office, but given you're here he must've tried to come save the day, stupid kid. Garcia's quick-witted though, if any of us make it through this I've no doubt it'll be him."

"Jenson's... dead?" You ask softly. You're doing your best to process everything. It's not going well. 

Rhoades has a far off look in his eyes now, something's telling you it wasn't just a nick, "I wish we could've warned you, wish you didn't have to go through this too."

"I-" Your mouth clamps shut when you hear it. Bells. 

They're faint, well outside of the restaurant. But that doesn't mean they'll stay that way.

Your coworker must have heard too, his posture straightens a bit. 

You look over to him, wide-eyed and far too afraid to speak. 

"Go." He mouths. 

You shake your head, and point to him. 

He smiles, it's... sad. Slowly, silently, he turns his upper body and you have to slap a hand over your mouth to keep from gasping. 

You can't hardly tell the difference between the claw marks, the blood, and the remains of his shirt as it clings to his back. 

The bells are louder now, Rhoades nods towards the kitchen entryway. Again, you shake your head, tears welling up. You know what he wants to do, what he's going to do, and how desperately you want to stop it.

But he's not giving you a choice.

As the naptime attendant gets closer, the guard holds up ten shaky fingers, dropping them one by one. 

You have to move. If you want to make it out of here alive, you have to move. 

You curse to yourself and quietly crawl towards the kitchen. When you’re in the space, and out of eyeshot of the restaurant as a whole, you shakily stand and head to the back entrance. 

Out in the dining room, all you can hear is snickering and jingling. As your hand grips the handle you have hope that maybe the two of you were wrong, but when you realize the handle won't budge, your heart sinks. You take a deep breath, and pull out your keycard, holding it just above the slot in the door. 

And wait. 

...

...

...

A loud crash erupts from behind the counter, the sound of a cash register, plastic cups, and over various items from the shelves as they come crashing down breaks the dead silence. In the midst of it you swipe the card, the door beeping as it unlocks and you rapidly open and close it. 

Pressing yourself up against the other side, you hold back a sob as all you can hear are your friend's screams as- 

You shake your head, swallowing the lump in your throat. 

You have to survive. You have to make it out. 

You won't let his sacrifice be in vein. 

You straighten up, and take a moment to collect your thoughts. And your belongings. 

You had a flashlight, a taser, your walkie, and a keycard. Your phone had no signal because of company policy, so you couldn't make any calls. The walkie was your next best bet. If you could contact Garcia and maybe Connor without blowing their covers, well, three was better than one. 

Once you've formulated your plan, and you're about to enact it is when there's a soft scratching sound on the other side of the door. You freeze. 

Glancing down, you see a dark red shadow underneath the crack. 

"Hidey-hide, hide away~" A chuckle, then a loud grating sound as claws dig into the other side harshly, "You're running out of friends, Little Star."

You don't answer, you wouldn't have even if you could.

Moon makes a noise of frustration, fist pounding on the other side, "Shouldn't have played tricks. Wouldn't be winning bad prizes."

Again, you remain silent. 

You wait a few minutes more, after the shadow has disappeared, before you move away from the door. 

Another deep, and near silent breath. 

Hide. Don't get caught.

Or else.

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Yes, there'll be a part two, it's Day 17 lol, sorry it's not super DCA focused! Moon haunts the narrative tho so I think it still works. Other promptobers are here, check them out if you'd like ^-^ Thanks for reading!!

[toaster-boi]

sorry guys just not feelin it. the eepy is too powerful and it's the kind that sticks around even if you sleep until noon

i wanna draw tomorrow. someone pls hold me accountable