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Micheal Schmidt was not happy about entering the abandoned mall. Sure, he and his friends were urban explorers, but this place was clearly dangerous. It had collapsed in some sort of earthquake, and a fire had broken out that burned the rest. Most of the front of the building was destroyed, but his friends insisted that if you went further in, there were still intact areas.
So now he was here, chills going down his spine as he and his sibling passed by the fallen sign, marking this as a ‘Mega Pizzaplex’ or something. Micheal didn’t care what it used to be, as long as they were in and out fast.
Casey, his little sibling, darted ahead, excited to explore. Casey was a few years younger than Micheal, around 22 when he was 29. Their friend Julia urged Casey to slow down as their other friend Oswald laughed. Jeremy, Micheal’s oldest friend, sped up to follow them. Everything was ok.
And it’ll stay ok, right?
Micheal shuddered. His feeling of unease only grew worse as he entered the building, crawling over debris carefully, and saw the giant golden statue. He knew that character, at least somewhat. It looked different than he remembered, but he instantly froze.
“Guys.. we should leave. I have.. A bad feeling.” Micheal spoke, his voice echoing.
“Aw, come on man! This’ll be fun, they say this place is haunted .” Oswald emphasized the last word with a spooky tone.
“I don’t know man, Micheal’s pretty good at reading the vibes of places, don’t you remember when-” Jeremy started, but was interrupted by Oswald.
“Yeah, yeah, stop bringing that time up! It was one little mistake-”
“Will you guys shut up?” Julia sighed. “Micheal can stay back if he doesn’t want to explore, that’s completely fine.” Casey stopped upon hearing this, turning and looking at their brother.
“You’re gonna stay back?” They looked at him, disappointment clear in their eyes. Micheal looked back at them, sighing before continuing the hike to the abandoned building.
“I’m not leaving Casey alone in a creepy haunted building.” He said, defeated.
“Yay!” Casey said, a bit too loudly.
~~~
This ‘Pizzaplex’ was definitely not safe. There were sparking wires and sticks of rebar just laying around. Casey didn’t mind though. They loved watching the sparks flutter through the air before fizzling out. It felt comforting to them.
However, things started to feel off once they got further into the building. Casey kept finding posters of cartoon animals, and while some seemed normal, others just made them feel wrong. That bear.. It’s too similar to.. They shook their head, trying to get rid of the bad thoughts.
“Casey, are you feeling ok? You’re looking a little pale.” Julia asked, concerned.
“Huh? O-oh yeah! I’m fine. Just getting the creeps from this place.” They replied, shaking off the strange feeling. Once it was gone, they continued exploring, even more energetically than before, in an attempt to distract from their previous nervousness.
As they headed further into the large ruined atrium, the sunlight reflected off of some broken glass. It was getting closer to sunset, but Casey didn’t notice. They skipped over to a door, beckoning their friends over to it.
“Let’s see what’s behind here! I bet it’s something cool, like… a secret camera room! Or a stash of money!” They went on, chattering about more things that could be behind it.
“Careful, it could be dangerous. Honestly we should get out before it gets dark, I do not want to be here when I can’t see anything.” Micheal warned.
“It’ll be fine!” Casey opened the door, walking in without looking.
They felt no floor beneath them.
~~~
“CASEY!”
Micheal darted forward, looking down the hole. He could just barely see the shine of his sibling's eyes in the darkness below. He heard a cry of pain, and knew this was bad.
“We have to get down there, now! Find stairs or something!” He shouted, distraught. His friends immediately started looking for some way to get down. After a few moments, Oswald found something.
“I found a stairwell! It’s pretty bad looking, but it seems ok.” He yelled to the rest of the group. They all made their way towards him and began walking down the stairs. As the light faded with the sounds of cars from the highway, the group grew nervous.
Micheal was silent. He thought about how bad this was. What if they find out? He assured himself that they wouldn’t. Casey was strong, surely they were fine. The drop didn’t look too far down, right?
As they reached the floor where they assumed Casey had fallen to, they found a broken door on the ground, and a hallway leading into another room. Up ahead, they heard the faint cries of their friend.
“This way.” MIcheal stepped forward, beelining in the direction of the cries. Oswald looked nervous, but ushered the rest to follow anyway.
When Micheal turned the corner and saw his sibling, covered in a dark liquid, like blood, he knew everything was about to fall apart. Casey sat, clutching their horribly bent leg. It looked like a bone was sticking out, but everything was too dark to really tell. Micheal blocked the view from the rest of his friends.
“Micheal, is Casey ok?” Oswald’s concern was clear in his voice.
“Th-their leg is broken..” Micheal said, his voice wavering as he looked at the injury.
“Shit.. we gotta call an ambulance..” Jeremy spoke up, pulling out his phone.
“NO!” Micheal suddenly shouted. Calming down, he continued, unsure. “Casey.. Can’t go to the hospital.. They uh..” He struggled to make an excuse.
“Dude, they have to go to the hospital, bones are supposed to be on the inside.” Oswald leaned forward to get a better view.
“Hey Micheal… are Casey’s eyes… glowing?” Julia’s voice cracked on the last word.
Micheal’s couldn’t stifle the fear that peaked when Jeremy shone his phone flashlight on Casey, then on their leg.
“Micheal… What the heck? Are those wires?”
Micheal deflated and closed his eyes, terrified of how his friends might react. He knew he had to tell them now.
“Just… don’t freak out please, and don’t tell anyone. Casey.. Isn’t… normal. They were built. By my father. ” He got the words out as fast as he could, before looking sheepishly around at his friends, whose faces showed a mixture of fear, shock, and confusion.
“I’m sorry for lying to you guys.” Casey spoke, still crying from the pain.
“Ok.. so my friend is a robot.. And that’s ok...” Julia’s voice shook.
“So we can just, like, fix them, right? Like a car? Get them to a workshop and put the parts back together?” Oswald reasoned.
“Here’s the thing… I don’t know how to fix them.” Micheal admitted.
“Didn’t your dad tell you how? Wouldn’t that be like, robot sibling 101?” Oswald continued, chuckling nervously. “I mean, it’s pretty important. What kind of dad wouldn’t tell you that?”
“The kind that died when I was barely an adult, just before I found Casey.” Micheal snapped, anger in his voice. He did not want to talk about his father.
“Ok, ok! Well, what do we do then?” Jeremy asked, his voice calm.
“That’s where I come in.” A voice behind them spoke with a robotic tone, and chills ran down Micheal’s spine. He assumed everyone else was feeling the same, seeing their faces.
Out from the shadows emerged a strange animatronic. It seemed humanoid, but its lower half was just a large block with wheels. It was in rough shape, clearly damaged from the disaster that made this building so dangerous.
“Who are you?” Micheal’s voice was cold. The robot paused, almost in thought, for a moment.
“I’m a robotics expert from corporate. I’m talking to you through this old staff-bot. I can help you repair your friend over there..” It said after a while. Micheal was sure it was hiding something, but he was too desperate to fix his sibling to care.
“Please, tell me how, I’ll do anything!” He pleaded.
“It’s a simple repair, and you may find all the things you need in this very facility.”
~~~
The robotics expert had explained that they needed a few special tools and parts to repair Casey’s leg. Micheal had stayed back to make sure Casey was safe, so Jeremy led the mission through the abandoned ‘pizzaplex’.
The first item they needed was something called a ‘fazwrench’, and apparently that was located in a toolkit storage room far from where Casey fell. Jeremy knew this was risky, the building was clearly very dangerous, but he had to do this for his friend.
He turned a corner, finding the door labeled ‘Storage - Employees Only’. The group entered the room, finding shelves fallen over on the floor and a couple toolkits laying about. Jeremy walked over to the closest one. As he kneeled down to inspect it, he found the lock was rusted so badly he could break it with his hands. Opening the toolkit revealed many useful-looking tools: different screwdrivers and wrenches and things. There was no sign of the ‘fazwrench’ though. He closed the toolkit and picked it up, reasoning it could be useful anyway.
Julia was off inspecting a few of the broken shelves, moving things around, while Oswald stood nervously. He was fidgeting with his fingers, looking around the room. Water dripped from the ceiling slowly, the tiles on the floor were cracked, and there was an odor like mildew and ozone. Jeremy could understand why Oswald was nervous, this place was kinda creepy.
As Jeremy scanned the room, something caught his eye.. There was a small orange rectangular device sitting on one of the only intact shelves. Huh, I’d swear I already looked there, and Julia checked it too.…
He grabbed the device, noting the decorations that made it resemble the posters of that bear mascot. From what he could tell, it seemed to be the ‘fazwrench’ that was described to him earlier. He put it in his backpack. “Found it, I think.”
“You got the thing? Cool, let’s get out of here.” Oswald blurted. He seemed eager to leave the pizzaplex.
“Yeah, this place gives me the creeps.” Julia added.
“We still have to get the other supplies. I think the guy said we needed some oil and a ‘leg spar’, whatever that means.” Jeremy replied.
The small group headed out of the storage room, toolkit and fazwrench in Jeremy’s hands.
~~~
Oswald did not like the look of this place. As they went deeper into the pizzaplex, it grew darker, full of broken staff-bots and other debris, and Oswald couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched. Of course, everything got worse when he heard a clatter ahead of them, and some buckets fell down.
“What was that?” He asked, nervously. Jeremy shone his phone flashlight over to the fallen buckets, revealing a large rat scurrying away.
“It’s just a rat, nothing else.” Jeremy said calmly, but Oswald thought he could detect a hint of fear in his voice. The group continued on, walking around piles of debris.
“Hey Jeremy, where did that thing say we were headed again?” Julia asked, sounding nonchalant
“It said to go to some place called Roxy Raceway, right? Where the heck would that even be?” Oswald replied, almost hoping they could just give up and leave now.
“Yeah, Roxy Raceway, I think it’s up ahead. The bot said there was a big sign on the ground near the entrance. It does sound like a logical place for oil to be.” Jeremy led the way forward.
The hallway opened suddenly into a large room, full of shattered mirrors and makeup kits scattered on the floor. Lights flickered slowly around them. It seemed to be a salon. Oswald looked around, but was startled as he saw a tall humanoid shape towards the other end of the room.
“Uhh.. guys? There’s something over there!” His voice squeaked. Jeremy turned his flashlight over to where Oswald was pointing, but the figure was gone.
“Oz, it’s nothing.” Julia said, with concern in her voice.
“I- I swore I saw something!” He stammered, paused, then muttered, “I.. I guess it was nothing.”
“Oz, calm down. This place is creepy, but we’ll be out soon if we make this fast.” Jeremy replied coolly.
They continued forward, passing by where Oswald had seen the figure. There really is nothing there… He told himself. They soon exited the salon and entered a long hallway. At the end of it was a sign marked ‘Employees Only’.
“That should be the right room. When we get in, start looking for containers that could be storing the oil we need.” Jeremy advised.
They walked down the hallway, Oswald trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut. He kept thinking he heard something far away, or saw something out of the corner of his eye. Just ignore it, there's no way there's actually someone talking in that room, he thought as they passed by a room labeled ‘Roxy’s Green Room’.
As they entered the ‘Employees Only’ room, the group looked around. This place was mostly intact, only a couple of shelves knocked over. It seemed to be a go-kart repair shop, with a few broken staff-bots in equally broken karts. Oswald looked around, seeing a bunch of different wheels and go-kart pieces. He started the search for oil, though he caught himself wondering if this would be worth it, in the end. It has to be worth it. Casey is worth it, he reassured himself. It took a few minutes, but eventually Julia was the one to find something first.
“Hey guys, this looks like it still has some oil in it!” She said, just loud enough for everyone to hear, holding up a small jug. It had a spout instead of a cap, and as Julia gently shook it, they could hear sloshing inside.
“Great! That means we only have one thing left to grab!” Jeremy exclaimed. Oswald was filled with relief and a new confidence. This was creepy, sure, but so far everything was pretty easy to find.
“Alright! We got this, guys!” Oswald beamed.
“Whoa, that was a quick turnaround. Weren’t you just all nervous cuz this place is ‘haunted’ or something?” Julia teased.
“Uh- Yeah but now it’s cool!” Oswald stuttered. “We’re almost done, right?”
“Yeah, Oz. Just teasing.” Julia grinned reassuringly at him.
“Alright, guys. The staff-bot said the leg spar shouldn’t be too far away, apparently there’s a blocked off area nearby that should have some old animatronics we can repurpose.” Jeremy explained.
“Then let’s go! This is a piece of cake!” Oswald exclaimed.
~~~
Casey sat, trying to ignore the pain. Their leg felt like it was on fire, and as each minute passed, they worried that their friends were lost or hurt or maybe even abandoned them. Micheal was sitting next to Casey, staring blankly into the darkness where their friends had disappeared. The staff-bot that had directed their friends was now slumped over, seemingly deactivated.
“What if they get lost?” Casey mumbled, fidgeting with their hands.
“They won’t. This place isn’t even close to that old mansion we explored last year. No staircases that go nowhere.” Micheal tried to reassure Casey, his eyes still focused on nothing.
“Ok… What if the staff-bot was wrong? What if the things we need aren’t there?”
“They’ll find a way. Oswald is smart, and Jeremy’s determination will keep them going. Julia always knows how to keep them working together.” Micheal’s gaze shifted, looking directly at Casey now.
“I guess. It’s just.. It hurts so much, and I don’t wanna be here anymore..” Tears began to form in Casey’s eyes. “I wanna go back home..”
“We’ll be out of here soon, then we can head back to the dorms. It’ll be ok.” Micheal placed a hand on Casey’s shoulder.
“...I wanna go home. ” Casey whispered, and Micheal looked like he was confused for a second, before seemingly realizing something.
“We can’t. Home is gone, Casey. We have our new friends here and we have the dorms, and we have each other. That’s all we need.” There was a note of sadness in his voice.
Casey was quiet, aside from the small cries that accompanied each falling tear.
~~~
Jeremy knew something was up as soon as he entered the back hallways, ducking under the faded yellow caution tape. This hallway was dark and damp, and he could hear dripping from the pipes on the ceiling. That would have been normal, except for the many deactivated robot figures standing along the way. No light shone from their eyes, and their bodies were slumped over. The rest of the group entered the room.
“Whoa, this is creepy. It’s like some animatronic graveyard or something. I bet we could grab a ton of parts from these guys!” Oswald remarked.
“Nope, the engineer guy said we gotta get a specific part, not just anything will work. It said there was an animatronic with the right part past all this.” Jeremy reminded him.
“Aw man, so it’s not gonna be a piece of cake?”
“Who said it would be?” Julia teased. Oswald giggled nervously.
With that, they started their way into the halls, keeping far away from the ‘endoskeletons’, as the robotics engineer had called them. Jeremy felt like something was watching him from above, but every time he looked, nothing was there. It didn’t help that there were many dull lifeless eyes surrounding them. The group soon came to a large gap, like a garage doorway, but there was no door. Jeremy looked around, confused.
“I don’t really remember where to go from here. I wish the staff-bot guy had given us a map or something, this place is really confusing.” Jeremy admitted.
“I remember the directions, follow me!” Julia said cheerfully. Jeremy wondered how she was in such high spirits, with Casey injured somewhere above them and the revelation that they were a highly advanced robot.
It’s probably fine. Oswald perked up, too, with just one thing left to get.
They continued on, now with Julia in the lead. Soon they found themselves entering a smaller room. It looked burnt, and there was debris everywhere, but Jeremy barely noticed that. Instead, what he focused on was the charred skeleton of an animatronic with rabbit ears in the middle of the room, in a flat crawling position. It didn’t move, but its glowing purple eyes seemed to follow Jeremy.
“Whoa man, that’s weird.” Oswald commented.
“Yeah, but this is the animatronic the guy said to get the leg spar from. Hopefully it’s not too charred.” Julia said, that cheerful tone still in her voice.
Oswald leaned down, inspecting the legs of the animatronic. Jeremy looked where he was looking, and noticed it didn’t seem to be in awful condition. He wiped off the soot and char on the leg spar, finding the metal was actually in pretty good shape.
“Well, it seems fine, Jules.” Jeremy said.
“A’ight, I’m gonna grab it then.” Oswald added, reaching down to collect the leg. He disconnected the calf portion from the rest, before yanking off the foot. Jeremy noticed the eyes fade into darkness. “Dude! It’s like, warm? Metal’s usually cold, right? That’s weird..” Oswald placed the leg in his backpack, turning to face his friends. “Maybe it still has some battery left or something.”
“I say we get out of here, this place gives me the creeps.” Jeremy’s voice wavered.
“I’ve been saying that this whole time!” Oswald grumbled.
He left the room, the others following close behind. When they got back to the hallways, Jeremy felt his heart sink.
“Ok, I hate this again. So much.” Oswald squeaked.
Every single endoskeleton was now facing them, eyes lit and staring. Jeremy flashed his flashlight at them, but they didn’t move an inch.
“Maybe they’ll go away if we don’t look at them?” Jeremy wondered aloud.
“Nah man, this is like that episode of that show we watched once. The one with the creepy angels? They’re totally gonna kill us if we look away.” Oswald said nervously.
“Let’s be cautious, just in case.” Julia advised.
They advanced through the halls, getting past a few of the endoskeletons. As soon as they weren’t looking though, loud footsteps echoed through the hallway. Jeremy turned, his flashlight catching two of the endoskeletons, frozen in place. That’s where they were before, right? He couldn’t be sure and gave an audible gulp.
“Ok.. so here’s the plan,” Jeremy spoke, trying not to be terrified. “We all go back to back with our flashlights, and slowly walk together, past these guys.”
“Great..” Oswald murmured.
The group began to make their way through the hallways, shining their flashlights all around them so the endoskeletons were never out of sight. They had made it about halfway through the halls when suddenly one of their lights went dark.
“Shit! My phone’s out of juice!” Oswald said, panicked. Shuffling footsteps came from the darkness where Oswald’s flashlight once shone. “RUN!”
Jeremy began to run, barely dodging them, Now moving! Now definitely moving! endoskeletons he passed by. He was almost there, almost to the next door, when he heard a scream from behind him.
“Jeremy!” Oswald cried. He was being clawed at by an endoskeleton, and with no flashlight to defend himself, he was being dragged away.
“I’ve got you!” Jeremy ran over, shining his flashlight on the endoskeleton and kicking it away when it froze.
He grabbed Oswald’s hand, and the pair ran, making it to the door just as a group of the terrifying robots caught up to them. They slammed the door shut, and the creaking of robotic joints stopped. Julia stood behind the door, looking relieved to see them.
“Everyone’s ok?” Jeremy asked, trying to catch his breath.
“Ye- yeah.. Oh man..” Oswald panted.
“Guys, we did it!” Julia said brightly. “All we gotta do now is head back to where Micheal and Casey are, and we’re all good!”
“You’re way too energetic right now, Jules. How did you even get past all those guys?” Jeremy questioned.
“Oh, I had some trouble. Mostly just ran. I did track in highschool, so I’m pretty good at this.”
“Honestly, as long as we’re all good, can we just go? I can’t wait to get out of here.” Oswald interrupted.
“Yeah, let’s go.” Julia started walking forward. Her path was blocked by some shelves that weren’t there before. “Huh.”
Jeremy walked over and tried to shove the shelves out of the way. When that didn’t work, he turned to look for other ways out. There was a door with a flickering exit sign above it, so he figured that’d be the way to go. He was exhausted, and had definitely had enough of this place. He just wanted to get Casey all fixed up, and get out of there. I hope Casey’s ok.. We’ve been gone for a while.
~~~
Micheal waited, thinking about what Casey had said. Sure, he didn’t miss his old house, and certainly didn’t miss his dad, but Casey didn’t see all the bad stuff that he had. Casey was just a kid, and even if Micheal had told them about their father’s deeds, they hadn’t been around when it happened.
He thought about the day he found them.
It was a tough day. Micheal had found his dad’s old workshop. It was abandoned for a while at that point, since his dad had died years before. Micheal used the place as a hideout. He didn’t explore much; he didn’t want to be there. But after finding himself newly undead as the result of a tragic incident involving a device called a scooper, he needed somewhere to rest.
He didn’t know what to do. His family was all dead or missing and his friends assumed he was the same. There was a grave somewhere in the Hurricane Cemetery with his name on it. Right next to his dad’s and his little sibling’s. He thought about Casey, gone at such a young age. His dad didn’t cope well with the loss. Some said it was a reason for the tragedy at the pizzeria.
Micheal sighed. His body still hurt from the injuries he had sustained in that old bunker, even though they were long healed by now. He wondered if the pain would ever stop. As he looked around the workshop, he noticed many abandoned projects his dad had created. Old animatronics and designs for new ones. Sketches of clowns and bears and rabbits. Rabbits were always his dad’s favorite.
Micheal’s eyes fell on a few boxes. Four in total, all varying shapes, but all big enough to catch his eye. He got up, walking over slowly so as to not aggravate his pain. When he reached the smallest box, he opened the top to peer inside, expecting some anthropomorphic farm animal. He didn’t expect to see his long dead sibling, head still intact. He stared, confused.
Opening the next box revealed much the same, only an older child version. The two other boxes contained a teenage and young adult version, respectively. His breathing grew faster as he saw them, bringing up memories of that awful day. He clutched at his chest, trying to slow his breathing as he leaned on a nearby desk. His hand slipped on a stack of paper, which fell to the ground, but did not scatter. The papers were stapled together.
It was a manual, and Micheal picked it up, his breathing slowing to an almost halt. That was OK, he didn’t need as much air as he used to. He skimmed the pages, reading about robot mechanics and progress reports, before landing on the final few pages. It explained how to activate a specialized series of robots, programmed to be as human as possible. Taped onto the page was a computer chip, and instructions. Instructions for a series of robots labeled as CASEY-BOTs.
Micheal looked over at his sibling, who was crying quietly, clutching their broken leg. He felt immensely grateful that Casey was there. He didn’t know how his life would have been without them, but he knew it wouldn’t be good. He reached over, comforting Casey. As he did so, the staff-bot suddenly activated again.
“Your friends are coming back with the supplies, they’ll be here soon.”
“How do you know that?”
“I.. have my ways.” It said, giving Micheal chills. He didn’t fully trust this thing, but he had no other choice. Casey needed help, and this robot could give it.
“Th-they got the stuff?” Casey whispered in between sobs.
“Yeah, it’ll be ok.” Micheal reassured them. “They’re on their way.”
~~~
Oswald stepped around the debris that littered the hallways. Since they had to find a new route, nobody really knew where they were, and it was starting to make him nervous. They had walked through the main portion of Roxy Raceway, where all the go-karts used to drive around. There were a couple karts still on the track, some with broken staff-bots sitting in them. Oswald looked at them, hoping they didn’t spring to life like the endoskeletons.
Behind them, Oswald kept hearing strange noises. Footsteps that weren’t theirs, whispers and giggles, all making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He had learned that turning to look wasn’t going to reveal anything, except on those rare occasions when he’d see the blur of motion and then silence. It made his neck hurt and only increased his nervousness.
“I think we’re almost there, guys. I recognize this area.” Jeremy said from up ahead.
Good, this place is way too creepy, Oswald thought.
Unfortunately things just got worse as they advanced. The sound of debris shifting and pipes clattering filled the air. Oswald got the strange sense that something didn’t want them to get back to their friends. As he paused to glance around, he was startled by the sudden crash of a pipe falling right in front of him, just where he would have been if he hadn’t paused.
“Shit, Oswald, you ok?” Jeremy rushed to his side.
“Ye- yeah.. It missed me.” Oswald was shaken, hearing that creepy giggle echo through the large room.
“What is that? Is someone here?” Julia cried out into the darkness.
The group paused, waiting for whatever it was to respond. After a few moments with no response, they continued their journey. Oswald glanced around, seeing nothing unusual in the darkness surrounding them. He followed his friend’s flashlights, and soon, they got to the door leading up to where Casey and Micheal waited for them. There was graffiti all over this area, but one message stood out, scrawled across the double doors.
‘It’s me’, huh. Weird thing for someone to graffiti on a door. Usually it’s like, ‘Bob was here,’ or something. Oswald thought as he pushed the door open. The group walked up the stairs, avoiding the sections covered in garbage and fallen chunks of ceiling. When they finally got up to where Casey and Micheal were, they noticed Casey was almost silent with their head down, and Micheal was staring off into space.
“Hey Mike, we got the supplies!” Jeremy exclaimed, but then looked concerned. “Mike, you good?”
It took a second for Micheal to respond.
“Huh- oh yeah.. Just thinking.” Micheal seemed sad, but Oswald figured he was upset about Casey’s injury.
“Cool, we got the supplies to fix Casey, how are they doing?” Jeremy replied.
“They’re doing as well as possible, given the circumstances.” Micheal responded, gently poking Casey.
“Huh? O-oh.. you’re back..” Casey looked up, eyes still shiny from tears. How does that even work?
“Well, everyone’s back. Seems it’s time for the instructions then!” The staff-bot stood shakily.
“AH- jeez, that thing’s scary!” Oswald startled at the robot’s sudden activation.
“So, who would like to conduct the repairs?” It asked.
There was silence for a moment. Oswald definitely did not want to mess anything up, and he knew nothing about robotics.
“I’ll do it, Casey trusts me.. And I owe it to them, it’s my fault they’re in this mess.” Micheal spoke up.
“Wonderful, now are you ready to hear the instructions?” It seemed too cheerful. Creepy, Oswald thought.
“I suppose.. Let’s get started.”
~~~
Micheal sat in front of Casey, gathering the stuff required to fix them. Jeremy had grabbed a toolbox along the way that would make some of the repairs easier. Micheal awaited the staff-bot’s instructions as his friends sat silently on the sidelines, watching.
“Ok, how do I start?” Micheal asked.
“First, assess your tools. Make sure everything is there.” The robot responded.
“Ok, I think we have everything, now what?”
“Based on my… observations of your sibling, they should have a panel on the back of their head. You can open it with a screwdriver.” The staff-bot instructed.
“Huh? Why would I need to do that? It’s not really attached to their leg, you know.” Micheal was confused. He had seen the panel before, and even knew what the inside looked like, but he knew the only function of the buttons hidden there was for power control and inserting the memory chip.
“Well, you do need to turn them off for this to work.” The staff-bot’s voice was casual, as if it didn’t see anything wrong with this. Micheal, however, did.
“WHAT!? I’m not turning them off! What if I can’t get them working again? I didn’t bring the instruction manual!” Micheal shouted, his voice echoing throughout the abandoned building. Dust filtered down from some invisible ceiling.
“Calm down Micheal, listen to what the guy has to say. Maybe it’s for a good reason!” Julia interrupted.
“No! Casey is too important! I can’t lose them!” Micheal’s voice was quieter now, but still frantic.
“Do you want them to have the memory of you taking apart their leg? Of the pain it causes to lose your leg bone? They seem to be programmed to be able to feel pain, and trust me, you don’t want them experiencing that much pain.” The staff-bot cautioned. “It could fry their systems. Plus the repairs deal with the delicate wiring that allows their joints to move, and if electricity is coursing through their leg during the repairs, it could short-circuit.”
Micheal thought for a moment. He really didn’t want to lose Casey, the only reminder of the good times when he was a kid. And he owed it to them to do anything to keep them safe.
He looked at his sibling, who paused and then just barely nodded.
“Fine. Let’s do this.”
~~~
Casey was scared of what could happen. They hadn’t been manually shut off like this in a while, and it was scary to think they’d be gone like that, even if they were basically sleeping. They waited, holding still so Micheal could access their power switch. They heard the click of the fazwrench, then their vision went black and the pain faded.
They were floating, no longer feeling their body or the agony of being broken. It was a relief, and the void that surrounded them felt oddly comforting. They floated like that for a while, before feeling themselves falling, and then everything changed.
Casey was at a pizzeria, the one they’d gone to for their whole life. Their dad worked there, and they lived close by, so they visited the place often. Today was a special day: their birthday, and they’re turning 6 today!
They were nervous though. The animatronics were much bigger then Casey was, and it was kinda scary. But from far away, like the seats at their party table, it was cool to see them dance and sing. There were two, a golden bear and a golden rabbit. Their dad had personally designed the rabbit, and always boasted about it being the best one, even if there were only two.
Casey explored the pizzeria, looking for their dad. They walked past a few arcade machines, all too tall for them to reach. They were always pretty short, even compared to all the other kids their age. People teased them about it, especially-
They ran into their brother, Micheal. He was wearing a mask of a character from their dad’s latest project. It was called Freddy Fazbear’s, and Casey hadn’t gotten to see it yet. Dad had said that during the next big show, they’d get to go. Micheal was wearing a mask of the pirate character, Foxy. Casey didn’t like Foxy. He was creepy and for some reason, their stuffed animal of Foxy was always moving around. Foxy was Micheal’s favorite though.
“Stop being a crybaby, Casey, come greet the animatronics!” Micheal teased.
“I don- I don’t wanna! They’re scary up close!” Casey whined. They didn’t like when Micheal wore the Foxy mask, he always got mean.
“Come on, Fredbear wants to say hi!” Micheal sneered, and picked up Casey.
(No, not this.. They didn’t want to remember this..)
They tried to wiggle out of it, but Micheal’s friends joined in, bringing them to the stage where the animatronics were performing. As they got closer, tears began to fall down their face. The animatronics were too big, too scary up close. Those teeth were too big, and now they were right there!
“No! I wanna get down!” They struggled, but the older kids were too strong.
“Come on! Give Fredbear a kiss!” One of the kids taunted, holding them closer to the mouth of the golden bear.
And they got closer, and closer, their tears streaming into the animatronic’s gears, the machinery whirring and clicking, and then a sickening crunch…
The memory faded, and Casey was back, floating in the void. Tears floated with them, off their face to disappear into the inky blackness. They floated for another few moments, or what could be an eternity, they weren’t sure. Then, like before, the scenery changed.
Casey woke up, a strange feeling in their head. It took a moment for them to adjust to their surroundings. They were in a dark room, full of desks and papers strewn about, and a lamp, glowing purple. Slowly, they looked around. The last thing they remembered.. It was their birthday, wasn’t it? Something happened, they couldn’t think of what.
Looking up, Casey saw someone familiar, but he was different. Micheal was older now, face tired and sunken. He looked half dead. Casey was confused and scared, not knowing how they got here or why their brother suddenly looked different.
“M- Mike?” Talking felt strange, and it was then that they noticed they hadn’t been breathing.
“Casey.. You… are you ok?” Micheal’s voice was quiet, filled with sadness.
“What’s wrong?” Casey recognized the sadness in Micheal’s voice, but why was he sad?
Micheal rushed forward and hugged them, tears streaming down his face and soaking Casey’s shirt.
“I missed you so much!”
When the memory faded, Casey smiled. That was the day they had first been activated, Micheal had been so happy to see them. They hoped he was doing ok out there. When the now-familiar feeling of falling came again, they just hoped this memory wouldn’t be like the first.
The room was dark, lit by a single purple lamp. There was a workstation in the corner, and desks neatly facing each wall. A man sat in an office chair with wheels, scooting between different desks. He shuffled papers around, and seemed frustrated with whatever he was working on.
(Wait, Casey didn’t remember this…)
Casey floated, unable to speak. They watched the man, their father, work on some sort of device on the workstation. He was blocking Casey’s view of the workstation, so they floated to a new position. On the workstation was a humanoid head, made of metal and plastic. It looked rudimentary, like it was early on into the creation process.
Their dad took a screwdriver and started to unscrew a panel from the head. Casey looked around the room, bored. There were many different robot parts, like the animatronics at the Fredbear’s they often went to. Weren’t they just there? Why were they in their dad’s workshop now?
They saw some blueprints on a table and floated over to read them. They were getting pretty good at reading, the week before their birthday they had read an entire picture book by themselves. The words on the blueprint were a lot more complicated though. Casey could make out a few words their dad had taught them, like their name and the word robot. Why was their name on these blueprints? Was it a present for their birthday?
Suddenly, their dad’s phone rang. He sighed, and wheeled over to where his phone was stationed. As he picked it up, Casey floated closer to hear what he was saying.
“Yeah, I’m here. No, I haven’t heard from her. I don’t know!” He was talking in response to someone on the other end. “Yeah, Mike’s helping with the funeral. Told him it was his fault, so he better pay for it.”
Funeral? Mike’s fault? Casey felt dizzy, confused and scared. DId someone they care about die?
“Yeah, the funeral home says they’ve got the kid’s head patched up well enough. Mike insisted on an open casket. Apparently that costs extra though, so I gave him extra chores for a month.”
Casey tried to remember if anyone had died recently, but couldn’t think of anything.
Except them.
The birthday party. Micheal grabbing them. His friends, all crowding around. The bear. The teeth.
Tears began to stream down Casey’s face. They had died? How were they here then? DId they turn into a zombie somehow? Or, more likely, a ghost? They didn't know, and it scared them. The sound of their father on a call was drowned out by the static of panic filling their mind. Was Micheal ok? What about their mom? The scenery shifted and twisted as the noise grew.
One voice pushed through the static, causing Casey to look up again. Their dad was looking right at them. He smiled, but his eyes didn’t show it. He stood from his chair, walking to where Casey floated, and placed his hands around them. There was nothing anymore, no office, just blackness.
“You’re here! It worked!” He exclaimed.
“It did? What worked?” They were confused.
“The plan! You’re alive, and as healthy as can be, for a robot at least.”
“I’m..” They started, confused, before remembering. “I’m a robot?”
“You’re perfect.”
He started to fade, purple sparkles flying off his body as he disintegrated. And Casey woke up.
Opening their eyes, they weren’t in the void anymore. Their eyes took a second to adjust as their systems came back online. Looking around, Casey saw their friends sitting around them, with Micheal at the front. They blinked, and Micheal smiled. That’s nice, he doesn’t smile often.
“You’re awake! How do you feel?” He asked.
“I- I guess I feel fine..” They responded. “Just had some.. Weird dreams or something?”
“Wait, do robots dream? How does that work?” Oswald asked before being elbowed by Jeremy.
“It doesn’t matter, they’re ok! That’s the important bit.” Jeremy said.
Micheal hugged them forcefully. “I was so worried you wouldn’t turn back on!”
“You worry like this every time, don’t you know I always come back?” Casey responded.
“I know, I know.” Micheal smiled, releasing Casey from the hug.
Casey smiled too, surrounded by friends. Everything was ok. Micheal helped them up while they figured out the new leg. It wasn’t that much different from the old one, just not broken. Where did they find something so similar? They thought, but brushed it off. It wasn’t important where the parts came from, they were fixed now.
The group slowly walked out of the abandoned pizzaplex, laughing and joking like nothing had happened. Casey was happy, safe, and loved. Even if there was the small sense that something was different, they didn’t care. Their friends were around them, their brother was happy for once, and they felt fine.
Everything was good.