The morning light came through the blinds in pale strips. Mike got up with the usual bored expression, as if he already expected the same uneventful day. He changed into whatever clothes he had and went to where the others were.
"Morning, Mike."
"Morning, Yenndo."
Ever since Yenndo started living here, he'd become sort of a butler of the house—not that anyone was complaining. This morning he was adjusting the blinds, which had been slightly crooked for days.
Mike sat on the couch and turned on the TV. Nothing worth watching.
Beside him, Bonnet kept drawing. The scratch of her crayon filled the quiet. After a while, she set it down and held up the paper.
"Guys, look at this."
He leaned forward. A drawing of all of them. Yenndo, Lolbit, Bonnet, and Mike.
"That's a nice drawing of us."
Lolbit's voice crackled from the computer yenndo put near by. "Hey. Why does my face look stupid?"
"I thought that's how it always looked," Mike said.
"Very funny."
"You're welcome."
"Bonnet, next time draw Mike smiling. If you can figure out what that looks like."
"She's got six years of reference. She'll manage."
"Six years of reference and still nothing."
Mike didn't bother to continue.
"You know what," Lolbit said, "if my face looks stupid, I want a chance to defend my honor."
"Meaning Yenndo's going to draw for you. Like he usually does." Mike leaned back. "At least this way it's been preventing you from cheating. Like you used to. Back when we first started doing this."
Lolbit's screen flickered. "That was years ago."
"And yet the memory is still fresh."
"I've grown. I've evolved."
"You got caught. That's not evolution. That's consequences."
Yenndo picked up a crayon. "I prefer this arrangement. It gives me something to do."
Bonnet gasped. "Yes. Competition."
Bonnet said. "Paper and crayons since we don't trust you enough to do it digitally."
"Which is why I'll be coaching Yenndo. As always." Lolbit's screen flickered. "He's my hands. I'm his vision."
"That's what you said last time," Mike said.
"And last time we were robbed of our position."
"You came in third."
"Robbed."
"What's the theme?" Mike asked.
"Self portrait," Bonnet said. "Draw yourself. Or however you see yourself."
"What about Lolbit?" Yenndo asked. "She doesn't have a body."
"Then draw what she would look like. If she had one."
"I want to look confident," Lolbit said.
"You always want to look confident."
"And yet so few people capture it."
Yenndo picked up a crayon and started drawing. Lolbit's voice crackled beside him. "Make sure my face actually looks beautiful this time."
"Don't worry. I will try."
Mike picked up a crayon and looked at the blank paper. He'd always been able to draw. Not like some people he knew, but he had a steady hand and a good eye.
Lolbit's voice drifted over from the computer. "Yenndo, give me better posture. I want to look confident."
"Make up your mind already," he said. "You keep making me erase it. It's ruining the paper."
"Art requires sacrifice."
Mike glanced over. Yenndo's drawing was a mess of erased lines and smudged crayon. Lolbit's face had been drawn, erased, and redrawn three times. She looked less confident and more like she was vibrating.
"You're overthinking it," Mike said.
"I'm providing direction."
"You're providing a headache."
"You wouldn't understand it," lolbit said.
Twenty minutes passed. Bonnet set her crayon down. "Time."
She collected the drawings and laid them out on the floor.
Yenndo's drawing was first. He'd drawn Lolbit. It looked something like Funtime Foxy, but with different colors. And beside Lolbit was Yenndo.
Mike's drawing was next. He'd drawn himself. There wasn't anything crazy to it. Just kept it as a plain and simple self portrait.
Her own drawing was last. It was childish—small and pink and round, with her green eyes too big. But it was good.
"First place," she said. "Me."
"You won your own competition. Again," Lolbit said.
"I'm the best artist."
"That's biased, but hey—at least we beat Mike this time."
"For now, at least," Mike added.
Mike stayed on the couch. The competition was over.
He switched through a couple of channels. Then he stopped. An advertisement filled the screen—bright colors, cheerful music, a familiar logo spinning onto the screen. Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. The new location. Opening tomorrow.
The commercial showed kids laughing, animatronics performing on stage, pizza sliding out of an oven in slow motion. A voiceover promised a safe, family-friendly experience. "Come join the fun at the all-new Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Where fantasy and fun come to life."
Yenndo stopped what he was doing. He stood very still, watching the screen. When the logo faded, he turned back to the bookshelf and resumed adjusting the spines.
He let the commercial finish—a final shot of Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica waving at the camera, the logo fading in over their smiles. Then the channel cut to a car commercial. Mike turned the TV off.
"Things are about to get very interesting, aren't they?" Lolbit said.
Mike stared at the blank screen. "Seems that way."
Bonnet had stopped drawing. She was watching him from her spot on the floor, her green crayon still in her hand. "Are you nervous?"
"I'm already used to dealing with animatronics. But this time I'm working the morning shift. Shouldn't be too bad."
Lolbit's voice crackled. "Famous last words."
Bonnet picked up her crayon again. "Just be careful."
"I am already dead. It's not like I can get in a situation that is worse than being dead."
"Well, you could stay dead for good," Lolbit said.
Mike looked at her screen. "Yes. But that's the whole point of what I'm trying to do. So that everyone who is dead can move on."
"But what if some of us aren't possessed?" Lolbit asked. "Or what if some of us don't want to move on yet?"
"We'll see when it comes to that." Mike leaned back into the couch. "Anyway."
"Anyway," Lolbit echoed. "The universal signal that someone wants to change the subject."
"I'm sure you have a better idea on how not to die of boredom."
"I have several. Whether you'll agree to any of them is a different question."
"Let's hear it."
Lolbit's screen flickered. "We could do another round of drawing."
"Pass," Mike said.
"Fine. Then how about we watch a movie? But I choose this time."
"Sure."
"Then let's watch Scream."
Mike turned his head toward her monitor. "The horror movie?"
Yenndo looked toward them. "What's it about?"
"Someone in a mask stabs people," Lolbit said cheerfully. "It's very fun."
"That doesn't sound fun."
"If the goal is to cause fear, why a mask?" Yenndo asked. "It limits peripheral vision."
Lolbit's screen flickered. "He's a horror movie killer. He's not optimizing for tactics."
"Then he should expect to be caught."
"He usually is. Eventually."
Mike leaned back into the couch. "And you want to watch this the day before I start working at Freddy's."
"I thought you'd appreciate the educational value." Lolbit's screen flickered. "Rule one: never say you'll be right back. You won't be."
"Didn't exactly stop me from literally being right back from the dead."
Lolbit paused. "That's different. You're an exception."
"The rule only applies to people who stay dead. You didn't. Congratulations. You broke horror movie logic."
"Seems my death was good for something."
Bonnet tilted her head. "How come we've never watched this before?"
"Because I was saving it," Lolbit said.
"For what?"
"For a special occasion. And then Mike announced he was working at a haunted pizzeria, and I thought—perfect."
Bonnet looked at Mike. "She didn't plan this."
"No," Mike said. "But she's acting like she did."
The title screen faded, and the opening scene began. A phone ringing. A girl picking up. A voice on the other end asking if she liked scary movies.
The movie played. Bonnet asked questions through the entire first act—why was she running up the stairs, why didn't she call the police, why was the killer so dramatic about everything. Lolbit answered some and ignored others.
They watched Scream. Then Scream 2. Then Scream 3. They watched all of them, and then they moved on to other movies.
Somewhere around two in the morning, Bonnet powered down. Her crayon slipped from her hand and rolled across the floor.
"She always does that," Lolbit said quietly. "Right in the middle of the best part."
"She's been awake since sunrise," Mike said. "Drawing."
"She draws every day."
By the time the last credits rolled, the room was quiet. The TV glowed in the darkness. Outside the window, the sky was beginning to lighten. Bonnet was still powered down on the floor.
"I should get ready."
Yenndo turned his head. "Already?"
"Shift starts soon."
Mike walked to his room. He changed into cleaner clothes, grabbed his jacket and keys, then drove to work. The roads were empty. The new Freddy's was waiting.