Dominic bent over a heavy wooden Fazbear shipping crate. In his arms, he dragged the girl, or what looked to be her.
Her skin had turned a brilliant, translucent shade of bubblegum pink, smooth as polished glass, catching the light like hard candy. Her fingers were stiffening into hardened, crystalline sugar, clicking like marbles against the rim of the box as Dominic tried to twist and bend her rigid limbs inside. Her face was frozen, her eyes looking like two faceted gumdrops staring blankly toward the ceiling. She was completely paralyzed.
"Close your eyes, Angel," Dominic said as he lowered the heavy wooden lid and secured the latch. "There you go. It will be over soon."
Mike grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall.
The bracket scraped. Dominic started to turn.
Mike hit him across the back of the head.
The sound was sharp and dull all at once—metal on bone. He fell unconscious.
Mike set the extinguisher down and pulled out his phone.
Mike: Hey Lolbit, do me a favor. Make sure I'm not seen on the cameras with this box.
The reply came a few seconds later.
Lolbit: Consider it done.
Mike pocketed the phone and turned to the closed crate. He hoisted the edge and guided it toward the hallway. It was heavy, but not impossible. He moved slowly, listening for footsteps, angling the crate around corners and pausing at every doorway. Most of the remaining staff were near the front, finishing their closing tasks. No one came back here.
Slipping through the doors of the loading dock, Mike stepped into the crisp night air. The parking lot was quiet and dark. He carefully loaded the wooden crate into his car, shut the trunk with a soft click, and pulled out into the empty streets, heading home for the night.
The drive home was quiet. Mike kept one eye on the rearview mirror, though the road behind him stayed empty. The crate thumped softly in the trunk at every turn; hopefully she didn't hit her head too hard.
Parking the car, Mike cut the engine and sat for a moment. The house was dark. He could see Yenndo's silhouette in the window. Mike got out, opened the trunk, and dragged the crate inside.
Yenndo met him in the hall. "What's with the box?"
Mike didn't answer. He pulled the crate into the living room and worked the latch open. The lid lifted with a soft creak.
Inside, the girl lay frozen in her candy form, pink and gleaming under the light.
"Wow, Mike. Thanks for the treat, but we can't eat it." Lolbit's voice came from the computer, flat and dry.
"Such humor," Mike said. "But you already know exactly what this is about."
Bonnet leaned closer, her small plastic eyes wide. "Why did you bring a candy girl?"
"She was human before becoming this statue," Mike said quietly, staring down at her. "If I had to guess, it's probably tied to that candy nose her sister brought home. Except she ate it instead. Which means the statue at the party was once human, too..."
He paused as the horrific logic fully settled in. The kids at that party had been eating a person. A wave of mental nausea washed over him; if he still had functioning organs, he would have thrown up on the spot.
Mike reached into the crate and lifted her out. She was stiff and light, like sugar glass. He carried her through the house, toward the room his sister used to use.
The walls were still pink. The bedspread still had the little white flowers. Mike laid her down carefully, adjusting her head on the pillow. Her gumdrop eyes stared at the ceiling.
For a long moment, he stood there, looking at her.
Yenndo appeared in the doorway. "Does this have something to do with your father?"
"Maybe," Mike said. "But as far as I'm aware, he specializes in animatronics. Watching people turn into candy is new for me."
Lolbit's voice crackled from the monitor. "So now what? What are we supposed to do with her?"
Mike looked at the girl—Angel, still frozen.
"We have no choice but to keep her here," Mike said. "She clearly isn't human anymore. Those guys at Freddy's will want their stolen product back. And she can't go home. Even if I gave her an illusion disc, if something happened to it, her family would see what she really is, and we certainly can't have someone eating her nose."
Mike turned toward the door.
"Where are you going?" Yenndo asked.
"To get something."
Mike went to his room and grabbed a vial of remnant and the injector. Back in his sister's room, he hesitated, remembering it hadn't worked on Jeremy. Still, he had to take the chance. He pressed the injector to her arm and pushed the plunger. The liquid disappeared under her glossy pink skin, but there was no reaction.
Bonnet looked up from Yenndo's arm. "So we're just leaving her like this?"
"If she wakes up, she needs to face reality first," Mike said, looking down at the girl. "Hiding behind a disc will make her think it was just a nightmare. Plus, she'll think we kidnapped her."
Turning off the light, Mike closed the door, and he, Yenndo, and Bonnet headed back down the dark hall.
"So is she just going to live here forever now?" Bonnet asked, her voice coming from Yenndo's hand.
"Yes," Mike said. "I just hope she doesn't freak out over sentient animatronics."
"Having a new buddy should make things more lively around here," Yenndo grunted softly.
"I'm expecting that I won't get in trouble at work tomorrow," Mike added, glancing toward the computer screen in the living room. "Assuming you tampered with the cameras as I asked."
"Don't worry," Lolbit's voice crackled through the monitor speakers. "Even if they're smart enough to check the timestamps and notice a few seconds of missing footage, they won't have any evidence against you. According to the cameras and the rest of the staff, you worked your shift and left."
"I'll take your word for it."
The next day, Nancy was interrogating the staff about what they'd been doing the night before.
"Morning, Mike."
"Morning, Nancy. Need anything?"
"I want to ask about after the party, after closing. You and a few other staff were still in the building. Dominic was found unconscious, and something belonging to the company is missing. We checked the cameras, but part of the footage is gone. We think one of our own people is responsible."
Mike's expression didn't change. "I was cleaning up the arcade area. Then I went home."
Nancy watched him for a moment before nodding. "If you know anything, come find me."
"What exactly was stolen?"
"According to the higher-ups, it's classified," Nancy said.
"Then how exactly am I supposed to know what to look out for?" Mike asked.
"You're only expected to keep an eye out for anything suspicious and report it to me immediately."
Nancy left, and Mike went back to work. He wiped down the prize counter, restocked the shelves, and tried not to think about it.
Lena found him near Parts and Service. "Did Nancy talk to you?"
"Yeah."
"She's been talking to everyone. They think someone among the staff stole something." Lena lowered her voice. "I heard Dominic is still out cold in the hospital. Word is someone hit him over the head and grabbed something classified. They're bringing in corporate investigators tomorrow."
"Corporate investigators?" Mike asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lena nodded grimly. "Nobody knows what was taken, but if higher-ups are getting involved, it must be massive."
Mike didn't respond. He had a pretty good idea what it was. And it was sleeping in his dead sister's bed.