Waking up, Mike felt the grass beneath his hands. He pushed himself up, squinting through the white void around him in every direction, though he could see the wooden fence around the perimeter with nothing beyond it.
He let out a dry chuckle. "And I thought hallucinations and dreams were my biggest problems. Have I finally lost my mind?"
"Don't you worry, you're still quite far from that."
Hearing the strange voice of a man, Mike looked around, but he didn't see anyone.
"You know, it's not nice to talk to someone and not be in front of them."
"Oh, where are my manners? Pleasure to meet you." The tall white figure stepped toward Mike as if it had always been there. "My name is Bon... and you're Michael. I've had my eye on you. I know you very well."
"Are you supposed to be some kind of spirit possessing one of the animatronics?" Mike asked plainly, brushing imaginary dust off his jacket.
"Who knows, but that isn't important right now," Bon replied. "What's important is you."
"Can I ask where exactly I am?"
"Your new home, Michael. Welcome to Wonderland."
"Okay, look," Mike said, crossing his arms. "I already have a place, and I'm living with roommates, and this is leaving me with more questions, like: how do you know me?"
"You know, an interesting man came here one day," Bon said smoothly. "He told me all about you and said that if I keep you here in your new home, he will, in return, find someone I've been looking for."
"Who would be crazy enough to make a deal with you?"
"Stick around long enough, and he might show up one day."
"So I'm assuming even though I closed my eyes and went to sleep, there's a chance that this is just another dream like I have been having, which has been getting worse," Mike reasoned. "I just won't be able to wake up because you did something."
"Why would someone as beautiful as you ever want to leave Wonderland? I haven't even gotten the chance to thank you for such a beautiful gift you have given me."
"Being called beautiful is really touching, but I still have business to take care of, and it isn't just the work," Mike replied. "Also, what do you mean by that?"
Someone emerged from behind Bon, someone Mike knew, but she didn't quite look the same. She wore a strange clown mask; it looked like the animatronic Mike saw when he researched this place back home.
"Let me introduce you to my new friend, Ashley," Bon said, gesturing toward her.
Mike froze. "What the hell did you do to her?"
"I made her new; I made her all better," Bon said while holding his hands together and looking like he was admiring his piece of art. "Isn't she beautiful?"
"Ha. This has got to be just another one of those sick, twisted dreams," Mike muttered, taking a step back in denial. "I'm just going to wake up and see her alive and well."
"Then keep dreaming. You will eventually wake up somewhere better. Now then, what kind of host would I be if I don't help her get settled in?" Bon asked. "After all, a spirit can't survive without being tethered to a vessel, isn't that right, Michael?"
Mike looked back at him. "Wait a minute... how are you keeping her alive?"
Bon put his hand on his shoulder. "Did you know intense negative emotions can cause enough pain to make people beautiful?"
"So in other words... you mean a person's intense pain causes them enough agony to keep them alive."
"Spot on," Bon said smoothly. "Now then, settle down; I won't be gone for long."
And like that, Bon and Ashley both vanished, leaving Mike completely alone.
Or at least, that was what it seemed like. From somewhere, he could hear whispers of little kids.
"He is gone, but he took her..."
"It's fine; we can't save everyone, but at least we can take him away from here. We need to hurry before he gets back."
Two children stood in front of him: a young boy and a girl. They looked familiar.
"Garrett? Elizabeth?" Mike whispered as he got on his knees to look at them more clearly.
"Look, mister, you need to come with us quickly before he comes back!" the young girl pleaded softly, reaching out her hand. "We need to hurry!"
Clearing his head, Mike reached out and grabbed her hand.
"Let's go," the boy said, and everything turned to a bright flash of light.
"Mike! Get the fuck up!" Kevin yelled, swinging the blinding beam of a flashlight directly into Mike's eyes.
Mike winced, sitting up fast and covering his face with his arm. "What... what is it?"
"It's Ashley; she isn't here!"
"What do you mean she isn't here?" Mike asked, exasperated, his eyes moving towards Ashley's sleeping spot. It was empty, with only her sleeping bag, and her camera wasn't there either.
"Have you checked to see if she's just working in that room?"
"I did!" Kevin stammered, pacing frantically. "I looked in every room, I called her phone four times, and I even went outside to see if she was by the car—she wasn't. But Mike, that's not even the worst part... The Bon animatronic we worked on yesterday isn't in its room anymore. And just a minute ago... I heard noises coming from behind that locked door."
Kevin pulled out his phone, his hands shaking as he opened his contacts. "Ashley had that weird key to that door, but it doesn't look like she left it behind. A three-hundred-pound robot doesn't just walk off. Let's call Nancy and get the hell out of here right now."
"Yeah," Mike said quietly, getting up. "Call her and let her know the situation."
Kevin pressed the phone to his ear, pacing back and forth until she picked up at the other end of the line.
"Hey... uh, Nancy? We seem to have run into a situation," Kevin started nervously.
On the other end, Nancy let out a heavy, tired sigh. "Really, Kevin? You guys have been there for what, one night, and there's already a problem? What is it?"
"Ashley is missing," Kevin blurted out. "I tried calling her multiple times, and she hasn't picked up. And... one of the animatronics is missing."
"Okay, look," Nancy said, her voice still sounding rather annoyed. "Give me a moment."
She hung up and called back a few minutes later.
"Okay, listen to me," Nancy ordered sternly over the speaker. "Bring whatever you can and come back right now. Leave the animatronics there and don't mention any of this to anyone else."
"But what about—"
"Just follow orders as told."
Before Kevin could protest further, she hung up again. He slowly lowered his phone, turning to look at Mike in a panic.
"Well then," Mike said, grabbing his coat. "Help me move these boxes to the car."
"Don't you think we should be looking for her? What if she's somewhere nearby in town and her phone just died?"
"If her phone were dead, she would've informed us before going anywhere," Mike replied bluntly, throwing a crate into his arms. "Regardless of where she is, there's nothing left for us to do about it."
"But don't you think—"
"Orders," Mike cut him off.
They packed up everything into the car and took off. During the entire ride back, neither of them said a word. The grim reality that they were abandoning a coworker simply because they were told to didn't sit quite right with either of them.
Mike couldn't stop thinking about his conversation with Bon about agony tethering a spirit through pure pain. His mind went back to Jeremy. Was it possible that Jeremy was still out there somewhere, his soul bound to one of the animatronics through suffering?
By the time they finally pulled into the pizzeria parking lot, the sun had set, and the building was dark—it was closing time. They got out and began hauling the crates back inside, only to eventually notice Nancy approaching them.
"You guys can leave these here. I'll have someone move them to Parts and Service tomorrow."
Kevin almost dropped the box he was holding. "Nancy, wait—was there any news on Ashley?"
Nancy didn't even blink. "Ashley's been terminated from work."
"What? Why?" Kevin stammered, his eyes wide. "You can't just do that just because she's missing!"
"Ashley no longer works here," Nancy repeated, cutting him off. "She breached her contract. She left work without informing us in advance. HR processed her termination two hours ago."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Kevin argued, taking a step toward her. "She wouldn't just walk off somewhere without informing us!"
"Kevin." Nancy stepped closer, her heels clicking sharply against the asphalt as she glared at him in annoyance. "You signed a non-disclosure agreement when Fazbear Entertainment brought you on. It explicitly states that making false claims regarding corporate property, missing or stolen equipment, or employee misconduct carries severe legal penalties. She very clearly violated these terms. If you proceed to ask any further questions about this, I'm taking it out of your next paycheck. Am I making myself clear?"