Liz was smiling ear to ear, while all I could do was stare with a bewildered expression.

"H-how can I see you?" I asked, reaching out to her. By surprise, she took my hand.

"And touch me, too! You're dead, I'm dead, and we can exchange physical contact! Well, when you can see me, that is."

I considered passing out.

"How come no one else has done this before?" I got out.

"It's all a matter of proximity." Liz explained.

"Why do I feel like that's crap?" I asked.

"Back up. Tell me it's crap."

I sighed but did back up a couple steps, and Liz had nearly disappeared.

"Woah!" I cried, rushing back to the window, causing Liz to back up. "What was that? You're right there!"

"To be fair, Baby is a little farther away."

"Okay, okay, I believe you! Oh my God." Now that Liz was actually in front of me, I didn't want to look away. I moved my hand closer to her because I wanted her to hold it again, and she didn't protest when I used my other hand to move up her arm, to her face, and up to run my fingers through her hair.

"I had a bow a while ago, just to hold it back," She bantered, "But Dad took it after I died. He wore it as a bracelet for a while, but I'm not sure where it is now. How old are you now?"

"Where did that come from?" I asked, sitting back.

"Uh, I just wasn't sure."

"Mom said a while ago that I was almost twelve. Actually, I think it might be my birthday soon."

"Oh yeah! August ninth?"

I nodded.

"It's hardly the end of July, isn't it?"

"Might be," I answered. "I haven't really been keeping track of the time."

"You mark your calendar every day!" Liz laughed. "I saw you do it this morning!"

"Heh, maybe... I guess I just didn't see the day."

"Hm? Okay. So what else do you want to do down here?" Liz asked, hopping back up to her excitement.

"Is there anyone else down here?" I asked, looking for an excuse to talk to Mom.

"Nah, it's just a bunch of robots and wires and fake voices. Ballora's been acting kind of weird, though."

"Can we go check it out?" I suggested.

"Remember what Terry said?"

"I'll be fine. If Ballora is acting up, I'm sure I can do something to help."

"That's what the last guy said," Liz muttered through her teeth.

"The last guy?"

"We've gone through a hot bunch of repair people."

"So should we not?" I asked.

"Probably not." Liz raised an eyebrow. "But... where else do you think we could see people who are dead that are also-"

"Freddy's!" I cried. Liz grinned in excitement.

"Yeah!" She agreed. "And you... probably won't die!"

"We should get out of here," I said. "Wait, can you come all the way to Freddy's?"

"Sure." Liz shrugged. "You couldn't see me, though. But you could see everyone else. If they want you to."

"Wouldn't it be weird to see me talking to no one?"

"I'll think of something." Liz brushed off my question and pushed me towards the vent.

I shut off the main light switch before leaving the main control, and got in the elevator. I climbed up the ladder and shut the trap door, and went to go tell Terry where I was going.

"Hey!" I said to Terry, who came back to the couch.

"Oh, you're alive," He said. "What'd you do?"

"I just checked out the two control rooms."

"Control rooms?"

"Oh, yeah. The basement isn't exactly a basement, it's a whole storage-like place for a whole bunch of robots!"

"Oh, that's..." Terry gave me a confused look.

"Also, I saw Liz!"

"You saw who?"

"Our sister."

"How?"

"Well," I started. "I think I might be dead enough to see ghosts, but only when I'm in a specific range of... the robot they're possessing." Huh. I guess not all ghosts are chained to robots they were murdered by.

"Rethinking your own logic there?" Terry scoffed.

"Kind of," I admitted. "But hey! Come to Freddy's with me! Liz and I are gonna go see my other friends!"

"And hoping whatever the hell you just said works?"

"I guess?"

Terry looked at me for a minute before shrugging.

"Sure. Why not? Let me go put on some pants first."

"Okay!"

I waited as Terry got dressed, all the while Liz talked about how excited she was to see my friends again.

"You haven't seen them since you died?"

"I never bothered. But they did like me. Bonnie really liked me."

"I'm not sure I know who Bonnie is."

"She was one of your friends," Terry said from behind the couch, like he had been listening in. "Short. Blonde. I think she was a year younger than you. Could do music like no one's business. Did you know that her sister also aided in your murder?" Terry sounded a little too enthusiastic about that last part. "Izzy was her name. She was my girlfriend until you died. And then she and all my friends left me. I haven't seen her in a while."

"Um..."

"So are we going to Freddy's or not?" Terry asked, trying to change the mood.

"Uh, yeah, sure, let's go..."

So the two of us -or three, if you count Liz- made our way to Freddy's. Halfway there, I realized that Dad was working and got really worried.

"He's probably not going to get that mad," Terry reassured. "I'm with you, and we're not doing anything illegal, and if we're lucky, the robots won't break this time."

Luckily, Freddy's was mostly empty. I'm not sure why. It was the middle of summer.

"Maybe everyone's just busy," Terry said. "Dad said once Freddy's was never busy on Monday. Because it's Monday. Who wants to do anything on a Monday?"

We moved further into the building when someone called Terry's name.

"Terrance?" A woman's voice called. I looked over. There was a woman with long dark hair in a purple security uniform. "Terrance, is that you? Oh my God!"

"Oh, Ms. Shelby!" Terry echoed back. He walked over to the lady he called Ms. Shelby and they hugged.

"Terry, love, how have you been?" Ms. Shelby asked.

"I'm alright," Terry replied.

"I'm so so sorry about your mother," Ms. Shelby said. "First it was your sister, your brother, and then your mom? My God, how are you still here?" She laughed, and Terry laughed along.

"I don't know," He said. "I'm probably just too lazy to off myself at the moment." He and Ms. Shelby continued to laugh, and I couldn't help but laugh along a little.

"Who did you come in... with..." Ms. Shelby looked over to me and her eyes widened. Terry looked over to me as well, and swore under his breath.

"Uh, Shelby, this is-"

"Michael?" She squeaked. "Is that really you?"

"Uh... yeah? I think. Probably. I'm not sure why it wouldn't be."

Ms. Shelby walked over to me and kneeled down, putting her hand on my face.

"Everyone said you had died," She whispered. "I thought your brother threw you into that robot's mouth."

"I'm not sure what happened after... I died. I'm actually not sure what happened before I died," I explained. "I've had amnesia. I woke up in April."

"April?" The suspicion in Ms. Shelby's voice grew. "You died almost a year ago. How did it take until April to wake you up?"

"I'm not sure. You'd have to ask my Dad..."

Ms. Shelby squinted at me. She then backed up and left down the hall.

"What was that?" Terry asked me. I shook my head. "Great. Now Dad knows we're here. Good luck explaining why."

A second later, Ms. Shelby came back to Terry and I with Dad behind her.

"So, boys," Dad started. "First off: Tell me, what do you think you're doing here?" Terry nodded towards me, expecting me to say everything. I turned red. How do I not lie but also not say I had been in the basement?

"Uh, I... um, last time I came here, I thought I saw someone hanging out near Freddy," I lied. "She didn't look real, but she looked at me and winked, then disappeared."

"Last time you were here?" Dad questioned. "So, three months ago? You remembered that and waited this long to come back?"

"To be fair, I couldn't do much with someone in the house watching my every move," I argued. Dad tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. Something about this look made me feel like I was going to be in some serious trouble soon.

"You saw a girl around Freddy who didn't look real, but she saw you?"

"Yes," I said, trying to stay calm. "Also, you know I've been hearing voices that belong to dead people!"

"You're what now?" Ms. Shelby asked.

"Spirits can talk to me!" I stood my ground. "And my sister Elizabeth even told me that if you're in a specific range of an object a ghost is chained to, you can see them! Well, I can. Because I'm also dead. Or at least half dead." Dad raised his other eyebrow and gave me a look of horror. "It's true!"

I walked over to the stage and faced Chica. Right away, her eyes locked with mine.

"Rachel," I calmly said. "Can you talk to me? Or... not just talk to me, but... can I see you?" Nothing happened for a second. I could feel everyone behind me judging me.

"Hey, Rachel!" Liz called out from behind me. "Your boyfriend wants to talk to you!"

"Elizabeth?" I hissed. But what Liz said must've done the trick because in the next second, a blonde, short haired girl popped up from behind Chica. Rachel.

She gasped and hopped off the stage. I ran over to her, not wanting to lose my sight range if she came over to me, and we hugged.

"Is he hugging something?" Ms. Shelby whispered.

"He's not hugging nothing," Dad sighed.

"Your sister is a loser," Rachel laughed. "But thank you... for coming to see us. I'd tell the others to come out, but... enough people are staring."

"Yeah," I responded. "Um... this probably looks weird to anyone not dead. But you and I don't get to talk as often as I'd like."

"I'll try."

"Hey, Michael, are you done talking to your dead friends?" Terry called.

"Oh my God!" Dad shouted, looking shocked.

"Oh, can Dad see the dead people too?" Terry mocked. It was pretty obvious Rachel had made herself visible to Dad. They were making direct eye contact. Dad now looked more scared than anything.

"Rachel, are you- Oh!" I had turned back to Rachel to notice that her eyes had turned black.

"What's going on?" Ms. Shelby asked. She then looked up. "Holy shit, look at the robots!"

"Michael, get away!" Terry cried. I looked up at the robots, who were all twitching out again.

"Rachel, Rachel." I tapped on her arm and tried to get her to calm down. "Rachel. What's going on?" I felt someone else grab my shoulders.

It was the girl in the red sweater. Next to her, was the other girl with long blonde hair. Bonnie? I could feel the room get darker. Terry and Ms. Shelby must've noticed this too, because they looked around, confused.

"Oh, Michael, good God, look at your eyes!" Terry cried. I couldn't see them, but I assumed that they had turned black as well.

"Guys, you might need to calm down," I said to the girls next to me, not moving, hoping they wouldn't do anything. Why isn't Liz doing anything? I'm assuming she can see them, too.

It was quiet for a minute.

"What the hell just happened?" Ms. Shelby asked when the lighting went back to normal.

"I have no idea," Dad answered. "Can you deal with the place for five minutes? I'm taking these two home."

"Gotcha. Do you also think we should close down today, just in case the robots start acting up around the other kids."

"Oh, they won't do that around any other kids." Dad looked at me. "Just mine."