Freddy said he was almost out of power, and the nearest "charging station" would be down by parts and service. He said that the backrooms of the pizzaplex can get confusing, so I had to stay by his side while he guided us through. Since I wasn't inside his chest cavity, I had to hide from the S.T.A.F.F. bots littered around the area. When I asked him why I couldn't hide inside the hatch, he said, "I am... not myself when I'm low on power." I pondered what that meant the whole trip to the charging station.

We were down in the garages of the pizzaplex. They were complex roads that intersected together with lift fork cars that still had boxes on them. The road we walked on had lights above, but the fenced off tunnels were dark. "I don't like this place," I told him.

"We won't be here long," Freddy said, and he gave me a comforting pat on the head.

And with great timing, the lights go out.

I freaked out. Thoughts and memories of Moon chasing after me flooded my head. It only happened recently, but it was one of the scariest moments I've ever had in my life. I grabbed onto Freddy's arm tightly.

"No, Gregory," he said. His eyes lit up in the dark. "You have to run. Just keep going forward until you find the charging station, and I'll meet you there."

"I can't go alone!" I countered. "You will not be alone, I'll be right behind you. Go!" Freddy commanded. I took out the flashlight from my pocket and ran. What is it with this building and its lights just shutting off randomly?

I could barely see where I was going, but at least the tunnels were tall and I didn't feel as claustrophobic as I did in the play structures. I couldn't shine the light in front of me as the tunnels were so long that the light from the flashlight wasn't able to bounce off anything, so I pointed it at the walls. The horizontally painted black and yellow stripes made it difficult to see how fast and far I was running. I could hear Freddy's footsteps racing behind me.

Eventually I came across a wide room, and within it was a large red capsule with a blue lightning on it. This must be the charging station . I opened the lid and hid inside.

I had to stand on my toes to see through the glass window. It was dark, so I couldn't see much outside of what light the station made. And then...

Freddy fell. I watched his body crash to the concrete with a loud thud. He made no expression on his face. "Freddy!" I yelled and pounded on the door. Did he run out of power? He was so close...

What was more surprising than Freddy powering down was Moon by his feet. He started dragging Freddy by the legs, and while he pulled, he looked in my direction and waved. He brought a finger to his face, as if to motion to be quiet, and he continued pulling Freddy away. I wanted to get out and help him, but I couldn't do much against Moon. I could only watch as he dragged him away.

I stayed in the charging station waiting for the lights to return. I was hyperventilating, and I felt tears forming in my eyes. I wiped my face down with my arm and took a look at my Faz watch. "Freddy! Freddy, are you there?" I yelled desperately. My voice cracked while I was trying to push down the tears. "Freddy! Freddy please, don't leave me here!"

Silence. I fought the urge to cry and looked out the window. The lights flickered before turning on fully. When I couldn't hear anything outside. I opened the capsule and tripped on my way out. I had lightly scratched my knee at my fall.

I stood up and looked around. Right next to the charging station was a large door, but much like the ones in the security office Freddy and I visited, it was a vertical sliding door, and it was locked. There were large windows to the side, and I could see a bunch of spare animatronic parts and a large silver capsule, with Freddy inside.

"Freddy!" I had to break one of the windows. First, I tried kicking it. The sound it made resembled thick glass. I couldn't kick it down. Then I tried throwing my flashlight at it, but it didn't even crack it. All of the items in this room were too heavy for me to carry, so I didn't have anything more to throw at it.

There was no way through. Maybe I could find a way around? I couldn't stay here, especially if Moon saw me here. There was a road that led left of parts and service. I decided to take my chances and make my way through. I picked up my flashlight that I had thrown and began my trek down into the darkness.

At the end of the road was a door, and opening that led me through a long passageway. Lucky for me, the place was lit enough where the flashlight wasn't necessary. As I walked through the long hallways, I examined the walls. They were lined with thousands of spare parts; eyes, hands, and mouths, detached from the animatronics' electric skeleton. "So many parts..." I said to myself. I missed having someone next to me who I could talk to, but hearing the sound of my own voice grounded me back to reality when I felt nervous.

I came across another garage door. Painted on it was a child with a red balloon and an endoskeleton. Pressing the button next to the door opened it. "How odd... Why even put a door here?"

I continued my way through when I noticed a shadow displayed on the wall on the other side of the room. It had a big head, and long ears like a bunny. There's only one rabbit animatronic I can think of. "Bonnie?"

The head perked. I walked slowly through the room to reach the shadow. I thought about what Freddy said, about Monty and how he would help me if he met me. Does that apply to all of the animatronics? Or are Freddy and Monty just a special case? I had come across Chica earlier in the night, but I didn't give her a chance like I did with Freddy and Sun.

When I came close to the shadow, it vanished. I turned to my right and saw a white rabbit sprinting down the hallway. "Hey, wait!" With nowhere else to go, I ran after it.

I followed it through the rooms, not bothering with paying attention to what I passed. There were many twists and turns, and one time I didn't slow down fast enough and ran into the wall. I shook it off and continued chasing down the rabbit. Eventually, it ran through a doorway, and when I walked in, it wasn't anywhere insight. There was yet another door further into the room, but I couldn't shake off this feeling that something bad was about to happen. I crept towards the door, and when I opened it, I found a small playroom. The floor was the same as the daycare's, and there were small toys in the corners. In the back stood a powered down endoskeleton, and in front of it was a neatly wrapped present.

I slowly walked in and picked up the present. I unwrapped the golden ribbon, and inside was a plushie of something I'd never seen before. It had a white head, black eyes with small white irises, and purple streaks streaming down its face, as if it were crying. It's body was striped black and white, and it was fairly thin. It felt slightly fuzzy in my hands. As I was admiring it, I heard the endoskeleton power on and approach me. I jerked my head up.

It froze once my eyes landed on it, but its hands had already grabbed me by the neck. I dropped the toy and tried to free myself, but it was like its circuits had locked in place. I pulled its arms down, but I couldn't even move it an inch. It was becoming hard to breathe.

With sharp inhales and using all my might, I tried ripping its hands off of me. I took hold of individual fingers and moved them until I was free. I fell down on my back, keeping my eyes on the endoskeleton, still frozen in place. I kept my eyes on it while I tried to catch my breath.

Once I had calmed down, I slowly got up and backed away, refusing to let the endoskeleton leave my sight. As I became more aware of my surroundings, I could feel the lingering pain on my neck that my fear had masked before. I tried rubbing it, but it only made it worse. I just hoped Freddy wouldn't freak out if he found out I got hurt.

I couldn't stay here having a staring contest forever. I was going to have to leave eventually. I was going to have to run as fast as possible before it caught up to me. I walked backwards as far as I could, and once I reached the wall, I ran to the exit, and shut the door behind me. I heard the endoskeleton slam into the wall, and then it started banging on the door. I locked the door and blocked it with my back, but sure enough this room also had endoskeletons. Two, in fact. They stood only a couple feet ahead of me. Now I was going to have to outrun three at once.

I heard shifting down the hallway. I couldn't look or I risked the two endoskeletons catching me, but it finally clicked. The rooms I passed while chasing down that rabbit, they must've had these endoskeletons inside, and I didn't notice because I was too busy chasing a white bunny. It led me down a long path to die.

I don't know how many I awakened, but I was going to have to outrun them all. I didn't have much of a choice, in fact if I stayed here, eventually the hallway, and my only exit, would be blocked by endoskeletons, and I'd be cornered, only able to slow my inevitable death with a staring contest.

I took a deep breath, and then I ran. Fast. I couldn't look behind me or I'd slow down, but I could hear their metal feet scrape against the floor. I wasn't sure where I was going, but as long as I could escape, it didn't matter where I ended up. While I ran through what felt like hundreds of rooms, I could see that I was passing more and more endoskeletons, and they kept piling up behind me.

I eventually came across a room with a door and closed it behind me. This room was dark with a spotlight into the center, which had a black desk. I walked over and noticed the security pass on the desk. Maybe this would get me inside parts and service.

As I was about to take the card, I saw the wall that the desk faced. There were pairs of red eyes lined across the room. More endoskeletons. I had to grab the card and get out as fast as possible. I took the card and ran, and when I left the room I heard their bodies topple on each other as they tried to chase me.

Running through the halls and hearing them approaching, I finally made it to the end, where it circled into the tunnels and garage that Freddy and I had walked through together. I didn't have time to wonder if they would run through the garage to find me, I just had to get back to Freddy. I ran through the familiar tunnels, focusing on the same horizontal black and yellow lines that had disoriented me during the blackout.

And then I saw it. The entrance to parts and service with the charging station in front of it. I used the security pass to open the door. Strangely enough, there was another door into parts and service. Between these two doors was a small room, and reminded me of decontamination rooms in movies. I was about to open the second door when I heard something from inside parts and service.

"You're in big trouble, you know that?" I heard someone say. I crouched down so as to not be seen through the window and took a peek. It was a woman. She had her back towards the window, and she seemed to be talking to Freddy, who was still in the silver cylinder.

"I told you to return to your room. What are you doing here?" she said. Her pony tail swung as she shook her head. This must be Vanessa.

"I'm not sure, I can't remember," Freddy said. God, you're such a bad liar .

"That kid is still running around, which is a huge security risk. If you'd had just returned to your room, I could've spent all this time looking for him instead of hunting you down," she said. "I'm sorry..." I heard Freddy mumble.

"Yeah, well, if I find out you're involved with this kid, we'll slap your casing on another endoskeleton and throw you out. Now I have a job to do," she said, and she started to walk to the left.

"Wait, Vanessa! Don't leave me here!" Freddy yelled out after her. She ignored him and walked up one of the staircases and through one of the four doorways. Once I knew she was gone, I opened the second door into parts and service.

"Freddy!" I said excitedly. "Gregory! Oh, I'm so glad to see you. I'm so glad you're safe... and alive," he said. I ignored that ominous ending. "What happened to you? Are you okay?" I said, taking a closer look through the glass. "I'm fine," Freddy answered. "Gregory, can you let me out?"

"Okay, I'll try," I said. I walked over to the monitor in front of the cylinder. There was an option for a power upgrade, so I selected it. The door to the cylinder opened and a voice spoke.

"Please enter the protective cylinder to continue." I walked in, unsure of what to do next.

Now that I was inside, I got a closer look at Freddy. The machine that he laid on had pulled his head off of his body. "What'd she do to you?" I asked. "Routine maintenance," he replied. "I am functioning much more better... now. Hm, grammar function error. Perhaps I'm still not at my best performance. Do you think you can re-attatch my head?"

My eyes darted around the buttons inside. "I-I don't know how, it looks complicated," I said. "Just reconnect the wires," Freddy said, "and follow the machine's orders. And, be careful. I am not quite myself at the moment." Just like when he's on low power .

The disembodied voice spoke again, "In case of an emergency, the protective cylinder will protect important service personnel outside of the protective cylinder. Deactivating animatronic safety protocols now. It is recommended that no mistakes are made during the procedure." That really didn't make me feel more confident.

"To reconnect Freddy's head," it continued, "repeat the correct sequence by pressing the flashing buttons on Freddy's upper body." I wasn't tall enough to see the wires even when I stood beside Freddy, so I hoisted myself on top of his stomach and sat down, letting my legs dangle off of one side.

The wires were colored blue, green, yellow, and red. When one color flashed, I was to insert the corresponding wire. Green, red, yellow, blue. I copied that order, green, red, yellow, blue.

"Good job. Now use the testing console to run diagnostics and complete the procedure." A controller of sorts connected by long wires was pulled down. Again, I couldn't reach it, so I had to jump up and pull it down farther.

It was a game of Simon says. When a color flashed, I pressed it, and more colors would be added to the sequence. Green. Green. Green, blue. Green, blue. Green, blue, red. Green, blue, red. Green, blue, red, yellow. Green, blue, red, yellow.

The door to the protective cylinder opened. "Good job. Freddy is all patched up and ready for the big show. You may now exit the protective cylinder." I walked out of the cylinder and back to the monitor, and clicked on finish upgrade. Freddy got up and walked out.

"Great job, superstar!" he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him, and he smiled. When I saw that, I felt it all crumbling down. I wrapped my arms around him and started silently crying.

"Woah, hey, it's okay," he said, rubbing my back. "What's wrong?"

I'm so tired. My throat hurts from choking back tears. "It was so scary," I said. I thought about the trap I walked in, and the endoskeleton that managed to grab hold of me. I was so sure I was going to die.

"Gregory," Freddy paused, "do you want to go home?"

My eyes widened in surprise. I thought about it for a moment. This place is... scary, and I've never felt this close to death before. Is the trouble worth it?

I pictured my mom and what she'd be doing right now. Has she even noticed I'm gone? Is she awake right now, wondering where I am? Or is she relieved I'm not with her anymore? How would she react if I showed up at the door? Would she be disappointed if I came back empty handed?

I can't go back, not until I can prove my worth. I'd rather die here alone than live a lifetime ignored.

"No, I don't," I said. "I'm fine, I can shake it off." I let go of Freddy and rubbed my eyes clear. "See?"

Freddy looked unconvinced, but if I can survive a hoard of endoskeletons chasing after me, I can survive anything.

Now that I've grounded myself a bit, I looked around the parts and service room. "Wow," I said in awe, examining the walls and parts scattered around. "It's impressive, isn't it?" Freddy said. I nodded, and saw a few endoskeletons to the side. They were locked up in a cage, except for one, which just stood there menacingly.

"We should go," I said. I wanted to get away from it as fast as possible. "Yes, let's use the elevators up there," Freddy said. Behind the cylinder and up the staircase, there were 4 doors, each painted with a different character. On the wall was information about recent changes to the animatronics. Chica has an improved voicebox, Roxanne has new eyes, and Monty was given better claws. "Are you going to get an upgrade, too?" I asked Freddy. He snickered, "You just gave it to me. A power upgrade. My battery should last much longer now."

"That's so lame compared to them. Imagine if you got, oh I don't know, new legs that let you run faster," I said. He just shrugged. "C'mon, let's get out of here," he said. He took my hand, and we walked through the doorway with his caricature. "Where are we going now?" I asked.

"To my room. And you're going to bed," he said.

"What?"

"I... realized something earlier, when you..." he paused and thought of a new way to phrase his sentence. "A child your age should be getting the proper amount of sleep."

"I can't sleep," I replied, "I have things to do and things to find. Sleep isn't important right now!"

"It'll all still be here in the morning. Plus, Vanessa will be gone," he said.

"Really?" I would've thought she lived here considering how she bosses Freddy around so much.

Freddy opened the elevator and let me walk in first. "You're very strong, Gregory," he said, "but there's no need to push yourself so hard. You can give yourself a break."

A break, huh? I suppose I felt a bit wiped out, with all the running and yelling I've done. The elevator door opened with a ding, and we were in the back room of Freddy's photo exhibit. "Stay here," Freddy said. He walked into his room and pulled out his chair that was in front of his vanity and brought it over to me. I guess since he's a robot, he wouldn't have a proper place to sleep, since he wouldn't need to, and because he didn't want me to get caught, the best place for me to rest would be his back room. He picked me up with ease and put me down on the chair. When I was laying down, the wave of exhaustion hit me like the titanic hit the iceberg.

"Goodnight, superstar," Freddy said. He turned off the light and closed the door. I fell asleep before I could wish him a goodnight back.