Felix the Shark Page 10

  Mandy couldn’t wait any longer. She pushed up from her seat, ignoring her mom, calling after her. She walked quickly to the boy and stopped beside his seat.

  A little boy with blue eyes stared up at her. He wore a red shirt with a big red dog. He had freckles on his face and a brown birthmark on his chin.

  It was just a kid, not the ghost.

  Her shoulders sagged in relief.

  “Can I help you?” a frazzled woman asked, sitting beside the boy. She was trying to settle her crying baby by patting his back.

  “Uh, no, sorry. Thought I saw someone I knew. My mistake.”

  “Miss, you’ll have to return to your seat, please,” the flight attendant told Mandy.

  Mandy turned and smiled. “Yes, I’m, sorry.” She squeezed passed the attendant to walk back to her seat.

  At the far end of the aisle, Mandy felt a fresh wave of adrenaline as she saw a familiar flash of red while taking her seat.

  Wow. Mom’s hotel suite was pretty swanky. There were two bedrooms, two baths, a lounge area, and small kitchenette. Elegant maroon and gray designs were spread across the suite, from the hanging wall art down to the pillows and lamps. A basket of fruit and nuts waited for them on a small table.

  “You always stay in places like this, Mom?” Mandy asked her.

  “Sometimes. Most times they’re bigger.” She set her purse and briefcase down, and motioned to the bellboy. “Just set the luggage by the door, please.” She tipped him, and the man left.

  “I’m sorry to drop you off and run, but I have a lunch meeting scheduled. I wasn’t planning on having a traveling companion this time around.”

  Mandy waved a hand. “It’s okay, Mom. I told you, I’m doing research.”

  “Yes, for a project. What kind of project is this again?”

  “No big deal, just the history of a historic silent movie theater. It’s about twenty minutes away in a town called Peace Valley. Small town, only about three hundred twenty residents.”

  “Oh, okay.” Mom’s phone rang, and she answered, then called out to Mandy. “Order your lunch. I’ll check in with you later. Love you.” She scooped up her purse and briefcase and marched out the door, giving orders to someone on the phone.

  Mandy just waved at her retreating back. She walked to the large window and gazed at the distant mountains of Utah. The sun shined down from a clear blue sky. Peaceful, she thought. She went to her backpack and pulled out Bobby’s framed photo.

  She faced him toward the view. “Really nice, huh, Bobby?” She set him down on the small table and dialed Lindy for a video chat.

  Lindy’s happy face appeared on screen. “You’re here?”

  Mandy flung out an arm dramatically. “Yes, Utah, here I am!”

  Lindy squealed. “This is so cool! We’re finally in the same state.”

  “I know!”

  “How was the flight? I’ve never been anywhere else.”

  “It was good. A little bumpy for a minute, and my ears popped as we landed. Always happens. When can we meet up?”

  Lindy sighed, pushing up her glasses. “Not until tomorrow. I have to take my brother to Little League practice because both my parents are busy today and my older brother has to work. But right after school, I’ll meet you at your hotel. I mapped out the address and I’m only fifteen minutes away on the highway!”

  “Sounds awesome! I’m going to do some research at the town records on Old Cinemas and see if anything interesting pops up.”

  “Sounds fun, wish I could be there, too.”

  “No worries, we’ll be together tomorrow.”

  After they disconnected, Mandy grabbed Bobby’s photo and slipped it inside her backpack. She pulled out a package of licorice and hooked her backpack on to her back. She’d searched the city website for bus information and the city hall location. It took her a half hour on the city bus to get to the local recorder’s office at city hall, where she could research more on the history of the mystery building. Peace Valley was so small, it didn’t have its own city hall or even a police station. Luckily, Mandy had the town’s information right at her fingertips in the recorder’s office.

  According to the records, Old Cinemas used to be another business over seventeen years ago called Sideshow’s Snack Shack, a small family food diner. From there, Mandy researched any information in the city records to tell her about the old eatery. The business lasted for about three years, but foreclosed seventeen years ago. Next, she researched the old newspaper records for anything regarding Sideshow’s Snack Shack.

  She skimmed the papers for the first year of the business and found the grand opening announcement with the headline:

  GRAND OPENING!

  SIDESHOW’S SNACK SHACK

  FAMILY FOOD & FUN!

  She skimmed the following years for any news on the business. A headline caught Mandy’s interest: YOUNG BOY PRESUMED KIDNAPPED AT SIDESHOW’S SNACK SHACK. The date seemed to be a few weeks before the diner closed its doors for good. The article stated a five-year-old boy went missing at the eatery one Friday afternoon. One moment the boy was playing a pinball machine, and then the next moment, he’d just disappeared. The mother as well as the staff searched frantically for the boy before the police arrived. Once the police began questioning the customers, frantic accounts were given of a mysterious man having been near the boy before the disappearance.

  “Wow,” Mandy murmured. She glanced at the copy of the man’s featureless sketch. Dark eyes and hair, straight nose, flat mouth. The man was just so … ordinary. For some reason, the paper sketch of the suspect had been printed hastily with purple ink and they’d called him—

  “The purple man,” Mandy whispered in amazement. She’d heard of a story very similar to this online somewhere.

  Where had she read about this?

  Then she remembered!

  The thread on missing children in the FNAF forums.

  On her phone, she logged back in to the missing children thread, skimming through the posts until she found the one about the missing boy and the purple man. The post did mention Utah and a family diner. All the other details were so vague that some of the comments stated they believed this missing boy story was fake, especially the point about the purple man.

  In a rush, Mandy made copies of the pertinent research to take everything back with her to the hotel.

  This mysterious building was turning in to one interesting case—an old building, a missing boy, a family food diner, and a purple man. It was perfect fodder for a FNAF fan-fiction piece. All that’s missing is a possessed animatronic.

  Mandy stepped in to a darkened room with rows of party tables set up. Party hats were lined up one by one on the tables like festive soldiers. The air was cold, and when she blew out, a white mist floated in the air and disappeared.

  “Freddy’s,” she breathed as she walked down the rows of tables in amazement. To one side of the room was the animatronic show, just like in the games she played. She glanced up at the wall and spotted the surveillance camera. Just because she could, she waved, but then when she saw her arm covered in a dark shirt, she looked down at herself. She wore a dark button-down shirt, slacks, and boots.

  Mandy’s eyes widened in disbelief. She was dressed like a security guard from the games.

  The next moment, she whirled around, her heart pounding. Had she heard a scrape of a shoe? Or had someone moved something? She searched the shadows for something creepy but saw only empty darkness. A whisper of unease passed through her.

  Pulse fluttering, she started to walk fast out of the party room, glancing over her shoulder. She had this feeling like she was being watched, like something very bad lurked just behind, ready to jump at her. When she got to the doorway of the room, she stopped abruptly.

  The ghost stood in front of her, in his red shirt and blue jeans. This time she noticed a character on his shirt—some kind of a bear logo. The boy looked sad, but she wasn’t certain he was just an innocent, lost little boy anymore. She
was scared to get close to him after what happened in her last dream. His skin seemed paler here, his cheeks sunken in, and there were dark circles rimming his eyes. His hair appeared limp and greasy.

  “Um, hey, there,” Mandy said to him. “So, how do we get out of this dream?”

  The ghost hissed and flashed a mouth full of sharp teeth.

  Mandy stumbled back, knowing there was only one way out of the room. She rushed past the ghost as the familiar growling began. He reached for her, his hands slashing through air, and she darted across the black-and-white-checkered floors. She ran through the arcade, passed by the restrooms, and found a door to a room with a sign that said EMPLOYEES ONLY.

  She kept looking behind her, though she couldn’t see the ghost. She still had a feeling he was there. Always there, just currently somewhere she couldn’t see him.

  She pushed through the door, her heart racing, and slammed it shut. When she turned, she screamed. The ghost stood in the room, his dark, empty eyes glaring at her. She pushed up against the door as if she could crawl through the wood.

  “What do you want?” she yelled at him. “Just leave me alone!” He took a step toward her, and her stomach curled. “Stay away from me!”

  He jumped on her, his face morphing in to something ghoulish—eyebrows slanted, teeth somehow bigger and sharper—and she screamed as he tore at her with his hands. Scratches burned in to her skin. She tried to push at him. She shoved her hand to his neck and recoiled when her hand caved in to corroded flesh.

  “Help me!” Mandy screamed.

  “Mandy! Wake up, Mandy!”

  Mandy sucked in air and opened her eyes to find her mom looming over her. Her mom’s hair was disheveled, her expression scared.

  Mandy blew out, “Mom.”

  “It was just a bad dream, sweetie. Are you okay?”

  Mandy swallowed hard and nodded. Her nightshirt was damp against her skin, blankets twisted around her body. “Yeah, yeah. I’m good.”

  “What on earth were you dreaming about?”

  “It was about a ghost … He was chasing me.” And this time he’d caught her.

  Mom sighed. “Really. Why was he chasing you?”

  “I don’t know. He wouldn’t talk. Creeps me out, Mom.” A shudder ran though her.

  Mom ran a hand over her hair. “Okay, well, it’s all over now. You’re safe. Are you sure this doesn’t have to do with all those scary games you play online?”

  Mandy wasn’t so sure, but she shook her head anyway.

  “Well, try to go back to sleep. I think the ghost has bothered you enough for the night. You sure you’re okay?”

  Mandy nodded and smiled. “Yeah, thanks.”

  Mom kissed her forehead and walked to her room.

  Mandy settled back against her pillow, but when she looked at the dark doorway her mom had just walked through, the ghost was standing there.

  Fear smacked in Mandy’s chest. She scrambled out from her covers, crawling in to a ball at the headboard.

  When she blinked, he was gone.

  Trembling, Mandy stood on the bed looking at every darkened corner of the room. Her heart was racing, but she didn’t see him. She quickly turned on the side table light to ensure she was alone.

  No little nightmare lurking around.

  “What do you want with me, Ghost Boy?” she asked the empty room. “And why won’t you leave me alone?”

  Mandy tried to fall back asleep, but it wasn’t happening. Just after two in the morning, she crept in to her mom’s room and crawled in to bed with her. Mandy couldn’t remember the last time she spent the night in her parents’ room, but cuddling in close, she felt safe … she felt safe for the first time since this whole thing began.

  Mandy and Lindy spotted each other instantly in the lobby of the hotel. They ran toward each other and hugged, big smiles plastered on their faces.

  Mandy pulled back. “This is so cool!”

  “So cool!” Lindy repeated, pushing her purple glasses up the bridge of her nose.

  “And look at us, we’re about the same height!”

  “Yeah,” Lindy said, with a laugh. “You’re just as I pictured you, with your leggings and big boots.”

  “Same here,” Mandy told her. “Come on, let’s go up to the room and figure out our next move.”

  They went up the elevator, discussing the latest FNAF fan fiction they’d loved as they headed to Mandy’s hotel room.

  “I like the ones where the animatronics are the good guys, and they crack jokes. Those are hilarious and entertaining,” Lindy told her.

  Mandy agreed. “Those are good ones.”

  “Wow, this is big,” Lindy said in awe as she stepped inside the hotel suite.

  “Yeah, I know. Nice, right? This is the first time I went with my mom on a business trip. Here, have some fruit. Or do you like licorice?”

  “I’ll take an apple. Thanks.”

  The girls sat down at the small table, and Mandy updated Lindy on yesterday’s findings about the movie theater, the old eatery, and the missing boy.

  “Wow, you’re really good at this kind of thing. I wouldn’t have known where to start with these records. You should be a detective or a reporter.”

  “Thanks. I haven’t decided what I want to do yet. What about you?”

  “I’m leaning toward marine biology.”

  “That’s cool. You should visit California. We have some awesome beaches.”

  “I want to so bad. People think I’m weird when I talk about the ocean life. They call me Fish Nerd at school.”

  “They call me Freak Show at mine.”

  They laughed together. Mandy found it funny how small and petty the DP drama felt from this distance. There was some hope out here, having met Lindy, that maybe things wouldn’t suck forever.

  Mandy reached for her licorice as she booted up her laptop. “Anyway, I’m thinking the disappearance of the boy in this story could somehow be connected to Five Night’s at Freddy’s lore.”

  “Because of the missing kids theme?”

  Mandy tugged off a bite of licorice. “I know it’s a long shot, but I’m willing to try to find out.”

  “What’s the next step? We heading to Peace Valley to see for ourselves?”

  “Yup. It’s been a long time, but you never know what might still be there.”

  Lindy grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  A short drive later, Mandy and Lindy cruised through Peace Valley. The sidewalks were small and the businesses a little outdated. Mandy didn’t recognize any big chain stores. She noticed a Harold’s Hardware store and Sally’s Groceries. A post office sat on a corner, and the town’s single streetlight was in the middle of the town, by the gas station. The mountains around the town were amazing, and she couldn’t seem to get enough of them. The road signs mentioned a river not far off, and she wished selfishly that she was here purely as a tourist. She would’ve loved to check it out while she was here.

  Lindy pulled in to the small parking lot behind Old Cinemas. The day was warm as they walked around the old building. Stopping in front of the door, Mandy sighed. “Here goes nothing,” she said.

  Lindy smiled in response, grabbing the door handle.

  Together, they walked through the front door of the silent movie theater. For some reason, Mandy felt a little light-headed, and her palms went damp. All this research and she was finally seeing the mysterious building in real life. She didn’t know what she would do if all this was for nothing. If the photo in the game files turned out to be a fluke or an error. It couldn’t be for nothing. It couldn’t be …

  “This is pretty amazing,” she said.

  Lindy nodded. “Yeah, it’s the most exciting thing I’ve done in a while.”

  “Same here.”

  They walked in to see a cheap plastic card table set up for ticket sales. The carpet was red with some rips in the flooring. Old posters of black-and-white silent films were pinned to the walls. There was popcorn, candy, and
soda cans for sale at another counter.

  An older woman with satin flowers in her hair sat at the ticket sales table. “For two?” Her voice sounded raspy. She wore a faded apron with Old Cinemas printed on it.

  Mandy and Lindy looked at each other and smiled. “Yes, please,” Mandy said.

  They exchanged money for tickets for the silent film of the day. As they walked toward the cinema room, Mandy noticed a maintenance man working on some kind of electrical box embedded in the wall.

  “Hey, Marge,” he called out. “I’m going to have to go buy a fuse.”

  “What’s the matter?” the older woman asked.

  “The lights in the theater keep flickering.”

  “All right, Jim, do whatcha gotta do.”

  “Dang thing hasn’t been reliable in twenty years. Guess some things never change.”

  Mandy put a hand to Lindy’s shoulder to stop her. She turned around and walked back to the maintenance man. “Excuse me, sir? You’ve worked here for twenty years?”

  Surprised, the man lifted his bushy eyebrows, as his eyes were drawn to Mandy’s purple hair. “Yeah, got a problem with that? A man’s gotta make a living somehow.”

  “Oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, I don’t have a problem with that, sir. Um, yes, you have to make a living. Totally.”

  Mandy looked at Lindy and winced, then turned back to the man named Jim. “I was just wondering if you worked here when it was the previous business. When it was called Sideshow’s Snack Shack?”

  The man gave a nod. “Oh yeah, that was a fun time back then. Lots of families. Lots of business. Shame it closed its doors.”

  “Why do you think it did? Close its doors?”

  He scratched his neck. “Well, there was an incident and then, after that, not much business.”

  “Do you mean the incident with the missing boy?”

  Jim squinted at Mandy. “Why you wanna know, kid?”

  “I’m researching this building and read an old article about a missing five-year-old boy.”

  Jim tossed his tools in a bag and wiped his hands with a dirty towel. “Yeah, that was the only bad time I recall. After he went missing, families got scared and the business went downhill. Not much you can do to change people’s minds after a tragedy, ya know?”