Local pizzeria to close by years end. Jen gripped the newspaper, holding back the temptation to rip it in two. Now that it's closing, the investigation will for sure be called off! She read the rest of the article in a flash. Financial business, yada yada, but then she got to the last paragraph. "These characters will live on. In the hearts of children, these characters will live on." -CEO These words hit Jen with happy memories of her taking Luke to Freddy's. He would ramble on and on about the robots; which ones were his favorites, the coolest things he saw them do, and all sorts of things of that manner. It was like he had an emotional connection to the mascots. Sometimes he would drag Jen to the pizzeria just to watch them sing, not even bothering to get a slice of pizza. It warmed Jen's heart just to think about his smile whenever he saw them. But now he was gone. Jen slammed the newspaper hard onto the table. He died at the place he loved the most. June 26th, 1985; it was Luke's 8th birthday and Jen was struggling to catch up to him and his friends. They were running around the place like animals; saying hi to Foxy in Pirate's Cove, spying on the cooks in the kitchen and getting into any other shenanigans a pack of 7-8 years olds can get into. Jen, being 16, was assigned the role to "keep an eye on them", which she wasn't doing very well. Eventually, Jen heard her mom's voice. "Jen, give yourself a break and sit down for a while! I ordered you a slice of pizza." she called. Jen flopped in to her chair from exhaustion. She looked back to where Luke and the others were playing; they were watching Freddy, Bonnie and Chica performing on stage. It was amazing how those robots who sang the same songs over and over could entertain children so well. Jen was sure Luke knew they weren't real, but they fascinated him anyways. "Boy, those kids can be a handful can't they?" Jen laughed, trying to spark a conversation. "Tell me about it. Welcome to my world, Jen." her mom replied. "Was I like that when I was Luke's age?" "Hmm... not as bad, but you still were quite a hassle. And look! Our food is here! I'll go get the others." Thinking back about it, Jen found it was ironic she was talking about how Luke misbehaved the last time she ever saw him. Jen looked back to the show stage thinking to see her mom hassling the kids to come eat, but they were nowhere to be seen. She glanced around the dining hall, but there was still no sign of them. They're probably running around at the other end of the restaurant. Boy, are they fast. She thought to herself as she bit into her pizza. By the time she finished, her mom was back and panicked. "I checked all over the restaurant, I can't find them anywhere! I told the employees and-" "Relax mom, you probably just missed them. Maybe they're playing hide or seek! I'll come help." Jen reassured. Jen's mom simply nodded. But as hours went on, Jen realized this was no game. All the children's parents were now running around panicked, the employees were searching and some people were even checking outside. Plenty of tears were shed as the children were found to be nowhere. Apparently one of the missing children wasn't even from Luke's party so suspicions of a planned attack were lessened. As the sun fell, the police had to be called and an official investigation had to be started. Nobody could sleep that night. Jen lay in her bed crying. Was this my fault? Should I have kept a better eye on them? But how could they have disappeared so fast? But she had to stay optimistic. Surely this is just a game. Probably tomorrow they'll come out of hiding and yell "Surprise! We where here the whole time!" Yet a feeling of dread, as if something had already happened to them lingered in her mind. Days, weeks, months, a year had passed and nothing had happened. They had found security footage of a man in an old springlock costume roaming the halls right before the kids went missing, and charges were made. But there was no solid evidence it was him, and worse, the bodies were never found. Often Jen and her mom would spend nights at the pizzeria looking for any sort of clue, but nothing was found. Everybody, including Jen's mom, was losing hope. And slowly, with the newspaper on the table in front of her, Jen was too.