Grey had never liked the place, it was old and in need of a paint job, but at least it had a good paycheck. He walked up the concrete steps that led to the front of the pizzeria and looked up. Alex’ Toytime Pizzeria was written in big green letters. Next to them was a large cartoon drawing of the mascot animatronic. Grey opened the door to hear the bleeps, bloops, and plunks of the arcade machines. He walked straight to the dining area and pushed open the double doors leading to the kitchen.

“GREY!” Micheal, his manager, barked. “Where were you! You’re late!”

“I know, I know, I slept in,” Grey explained.

“I don’t care! Get to work and don’t be late again!” Micheal stormed off into the walk-in freezer. Grey trudged over to the closet holding the employee uniforms. He threw on the green and brown apron over his black long-sleeve shirt. He walked out of the kitchen and was immediately met with three kids who were peeking through the window on the door.

“Hey kids!” Grey said, putting on a syrupy sweet voice. “Guess what!”

“What?” The kids all screamed in unison

“Alex and the ‘Toytime Band’ are putting on a show in fifteen minutes!” The kids cheered and ran off towards the stage. The red curtains were draped over a wooden stage that looked older than the restaurant itself. Embedded in the bottom of the stage was a large digital clock that had a countdown to the next animatronic show. Grey walked over to the electrical panel that controlled the clock and set the timer to fifteen minutes. He then pushed open the doors that led back  to the kitchen. He opened the door to the backstage area and started to get the animatronics set up. The main mascot, Alex, was a large orange dog with a white snout and black nose. He held a larger than life microphone that obviously didn’t work. He walked over to the other mascots there was a white dog, and a frog. They were named KiKi and Froggy. He had always been scared of the other two, even as a kid. But somehow he was never scared of Alex even though he was just as creepy to other employees. He always felt a unique bond with the Alex character. Grey set up the characters and went back to the main dining area. He grabbed a microphone off the wall and said, his voice amplified, “Who’s ready for Alex’ and his Toytime Band to start rocking and jamming!” Grey got a cheer, from the crowd that had gathered after he set the timer, in response. “Alright, count with me! 3! 2! 1!” The crowd cheered even louder. As the clock reached 0:00 the curtains opened maybe half an inch and then screeched to a halt. Grey thought that the curtains were just broken and needed to be manually opened. “Wait here kids while I go open the curtains!”

“OK!” The crowd cheered. Grey hustled to the kitchen and swiftly opened the door to the backstage area. He sprinted over to the pulley and gave a hard tug at the curtains but they wouldn’t move. He gave another yank. This time the curtains made a noise that sounded like a sigh. They slowly opened and the animatronic band started to sing and play instruments. When he returned he got a resounding cheer from the crowd for his act of heroism.                                              

                                                         -★-★-★-

Later that evening Grey walked into the pizzeria for his night shift. The pizzeria employees had a weird habit of leaving the characters on and it was Grey’s job to turn them off before his night shift every friday. He walked backstage as usual but what he saw confused him, KiKi was gone. He flipped the switch, on the back of each of the characters, to off. For his night shift he had to monitor cameras and make sure nobody broke into the pizzeria. It was a boring, lifeless job. He walked down to the security office wondering where KiKi had gone. He flipped through the different cameras that were strategically placed all throughout the pizzeria. When he got to the stage for the fifth time of repeated camera-changing, he saw something bone-chilling. The KiKi animatronic was on stage, bowing like it was a curtain call at a play. He decided to ignore it. After all, it was probably just the employees being lazy at the end of the week and not putting the characters away properly. At the end of his shift, 6 am, he locked the door, got in his car and drove to his three room apartment. As soon as he got in the door he threw his backpack on the floor and fell onto the sofa. He watched X Fighters 3D for a few hours. He knew it was for kids but he enjoyed the storyline. Eventually he fell asleep but not after contemplating the incident on the night shift.

                                                         -★-★-★-

Grey was standing on the stage of the pizzeria. The crimson curtains were covering his eyes. The crisp scent of the cloth wormed its way into his nose. He then realized his vision was limited. It looked almost as if he was wearing a mask. He tried to move his head down but it wouldn’t comply. He tried to lift his hands but they wouldn’t budge either. He started to panic. What if I fell off the sofa and broke my spinal cord! He wondered. Then he heard a door behind him. Oh good, someone has come to help me! He heard a gruff southern accented voice say,

“Better get these characters turned on.”

Wait, I’m not a character! HELP! He felt a hand on the back of his head. A jolt of electricity shot through Grey’s body. He tried to scream but his vocal chords were still in defiance. Suddenly Grey’s vision flashed to the stage camera. He witnessed all three characters standing on stage. He thought he saw human eyes inside of the KiKi character. Then KiKi took a bow.