ɢʟᴀᴍᴏʀᴏᴜꜱ ᴇʏᴇꜱ

49 : Rabbit's Foot

There was an uneasiness that followed him wherever he went. Monty grumbled about it deep under his breath for a short moment, the only thing he could think of was the fact that there was always going to be someone above him. Whether in looks, with kids, bassist, or lead singer. He was only ever meant to be some side character, thrown away and forgotten in some part of the Pizzaplex called Gator Golf. Most people ignored him, if someone ever asked them if they knew that one alligator animatronic, they would be confused. What gator? They all seemed to think.

Some kids would stare at him playing his guitar all alone in Gator Golf, and each time, he could practically feel their pity. Nobody talked about him, nobody bought his plushies or merchandise, nobody ever remembered him outside of Gator Golf. But they always talked about them. The stars. The revered. The fittest. They always spoke about Freddy this, Chica that. They spoke about how Roxy was so beautiful, how Bonnie was their favorite... Don't even get Monty started on what he thinks about that rabbit. Freddy was the star of the show, but Bonnie had to be almost on par with the bear animatronic with being a fan favorite. If it wasn't about Freddy, it was about Bonnie. And Monty despised it.

Wherever Freddy was, Bonnie wasn't too far behind. Kids practically screamed how much they adored the both of them. Children would run around in Superstar T-shirts, limited edition Fazwatches of Freddy's face, hats with purple bunny ears, neon plushies of Bonnie were thrown about here and there. At the time, Monty was just a machine. But beneath all of that hardware and programming, envy started to bloom in him like a weed. And it grew each day, threatening to blossom, threatening to spill out in one huge mess. What would he do if Parts and Service got involved? He'd be done for, nail on the coffin. Forgotten and destroyed, and nobody would even blink an eye the day he would be gone.

So he remained as silent and unresponsive as he should be, as a machine like him should be. But one fateful day, a virus began to dig its talons within the system and Monty was one of the first to be targeted by it. Perhaps that was mainly because of his envy and resentment towards the others. He was easy pickings, the perfect pawn. The virus knew how much he wanted to be on top, it exploited that fact over and over again, until his voice of reason was silent, and the only words he could hear were the vicious yet tempting whispers of the virus. It promised him that he could be the best, that he would surpass even Freddy one day. It preached about how he deserved it, how he deserved to be number one. It told him to tear, to rip, to crush, to kill.

And so he listened to it. One moment he was alone in Gator Golf, playing the same old, sad melodies. The next moment, he was on the big stage, the big screen, children were gawking at him, the crowd went wild when he finally appeared, and it felt like all of the others were miles behind him. His name was in neon signs, plastered everywhere. His face was stitched into the carpets. His merchandise overflowed in the stores and shops and children began to wear and buy it. His face was paved into the new logo. And because of that moment, the moment he listened to that echoing voice in his head, Bonnie was gone. There was no more of that rabbit, it was Monty now, and he felt like the next big thing.

But the problem was that even though Bonnie was soon removed from the production line, the children still remembered that stupid rabbit animatronic. They still complained that he was gone, they still asked where he went, they still wanted to see Bonnie instead of him. He wanted to say that Bonnie was destroyed, he wanted to say that the only thing they'll ever see of that animatronic was his last remaining legacy, Bonnie Bowl. He wanted to laugh and boast about how the bowling alley would be renovated and no one would see that rabbit again. No one.

But every night, when he stands alone underneath the dim light of his room, after he wrecked and destroyed everything in his path due to an uncontrollable bout of destructive anger, the only thing in his head was Bonnie laying still at his feet. The rabbit's blank eyes stared into his, he would feel a feeling twist in his chest, and it would only take a moment to realize that it was fear that tugged at his gut. Then he imagined those blank eyes lighting up in a sickly yellow, and in a horrific sequence of some artificial nightmare he created himself, the rabbit animatronic's mutilated body would slowly rise.