4
Aknock came at the door. A loud rattle andBANG, BANG, BANG. Frankie and I froze. I was certain the police were behind the door, ready to burst in. I could hear it in my head, an imaginary walkie talkie giving a little beep and static.
“Uh, ma’am, we know what you’ve done and you’re going away forever.” Radio static, mumbled noise. “Oops sorry, not forever. Just until the chair is juiced enough to end your pathetic, short excuse of a life, boss murderer.”
“Excuse me!” I heard an irate woman yell in the real world, outside my anxiety created fantasy.BANG BANG BANG.
“I think you better get that,” Frankie said. Frankie, the animatronic who was…alive? I opened my mouth to ask him what he was but the banging continued and the woman was yelling some more, looking for an employee, a manager, a “goddamn district manager”. I scrambled up, my rollerblades slipping in blood. Jesus, there was a lot of blood. It had just kept pooling and gushing from Gus like the mall’s fountain—thick rivulets trickling out on the floor and spreading.
My legs were coated, my rollerblade wheels were dripping wet. My eyes briefly darted to the metal claw wounds and gotstuck. They were just so…deep and violent. Frankie’s claws had sliced through Gus’ neck like butter.
When I tried to glide on my skates they slid backwards instead of letting me press off. My body lurched forward and I saw my own life flash before my eyes as the doorknob came hurtling towards my eye as I fell. Before I could brain myself, ginormous hands grabbed my waist and stopped my fall. Frankie’s hands encompassed my waist. He squeezed a little, seeming to enjoy how his fingers could touch. It was very obvious that I was more the toy in this situation, he could pick me up and move me around like a doll.
“Mmm,” he hummed, gripping me. I was as still as possible, a mannequin in a storefront, held in the air by an animatronic that claimed he loved me. The banging came again. Frankie took a deep, shaky breath and righted me, his furred, robot fingers slowly coming off me one at a time.
Immediately I reached for the door, turned the knob, and fell into the hallway into a blood-drenched heap.
“About fucking time,” the woman said as I twisted around frantically to slam the door shut.Don’t see my dead boss.Don’t see my dead boss. That was this moment’s calming mantra. Wasn’t really all that calming.
It took several tries to get the lock twisted on the knob, on account of all the blood all over me. Finally, I flicked the lock without my red fingers slipping off. Frankie and my dead boss were behind a locked door and I could take a breath. Except apparently I couldn’t because the woman was talking a lot and her decibels were increasing rapidly.
“And if we don’t get our pizzas in three minutes then I’m calling the cops because we both know what Ray is doing here.”
“Nononononono,” I said quickly, scrambling up onto my rollerblades. My earlier imagination was in the back of my mind. I could feel the steel cuffs biting into my wrists as they pickedme up and shoved me in the back of a chevy caprice squad car, whispering to me about how I was never getting out while pretending they were telling me my rights.
“Don’t call the police,” I blurted quickly. “What’s the issue…ma’am?” Ma’am rolled out of my mouth like English was my seventh language because I never used that word. I think she thought I was gagging instead of saying ma’am because she took a step back. She also sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“I’ve paid for the birthday package. It’s six-twenty and the kids were supposed to have pizza at six, Frankie at six-fifteen.” Apparently, my boss dying and the animatronics coming to life weren’t going to end my shift. If this was going to happen to anyone, of course it would be me. Of course. This was just my luck. My eyes shifted around while I thought. My bloody hand was gripping the doorknob to keep myself up. It started to jiggle a little and my eyes bugged. I was losing it.
“Yes!” I barked out to the woman. “I’ll get on that right away. I’m so sorry. There was an issue with Frankie.”He murdered someone.“And I had to uh…” I looked down at my blood-soaked body. The woman did too. I expected horror, what I got was judgment.
“Haven’t you heard of a pad?” She scoffed. I looked at her in shock and horror. Were her periods capable of slicking her body from ankle to chest?
“Pizza sauce!” I said. “It’s pizza sauce. Frankie was flinging it around,” I said, making a confused face. No one would believe this. Apparently, that didn’t matter though. This customer didn’t give a shit what I was saying unless it was apologies and promises.
“Pizza in five minutes,” she hissed, turning around and stomping off.
“It takes ten in the oven!” I belatedly yelled after her. She flipped me off and kept walking. The doorknob rattled again.
“Ramona,” Frankie whined. “Let me out,” he growled demonically. My eyes bugged.
“No,” I hissed. “You killed my boss and it’s going to look like I did it,” I murmured to the door.
“Gus?” He asked, sounding shocked. “Gus is—”
“Shut up shut up shut up! You aren’t supposed to talk.”
“Would you like me to sing instead?” He purred in amusement.
“Oh my god, I have to go. If I don’t make shitty pizza and defrost ice cream cake they are calling the cops and I’m going to prison.” I skated off before Frankie could say anything else. I was pretending his banging and demands to be let out quickly were simply my mind breaking after what was already a too-long shift and only about to get way, way longer.
This was hell.I should have just quit once my boss was murdered but noooo, I had to pull up a clean pair of rainbow booty shorts and give kids partially cooked pizza and tasteless ice cream cake.
“Frankie! Frankie! Frankie! Frankie!” The kids had all joined in, the entire colossal, over-filled room of them, chanting like they were performing satanic rituals I wasn’t sure wouldn’t work to summon a possessed animatronic. Their fists were caked in pizza sauce and spit and banging into the table with each syllable.
The parents and Ray’s crew had all left. That’s how bad this was. I was now the babysitter of the entire restaurant while all their guardians had slithered into the parent “break room” to make extremely questionable choices. They weren’t here but amassive crowd of chanting, filthy children were and they had violence gleaming in their eyes.
I slid another partially cooked pizza on table three and they dove in, canines glistening. At least if I kept the pizzas coming they wouldn’t eat me. That’s all one could hope for at this point. They were furious that the animatronic band wasn’t playing. Tonight was a full booked birthday bonanza and apparently, I was ruining everyone’s year. A little girl had been inconsolably sobbing in the corner for thirty minutes because I wouldn’t let a murderous coyote robot sing her children’s songs and play guitar.
