Hello all! I know, it's been a while! I apologize for the delay! Life has been...well, very chaotic lately and I never seem to have time to even concentrate on my stories! Hopefully, though, things are starting to slow down. At least for a while. So, a big yay for all of us, a longer chapter! Another yay, we should be getting into the actual Five Nights in a couple of chapters! Once we get into the Nights, that's when all the good stuff happens! I'm SO excited to get into that!

Also, this chapter wouldn't be possible without the inspiration of a song! This one was actually inspired by a fanmade song. Dream Your Dream by TryHardNinja inspired this whole chapter and was a huge help in writing it! It's kinda perfect too because it really sets the mood for what I have in store for this story!

"Believe nothing that you hear and only one half that you see..."

-Edgar Allan Poe

"Jackson! Jackson, where are you!"

She was running aimlessly, desperately searching for her missing boy. The restaurant was dark except for one room in the far back. Light dimly illuminated from under the crack of the door.

All around her, the soft hum of a melody haunted her as she shrieked for her little son in the terrifying place of fun. She knew the tune, but she refused to focus on it. It threatened to steer her away from her objective.

'Please, don't take my sunshine away…'

"Stop!" She screamed covering her ears with her balled fists as tears started to pool. It was all too much. Who knew such a simple, innocent song could bring so much turmoil and agony.

"MAMA!"

Emaley skid to a halt. The most hideous, blood-curdling scream came from the lit, closed-off room. Even worse, it was Jackson. She knew his voice from anywhere, even if it was soaked in complete and utter terror.

"Mama's coming, Jackson!" She screamed after him and set off in a sprint. She pushed forward as much as her legs could. Her efforts seemed useless, though. No matter how hard she pressed on, she didn't get a step closer to the room.

"MAMA, SAVE ME!"

Tears began to pour as she tripped over one of the chairs in the main floor, collapsing to the polished tile with a loud thud. She couldn't see what she fell into, but it was something wet and warm. It covered her hands, arms, legs, and torso. That didn't matter though.

"I'm trying, baby! Just hold on!" Emaley wiped the sticky liquid from her eyes and pushed on. Suddenly, and fortunately, she realized she was getting closer to the door. It was going to work! She was going to save her baby!

When she approached the door, she yanked on the doorknob and cursed when it refused to budge. In complete desperation, she began pounding on the door and throwing all her body weight onto it in hopes of breaking it down. Yet, it was like she never touched it. The door made no sounds and nothing seemed to shift or shake with her hasty movements.

"MAMA, PLEASE! SAVE ME!"

Suddenly, the lights flashed on and she was temporarily blinded by them. The same sticky goop that had caught her fall from earlier was back on the floor and she found herself falling back into it when she tried to run away from the bright light.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she started to pick up shapes and colors. The sticky, annoying goop that she figured was spilled soda was nothing that she expected.

Her old, favorite white blouse was nearly unrecognizable from the blood she was covered in. Her pale skin was dark now as the flashing, colorful party lights engulfed her in a terrifying trance. Her hands shook as her mind slowly started to comprehend what was going on.

A shadow loomed over her and forced her to look away from the horror she was covered in. In her state of mind, she couldn't make out any apparent details of the form, but she knew who it was.

It made no sounds as it stretched out its arms and it was only then that she saw it was carrying something. As she studied it carefully, she realized it wasn't carrying something but someone. Someone she didn't want to find. Not like this.

She was frozen in fear. She wanted to scream, but couldn't find her voice. It was like she was just a mere spectator in this cruel game. Without warning, the shadowy figure dropped the little body in front of her.

She realized now that this little body was the source of all the blood on the floor. With her whole body quivering in fear, she squirmed over to the body and pushed the hair from their bloody face.

She couldn't hold it back now. She manically crawled away from the body, releasing a blood-curdling scream as she did so. It was him…Her Jackson…She was too late. The shadowy figure made his presence known again and confirmed her fears.

"You can't."

Emaley woke with a start, still screaming from the nightmare. Quickly, she clamped a hand over her mouth and stared off into the darkness surrounding her. For a moment, she thought she was still in the dream and tried to stand and run, but something glued her to her place.

She remembered now as she ran her fingers over the seatbelt strapped securely across her chest. It was almost 6 a.m. She was here to let Braden out from his shift. She, obviously, fell asleep while waiting. Her heat still beat rapidly against her chest as she tried to calm down after her frightening start.

That voice. She could've sworn she had heard it before. Her memory was fuzzy, but she knew she had heard it. It was recently, too. The voice was a masculine one and she only knew few men in her life. If it was someone from her small circle of friends, why would she hear it in her dream? Why would they be voicing the man holding her son's lifeless body?

An annoying alarm sounded from the passenger seat before she could really investigate it, though. It was 6:05. Braden's probably back there beating on the door waiting for her. Rubbing her exhaustion from her face, she threw her bag over her shoulder and stepped out of the car.

The morning sun lazily peeked over the building as she strode down the parking lot, leaving everything in its path in a glimmering, orange shield. She used to love mornings. She would always grab a cup of coffee and watch the world around her slowly awaken. Now, it was just another sunrise. Nothing new, nothing special.

Birds chirped their morning song, welcoming another day. She wished she had their constant cheer. How nice would it be to wake up in the morning and look forward to the day. It had been a long time since she woke up excited for what the day held. Now, her mornings consisted of letting night guards escape the hell hole they all worked at. At least, it was her hell hole. Then again, the only night guard they had left was Braden and he was switching to days starting Monday.

She hated his decision to switch. He was the only person and fellow employee that she cared for. How could he abandon her and force her to work with someone new? She didn't want to start all over again. Befriending Braden was a long and unwanted task.

Yet, at the same time, she couldn't blame him. Nights ruined any social life one might have. He would complain daily about how he could never go out and do anything because of his work and sleeping schedule. Even on his days off, he couldn't accept any invites from friends because he couldn't afford to mess up his sleeping schedule. And he received many invitations from friends. Whether it was to a party or just going out to eat after a shift.
Sometimes, she was jealous of Braden's life outside of Freddy's and herself. She wished she had someone to go to and escape reality with for a short time. After the incident, she wanted no one. She drove off many of her old friends and family. Now, she wished she had them all back. If only she had realized how agonizingly lonely she was now…

As she neared the door, she pulled out her keys and pushed those thoughts aside. Hopefully, Braden would be there with new evidence for her. She had to focus on that. Until she got this whole mess figured out, she couldn't let anything else. She had plenty of time to obtain a social life after she was given her answers.

Unlocking the door and throwing it open, she expected to see Braden waiting impatiently for her. Perhaps even cracking a joke about her tardiness. That was how it was every morning. This morning was different though. He was nowhere to be seen.

The hallway was pitch black. Something was off. Braden was always waiting for her after he switched the lights back on. This time, Braden was absent and the power hadn't been turned back on.

With a dry gulp, she clutched to the side of the door, squinting through the darkness. In the distance, she could hear faint footsteps and felt her heart beat quicken. Where was he?

"Braden….Braden?" She called out, soft at first and then raised her voice when there was no reply.

Did he already leave somehow? How could he though, she was the only one with the keys and this was the only exit he had. It was closest to the back office. Emaley glanced behind her to see if his truck was still there; it was. The little, beat up truck was parked where it was when she saw him last.

She was getting scared. All she could think about was the dream she just had. She didn't want to step inside and relive, but what if Braden was in trouble? Where were the footsteps coming from?

"Braden? If this is one of your stupid jokes, I swear to God…" She called out again, louder than last time, and the footsteps ceased. She attracted something. What that something was, she had no idea.

She waited, again, for Braden to appear, but she saw no sign of him. Maybe she should go inside and check on him? She wanted to, but couldn't find the courage to put one foot in front of the other. Not after her dream.

She decided to look through her bag for some kind of light and ended up pulling out her cellphone. When she activated the light and looked up, she found that she didn't even need it. Before she could realize who it was, she jumped and screamed when she saw someone walking towards the exit. Her first thought was the shadowy figure from her dream. She wanted to run away, call for help, or even call after Jackson, but she had to snap out of it. She was awake and this was not a dream. She had to forget about that stupid dream or it was going to consume her every thought.

As the light from her cellphone flashed over the unknown figures features, she breathed a sigh of relief and placed a hand over her rapidly-beating heart.

"You said something, Em?" Braden asked, looking down at the camcorder in his hands.

Emaley shook her head and stuffed her cellphone back into her bag, stepping to the side to let Braden out. "You scared the piss outta me, Braden."

Braden looked up from his camcorder and arched a brow. "What?"

She waved it off. "Nothing. So, what did you get?"

Braden looked up nervously and tried operating his camcorder again, but it was still dead just like it had been when he went back to his office in hopes of finding a way to charge it. "I can't show you right now."

Emaley cocked a brow this time. "What do you mean you can't show me? I can handle whatever's on there." She questioned defensively.

"I know, I know, you can. It's just that the camcorder died, like, thirty minutes ago. That's why I wasn't at the door like usual. I tried to go back and see if I could find a way to turn it on long enough to let you watch, but I didn't dig up anything."

Emaley sighed and crossed her arms. "So, what do we do now? You're gonna be asleep all day and I'll have to wait until tonight to see anything."

Braden grinned sympathetically. "I know, I'm sorry. I'll try to make a copy for you so you can watch it on your own and analyze it or whatever it is you like to do."

"Can you tell me what's on it?" Emaley asked, nearly jogging alongside him to keep up with his long strides.

Braden scoffed and looked over at Emaley with a dimpled smile. "Would you believe me even if I told you, good or bad?"

Like many times before, Emaley wanted to say yes, but it would've been a lie. "No."

Braden just chuckled. "That's what I thought."

The two continued their walk in silence until they arrived at Braden's truck. Emaley looked down at her watch; it was almost 6:15. She was shocked to find that she had waited for Braden for about ten minutes. It was weird how time worked.

Throwing his bag carefully onto the passenger seat across from him, he leaned against his opened car door and turned to Emaley. "You know, whatever you find on that video, good or bad, it's gonna be okay."

That was new for Braden. Sure, he did try to be the voice of reason for her, but he was never one to speak out like this unless provoked. Emaley was suspicious and cautious with this new side of him.

"What do you mean?" She asked hesitantly, eyebrows furrowing.

"Whatever you find on that video, good or bad, I just hope it allows you to move on, Em. You deserve that. All of the families like you do." He said sincerely, reaching out and tenderly wrapping a hand around her wrist, his thumb stroked her skin in a small, circular pattern.

This time, she didn't slink away from his touch, but welcomed it. Without another thought, she grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to her, wrapping them both in a tight hug. She was tired of fighting. Tired of pushing people away.

Braden tensed, at first, but slowly warmed up to it. His long arms gently squeezed her frame before they both stepped away. With a grin, he played with a strand of her hair.

"Who knew it would take five years to get any emotion out of you." He teased with his infamous dimpled grin.

Emaley laughed with him and started to walk back to her car, this new, yet familiar atmosphere was too much to handle. "You better be back with us night people soon, Braden. You're forcing me to socialize with a new night guard after tonight."

Braden was sitting in the cab of his truck now and chuckled. "C'mon, Em, it'll do you some good. Just don't hiss at him this time." He teased remembering the first time the two were introduced.

Emaley blushed lightly and rolled her eyes. "I did not hiss at you!"

"Whatever you say, demon."

With that, the two departed with a friendly goodbye.

Driving to her apartment, Emaley fought to keep her eyes open. It had been such a long night and all she wanted to do was sleep. Yet, at the same time, she feared sleep. She didn't want a repeat of her previous dream. The last thing she wanted was to relive such an awful nightmare and, now, memory.

She already made plans to find ways to fight sleep or keep good thoughts before she fell asleep when she pulled in and saw something out of the ordinary. A few doors down from her apartment, boxes sit out in front of the opened door and a young man was sitting outside, looking down at his cellphone.

She forgot that there was someone new moving in, but she didn't figure that to be for a while. When were the surprises going to stop today? Sighing, she crawled out of her vehicle and pulled out her set of keys.

She didn't make it to the door though. The young man slipped his phone into his pocket and was running over. Except, it wasn't a stranger. It was someone that kept forcing his way into her life. She didn't like it. Like with Braden, she wanted to choose who came into her life.

Mike jogged up to her with a welcoming grin. "Hey there, neighbor."

"Neighbor?"

Surprise flashed across his features and he cocked a brow. "Yeah, I told you last night. Remember?"

The gas station. She remembered now and sighed. "Yeah, I remember now. The stalker alerting his prey."

Mike chose to just accept her taunts and chuckled. "I suppose that's what it was."

Emaley smiled and silence followed. Mike seemed to be finding what to say next while Emaley prayed he would come up blank. She was not in the mood right now to play the part as friendly neighbor. She just wanted to go inside and escape the reality. Or perhaps it was her dreamland now. She wasn't sure which was which anymore.

Making a popping sound with her lips, Emaley broke the awkward silence and took a step towards her door. "Well, this has been….interesting, but I think I'm gonna-"

"Oh, Emaley, wait!" Mike interrupted, taking a step towards Emaley.

With a sigh, she turned back to him and waited for him to say what he wanted to say. "Yeah?"

Mike was quiet for a moment and nervously ran a hand through his hair before saying anything. "It's still pretty early and…I haven't ate yet. I was, uh, wondering if you wanted to go and get something to eat?"

Emaley grinned half-heartedly. "I'm, uh, not much of a breakfast person. Like I said, it's been a long night and I just wanna rest, you know?"

Mike's face dropped and he nodded stiffly. "Uh, yeah. Maybe we can postpone?"

"Mike, right? I'm sure you're a great guy and all, but I'm just not really one to do things like this. You know, dinner dates and friends. I think it would be best if we just kept this to a head nod and a 'how's it going' in the mornings."

Mike was determined to make something positive out of this exchange though and wasn't going to let Emaley go back inside until they agreed on some kind of friendship.

"I know I'm just the new guy in the neighborhood, but that might just be great for the both of us. I'm so tired of hanging out with my cousins."

Emaley couldn't hide the laugh now, even if she wanted to. "So, that's all of who you know here? Your cousins?"

Mike nodded with a smile, excited that he was actually getting somewhere with her. "Yeah, dragging Shelbi out of gas stations got old really quick."

"Yeah, I bet. She definitely seems exciting though. Gotta give her that." Emaley agreed with a warm smile. Maybe she was too harsh on him. Just an hour ago she was talking about how she should open up more. Maybe Mike was right. Maybe it was better that they knew nothing about each other. Well, sort of didn't know anything about each other. "You know what? I think I'll take you up on that offer. Not now, but sometime soon, okay?"

Mike was happy with that. "Yeah, sounds perfect. My instincts were right about you. You can't deny breakfast for too long."

You can't.

Emaley knew, deep down, that she was being crazy, but she froze at the words. The voices were almost identical. Sure, one was more menacing and dark, but there was no doubt that they were identical. Her heart started beating rapidly and she could feel her palms getting sweaty. She had to go inside and rest. She was going insane! At least, that's what she hoped. Fantasy was much better than reality.

"I have to go." She said shakily, forcefully unlocked her door, and slammed it behind her.

Mike tried to stop her, but was interrupted by the slamming door. In a split second, she went from a seemingly-sweet, friendly girl to a shaking, horrified mess. What happened? Maybe Albert was right about her...

No, he was going to give her the benefit of the doubt. From his short time here, he could tell many people chose to see her as broken. There was no doubt that she had some issues that needed resolving, but he saw potential in her. From what he heard, she had everything going for her before the incident. She was going to go places and really make a difference, yet here she was. Traumatized without a single person left to care for her. After everything he did in his past, it was time he provided a positive influence.

With a sigh, he trudged back to his apartment and tried to decide what he was going to do with all the boxes left over from the move.