FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Forrest!" A young otter shouted happily as he ran up to a brown bear cub that was only a couple years older. He turned and around and smiled as he waved happily.

"Hey! Thanks for coming!" He said as the otter stopped in front of him. He looked up at the bear with excited purple eyes. "This is your first time at Freddy's, isn't it?" He asked as we walked to his table. A table was set with all kinds of birthday goods, in the middle was a decent sized cake that held nine candles.

"Yeah, it is. I'm so excited." He said as they stopped in front of the table.

"You're just in time, Rio." Forrest said as they got in their seats. "Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica are about to perform." As though right on cue, the curtains pulled back revealing the animatronics. Rio smiled wide as they opened their eyes and looked around.

"They look so real." He said as Forrest turned around in his chair to face the stage.

"Hey there boys and girls." Freddy sad, his voice slightly mechanical. The kids didn't care, a loud roar of praise escaping everyone's maw. "We have a birthday today! You know what that means... Time to sing 'Happy Birthday'!" A song began to kick up.

Rio's parents walked over to Forrest's mother and began chatting as their children ran towards to the stage to watch the show. Once a couple songs had passed they returned to the table to eat pizza and cake. By then, the band was on it's last song, and was about halfway through it, when it happened.

There was loud shriek and then a bunch of people screaming. Everyone was running away in different directions and Rio's dad grabbed him and yanked him from his chair. Everything was moving to fast for the young otter to realize what had happened. All he knew was that something scared his parents and they left Freddy's in a hurry.

***

A slender squirrel sat across from Rio, who was now an adult. She had a notebook in her lap and she looked above the rim of her glasses at the otter. Her green eyes tried looking into his purple ones, but they remained staring at the ground. He wore a simple black t-shirt and black jeans. Around his neck was a necklace that she knew was from his friend's mother, a picture of Forrest rest inside the small oval locket.

"Rio..." His psychologist said as she let out a small sigh. "You have been seeing me for almost a year now... Yet this is the first time you have ever told me about the day Forrest disappeared. Why is that?" The otter didn't say anything, staring at the ground as a his eyes seemed to get misty.

"Today... is his birthday..." He said sadly.

"Oh? How old would he have been today?"

"29." Rio slumped in his chair as his paw held onto the locket.

"You seem to truly treasure him."

"He has been my friend since birth. Our mother's had been friends a little while before he was born. I can't remember a day when we weren't hanging out."

"I see... So after almost 20 years, you haven't moved on from the loss of him."

"I have tried." He said as he clasped his paws across his legs. The squirrel nodded and wrote some notes down on her pad. "But he was a big part of my childhood, and him disappearing so suddenly... it just isn't fair." The psychologist could see this subject was very touchy and thought for a couple seconds before choosing her next words.

"Rio, have you ever thought about returning to where he disappeared? To get closure?" That caught his attention, his eyes finally looking up into hers.

"What?"

"Well, I know it would be weird to go into a child's pizza joint, but what if you went to say goodbye?" She lifted an eyebrow as she closed the notepad.

"And forget him? Why the hell would-"

"I didn't say forget. Getting closure and forgetting are two different things. If you can go there and accept that he is gone, your mind and soul will feel better."

Rio thought about her words for a few seconds before he gave a small nod. "Ok, so what if that doesn't work?"

"Then we will continue down the path we are heading now, where you will come in here, tell me more about the pain, and I will suggest some other kind of treatment. It is a cycle, to be honest. I'll leave it to you... and with that, or time has drawn to a close." She said after checking her watch and standing. "Rio, letting go of the past is the best to secure your future."

The otter got up and sulked out of the office and stopped at the recpetionist desk. An Arctic fox smiled as he signed some papers. She held up a small lollipop.

"Cheer up, Rio." She said as she placed it in his paw.

"I'll try, Jade." He said as he put the candy in his mouth and gave her a reassuring fake smile. She gave a nod and answered the phone just as soon as it rang. He walked out and to his car and started it up. Disturbed played on his speakers in a quiet volume. He turned the dial, the volume getting louder. He pulled out of the parking lot and started towards home. He nod his head slightly to the tunes when out of the corner of his eyes he caught a glimpse of a familiar sight.

Without thinking he pulled into the parking lot of Freddy's. His whole body went cold as he turned the car off and got out. The wind gave a slight gust as he looked around. It was bare except for one single car. He walked up to the door and opened it up.

"Hello?" He called out. There was a clatter of noises as an ape rounded a corner.

"Oh, uh, hey there. This place is shut down"

"Oh... I just wanted to come and see it for one last time... This was the last place I saw my friend before he disappeared..." he said sadly.

"Ah, yes... the kidnaped children..." The ape said scratching the back of his head. "Well... take a look around if you want. There isn't much left... If you need anything just give me a shout, name's Scott." He said before walking back into what looked like an office. Rio looked around at the main room, the entire area looked disserted.

He gave a sigh as he looked around and made his way through overturned chairs and broken tables. After looking at the table that Forrest sat at for a few seconds he began walking down the hallways. Rio stopped at a door, his eyes settling on Bonnie, Freddy and Chica sitting in what looked like a repair room, though they still seemed like they did in his younger years. They all had their eyes closed and faced the wall.

"Hey, Scott?" Rio yelled, looking back towards the main room. The ape walked into view. "Where are these guys going?"

"Well, they aren't scheduled for removal until next week, and they will be sent to a sister location... probably for storage. Say, are you interested in a doing a small job for the week?" He asked as he looked at the animatronics.

"A job?"

"Yeah, it'll be third shift. I need someone to look after the diner until everything else is removed. I have had an incident where someone broke in. What they took was quite valuable."

"What was it?"

"That's something I am not allowed to tell you. But are you interested in the job?" Rio thought for a second before giving a nod.

"Sure, why not."

"Excellent, come here tomorrow at 11:45 and I'll let you in." He said then walked away. Rio looked at the ground then at the robots. He jumped slightly as he saw that Chica's head had turned slightly and her eyes were open. "D-Did...she..." I shook my head and walked back to the main room.