The lights go out, and darkness consumes. What felt like silence in the lighting turned into a cold, turning crinkle of dripping water and footsteps, steps that don’t belong to you. Smells everywhere around you, sweet and sour and warm and then so cold. Suddenly, the footsteps get closer to you, and before you can turn around to see, it-

     “Excuse me, what are you doing in the movie theater?” A young lady with a head of blonde hair takes the palm of her hand and plants it on your shoulder. “It’s closed.”

     “I’m waiting to see the ‘Five Nights at Freddies’ movie,” you say, not even hesitating to change your mind and leave. You keep yourself sitting on the rough, popcorn smelling chair, keeping good eye contact with the woman who you assume has to be one of the workers.

     “We haven’t even released it in theaters yet,” she sighs, expecting an apology. You dissatisfied her, keeping your mouth clamped shut. She continues, growing furious. “You need to leave, now. Or I’m going to call the police and have you charged for burglary, which is not the same as robbery. It is breaking and entering-“ 

     “Did you play FNAF as a kid?” You ask.

     “No,” she answers sternly.

     You gasp. She rolls her eyes, then folds her arms together, clearly upset. This probably isn’t the first time she’s had to deal with movie watchers like you, but what you do next is something she’s never seen.

     “Want to know why FNAF is such a big deal?” You say.

     You almost expect her to say no, then she might call security and have you forced out. Yet, the unexpected comes first; she says yes. She sighs, and takes the seat next to you, a blank expression on your face. You challenge yourself, making sure that once you’ve told her everything your friends didn’t want to hear, she is shocked, maybe even invested, if you want to make things harder. 

     “It all started 9 years ago…”

2014, August 8, and the game was uploaded for the world to play. A game meant to scare its players, but to keep them intrigued. Because once someone is drawn into something, it’s hard to get away from it. That was Scott Cawthorns plan, and maybe it worked a little better than any of us were expecting; because barely a year later, Warner Bros announces that they are going to start the production of the movie “Five Nights at Freddie’s”. And finally, 8 years later, we get that.

     Okay, let’s back it up here; what is Five Nights at Freddie’s? 

     Five Nights at Freddie’s is a horror game based in an abandoned pizza parlor, where the souls of murdered children are trapped in animatronics. The main animatronics, Freddy, Chica, Bonnie and Foxy try to kill you throughout the game, as you explore the abandoned building. The point of the game is to survive.

     The creator of the game, Scott Cawthorn, was originally a Christian game creator, meant for everything to be family friendly and church related. Yet, one day, he made a game like something you’d see in a Chuck E Cheese, but with the addition of scary animatronics. It had not been called FNAF, nor had it been approved by, but that gave him the idea; what if it was scary? What if it wasn’t church related?

     This was the birth of Five Nights at Freddie’s.

     So he gave the game its name, some additions, and the world became obsessed. Overtime, when the internet and social media became more and more popular (especially factionalized theories), FNAF gained popularity as well, and then a lore was created, which brought much more attention to the game. 

     Now, all that was left was to wait for the movie.

     And wait.

     And wait…

“Why did it take so long?” The theater worker, who’s name you’ve learnt, is Jane. You both share a large bowl of popcorn, which tastes slightly stale but you don’t mind because the butter covering it slathers your tongue in a more fond flavor.

     “People lost interest the longer they waited, the longer Warner bros took. Yet, it wasn’t Warner Bros fault, it was Scott himself,” you say. “He kept delaying the process, changing the script or the storyline, adding new additions to the game, and doing exactly what Warner Bros didn’t want: a waiting audience.”

     Jane doesn’t comment, so you continue.

     “Warner Bros nearly dropped the idea itself. They had been working for three years, doing and redoing the story, trying to make an end, and to make money,” you say. “But only a couple years ago, finally, things began to work smoothly. And now, October 27, we finally get the movie that took far too long to make.”

     You look at your watch. It says 3:34 am. You hadn’t realized how late it was, or rather, how early in the morning it is. But now, in just a few more hours, the lights will turn on and the screen will carry the film that took too much effort to make. 

     “Can we…” Jane starts. “Watch the movie together?”

     Before you can say anything, another voice chimes in. You don’t even recognize the voice or the words being said, until you look up from where you sit and see what looks like a teenager. He takes the seat next to Jane.

     “Count me in,” he says.

     “Who are you?” You ask.

     “Christopher. I am excited, and I want to watch it with friends,” Christopher Diaz, a freshman at San Marcos, says.

     Before you realize it, you are all talking about it. You barely know each other, but it seems like the FNAF movie has brought enough talk to hold a conversation, and to make… a bond.

     Now, tired but ready, you wait, for the last time.