Trapped at Maple Town Pizza

It was a regular Saturday night on August 28th, 1993. I wasn't in the best mood as I had to babysit a 9-year-old boy shiba inu named Kenji that night. Kenji's family was heading out of town with my parents, and they needed a babysitter. Of course, my parents just had to volunteer me. My dad offered to pay me $30 to take Kenji to Maple Town Pizza. I would've rather stayed home and just watch Dragon Ball Z with Kenji. But making $30 to sit at a pizzeria and watch animatronics for an hour at most seems like a good deal.

Before leaving, my dad handed me $50. The extra $20 was for whatever the cost was for the food and games. I would obviously not pocket the change. My aunts and uncle said goodbye to Kenji as they left with my parents. I told Kenji everything about where we're going tonight. It was around 8:00 PM when we left. I had never been to this place. I imagined it would be like Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza. I did however know that his place had a bad history and that it would be closed by the end of the year. Kenji was excited on the way there.

I couldn't relate. I remember having always been afraid of those singing animatronics in these kinds of places when I was younger. We got there at around 8:15 PM. The last show of the night started at 8:30 PM. I remember seeing a Help Wanted sign for a security guard. I wondered why a place like this would even need a security guard, but I shrugged it off. We sat down at a table, and I got a pizza for us. It tasted no better than a Chuck E Cheese or what you would get at home. I didn't expect much more though. The atmosphere seemed a little outdated like something that would fit in the mid 1980s.

The place was very nice, sparkling, beautiful and clean and still very popular, which made me wonder what could have happened to make it close by the end of the year. While eating, there was suddenly a loud drumroll followed by a voice introducing the Maple Town characters. The kids all cheered as the curtains opened up, revealing five of the animatronics: Patty Rabbit, Rachel Rabbit, Roxie Raccoon, Fanny Fox and Bobby Bear. I was shocked, these animatronics looked very cute, sweet and adorable.

As they sang their first song, Kenji along with the other kids seemed to be enjoying it, even the parents were having a good time. But I just stared with a blank expression on my face. The animatronics were pretty smooth, cute, adorable and impressive though I guess. This made up for their cute looks. After they finished their first song, Fanny Fox....I swear...turned her head and looked straight at me. It wasn't by chance; her eyes were fixed onto mine. I stared back a little and freaked out.

Maybe they were programmed to make eye contact like this but for how long? She was staring at me for at least 30 second or 3 and a half minutes. Two more of the other 4 animatronics: Patty Rabbit and Rachel Rabbit were turning their heads and eyes to look at the whole crowd but not Fanny Fox. It wasn't until the next song that Fanny Fox looked away from me. I felt a bit relieved thinking maybe I was just being a little paranoid - letting my childhood fears of animatronics get the better of me.

At least Kenji was enjoying himself. The 2nd song went on for about 20 minutes before ending. I had at this point completely calmed down until it happened again. As the song ended, Fanny Fox turned her head to look at me - her eyes locked onto mine. But this time, Rachel Rabbit turned her head to me as well as making eye contact. "What on Earth?!" I said, obviously loud enough for Kenji to hear me. She looked at me with a curious stare.

I pointed out to Kenji that two of the animatronics were staring at me. He didn't even acknowledge what I said. As Patty Rabbit spoke to the audience, both Rachel Rabbit and Fanny Fox's eyes were locked onto mine. My heart started beating 2 times as fast at this point. I was freaking out in my seat. Why was nobody turning around to see what the two robots were staring at? Wasn't anyone going to acknowledge what was happened? I got up out of my seat to get a Dr. Pepper at the fountain.

Too scared to look behind me at the stage, I filled up a cup of Dr. Pepper soda and stalled by getting a tray to put my Dr. Pepper soda on. I put the tray in my hands. Now I was waiting for the 3rd song to start or something else. I just couldn't turn around to look at the stage. Suddenly, I heard Kenji call my name. I had to turn around now "It's okay", I thought. There's no way those animatronics were still looking at me after I left my seat.

I turned around to look at Kenji, but I saw out the corner of my eye the two heads staring at me. I dropped the tray and soda on the floor out of shock. An employee came over to ask if I was alright. I asked why those animatronics were staring at me, Just as I was asking this, I heard Patty Rabbit say it's time to get ready for the 3rd song. I turned around to see that the curtains were already closing. The employee explained to me that the animatronics were designed to make eye contact with people before he walked off.

I could tell he hadn't taken me seriously. But as least the curtains were closed, and I couldn't see them anymore. But couldn't forget how they looked at me. They stared directly at me. But the way they stared at me it didn't feel happy or friendly. It felt....evil. I asked Kenji if he was ready to leave because I wanted to get the hell out of that place. He told me he wanted to see the rest of the show and play some arcade games. He asked me for my phone, telling me he had to tell his mom something.

I handed him my phone and he walked off to the arcade games. As he walked off, I noticed another mini stage away from the main stage. It was called Acorn Cove. The stage had the curtain closed and a tiny sign out front that read "Out of Order". I asked an employee what it was and why it was closed. He told me that the animatronic that was on stage named Suzie Squirrel had a technical malfunction in 1990, causing her to severely injure a child by accident.

Hearing this news, I realized why this place has a troubled history and why it was closing. It shocked me that if such a horrific accident like this happened and how this place managed to stay open all this time. I was starting to feel uncomfortable staying at that place. I wanted to leave as soon as possible, but I knew Kenji was having a good time. I saw him playing arcade games. I sat back down and just waited. I just wanted this show to end as soon as possible so we can leave.

About 5 minutes passed until the intermission was over and the curtains were opening back up. Well, the kids that have gotten up to play games didn't return to the show area. I couldn't really blame them. I never found the animatronics entertaining enough humor either. Kenji didn't come back either. I know I should've probably just gotten away from the stage and played the game with Kenji, but part of me was curious. I needed to know I needed to see what was going on and if these things would still stare directly at me with their evil plastic eyes.

Patty Rabbit and Fanny Fox made jokes and interacted with the kids in the audience a bit before starting their 3rd song. It was interesting though. Most animatronics were attached to the floor, only able to move from the torso up but these Maple Town kids, their legs seemed to have free movement, allowing Patty Rabbit and her friends and older sister to walk across the stage. It was incredible and terrifying. The 3rd song ended.

I was ready for them to get me. Nothing. The robots made jokes and interacted with the kids. None of them turned their heads in my direction. I felt a weird mix of feelings: relief and discontentment. Why was I anticipating it? Why did I want them to stare at me? The last song went by fast because of all my thoughts. As it ended, the Maple Town kids started to say their farewells to the children. At this point, I was convinced that they weren't gonna stare at me anymore and that maybe the worker was right. Maybe they were set to make eye contact with people.

it was almost 9:00, which meant that the place was getting ready to close. Most of the parents and kids started to head for the doors. Kenji came to me and told me he had to go to the bathroom. The public men's room had an Out of Order sign on it. I asked an employee where he could use the bathroom and she said that he could use the employee restroom. The employee pointed Kenji to the bathroom.

There was an announcement that the place was now closed. I waited for a few more minutes. It seemed like I was the last person there. Even most of the employees have left. I stood there growing impatient until I noticed something at the corner of my eye. No, It couldn't be! I turned my head to see that Patty Rabbit, Rachel Rabbit and Fanny Fox were looking at me: the same awful stare. I felt my heart sink into my stomach. I couldn't even shout out the words to call for an employee.

It's time to get out of here. I stormed down the hallway quick, bursting into the employee restroom. I looked for Kenji, but he didn't respond. I looked down under the stalls to see if anybody was in them and I saw Kenji's shoes. I immediately felt relieve and stood by the door waiting. I waited for what felt like another 5 minutes. I didn't want to I didn't want to say anything to make him feel awkward but I had to. I asked if he was almost done in there because the place was closed, but he didn't respond. I started to become curious because I had been standing there for a long time and he hadn't made a single sound. I walked up to the stall and knocked and it creeped open to reveal nothing but Kenji's shoes. He wasn't in there.

I heard it come from outside the bathroom. It was a huge bang. It sounded like some kind of door closing. I ran out of the bathroom to find that the main lights have been turned out with only sources of light being the dimly lit night lights. I made my way back to the lobby or at least what I called a lobby in this place. I screamed for Kenji and I have screamed for help, but to no avail. "This is insane!" I thought. What kind of place completely shuts down in such a rush like this? It was probably only 10 after 9.

I ran to the entrance thinking maybe Kenji was waiting for me outside, only to realize that I was right. There was a giant metal door blocking the entrance. I didn't know what to think of this. I didn't know how to react. I was trapped in this place. Why would a place like this have a giant metal door like that? What were they trying to keep out or in? I had to call my parents or the police or someone. Kenji was missing and I was trapped in there.

I reached into my pocket for my phone. Empty. I remembered that I had given it to Kenji. I tried to calm myself down. "I can't be the only person in the building!" I thought to myself and there had to be a phone somewhere in the building. I walked down every hallway I could find, looking for a phone and occasionally shouting for somebody. The only phone that I found so far was disconnected. If it weren't for the fact that Kenji was by himself on a Saturday night, I wouldn't have been such a panic.

What happened to him? Why were his shoes in the stall? What if somebody taken him? I had to call the police, but there was no phone! I walked down another hallway, finding a door that I hadn't checked yet that had a Staff Only sign. I opened the door only to discover a room full of animatronic body parts. The room smelled foul like something was rotting in there and I was standing in some kind of thick liquid substance.

I got out of that room as quickly as I entered. Seeing those animatronics made me think that maybe Kenji was sitting in the dining area waiting. The dining area was right outside the hall I was in, so I thought I as well check. Navigating the barely lit building was pretty difficult but also creepy. When I got to the dining area, I called for Kenji but there was no response. Suddenly, I noticed something through the corner of my eye: I could see that the curtains on the stage had been opened again. I could've sworn they'd been shut after the show.

I didn't want to turn my head in fear of what I was expecting to see. But before I could give myself more time to think, I turned my head to the stage to see Patty Rabbit, Fanny Fox and Rachel Rabbit on stage. There was fourth one. I knew there was the fourth one: Roxie Raccoon. Roxie Raccoon was missing. Where was Roxie Raccoon? I was able to make out in the dark the heads of the Patty Rabbit and Fanny Fox animatronics facing me.

I ran out of there as quickly as I could back into the dark hallways. I stopped to catch my breath, but I heard something coming down from the hall. There were footsteps coming my way. I was saved. Somebody was there. I ran closer to the source of the footsteps yelling for help. As I got closer, I slowed down noticing that the footsteps were heavy. Unnaturally heavy for a human being.

I stopped, thinking something wasn't right. The flickering lights ahead of me didn't provide enough light to see the source of the footsteps yet. As the footsteps got closer, I could see the figure: It was the shadow of Roxie Raccoon standing in the dark light from the hall and she was accompanied by Danny Dog, another animatronic. I was unable to let out a scream. The two robots started walking towards me and at that instant, I ran to the nearest room which happened to be a security room.

I looked for anything to defend myself with. There were no weapons, but there was a button on the wall that seemed to be a door control. The footsteps were getting closer almost outside the room. I ran to the wall and threw my fist onto the button, causing a giant door to close to the floor. One of the two robots banged on the door for a few seconds before the only noise was the buzzing sound of the dim floor of some light in the room.

How is this possible? How could these animatronic performers have the ability to roam freely? Why the hell was that thing following me? These things, are they alive? These nightmarish thoughts kept pouring into my mind that I almost didn't even notice the heavy footsteps coming from the opposite direction. I turned around, realizing there was another opening to the room with an identical door switch.

I immediately sprang to the door slamming my hand on the button, not wanting to see what was coming down that hall. I sat in the room feeling safe for a few moments until I remember that Kenji was missing. I had to find a way out of there, but there was no way I could step back into those hallways until I knew those things were gone. There were two windows facing either side with the view into the hallways.

I couldn't see anything outside though. It was pitch black. I noticed that under the door buttons on both sides there were two buttons that were labeled light. Maybe these lights were for outside the security office. I needed to make sure that the robots weren't outside. I flipped the switch on the left side of the room to reveal Danny Dog's face staring at me through the glass. I hit light switch again to turn it off. I didn't want to see that thing. I didn't want to see that thing looking at me through the glass. I moved across the room to the other side, pressing the light switch.

I almost fell to the floor in fear. It was Fanny Fox, one of Patty Rabbit's friends staring at me through the glass. Fanny Fox herself had a disturbingly creepy demonic smile on her face, revealing that her teeth are covered in human blood as if she severely bit someone and her eyes were glowing demonic red while crying blood and she was holding a bloody kitchen knife in her left hand. Fanny Fox banged her right hand on the glass keeping eye contact with me. I shut the light off when I couldn't take the sight of the thing anymore.

I sat in the chair in the middle of the room, balled up like a baby. "This can't be happening!" I kept telling myself. The robots reminded me of their presence with constant knocking on glass. I feared that they might break the glass. I didn't know what they were going to do to me if they got me but I imagined the worst. I couldn't see anything through the glass but I knew they were still there watching me.

While looking around the room, I found a flashlight in one of the drawers and on the desk. I noticed a camera system. I turned it on and a bunch of screens turned on surveilling probably every room in the building. I looked at a screen displaying the show stage. Patty Rabbit and her older sister Rachel Rabbit staring right into the camera. I looked at another screen that displayed the Acorn Cove that I had seen earlier. There was an animatronic poking its head out of the curtains. I remember that the employee told me it was named Suzie Squirrel and while she was in disrepair, she was still turned on.

Then I started to realize it didn't matter if they were turned on or not, these things were alive and they were evil. I could see Suzie Squirrel giving a creepy smile and I knew that I didn't want to be anywhere near her. So I kept my eye on that camera to make sure she didn't move. I sat watching the camera for what felt like hours and it probably was. The tapping on the glass had stopped and the female cream and tan squirrel with brown stripes was still peaking her head out of her curtain.

I had been so preoccupied with staring at the idol animatronic squirrel that I forget to check any of the other cameras. I looked at the screen displaying the empty stage where Patty Rabbit and Rachel Rabbit were standing not too long ago. They were gone. Suddenly, all of the camera screens filled with static. I was blinded from viewing anything in the building. I started to panic and looked around the room again for anything to help me. I found an old phone hidden behind a pile of papers. I picked it up to hear a dial tone. It was working.

I immediately started to dial for my parents but I realized it would be a better idea to call the police. I redialed for 911. There was no ringing sound, just silence from the phone. I hung it up to try again but didn't even get a dial tone this time. The animatronics must've interfered with the phone. I got up to take one last peek out of the glass to see if the coast was clear to run. I turned the light on at the left side to reveal the shadow of Danny Dog standing in the dark corner. He's blocking that exit.

I turned the right side light on as well to reveal Fanny Fox still looking straight at me through the glass. I shut both of the lights off. I was trapped in there. There was no way I would try to outrun them. I didn't know how fast they were. I sat down in the chair knowing my only option was to wait. I tried to rationalize the situation and calm myself down. "Kenji is 9, it's not like he's a kindergartner." I thought. "And plus, he has my cellphone. He probably called his or my parents and I'm sure they're all on their way now." I convinced myself.

I checked my watch. It was almost 12 already. The cameras were still filled with static and I was unable to do anything at that point. All I could do is shut my eyes and wait. I shut my eyes thinking that everything would be fine come morning time. I still don't know how, but I had actually fallen asleep from closing my eye for a while. I didn't think falling asleep in this kind of situation was possible like your body would be in fight or flight mode. Your adrenaline would be rushing. Your body just won't let you fall asleep, but somehow I did.

I woke to the sickening sound of familiar banging on the glass. It wasn't just a dream. I was still in that godforsaken place. I checked my watch and saw it was 4AM and that the date was now August 29th, 1993. I had been asleep for 4 hours. I noticed that the light in the room was a lot dimmer almost to the point where I couldn't even see the papers that were hanging on the wall anymore. The thumping was coming from the right side. I didn't even turn on the light because I didn't want to see that sickening face of that thing again.

I knew the power was dying at that time like this would be deadly because these doors seemed to be powered by electricity. I made a plan to run as fast as I could through the left door if the power went out. It was the only choice I had. The light grew dimmer and flickered even more. I took one last look at the camera screens to see that the curtains at Acorn Cove had been completely opened and Suzie Squirrel was nowhere in sight. Just as I saw this, the room went dark, the camera screen turned off and the power doors opened.

The power was out. I ran out the left door, turning the flashlight on. Danny Dog wasn't anywhere in sight to my luck. As I ran down the hall, I slipped in something on the floor. I fell hard on my knee. I felt like I broke it. I moaned in pain but tried my hardest not to scream. I felt the substance that I slipped in with my fingers. I smelled it. It was blood. I was laying in a big puddle of blood. I immediately assumed it was the blood of Kenji and almost let out a cry of pain and sickness.

I tried to get on my feet but pain in my knee was unbearable. I started to crawl down the hall with blood all over my arms and legs. I didn't know where to go or how to escape. They would surely catch me now. My luck seemed to have run out because I heard heavy footsteps coming fast down the hall. I had to act quickly but I didn't know what to do. I looked around me and found a door. I didn't care what room it led to. I just had to get out of the hallway.

The footsteps were getting closer. I shut the flashlight and managed to reach the doorknob, pushing the door open. I crawled into the to and pulled the door shut as quickly and quietly as I could. I waited in the darkness as the footsteps came closer and closer until they were outside the door and then it stopped. Whatever it was outside the door. I put my hand over my mouth to muffle my breathing and leaned against the door to block it in case the thing tried to get in. It was probably 10 seconds but it felt like a minute before the sound of pots and pans banging around everywhere echoed across the building and I heard footsteps move away from the door.

I felt that it was safe to no longer hold my breath and turn the flashlight on. The light revealed that I had been sitting in the supply closet. I looked around for any kind of weapon and to my luck, I found a crowbar, a blue lightsaber and a fully loaded Benelli M3 shotgun sitting on a ledge. They were seemingly perfect weapons to take down and destroy robots with. I waited about a minute until I thought the coast was clear and I slowly opened the door and crawled out of the room.

My knee wasn't hurting too bad anymore but I didn't want to take the chance of putting pressure on it. Crawling was quieter anyway. As I crawled through the pitch black hallways banging into walls and armed with the Benelli M3 shotgun, I noticed that almost all the floors in these hallways were sticky. The stickiness caused my skin to make a peeling sound off the floor each time I lifted my hands or legs. I didn't think too deep into the stickiness or anything for that matter.

I was too focused on getting out of there and finding Kenji. As I crawled down the hall armed with the Benelli M3 shotgun, I noticed moonlight shining in through a window in a room up ahead. I hope the window would be low enough and big enough for me to reach and for through. I crawled to the doorway but the sight of two big long eyes stopped me. The eyes were fixed on mine, even in the dark. I turned on the flashlight and shined it at the figure. It was Suzie Squirrel and she was in a very angry mood. She looked like a cute and adorable but broken unfinished animatronic with pieces missing altogether. Her eyes were glowing demonic red and she was crying blood from her eyes and was armed with a large knife.

She raised the knife and started moving quickly towards me. I managed to get up on my feet ignoring the pain on my knee. I pointed the Benelli M3 shotgun at the Suzie Squirrel animatronic, ready to fight it off. As soon as the robot got close enough, I fired 5 shots at the Suzie Squirrel animatronic's face, knocking her to the floor. I took this opportunity to shoot the robot in the face with the shotgun numerous times, causing gears to fly out of its face and taking the robot down. The eyes were still glowing, but the Suzie Squirrel animatronic itself was taken down and defeated and that was enough to stop her in my path. I hopped closer to the window, but the other robots no doubt heard what just happened so I'd hurry.

I reached the window. Luck was on my side because the window is reachable and big enough to squeeze through. I swung the crowbar at the window but it didn't break. I suddenly heard many pairs of footsteps coming from down the hall. I swung the crowbar again. The window cracked, but didn't break. The footsteps were right outside the room now. I swung the crowbar one more time as hard as I could finally causing the glass to shatter. I took a painful leap off both legs to reach the window. I pulled myself up and I was about to jump out the window until something grabbed my leg. I turned around to see Patty Rabbit standing behind me, holding onto my good leg along with Rachel Rabbit, Fanny Fox, Roxie Raccoon, Bobby Bear and Danny Dog behind her. "

"My friends and I want to play with you! Why do you want to leave?!" asked Patty Rabbit. Without thinking, I pulled my leg up causing pain in my knee and kicked it back with full force into the animatronic's head. This caused it to lunge back a bit and loosen it's grip on my leg, giving me just enough time to jump out of the window. I didn't care about the returning pains in my knee. I hopped away from the building as fast as I could with only sounds l heard being the screaming of the robots to come back and play. I screamed Kenji's name at the top of my lungs three or four times before getting in my car speeding to my house.

I called the cops and explained the whole situation. I then called my parents afterwards. My mother picked up the phone after calling three times asking why I was calling so late. She screamed into the phone, begging me to tell her it was a joke when I told her I lost Kenji. When the cops arrived, I showed them the picture of Kenji and explained to them about the robot. I tried to make it seem as realistic as possible. They looked at each other like I was crazy like anyone would. However, they assured me that they would have the police department and the FBI look into it.

After investigating, the police found nothing. No blood, no broken glass, no foul smells, no Kenji all the animatronics were in the proper places and were all fixed up. repaired and cleaned. It's been over a month. Kenji was never found, but his corpse was found by his classmates around early October several days after the 1993 Pridelander American War ended. What kills me the most is knowing the evils that are inside that place. That family-oriented place and that even I told anyone what happens, they would think I'm crazy. I can't prove what happened to Kenji or who killed him, but I know that whatever happened. The robots and everything to do with it.