The pizzeria was flooded with kids. Stan sat on a chair with his arms under the party table. His mother had gone near the entrance to meet his friends' parents. Gabriel was the first to arrive. When he saw Stan, he ran towards him and sat beside him.
"How are you, Stan?" He greeted.
"Excited!" Stan smiled back.
Jeremy came next. He looked around while fidgeting with his fingers. When he saw the table they were at, he slowly walked over to them.
"Hi..." Jeremy said.
But before anyone could respond, a yell could be heard approaching them. Stan got a rough pat on the back before realising who it was.
"Eeey! Stan! How's the birthday boy doing?" Fritz exclaimed.
"Yeah, good." Stan calmly replied.
As Fritz took a seat, there was a brief moment of silence.
"So, uh, does anyone know where Susie is?" Gabriel questioned.
Everyone shrugged but Jeremy. Moments pass before he realised he was being looked at.
"What?" He asked.
"Do you know where Susie is?" Gabriel questioned again.
"Oh, um, no. I don't know where she is..."
Gabriel raised one of his eyebrows.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, um. But...I know that her dog died recently..." Jeremy said softly.
No-one said anything as they were processing the information. That's probably why Susie isn't here, sad. Stan thought. But when he looked over to the entrance, he was wrong. Susie was approaching them, but there wasn't a slight bit of sadness Stan could see in her. She sat beside Jeremy.
"Hello." She said.
There was an awkward silence for about a few seconds before everyone replied with a mumbled hello.
"Are you guys okay?" She questioned.
"Um, did your dog die?" Fritz blatantly asked.
Gabriel gave a look at Fritz.
Susie looked at the table and said "Oh, um. Yeah, she died...But I don't really want to talk about that now, I'm here for Stan's birthday party!"
"Okay, sure." Fritz said.
There was one more person left until everyone was at the party. Stan looked for her but she was nowhere to be seen. He sighed. It was one of the things he would be looking forward to. Stan tuned out of the conversation his friends were having and looked at the animatronics on stage.
There was Freddy, the star, the bear, the one everyone knew. Then there was Bonnie, the bunny, the guitarist. And then there was Chica, the chicken, who Stan thought it was a duck at first. And finally, Foxy...No-one talks about him.
Stan wondered if they could feel something. If they had feelings and cared for something or someone. If they felt hurt by other people's actions. If they were...alive. A silly thought, but something Stan couldn't help but think.
A hand waved across his vision and Stan snapped back into reality.
"You still there Stan?" Fritz asked.
"Uh, Yeah. I am." He quickly replied.
"Look who it is." Gabriel pointed beside Stan.
Stan was surprised at first, then smiled. It was Cassidy. She was here.
"Oh! Hi Cass! I didn't see you before." Stan said.
She giggled.
"I just came in." Cassidy replied.
Now that everyone was here, the party can start. Stan couldn't wait. There was going to be pizza, games, all sorts of things! It was a kid's dream come true! It was going to be their happiest day.
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