The Mangled Night
    By Storybird
    Created on 30 Aug, 2023
    The Mangled Night cover image
    Jeremy Fitzgerald, the new night guard on duty, walked into the pizzeria. The layout looked far different during nighttime, its charm replaced by an ominous gloom.
    Creeping shadows danced on the walls, giving life to the lifeless. A chill ran down Jeremy's spine as he heard distant metallic sounds.
    He entered his office, the only place in the pizzeria which felt remotely safe. He switched on the monitors, scanning the deserted areas of the establishment.
    Among the abandoned booths and play areas, one figure caught his attention; lifeless yet imposing – the animatronic known as Funtime Foxy.
    Jeremy remembered seeing it during the day, alluring and charismatic. Now, it was an eerie sight, stationed awkwardly in the corner of a room.
    Just as his nervous gaze was about to move away from the screen, Funtime Foxy twitched. It was a slight movement, but enough to make his heart race.
    Suddenly, the power went out. The monitors blinked off, leaving Jeremy in complete darkness. All that broke the silence was the increasing clamor of metal.
    His heart pounded in his chest as he fumbled for the flashlight. As he switched it on, the door creaked open, revealing two pale, white dots.
    They were the eyes of the Mangle. It stood there, mechanical jaws wide open, revealing its steel teeth, sharp and ruthless.
    Jeremy retreated, fear gripping him as Mangle approached. The dreadful silence of the room was broken by his frantic breaths and Mangle's crushing footsteps.
    Before he could make a move, Mangle lunged, steel jaws open wide. A shrill metallic screech filled the room as darkness consumed his vision.
    The morning light filtered through the grimy windows of the pizzeria, highlighting the morbid scene within. The owners arrived to open the establishment.
    Their laughter quickly faded as they discovered the gruesome sight. Jeremy's lifeless body lay on the floor, brain matter scattered around.
    The once-merry Mangle stood by, untouched, save for the blood smeared across its sharp metallic jaws. They stood in stunned silence, their cheerful mirth replaced by cold dread.
    The pizzeria was no longer a place of joy. It had become a horrifying tableau of terror, a memory of the night's terrifying event forever etched into its every corner.
    Jeremy's demise spread a chilling wave throughout the small town. Parents shielded their kids' eyes as they passed by the now-abandoned pizzeria, its shuttered windows echoing the silent screams of the past.
    The pizzeria was soon forgotten, its cheerful neon sign now coated with layers of dust, a grim reminder of the blood-chilling incident. But the Mangle remained, forever frozen in its last deadly hunt.
    As for the small town, it resumed its peaceful rhythm. But the memory of that terrifying night, of the Mangle and its victim, Jeremy, lingered on, haunting their dreams for years to come.
    Whispers of the night guard's fate circulated like ghost stories, deterring any ventures to the abandoned pizzeria. Jeremy's tale became a chilling bedtime story for the town's children.
    The Mangle, with its cold, lifeless eyes and bloodied jaws, became a symbol of terror. A terrifying tale of a once innocent animatronic now hunting in the darkness.
    The Mangle stood in the abandoned pizzeria, an eternal reminder of that fateful night. A haunting figure forever looking out from the darkness with its white dot eyes.
    There it stayed, locked in its eternal vigil, the Mangle, a chilling testament to a horrifying incident that transformed a lively pizzeria into a place of dread.
    Jeremy's tragic end served as a grim reminder of the dangers lurking in the forgotten corners of the world, and of the haunting terror that a once playful animatronic could become.
    The Mangled Night, as it came to be called, became a part of the town's lore, a cautionary tale shared in hushed whispers, always with a wary eye cast towards the silent pizzeria.
    In the end, the town learned a cruel lesson about fear and death. And the name, Jeremy Fitzgerald, would forever be remembered as the night guard who was mangled by the animatronic, Mangle.

    The Mangled Night

    AI Horror Stories