Five Nights at Freddy's Interactive Novel #1: The Week Before

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Five Nights at Freddy's Interactive Novel #1:The Week Before
Information
Author(s)	Scott Cawthon Eugene Myers
Publisher	Scholastic, Inc.
Genre	Horror
Release Date	September 3, 2024
Pages	256 (paperback)
ISBN	978-1546131113
Store Links	Google Play Amazon Barnes & Noble
Chronology
Series	Interactive Novel Series
Previous	Five Nights at Freddy's: VIP
Next	Five Nights at Freddy's: Return to the Pit

Five Nights at Freddy's Interactive Novel #1: The Week Before is the first entry in the interactive novel series written by Scott Cawthon and Eugene Myers that was released on September 3, 2024.

Summary

Return to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza in this interactive novel where you decide what happens!

Go back to where it all began in this interactive novel set before the very first Five Nights at Freddy's game. You, the reader, are the security guard - and you've got five nights (or is it six?) to survive Freddy, Chica, Bonnie, and Foxy as they try to wipe you out. With over fifty different possible endings and two difficulty settings, this one-of-a-kind, innovative novel is a uniquely entertaining experience for any Freddy fan.

History

On January 23, 2024, the book was leaked as an "Interactive YA Novel," with a release date of September 3, 2024.

On March 29, 2024, the book's cover was shown, revealing the title as Five Nights at Freddy's: The Week Before. Later on in the day, more details such as its official description was released.

On August 24, 2024, a preview of the book was released.

On September 3, 2024, The Week Before released.

Characters

Humans

• Ralph
• Coppelia
• Dave
• Bronwen Light
• The Crying Child

Animatronics

• Freddy Fazbear
• Bonnie
• Chica
• Mr. Cupcake
• Foxy
• Golden Freddy

Plot

"PLEASE STAND BY" This section is empty with missing content. You can help out by adding to it.

Endings

The following information contains spoilers. To view them, click the [show] tag.

Game Over (Night 1): Eager to fix the lights in the Restrooms and get back to watch, Ralph heads out of the Office through the West Hall. He stops by the Supply Closet to pick up some new light bulbs, but bumps into Bonnie once he opens the door. Bonnie attacks and the last thing Ralph sees is Bonnie's jaw snapping open and shut. Game Over (Night 1): Ralph flips one of the Dining Area tables over as a distraction. As he's about to head towards the Restroms he's spotted by Bonnie and Chica. They begin to run after him and he turns around and runs away-right into Freddy's crushing embrace. Game Over (Night 1): Ralph attempts to run from the Dining Area to the Restroom, but only makes it about halfway before Chica grabs him from behind. Game Over (Night 1): Ralph tries to replace the second bulb in the restroom until Foxy bursts into it. He throws the light bulb at him but it shatters against him and Foxy makes Ralph into a mess. Game Over (Night 1): Ralph examines the sinks in the restroom but hears heavily footsteps in the Dining Area. Foxy bursts into the restroom and charges at Ralph. Ralphs final thoughts are in disbelief since Foxy was always his favorite. Game Over (Night 1): Ralph holds the restroom door against Foxy as he rams against the door, getting his hook in and almost slicing Ralphs right eye. His grip against the door weakens and Ralph realizes that he won't make it to 6:00 AM if he can't even hold the door for 6 seconds. Game Over (Night 1): Calling the police leads to death by animatronic. Game Over (Night 1): Ralph attempts to call Backstage as a distraction. It works and Bonnie leaves the Dining Area. As Ralph is getting ready to leave however, someone picks up the phone. A deep, distorted voice in a burst of static says, "It's me." Ralph responds with "Who are you?" then the line goes dead. He then hears a child laughing. He calls out, asking "Who's there?" but the laughter just continues, increasing in volume. Ralph starts laughing along with it, even as he's dragged towards the Backstage. Game Crash (Night 2): Ralph uses the Master Key to get into Party Room 2. After turning on the lights, he sees a note pinned to a Freddy Fazbear poster. A message is spelled out in letters cut from a newspaper. It reads, "A master key is not in this game. You are the one who must live (?) with your shame. You know what they say: Cheaters don't win. But those who might try make the purple man grin." Game Over (Night 3): Ralph mixes chemicals in the Supply Closet, but the poisonous fumes cause him to pass out. The book warns the player to never mix household chemicals together. Game Over (Night 5): Ralph inputs the code 1-9-8-3 into the Voicemail system, and hears a child crying, shouting for someone to let him go. Ralph tries to speak to the kid, but realizes that it's a recording. Another boy speaks, part of what he says is cut off, but he mentions giving someone a closer look. In the recording, Ralph hears children laughing and one of Fredbear's original hits, "The Secret Ingredient Is You," which he hasn't heard in years. A man shouts to the second boy, telling him to put the first child down, and to not touch the bear. People start shouting and screaming. The music keeps playing and the boy keeps crying until a crunch is heard. Ralph hangs up the phone, but he still hears a child crying. He twists around in his seat and sees something, before another crunch is heard. The End? (Night 5): Ralph completes his fifth night at Freddy's, but he still feels like he has some unfinished business, and wonders if he's truly done with the animatronics, and if they're truly done with him. The End (Night 5): With all the animatronics closing in on Ralph, he decides to record one last message for the next security guard. As he's recording the message, Freddy finally arrives at the office. All four animatronics scream and the line goes dead. Sometime later, Ralph wakes up in the Backstage, unable to move and presumably stuffed in a suit. All he can do is wait. The End. (Night 5): After hearing Bronwen's final message, Ralph completes his fifth night at Freddy's and returns home. He wakes up to see Coppelia playing a video game and she asks how Ralph's final shift was. As Ralph considers signing up for overtime his daughter begs him to stay home. The reader is then given the option to proceed to Night 6. ***The End*** (Night 6): Golden Freddy puts his hands on the side of Ralph's head. Ralph hears the phrase "it's me" repeated over and over in his head before hearing Bronwen's voice telling him Coppelia is safe. The various "it's me"s change into "she's safe." Ralph smiles and goes to sleep.

Notable Scenes

• The phrase "It's Me" appears multiple times in the book, possibly shedding new light on its meaning.
  • In Night 1, Ralph finds the phrase scrawled on a bathroom stall in pen, with a pen nearby.
  • In Night 1, page 49, Ralph uses the mobile phone to call Backstage. He hears garbled whispering and the sound of "a child crying". A deep distorted voice says "It's me."
  • If Ralph asks "Who are you?", the phone line goes dead and Ralph hears the sound of a child laughing get louder and louder. Ralph hears the laughing in his head and laughs along, as he is dragged to Backstage and stuffed into a plush suit.
  • On Night 3, page 108, Ralph hides under a table to catch the intruder. A person wearing a Freddy Fazbear suit soaked in blood approaches him and says "It's me." Ralph wakes up under the table, apparently having a nightmare.
  • In the The End ending, Ralph is stuffed in a plush suit and thinks "Something smells bad. It might be you. It's me."
  • At the end of Bronwen's call, she is interrupted by child's laughter and a mechanical roar. Bronwen says "It's me" in a low garbled voice and the call ends.
  • On Night 6, page 205, Ralph is in the vent waiting for Bonnie to leave when he gets a phone call. He realizes that Bonnie has been distracting him so that the others can escape. He leaves the vent to pick up the phone and Bonnie smiles, not moving. Coppelia answers the phone and says "Your friends came over and woke me up." Ralph asks to talk to the "friend". He hears Freddy Fazbear say "It's me", before laughing and hanging up.
  • On Night 6, page 216, Foxy eviscerates Ralph as Coppelia runs to her room for safety. When Ralph awakes, he sees that Coppelia's bedroom door has been destroyed. As Ralph loses consciousness, he has a dream of Foxy and Chica (without her bib) returning to his home. Chica leans over to him and says in Coppelia's voice "It's me."
  • On Night 6, page 222, Ralph is cornered by Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica. They all open their mouths and Ralph hears children's laughter coming from them. Ralph asks, "You're just kids? Who?" Freddy gets close to Ralph and says in a warped, garbled voice "It's me."
  • In the ***The End*** ending, Golden Freddy appears and forces the thought "It's me" into Ralph's head. Golden Freddy puts both of his hands around Ralph's head and repeats "It's me" over and over again. A soft woman's voice repeats "She's safe" over and over again until it drowns out "It's me".

Theories and Speculation

"I was the first! I have seen everything!" This section archives a lot of theories and speculation, which usually occurs from pre-release media, or just things that are still unknown, so please keep that in mind while reading. The page will continue to be updated with the most accurate information as more solid evidence is supplied.

• Prior to the book's release, it was theorized that this book could be about Phone Guy due to it taking place before the events of the first Five Nights at Freddy's title, and this book being titled "The Week Before," likely tying into the week before the game takes place. This is evident by the fact that Phone Guy is finishing his last week as he is recording the messages.
  • This was later confirmed to be true.
• In the Night 5 Game Over scene where Ralph inputs the code 1-9-8-3. Some speculate that the figure who crunched Ralph's head was Golden Freddy.
  • The crying, specifically the Crying Child's crying, is still heard by Ralph even after the recording ended. The source of the crying isn't specified, although it possibly came from behind Ralph. Therefore, which ever figure, most likely Golden Freddy, and the actions it does to Ralph implies that the Crying Child possesses Golden Freddy, maybe alongside the 5th MCI victim.
• In the Night 6 ***The End*** ending, multiple "Its me"'s and even a Woman's voice are heard from Golden Freddy as he's yelling at Ralph. This implies that Golden Freddy is trapping multiple souls, possibly even Bronwen Light's soul, within itself.

Gallery

The old book cover.

An Amazon ad for the novel.

Preview page 13.

Preview page 14.

Preview page 15.

Preview page 16.

Preview page 17.

Illustration of the paper clip item.

Illustration of Chica.

Illustration of the gum item.

Illustration of the candy item.

Illustration of Foxy the pirate.

Illustration of the pen item.

Illustration of Bonnie.

Illustration of Bonnie's guitar.

Illustration of an ID card.

Illustration of a corded desk phone.

Illustration of a table.

Illustration of Bonnie's head.

Illustration of a flashlight and a screwdriver.

Illustration of a lighter item.

Illustration of Freddy Fazbear.

Illustration of Mr Cupcake.

Illustration of a water gun item,

Illustration of Freddy's head.

Illustration of the ring item.

Illustration of Pirates Cove with Foxy inside.

Ditto.

Illustration of the mobile phone bonus item.

Trivia

• When asked about the layout of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, Myers responded that the first Five Nights at Freddy's game was the baseline for how the book was meant to feel, and it was easy to avoid contradicting the canon with an already established location.
• The book references the Sega Genesis, The Goonies, ''Dirty Harry,'' Bruce Willis in ''Die Hard'', ''The Lord of the Rings'' novel, The Wicked Witch of the arryhausen, the Dunkin' s cmercial, Mjölnir of Thor, Jackson Pollock, the ''Lethal Weapon'' movies, and Pop-Tarts.
• In one ending, Coppelia shoots Foxy with a water pistol and screams, "Try holy water, death breath!" This is a reference to the film "The Lost Boys."
• Ralph says aloud while crawling through the vents, "You are in a maze of twisty little corridors, all alike. You are likely to be eaten by Foxy." These are references to the lines "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike" from Colossal Cave Adventure and "You are likely to be eaten by a grue" from Zork. Both Colossal Cave Adventure and Zork are text-based adventure games, which is fitting for an interactive novel.
• The mobile phone has a contact for "Deep Dish". This is a reference to Deep Throat, a secret informant in the Watergate scandal, and deep dish pizza.