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David sat on his bed, looking up to the ceiling. His throat felt dry, his eye felt watery, and he blinked a few times. He felt a strange sense of deja vu, though that wasn’t uncommon for him. David didn’t remember a lot of his life, from ages 0 to 9, his memories were fuzzy. Head trauma will do that to you. He looked at the clock, 05:27 AM, and then he looked back up to the ceiling.He did remember how he got his head trauma though, oh boy did he remember that.David remembered how much he screamed. David remembered how much Michael laughed.David especially remembered that crunch, the crunch that came when Fredbear’s jaw bit down on his head, gouging his left eye out. He remembered that perfectly. Just thinking of it made his eye socket throb, and he massaged it carefully through his eye patch.The therapist David thought Liz spent to much money on told him he had PTSD, standing for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She said that was why looking, hell even thinking, at a robot made him anxious. Made him jumpy. David knew that already, he didn’t need someone charging 90 dollars to tell him that.
David looked at the clock again, 05:32, and sighed. He wasn’t about to go to bed any time soon, so he got up, with little difficulty. It was summer time, and he didn’t want to be surrounded by blankets anyways. He walked to his desk to get the unopened water bottle he left last night, and drank it. The cool water helped his dry throat, and he closed it.
He listened for Lizzie, but didn’t hear anything. Unlike him, David’s older sister slept like a baby. Literally, she would almost always be in the fetal position by morning. Sometimes though, David would hear her awake, early, very early. He would hear her softly crying, most likely from a nightmare. A nightmare that was almost always about dad. David would usually get dressed, and then go comfort her. Then they would watch TV, and bicker quietly about what to watch, and mom would come out and berate them on their poor TV Taste. They, mom and Lizzie, would want Immortal And The Restless, and David would want a game show. It wasn’t his fault the contestants always had some sob story that made him feel bad, no matter how much he tried to ignore the feeling and focus on the questions.That was their life, and it had been like that since Elizabeth’s 18th birthday. Mom and David got her a vanilla and strawberry cake, with a small ice cream shaped candy on the very top. Elizabeth went and got a business internship, and the day was overall amazing. Two days later, something David remembered happened.David remembered the sound of hacking and wheezing in mom’s room.
David remembered a shrill scream.David remembered a 911 call. He remembered a hospital bed.
Anyways, David turned his thoughts to the window. The sun was beginning to rise, and he would have to wake go and open up the diner, and wake up Lizzie. David worked during the summer for three reasons
Money (Obviously)
He wouldn’t have to go and hang out with friends
(They both work there anyways)
He was the once owners son, and the new owners brother
(And I get free cake)

So, David would ignore his summer homework for another day, go to the diner and deal with annoying helicopter parents (and be a little jealous), go upstairs to an angry at the bills sister, and fall asleep on the couch binging old game shows. It had been like this for 3 years, it would be like it again. David remembered this routine perfectly.************“Lizzie, wake up.” David’s voice was quiet, but firm. His sister moved around in bed as he shook her shoulder.“‘Mmff, noOoooOo.” She sounded tired, and David wished he could let her sleep, that she didn’t have to work herself to death, but that was dreaming, not reality. Reality is often disappointing.“Come on Liz, the diner won’t open itself.”“5 more minute’s.”“Come on Liz, or else I’m calling the chefs and telling them they have a day off.”Liz opened her soft green eyes, and glared at David. Then with a defeated sigh, she weakly got up. David went and got her the pair of cat slippers near the window, next to the trash pile Elizabeth called a college desk. When she wasn’t working, Liz took business classes to get better at managing the diner financially. David admired that, her want to always get better, like Mom, like Michael. (Like Michael)“Since you rudely woke me up, would you mind handing me that blue box?”David grabbed the small blue box on her desk along with the slippers, and handed them to her. Liz smiled at him, and David left the room to give her privacy, and to start breakfast. After that, she would go down and open the diner, and soon David would go down and serve customers. Then his friends would come, and he would work all day long. Monotonous, but tips were tips, and it was honestly pretty slow during the week, so he would usually just talk with the other servers.David opened the depressingly empty fridge, and grabbed two eggs. With a swift crack, there were two yolks now on the pan, sizzling and popping excitedly, like fireworks.Fireworks, like on the fourth of July. He and Liz had been taken by someone for a picnic on that day, and once the sun had set, that person set off fireworks. David had gotten so frightened, he ran into the woods. It had been scary, and dark, and David was so scared. Eventually, he just gave up, and huddled up to a tree to cry without walking so much. After what felt like hours, they found him. David remembered running into their arms, happy to be found, happy not to be in the dark scary forest. Who was that person?David remembered running into Michael’s arms, Michael’s eyes puffy and red as he softly scolded him for running off.The smell of smoke, and the shout from Elizabeth as she rushed to the oven snapped David back to reality, a reality of burnt eggs. David turned to his sister, who was busy opening a window. After opening the window, she gave him a look that meant
explain???“Oh, sorry.”“Sorry? David, is your head hurting again. Don’t worry about the eggs, I’ll make us some more.”“No! It’s not my head, I just…. spaced out a little.”“Alright then, trash those eggs. I’ll make some new ones, you go get dressed, okay?”“No, it’s alr-““Go get
dressed.”David would have protested, but the look in Elizabeth’s eyes gave him the feeling he should listen, so he went to his room. There, he put on a t shirt and his eyepatch. He looked out his window, the warm light from the sun rise had painted the street with gorgeous golden hues. It was pretty, but familiar. Yet another part of his routine.***********"Do we really need to be here so early, every single day? I feel exhausted." Monika whined while tying her strawberry colored hair into a ponytail, topped with a white ribbon. She had bags under her eyes, and she did sound tired, though David just drank coffee. On the rare days where he could afford it, he would go and buy a mocha."Deal with it. I drink coffee, why don't you?"
"Ugh, coffee makes my head hurt, and you don't just drink coffee, you're addicted to it. I've seen you go three days without coffee, and it is not pretty.""I'm not addicted to coffee!" David's voice was indignant, how dare she assume he was addicted. He could go fine without coffee."Yes you are! Remember that one time you screamed at chef Mitch? I've never seen you so loud.""That's because chef Mitch is an idiot. He messed up my guests order three times! Did you forget that I work for free? I
only
get tips.""Hah! You idiot, why would you have ever agreed to that?""Because,
Monika,
I kinda have to work here. If I didn't, then almost all of my money from working somewhere else would go to rent. Tips are better, and Liz doesn't need to stress about another server."Monika shrugged, and threw his favorite notepad at him.
"Well David, let's get to work then. Bullying Mark, as much as he deserves it, does not in fact happen naturally." Monika went and began to walk towards the door, and David got up and walked beside her."Why are you so mean to your brother?""It's a sibling thing Dave. I'm the older one, so I get the right." David had heard that excuse before, though where he didn't quite know.
A Foxy mask came to mind."That's such a flimsy excuse, you two are twins! You're only 5 minutes older than him." Monika smiled mischievously."Best 5 minutes of my life.""You're evil." Monika just smiled and walked off to her section of the diner, and David walked to his. It was as generic as ever, colorful booths next to the window facing the street corner, and a large table next to the kitchen. Soft music came from the old Jukebox Lizzie got at a discount. David walked to the door and flipped the closed sign, and Salt Flats Diner was now open for business. Routine as always.
**********“And what can I get you today?”
“I’ll have the Salmon Special, and what will you have Rose?”“I want pancakes! With syrup too!”
“Alright, so one Special and one pancakes. Would you like anything to drink too?”“One green tea and one orange juice please.” David scribbled the order down on his favorite golden note pad. He cherished it, considering the paper ripped off so neatly.“Alright then, I’ll have that out in a moment.”“Thank you.” The older girl smiled warmly.David walked away from booth three and to the kitchen, waving to Monika on the way. Today was a bit slower than usual, so hopefully David might get a chance to read. He ripped the note off and left it in the kitchen, and walked to the employee lounge. Elizabeth has been calling him all morning, and she wasn’t in her office for some reason. Probably a college issue, David knew one of her professors was the type to say ‘No one gets 100’s in my class',
which was code for,
'I have almost 0 actual personality.'
At least, that's what Liz said.David walked to the table and grabbed his architecture book. Once he was done with high school, he wanted to go into architecture in college. He liked it, and David enjoyed
designing building, which were so grand in comparison to dead and lifeless robots. David also enjoyed doing math. Numbers were concrete, but could be used in different ways, not the same way all the time. Liz was average at math, but David remembered someone who was always bad at math. What was their name?David remembered dad’s drunken shouts as he screamed at Michael for getting a C on a math test.
(What was I doing again? Arches.)

An arch is a curved opening at the top of a structure meant to beautify it and conveniently distribute weight. Cool.The ring of a bell got David to get up from his book, which was getting up to arches and how to use them. He took the two plates sitting on the kitchen counter and put them onto a tray along with the tea and OJ, and walked over to booth 3, where a small blonde child was talking loudly with a girl who looked to be around David’s age, with jet black hair tied into a long braid, with a golden ribbon at the end. David walked up to them and tapped the table gently. The guests looked up.“Here you two go, the salmon for you, and the pancakes for you. Enjoy.” David saw that the kid was staring at his eye patch, which he was used to after having it for eight years. That didn’t mean it wasn’t still a little uncomfortable. David’s cell buzzed.“Thank you, say thank you Rose!”“Thank you sir!”“Alright then, enjoy your meal.”David smiled at them and walked off, going once again back to the employee lounge. He dropped with a
Thud!
onto the couch, and reached for his architecture book. Then the door opened, and there was Mark. A average height guy with black hair, and a smile that David thought was a bit too wide for his face.“Hello.” David's voice was empty, he knew Mark was going to complain about something, judging by the scowl staining his face.“Why are the cooks here so annoying. The dishwasher is another level of crazy, and I’m always being shouted at!” Mark's voice was loud, booming, and angry. The first two parts were normal for him, Mark's voice was always like a sports announcer, but anger was weird for him. He was usually an upbeat and positive person, so someone must have shouted at him.“Because you’re always messing up. Remember that one time you dropped an entire tray of dirty plates?”“Why do I even talk to you?” Mark threw a napkin at David, who gave him a smirk. “Maybe I should work somewhere else for the rest of the summer.”“Where would that be exactly?”“You're not even gonna try and convince me to stay?”“Ugh Mark, we all know you'd never actually leave. Only Lizzie could tolerate your screwups.”"Hey, hurtful! You know what, no more cookies from my mom!""Are you seriously threatening me? In Sketchers!?"Mark made a face, and turned away. David’s smirk grew wider, and he put down his book, grabbing the prepared check. David got up to check on his table, and checked his cracked flip phone, just to see three calls and it turned onto silent. How was he supposed to explain that? He had forgot he did that after his third buzz with another table, and then he remembered that, oh yeah, (first table idiot).

"Hello, how are you two enjoying everything? Are you two finished?""Yes, everything was great." The older girl seemed a bit more nervous now, though David didn't quite know why. The nervousness was familiar, which was weird. David felt like he had seen it before, before the bite. Before everything went wrong in his life, though, with his dad being his dad, maybe things had been wrong since his conception. David realized he
"Alright then, if it's okay with you, I'll just leave the bill here.""alright."And David walked off. He felt weird, a sense of Deja vu came over him again. Why was that tone, that inflection of voice, the sound of nervousness so familiar to him?David remembered the click of a lock. The shattering of bottles. Someone ushering him out of the house.Someone taking him out to eat for dinner.David remembered Michael rushing David out of the house while their mother cried and their father screamed.David also remembered how mad his sister was going to be, and how much madder she would be, if he didn't call her soon. Since he was waiting for his last table to pay their bill, he decided to just go to her office and see what she wanted. David walked through the diner, past Monika's section, past the kitchen, and knocked on the door at the far end of the diner.She wasn’t there though. David decided to just call her, his booth could wait a little for him. He typed in her number, and soon the phone began to ring. Ring, Ring, Ring.“David! Why haven’t you been answering any of my calls?! I need you upstairs as soon as possible!”
Elizabeth's voice sounded frantic and stressed, like something had gone wrong.“Why? Something wrong?”
“I’ll explain when you get upstairs.”

“Why not just tell me now? And I have tabl-““Mark can cover your tables. Get upstairs as soon as possible!”
What on earth would Elizabeth need which asked for David's presence, usually it was the opposite.“Liz, what’s wro-“Click. She hung up. David got the feeling Elizabeth wouldn’t want to be kept waiting, so he looked over at his last booth. The two girls were still there, but the child was now talking loudly while the older one held the bill quietly. David got the feeling something was wrong, so he went up to them."Everything alright over here?" David asked them lightly, trying to keep his tone happy."y-yes, just that, I didn't thi-" The older girl's face was a soft pink right now, while the smaller girl just looked at the window and played with her fork. The older one gripped the bill so tightly her knuckles became white."I wanna go home now!" The younger one was now aware of the fact that something was wrong, why weren't they leaving."Quiet Rose, I'm talking to someone." The older girls voice was faint, like a scared rabbit.The girl went quiet, and the younger one looked at her and David confusedly, sensing the tension.
"You're short, aren't you?" David's voice was sympathetic, he understood not being able to afford food sometimes, and the shame when someone younger than you saw you at your weakest."yes." The older girl's voice was quiet, small, and pitying, and she shamefacedly looked down at the table. David's rational thoughts told him he should tell someone, Elizabeth wasn't here, so maybe the head chef? Was David supposed to resolve this, considering he was the owners brother? But somewhere in his heart, he decided to help them. After all, he knew how the situation felt, the stinging silence and the faux sympathy from the one in charge. He didn't want to make them feel worse."By how much?" David hoped his voice was soft, as according to Monika, 'You sound like a robot wearing a human skinsuit sometimes'. He still was offended by that."7 dollars." The two girls both looked down now, which was weird for the younger one, at least, that's what David thought."You know what, it's fine." David straightened his back up. "If you two want, you can go.""Really?" The older one looked up, blinking fast, clearly surprised.
"Yeah, it's fine, just be ready next time, right?""Thank you, I mean it." The older one sighed shakily, but the relief was obvious."No big deal, have a nice day you two." David smiled, and put the money that they had given him into his apron pocket, and began to walk away. It was just 7 dollars, surely Elizabeth would understand. Then David remembered that she still needed to talk to him, and looked back at the booth one last time.“Hey, what’s your name?” The older girl shouted. David turned around and took a good look at her. Long black hair in a ponytail, tall with a pale face and unnaturally gray eyes, wearing blue overalls and a floral yellow shirt, its sleeves going up to her wrists. Weird for the summer, but it wasn’t too hot outside.
“David. My name is David. What’s yours?”“Cassidy. Cassidy Brooks. Thanks again David, say thank you Rose.” The older girl smiled at him, and put her hand on her younger sister’s back.“Thank you David!” The younger one shouted that, which grated David’s ears a little, but it was still endearing. David smiled wider. He didn't quite care what Elizabeth said about this interaction, it was only 7 dollars, and David felt a little less weird now. Deja Vu was still haunting him though.
“It’s no problem, have a nice day you two.” With one wave and a smile, now David was walking to the back of the diner, to get up to his apartment. All he knew was that maybe he made a friend today, and that Lizzie was gonna kill him when he got upstairs.**************“Yes, thank you. I’ll be there tomorrow, what time again?” David heard the creak of a door and an unfamiliar voice as he trudged up the final flight of stairs. “10:30? Yes, okay? Yes, thank you.”David finally finished walking up the stairs, just to see a police officer at his door, talking with Elizabeth."Elizabeth, what's wrong?" David asked, confused. Was something wrong with the diner?
Elizabeth's eyes darted to him, and her face morphed from what looked to be understanding to shock. She held paper in her hand, and the police officer set his eyes on David, and then mumbled something to Elizabeth."David, I think you should come in. I have to tell you something. Something important. You too sir, come in." Elizabeth's voice was shaky, and the police officer said nothing as he walked into the apartment."Is everything okay Lizzie? Why is a police officer here?""Just come in. Sit down, you're going to need too."David wordlessly obliged, following the police officer inside, who was standing awkwardly next to the couch. Elizabeth closed the door behind her as she followed David, and flipped the lock. Then she grabbed the remote and turned on the TV to Utah News. David was feeling a bit frustrated that lizzie wasn't answering his questions, like why was a police officer here, and why was she turning on the TV. Then he looked at it, and was hit with whiplash as an image of
Fredbear's Family Diner
played on the TV.Worst of all, a picture of dad played next."David, something happened in Hurricane." Elizabeth's sounded even more shaky, as if it were a fragile piece of porcelain. David swallowed, his throat felt shaky as blurred memories played through his mind. He became distinctly aware of how dizzy he felt, and fell onto the couch with a thud."W-What's wrong?" His voice sounded parched. He felt dizzy, and the image of a noose that played on the TV as the newsperson talked didn't really help. Elizabeth just walked up to him and handed him the paper, her face pale and horrified looking. In their tiny, cramped, and depressingly empty apartment, the TV played.
"Local beloved diner owner William Afton found dead in Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. His son, Michael Afton, has been missing for two weeks, his blood was found on the scene. If you have any information, please call this number."
David looked at Elizabeth, who kept her eyes glued to the TV. David swallowed, and shook his sister's shoulder. She looked at him quickly, her face pale and in shock."Dad's dead." Elizabeth said quietly."Michael's missing." Was David's shaky reply.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

David rubbed his shoulder and tried to suppress the tears that flowed on his face. Dad had found out that he got a C on a math test, and called him into his office. Mama had gone somewhere far away, driving away the night after her fight with dad. Something about nightmares.

David slowly walked up the stairs to Mikey's room so he could get Mikey to patch him up, dad's smack to the shoulder hurt, even if dad had told him to be grateful he hadn't hit David in the face, like he did with Mikey. David's jealousy for Lizzie burned, and so did the shame. It just wasn't fair, it wasn't fair that whenever Mama came late at night, she only took her, and it wasn't fair that dad never said anything bad to her. David sniffled as he walked to Mikey's door and softly knocked.

“Come in!” David turned the doorknob, and he walked into the room. Michael’s face morphed into a scowl.

“What do you want crybaby?” Michael’s voice was venomous and sharp, like dad’s, and David began to regret his decision.

“Mikey, dad hit m-me over here.” David put his hand on his shoulder again, and winced slightly at the pain. “And it really hurts.” Michael’s annoyed face turned into one of sadness, and he got off of his bed and walked up to David. David flinched, but Michael just looked down at him, he looked sad.

“Father is a weirdo, if he said or did anything to you, it doesn’t mean you deserve it. Come on, let me patch you up, and then start dinner. I’ll make you your favorite, that cheesy stuff.” Michael’s voice was soft, and he softly put his hand onto David head. Davis hugged Michael’s leg, and began to cry.

“Okay, t-thank you.” David hugged Michael’s leg harder, and faintly smiled.

“No problem little man.” Michael just rubbed his head gently and led him out of the room.

David woke up with a start. He didn’t know why, he dreamt of Michael regularly. Never a positive memory though. His chest heaved rhythmically, his eyes felt blurry, and he sat on his bed and took deep breath's. He checked the time, 10:41. (The diner!) Then he quickly got up, grabbed a sweatshirt to cover his chest up, and rushed to Elizabeth’s room to wake her up.He knocked, and after waiting a few seconds, he burst into the room. She wasn’t there, her bed was neatly done, her room all cleaned up too. Even her college desk was organized, which David honest to god thought would never happen, and there was a note on the bed. David walked up to it and picked it up.

To David. I had to go to the police station in Hurricane to go and deal with this whole situation, and the diner will be closed indefinitely while I sort this out. You’re going to have to go with me tomorrow, so you have a full day off today. Enjoy, I’ll be back at around 07;00 PM. Love you little brother.Oh yeah, that. David remembered last night, going right to bed after the massive news his dad was dead (I’m not really sad about that?) and his older brother was missing
(I don’t really know how to feel about that?).
David remembered how a fuzzy sort of feeling invaded his head, and he remembered Elizabeth taking him to his room so he wouldn't fall down, and he remembered hearing Elizabeth through their paper thin walls talking with the officer. David still held the poster in his hand as he lied on his bed.The whole situation was confusing and concerning, and he didn’t even have work to busy himself with. David found himself confronted with the possibility of doing his English summer homework, or spending the day grasping at straws trying to feel sad about his dad, or try and remember if he really did miss Michael or not. He decided that both options were incredibly torturous, as nothing was more mind numbing then decoding Shakespeare. Desperate to find anything else to do, his thoughts went to the food Michael had made him from his dream. What was the name of it? (Fette something?) David did remember the basics though, Pasta, Mozzarella, Gouda, Paprika, Butter, Garlic, Cream, and something else? David remembered calling it an overcomplicated mac 'n cheese, he remembered Elizabeth eating it even though it made her stomach hurt, he remembered Michael's humming as he quietly made the dish, and David remembered the name.Fettucine Alfredo.It sounded fancy, and David vaguely remembered Monika talking about it once. David decided that trying to recreate the dish would be his mission today. He didn't remember the last ingredient, but he could guess. He would just go out and buy everything he needed, and when Elizabeth got home she wouldn't have to order that crappy takeout. Win win.
David walked to his room and opened his desk shelf, and wads of bills greeted him. He took one out, and counted up to 80 dollars. Would it be enough? David would be buying a lot of pasta and cheese, as he wasn't to confidant in his ability to guess the last ingredient. Also, he was terrible at just 'winging' things, and this recipe would call for a lot of winging. He put on a nicer looking t shirt under a thin hoodie, his favorite pair of jeans, his plain black eye patch, and ran a comb through his hair. With all that done, David walked out of his room, and looked around the apartment. A cockroach skittered across the floor, and David depressingly sighed. Then he shook his head, and tried to think of things more positively. At least things were different today, at least he wasn't on the same routine he had done for years. At least he didn't feel like he was just a robot.He hated that feeling.*****************************The building seemed to heaving and sighing along with old Mr. Neil, their only neighbor. He sat outside, under the awning, and read the paper while his cat slept on his lap. David could honestly say that he had never liked that guy, which always made him feel a little guilty. He had never done anything to David, or his family, and he was always mindful and patient when some of the guests bothered him. Maybe it was just the way a smile never crossed his stone, statue like face. It was only his cat that even made him not seem taxidermied all the time. It only had to mew for some semblance of life to streak across his eyes.(This is good, think about how lifeless Mr. Neil is, not dad.)
Annnd, now he was thinking about his dad. David remembered him the most from before the bite. The way he swung his fist at David, the way he effortlessly struck Michael and Elizabeth across the face. David's left shoulder ached, the small, circular burn mark stung. Dad had always loved his cigarette's.David looked up at the sky, a grey and cloudy one. The air felt humid and heavy, damp, sort of like the pound cakes Chef Mitch made. like him or not, the man made a good cake. David really began to wish he had brought an umbrella with him, or at the very least, a raincoat. He silently prayed that if it was going to rain, it had better rain now. He didn't want his shopping to get all wet. He mentally thought over the list again, Pasta, Mozzarella, Gouda, Paprika, heavy Cream, Garlic, and Butter. Missing ingredient aside, he felt confident enough in his memory of the dish to get almost all of it right.He even remembered the peppy little tune Michael hummed as he put in the ingredients one by one, it was the theme song to
The Immortal And The Restless: Where It All Began.
Talk about long titles, but Michael still loved watching it, to the point of remembering the whole theme song. Whenever Michael made it, he hummed that song quietly, but when he rarely let David and Elizabeth watch him, he sang it. David smiled softly at the memory, and that smile soured as he remembered that one time Dad came home to this scene, and threw a bottle on the floor in a drunken, sadistic rage.Did David really miss his dad? He felt unsure, as he only had one good memory of him. The other ones all just felt bitter. He vaguely remembered his Fredbear plush, how what David had believed was a best friend turned out to be an instrument of discord. Dad had used it to sew hatred between David and Michael, and it had worked, to an extent.David remembered the sound of a heart monitor. David rememberer a blood stained Foxy mask. David remembered a soft throb pulsating through his head and now missing eye.
“I HATE YOU!”
Shame crept in, and David tried to focus on something else. Saying that had been the first time David had really, ever, been vocal about what he felt about Michael’s torment.But now, Michael was missing. And David was willingly seeking a memory of him. David only thought of one thing, and once he did, it wouldn’t leave his thoughts.
(I need a Mocha)
******************“‘Ay kid, what can I get ya?” Mr. Gulliono walked out from behind the counter sailing widely. He mopped some sweat across his brow, even though it was air conditioned enough to technically be cold. David looked outside through the large window near the exit, no rain, but worryingly dark. David was relieved he decided to go to Gulliono's Grocery, owned by some random Italian guy, that gave the diner discounts because Elizabeth had helped his daughter out in college.
“Hello Mr. Gulliono, where is the pasta?” David didn’t really like spending a lot of time around the guy, he always felt cartoon like. Too nice, and too eerie. So much like a machine, like Fredbear. David felt goosebumps begin to dot his skin. He felt a little stupid, and hoped Mr. Gulliono wouldn't try to make conversation, as he hadn't gotten the chance to enjoy his Mocha, seeing he stupidly spilt it the moment he got out of the coffee shop.
“New menu item? There in the back kid, what’ya making?” Mr. Gulliono smile wavered a little, and David began walking towards the back so the fat man would get the memo that David didn’t really wanna chat, like he did with the chef whenever he made a food run.“Just trying something new.” David knew his voice sounded half evasive and half sarcastic, but it took everything in him not to just walk away without saying anything.“Ahh, that’s nice. Well, if ya need a hand, come on over kid.” Mr. Gulliono clapped his hands together and somehow, someway smiled wider. He looked sort of like one of those weird dolls the local weird kid had in his locker, the one they talked too. Fredbear came to mind, and a scowl came onto David's face. The smile reminded him of Henry Emily too, with that stupid, fake, deceivingly warm smile. David hated all the Emily's, he hated Charlotte, he hated Henry, he hated the name too. What kind of a last name is Emily anyways? The idea of Charlotte made David's scowl grow bigger, but he realized that Mr. Gulliono was still looking at him, and he began to feel awkward.“Thank you sir.” David mumbled, and he began to walk quickly, looking down onto the ground until he got to the pasta section. He looked around, and slowly realized he should have really read one of the recipe books in the diner kitchen and then came here. His eye began to ache.(This day off could not be going any better)
Is all that David thought off grumpily."Ma'am, I really think you should reconsider." Ugh, this guy would not let up. Elizabeth didn't know how many times she had to repeat herself, but it was beginning to get annoying. It wasn't helping that she felt really tired, and she hadn't eaten all day. Her stomach gnawed at her like an imprisoned animal, and she swallowed and tried to take a deep breath. The cramped office made that kind of hard, with everything seeming so tight. She shook away the unease and finished taking that deep breath, and got ready to shout again."Absolutely not! Under no circumstances will David be here tomorrow, understood?" Elizabeth looked at the detective coldly. He glared at her, but she didn't quite care. David was not going to have to identify their father's corpse. He had suffered enough."You do understand it can only be you two, right? The rest of your family is either dead or missing." Elizabeth scoffed. 'Missing', what a joke. If these police officers were of any actual use they wouldn't be wasting time forcing a child to stare at a corpse and they would be out finding her older brother!
(Calm down. It’s no one’s fault after all) Elizabeth just ran her hands through her hair.
(This office is suffocating)"No. Get one of his board members or something, or Henry Emily. Anyone, just not him!" Elizabeth said,
loudly.
"Ma'am, it's in everyone best inter-""No!"
Detective Burke seemed to finally get the message and sighed in despair. Then he opened one of his desk shelves and pulled out a few Polaroids. He gently handed them to Elizabeth, who took them confusedly."What exactl-" Elizabeth was going to ask what these pictures were when she was rudely interrupted. Elizabeth's stomach growled quietly."Which of these pictures do you recognize?" Elizabeth's scowl deepened, her stomach gnawed and grumbled, but she looked at the pictures anyways.One was of a large and empty room, a closet on one wall,
and a big bed on the other. On both sides of the room's were two doors, which Elizabeth remembered all too well. This was the nightmare chamber, where father would place his children if they 'disappointed' him that day. Elizabeth would regularly have nightmares about that place, even to this day. The fear was all to real, the feeling of those monster's, hallucinations, whatever on god's green earth they were, breathing. The way they, or rather father, toyed with their victims, hiding in the closet, under the bed.The other picture was unfamiliar though. It was off a dark and dingy room, with five small chairs. Blood stained the floor, and Elizabeth cringed at the sight of it. The room was completely unknown to her though. It did give off this eerie feeling though, like maybe it wasn't used for the greatest of purposes.The third picture was also unknown to her, though this one amped up the creepy feeling to 11. A table was in the center of this dark room, and behind were dozens of cages, all bloodied, all rusted. The table had a gag and the means of binding someone. Of holding them down.
The fourth and final picture confused Elizabeth at first. It was a picture of a noose, swaying gently, in what appeared to be someone's room. She really didn't quite get what this had to do with the other's, which all screamed 'I violated the Geneva Convention daily'
but then she spotted something familiar.
A foxy mask.What the hell? Was this Michael's room? Did he........ Did he hang himself?!?!?! Elizabeth felt the color drain from her already pale face as she looked up at the detective and let out a strangled gasp. The detective seemed to be filing some paper work, and looked up at her annoyed. She just pointed to the noose picture."What about it?" The detective said a bit too deadly. Elizabeth wanted to grab him by the collar and give him the biggest headbutt ever, but she instead took a deep breath, straightened her back and shoulder, and swallowed. Her stomach growled again, loud enough to be heard. Elizabeth winced and tried to ignore it, and then she swallowed again."T-This! Did my brother kill himself?!" Elizabeth asked frantically. (So much for calming myself down)
Elizabeth thought, a bit annoyed at herself for letting her emotions out like that. Thank goodness David wasn't here to see this."No, he's missing. This was just found in his childhood room." Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh! Okay!" Elizabeth let a smile creep towards her lips. She handed him back the pictures and pointed to the first one. "This is the only other one I recognize." Detective Burke just took the pictures back and put them into his shelf again. All Elizabeth could think of was
(What now?)"Alright then. Be here tomorrow at 12:00 sharp. Have a nice day ma'am." Okay? That was pretty weird, but Elizabeth was thankful that they had at least agreed to David not seeing their father's body. She still had to see the mannequin though, so that still stained her day tomorrow. But wait, if father was dead, and Michael was missing, and she and David had only just found out about it, who reported him missing? She decided to find out."Uhm, excuse me for bothering you, but who reported my brother missing?" The detective looked up at her seemingly bothered, but he just sighed and ruffled through the mess of papers on his desk. After pulling one out, he put on a pair of glasses and read it. Then he looked up at Elizabeth again and cleared his throat."Oh, his wife." The detective said in a monotone. Elizabeth looked at him, her eyes feeling so, so heavy. What he had said took a second to be processed, and then her eyes widened. What? Wife? WHO!? MICHAEL GOT MARRIED, AND NO ONE TOLD HER?! DID SHE MISS A WEDDING!? Elizabeth's mind raced with possibilities, who did he marry? And when? Was it a big thing? Elizabeth took a deep breath and swallowed. Her head hurt so much, she could distantly hear ringing in her ears. Then she cleared her throat and smiled a little.
"To who?" The detective looked up at her, and then looked down at the paper and began to read it."Charlotte Afton." WHAT! Actually, Elizabeth wasn't all that surprised. They had been close before mom had taken her and David to Salt Lake. Elizabeth's head began to pound,
(I really need to eat soon)
"Oh, alright...... do you know where I could find her?" The detective sighed and write something down on a notepad. Elizabeth took it and read it silently. It had two addresses."First one is your father's old home, the second one is your brother's home." Elizabeth just nodded and folded the notepad, and then put it in her purse. Then she began to walk towards the door. Her stomach growled, and Elizabeth's head went from pounding to starting to feel fuzzy. She staggered a little as she set her hand on the door knob. Her breathing pace quickened.
(Just a little more. Just walk to the car and then you can eat)
She thought to herself, her stomach pain traveling up to her chest. Elizabeth walked through the police station slowly, her legs feeling like lead. The ringing in her ears grew louder as she struggled to keep her eyes open. She just had to schedule this so damn early?
Finally she got outside. The sun shined brightly through the cracks of the dark clouds inhabiting the sky. The air felt heavy, humid, and not so great. Elizabeth fiddled with her purse and took out her car keys. She also pulled out her phone and checked the time. 11:43.
(I can take a quick nap)
Elizabeth thought happily, resolving to take a short nap, and then go and seek Charlotte. She had finally gotten to her car, keys in hand, as her hunger progressed to it's final stage. Elizabeth's vision begin to dim, and she slowly put the key inside and swung the door open. The she got inside and locked the door behind her. She let her eyes finally close as her stomach gnawed, promising herself to go out and buy herself a bagel once she woke up. Sleep came quickly after thatDavid sighed. Nothing was working, no matter how many times he tried, he couldn't remember what that last ingredient was. He had been standing in the pasta aisle for around 13 minutes at this point, and he knew that some of the other customers were beginning to look at him. He had the rest of what he remembered, the Garlic, Butter, bunch's of pasta, and the rest, but that one ingredient eluded him. Was it a veggie, a sort of spice, or maybe it didn't exist, maybe David had just made it up subconsciously just because his brain couldn't get annoying enough.Eventually, he just decided to eye ball a bunch of random things and put them into his shopping cart. He made sure to get mostly light ones, since he was going to have to walk home. Hopefully it wasn't raining. He walked to the front, and put the items onto one of the cashier tables. He pulled out his wallet while the cashier scanned his things, and while he was taking it out he looked at the window.Rain.David sighed. At least he took his water proof eye patch in the morning, so he didn't have to worry about that. But all his shopping was going to get soaked, and then what?
(Maybe I should just wait this out?)
He looked at the digital clock on the wall, 12:20. David was worried the rain might last along time, so he decided to ask."Excuse me, but do you know when the rain is going to stop?" David asked hesitantly. The cashier looked up from the bags, and looked at the clock."Oh, it's going to last all day." Was the cashiers dead answer. Gee, talk about sounding like a corpse. Not that David couldn't relate though, he also worked in customer service, and this poor soul didn't even get any tips. David felt bad, so he just took the bags quickly and flashed the cashier a smile as he handed them the money. The cashier took it, counted some, and then opened the register. Then he gave David the change, and David walked out. The store had an awning, so he could wait under that until the rain lightened, at least, he hoped.He walked silently out of the store, thankful he decided to get light vegetables, but not so thankful he got so much pasta. He thought getting 5 small pasta bags wouldn't be too bad, but he should have not thought that, as now the bags would get wet from the rain. David sighed as he shifted one pasta bag to a different hand to distribute the weight, and then opened the door to the outside.It was pouring, heavy, uneven sheets of rain, like an off rhythm drummer. David cursed under his breath. There was virtually no people outside, except for one person walking in the stores direction wearing a yellow raincoat and sporting a umbrella. David really
began to regret going outside with out checking the weather first, as it was now windy too. The wind blew like some sort of large creature, howling against the building lining the street. Sort of creepy. It reminded him of one of those monsters in that movie Monika forced him and Mark to watch, the one Mark abandoned out of 'boredom' as he put it. David knew the truth, as Mark was terrible at lying. Also, he screamed like a little girl after death scene one.(Maybe I should just run?) Never mind, that was a stupid idea, considering water iced the side walk like a never ending puddle. David didn't want to slip and possibly disable himself even more, having one eye was hard enough as it is. So, waiting it was. David held his bags a bit closer to him and groaned loudly as the rain drops fell like mini bombs onto the ground, splashing down one by one. The rain felt odd, familiar too him. Like it was trying to remind him of something. David just looked down at the ground, his eye beginning to get watery. His throat felt dry, and a wave of Deja Vu came over him.David remembered being in his childhood home during a storm. David remembered a man knocking on the door. He remembered dad answering it, and it being Henry Emily. David remembered him stifling tears.
"They said it's in her brain. Someone found her unconscious outside the diner Will!"
David remembered Charlotte always wearing a beanie.
He always thought of that as weird, from what he remembered Charlotte usually hated wearing a hat. David remembered seeing her in the hospital at the same time as him when his 'accident' happened. She always looked weak, struggling to move. She usually read to him, and then went back to her room. David remembered Michael visiting her a lot.God, David did really hate Charlotte Emily. He hated how much 'little miss perfect' was pitied by everyone, and for what? David wished he could remember, but it all just felt blurry. Like a hastily taken photo. David hated how much attention she got from Michael, from dad, from Elizabeth. He especially hated how good she was at everything, how masterful she was at everything. She was a year younger than Michael, but she skipped a grade, so they were together anyways. She was also friends with Elizabeth, so they constantly hung out whenever she was at their house.
But what he hated most of all, was how everyone treated her over him. How Henry always fretted to dad that,
'she might have it too'.
God, he was 8 when he lost an eye, on his birthday too, yet only Elizabeth and mom seemed to acknowledge his existence most of the time. Sure, Michael visited, it was his fault after all, but even then Michael would always go to her room after. And for what?! What on earth did she even have wrong with her that warranted his own father showing an emotion other than evil!?!?
It wasn't fair."Hello?" David looked up quickly, leaving his hatred to stew for later. Someone was talking to him now, and he examined the figure, who was wearing a yellow raincoat and had a yellow umbrella. (Oh). It was the girl from yesterday, the one short on cash. The rain fell heavily as the girl, (what was her name? Cassidy idiot.)
Cassidy, walked under the awning."Oh, hello?" David was confused, did she want something? Did she want to say thank you again?
"Y-You, you remember me?" She stammered, smiling a little from under the raincoats hood as she said that. David blinked, surprised she had come up to him. It wasn't like he didn't recognize people from the diner, but no one ever approached him."Yeah, I do." David said slowly. "Cassidy, right?" She smiled a little wider, and David noticed a chipped tooth. She folded up her umbrella under the awning, and shook off the water."Yeah, and your David, right?" David looked outside. The rain was still pouring steadily, and the wind blew wildly. David held onto the grocery bag a little harder."Yeah, need anything?" David asked hesitantly. What did she want? Not that David minded the conversation, as he didn't have anything really better to do anyways. It was just a teeny bit awkward. Still, appreciated."I just uh…..I just wanted to see if you were alright? You were kinda just staring into space?" Cassidy asked this shyly, and grinned as she did. She pulled down her hood, and her black hair was dry and tied into a bun, unlike David's, which was already misty from the rain. Also, did he really zone out for so long someone thought they should approach him just to see if he was okay."Yeah, I'm fine. Just, thinking. Not much else to do, don't want to get wet. My sister would kill me."
"O-Oh." Cassidy pulled in her umbrella and shook off some of the water. “You could use mines, if y-you’d like.” Cassidy offered the umbrella to him, and David glanced at it quietly. It would
be nice, but was he really about to take some strangers umbrella?"No, it's okay. I'm close to home anyways, and how would you get it back?" David backed away a little. The rain only pounded."Yeah, but your groceries look like they're about to dissolve." She tilted the umbrella and held it out a little more. "Come on, no reason to get home drenched right?"David hesitated, and looked outside again. The rain was as heavy as ever, and an umbrella would be nice. It wasn't like David didn't appreciate the gesture-it's just that it felt....odd. This girl from the diner, the one who had been short on their bill, was now offering David an umbrella like they were old friends. David wasn't used to this type of interaction from someone who was basically a stranger, especially from a customer."You really don't have to." Said David, trying to make his voice sound more firm. "I can manage." Cassidy just groaned and mouthed a curse word."Ugh, I know you can, but I’m trying to help you out here. I still owe you for yesterday, so just…. just let me help you out.”
The bags of groceries were already beginning to get wet at the edges, and they felt heavier then before. David glanced at Cassidy, who was smiling softly. There was something, disarming about her. The way she spoke, the way her weirdly gray eyes seemed to show that she was offering this, not out of obligation, but out of kindness. David found that hard to argue with."alright, thanks." David said quietly, and he took the umbrella slowly. He opened it up, and it bloomed open, sort of like a flower. David looked at Cassidy, and noticed she had a small flower pin on her rain coat. Did she like flowers?
(Why should I care?)"Don't mention it." Lightening flashed across the street, and Cassidy's face lit up in shock. Then thunder roared. "Anyways, I gotta get inside. See you soon David!" She smiled one more time, and started walking past him to get inside. David began to panic a little, why he didn't quite know.
"W-Wait!" Cassidy turned back to David. "Thanks again Cassidy, really."Cassidy smiled. "It's really no big deal, really! Well, bye!."
"Bye."She went inside quickly, and David realized she never even said how she was going to get it back. Did she want him to keep it? He walked away from the awning, and immediately did rain begin to pitter and patter heavily against the umbrella. David found himself begin to smile as he walked home, turns out he would get some time to try and make Michael's
recipe after all. And he even managed to, hopefully, get a new friend.
The rain complimented his thoughts as he walked home and wondered how one earth he would actually make this Fettucine, but he decided not to worry about that.The feeling of Deja Vu was gone too.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The simple fact was, David still had 20 dollars. Which was enough to rent one movie. And the local Block Buster was only a 5 minute detour. It was still raining, but thanks to Cassidy’s umbrella, it wasn’t much of an issue. The groceries still felt heavy though. The rain was still going strong as David walked quietly, shivering a little as a few stray drops hit his skin. He supposed he should have been glad he wasn't drenched, and today had been pretty fun. And interesting.At least there wasn’t any routine though.David has that to be grateful for, at least he didn’t feel robotic. He was also grateful for the umbrella that girl, Cassidy had lent him. Although, he did still feel bad about it. At least he wasn't wet.He walked silently down the street, remembering to make a left turn for the movie. He had to call Monika and Mark and invite them over, and also maybe buy a few snacks. Did Block Buster sell microwave popcorn too? David sighed at the water pounded onto the yellow umbrellas. If he was going to struggle to make that cheesy stuff, he might as well have some friends over to suffer with him. Also, he didn't want to be the one to try his first few attempts.Elizabeth groaned. She held her hand to her head and rubbed her temple. She felt really light, like she was made of clouds or something. Where even was she? She looked around, and she realized she was in her car. And she was starving. Her stomach growled loudly.Oh yeah. Elizabeth remembered now.(Oh god, what time is it?)
Elizabeth thought, panicking as she pulled out her phone. 06:48. Elizabeth swore, and then began to start the car. Her head felt fuzzy, and her vision blurred. She remembered how hungry she had been in the morning, and thought for a few minutes.
It was a long drive home, and she was hungry. A quick detour to get a bagel wouldn't hurt. And maybe she could even see Charlotte and ask a few questions. It wouldn't hurt to come home a little late, right?
(David's almost 18, his party's in 10 days. He can make his own dinner.) Elizabeth decided to just send him a quick text saying she would come home late. She still had questions that would only be answered here, in Hurricane. She started the car, took a deep breath, and began to drive. Her stomach growled quietly."Attempt 1. Whad'ya guys think?" David said, holding two medium sized plates. Monika eyes the food suspiciously, but Mark just ate a handful of popcorn.
"Uhm.... have you ever made this stuff before?" Monika asked, not meeting David's eye. Monika just sighed and set the plate down in front of her and Mark."No, but that's why I invited you guys over." Monika just looked at the plate like it was a dead animal. Mark smiled and took a fork."Aww come on, it can't be that bad. Food is food after all, and plus, it is just an overcomplicated mac 'n cheese." Mark grabbed some with his fork and took a bite. He smiled a little while chewing, but then, his eyes widened. He swallowed quietly, and then just looked down at the ground."It's... it's not that ba-""We're trashing it. If David wants us to try it, why doesn't he find an actual recipe." Monika said, sounding angry, before pushing the plate away from her and did the same with Marks. David just sighed and took them off the table and to the trash can. Attempt 1 did not go well.(These bagel's are amazing.)
Elizabeth thought joyfully, taking another bite of the sesame seed bagel she had bought. She sat in her car, reading over a file the police officer had given her last night, while she munched on her bagel. The file had a bunch of legal crap, like how she had to deal with everything, as usual. Elizabeth was just a little bitter everything had fallen down on her like this, how when mom died Elizabeth had to cancel her business classes immediately. How she had to take care of David. How she had to keep the diner afloat. And now this. Elizabeth didn't blame mom for it, it's not like she chose to get cancer, more so Elizabeth blamed herself. How she hadn't seen the signs, always pretending everything was alright while she made mom tea.
When her mother had died, Elizabeth had been sad. Obviously. She still remembered the funeral, how much she and David had cried. She remembered holding onto him a lot. people say grief fades, but Elizabeth still felt that same sadness, that emptiness when she realized she would never talk with her mom again. The funeral was small, but it was a sad occasion. Friends came and offered her stupid consolations, 'It's all in god's hands' or 'She's in a better place'. Elizabeth would just stare at them dumbfounded, wondering why those idiots lived while her beloved mother rotted. After about a week, mom's hospital bills became a serious problem, so Elizabeth didn't get much time to grieve.
This was another time where she seriously envied David's terrible memory. Not being able to remember the year mom left them with father had been a blessing in disguise, at least, Elizabeth thought so. He also barely remembered mom's time in the hospital. Elizabeth did though. How weak her beloved mother had looked in those short months.Elizabeth remembered something else too. That memory was crystal clear."Would you like anything else mom?" Mom had just turned away and looked out the window. She wore a guilty expression. Elizabeth remembered sitting down and putting a picture mom had asked for on the table."I just want to see him dear. To just.... say sorry."
Mom had sounded tired. She took the picture off the table and looked at it, seemingly on the verge of tears."Say sorry to who?"
Elizabeth remembered being confused.
"Your older brother."
Michael. Elizabeth suddenly remembered one of her reasons for staying in Hurricane. To get answers. Elizabeth took another bite of her bagel and started the car again. She checked the time. 08:29. It was late, too late to go and try and talk to Charlotte. Elizabeth took out the post it note the detective had given her. She looked at the bottom address, and made up her mind. She could go and see Charlotte tomorrow, today she was going to go back to her old home."Alright, this time I used an actual recipe." David said, feeling a bit to proud of himself. Monika just smiled smugly and walked into the kitchen, a water bottle in tow."Okay then, let's see it." Monika said, walking up to the pot David was taking pasta out of. She loomed over David's shoulder until he finished putting enough pasta for two plates. Then she went to go and get Mark."Maaaark! It's time to try David's mac 'n cheese!" Monika shouted. A distant 'okay' was heard, and then Monika sat down. David set down two plates and walked back to the plate. He began to make himself his own plate when he heard Monika gag. Then he heard her cough and take a drink of water."David this is terrible!" David just sighed and threw out the plate.Well, here she was. In front of her old house, covered up in yellow tapes. Painful memories flooded through her head, but Elizabeth just shook her head. But it was just
tape, and it wasn’t like anyone was around to stop
her. Answers were here, Elizabeth could always go to Charlotte and question her later.There was her old house of horrors, a dilapidated mess of unwanted memories and phobias. All of the windows were boarded up, and she swore she could hear something scurrying around to her left, but it was still her old house. With that weird red roof, in that isolated forest, with the broken down road. Elizabeth took a deep breath, and grabbed the door handle.The first thing Elizabeth noticed was the suffocating feeling of unease. She felt her shoulders tense up, this feeling was familiar. She didn’t like to think about why it was familiar though. The stale air hit her like a wall, and she coughed a little. She looked around, and everything was just like how she had left it. The tacky wallpaper, which Mom defended every time anyone mentioned, the old TV in the living room. The couch was also still there, with that familiar hole near the left that she had done. She looked at the wall, and all their old pictures were there too. Elizabeth looked at the family picture they had taken in 1982, everyone smiling brightly. The way her eyes seemed so bright.
(The old me)
Elizabeth thought sadly. Then she began to walk deeper into the house.The second thing she noticed was that high pitched hum. It was loud, and grating. It felt like when someone scratched chalk on a board incorrectly. Elizabeth just tried not to focus on it too badly.
The third, and final thing she noticed was the blood. The blood trail leading down, down to the basement. What the bloody hell, (really, ‘bloody’) She slowly walked towards it, and knelt down to feel it.
It was real, and judging by its color, fresh. She quickly rubbed it off the carpet. Pale blue made it seem purple and dark on the floor.(Well that’s creepy and disturbing) Elizabeth quickly got up, and reached into her purse. She always kept a small flashlight and taser with her, you could never be too careful. At least, that’s what David said. Elizabeth didn’t ever really think she needed it. She pulled out her phone to, wait, what was she doing again?Elizabeth felt herself begin to stumble a little, and she quickly shook her head.
(It's nothing) she told herself, at least, she tried to.
Elizabeth could have sworn she saw something in the shadows, and she began pacing back and forth, trying to steady herself. She rubbed her temples and considered just giving up and going back home. This wasn't really her problem, and why did she even care?
Elizabeth couldn’t quite shake that feeling of discomfort though.
(What was I doing again?)
Oh yeah, the not creepy and totally normal trail of blood right next to the staircase. She was investigating that, or was she? She just kept pacing back and fourth, back and fourth, seemingly grasping at straws to keep herself sane.
(Why don’t I just leave?) Elizabeth thought, before deciding that yeah, leaving was the best option here. She could look at the trail of blood another day. It wasn’t like it was going anywhere, right?The shadow’s seemed to be watching her. They were judging her, judging her based on her cowardice. Elizabeth decided that before she left, she should at least take a picture of the blood trail to show the detective. It would make this trip at least a little worth while.And then something jumped out at her, grabbing for her chest. Like it was trying to tear her heart out.Elizabeth really couldn’t have just went and badgered Charlotte, couldn’t she?"So... what do you think?" David asked shyly. Mark just grabbed the food and took a bite. Monika watched him intently. Mark chewed slowly, it didn't taste that bad this time. He just did a thumbs up and took another forkful."Alright then, give me some to Dave." David just handed her a plate too, and began to put himself some. Monika ate some too, and chewed slowly. 1, 2, 3. It tasted.... good?!
She smiled softly and kept chewing. David just eyed her, and then resumed putting himself some. He sat down next to them and grabbed a fork, slowly taking the spaghetti, and took a bite. He chewed it, it tasted nice, (Color him surprised) good flavor. But..... It just wasn't right. David swallowed and got up, going to the pot again. His friends just ate quietly behind him.David just looked at the pasta, trying to remember. What was that last ingredient?
(At least I can try again)
David just sighed and threw out the pasta, which elicited a pained cry from Mark."Ugh, wha- What the hell!"Elizabeth rubbed her forehead as she shut her eyes. She felt like she was being blasted with the might of 17 rainbows. Her head felt like an overblown balloon, and her vision was blurry. Everything was brightly pastel colored, except for the eye staring at her. The lone eye, its gaze unwavering, looking at her through the crack on the wall. (What is going on?!)She went for her purse, and realized that it wasn’t her purse anymore, but some weird pink and blue messenger bag. She grabbed it and ruffles through it, and eventually she found it. The flashlight, which now was some sort of rainbow kaleidoscope. Elizabeth just sighed and got up.Elizabeth walked slowly, ignoring how the hall she now found herself in was sickeningly bright and colorful now. She looked down at the ground, and the once blood trail was now more like a trail of lollipops and sweets. Elizabeth grimaced. The trail led down to the basement, where her dads workshop was.A sadly familiar memory came to mind.Elizabeth turned on the flashlight, and began to follow the candy trail. It squelched under her feet. She just walked, and kept walking, trying to ignore that sound. That high pitched drone, getting louder, louder, louder, (Why is it so distracting?) Elizabeth thought uneasily, holding her hands over her ears, trying to block out the sound. It didn't work.
Elizabeth eventually got to the stairwell, and looked down. The darkness there was a stark difference to how disgustingly bright everything else in the house looked. A
deformed painting stared at her. Elizabeth tried not to look.Did the wall’s have cracks in them? Since when did everything seem so dark? Where did that light headed feeling come from?
(WHY?)Stop avoiding me Elizabeth. ;)Elizabeth cursed and took a deep breath. Everything was dark now, except for her purse, which was still bright and pink. It didn't even feel real in Elizabeth's arms, like she was just imagining it.Whatever, what was she looking for again? Oh yeah, answers, or something like that. Laughing came from somewhere ahead of her, the dark hall that she was about to reach. It seemed so small, Elizabeth immediately stopped at the sight of it. She tried taking a step back up, to not go down, but her feet didn't move. They felt like glue, and she struggled to compose herself when she heard it again, that maniacal laughter. Was it from above Elizabeth or below her, she couldn't tell. She just stopped walking and tried listening for it again.
There was no more laughing.Elizabeth kept going down, down, down, deeper into the dark. That would make for a great movie title, at least, she thought so.
(What am I even here for?)The darkness was laughing at her, it giggled annoyingly, and Elizabeth wanted to strangle it, watch the life drain from its eyes.
(Wait……..What?)
Elizabeth’s breathing became more uneven, her fists clenched tighter, and her shoulders hunched. Not like dad! She held a hand to her mouth to try and steady her breathing, but that failed, and the creepy Cheshire Cat smiling down at her, with its big blue eye, wasn’t helping her panic.Something dragged the body’s away. Were those people even dead? What even grabbed them? They were dragged down the long, tight, cramped hall, which looked seemingly endless to Elizabeth. She let out a shaky breath. The Cats smile grew wider as Elizabeth stood in that hall, debating whether she should make a run for it, if those bodies were a bad omen, was she responsible for their deaths then? Would she finish the job? Would she gleefully end their suffering? (Wait…….What?!?!) Nowhere to go but forwards, but Elizabeth still turned back anyways. The stairway was blocked off by a mess of deformed hands, looking like they were all writhing in pain.So forwards Elizabeth went. The pale blue light shimmered down nightmarishly, calling Elizabeth to it. Something giggled to Elizabeth’s left, and she quickened her pace. It felt distinctly musty in the hall, and Elizabeth could have sworn she just walked right into a cobweb. Even though it was summer time, that hall was chilly, and the cracks in the walls giggled. The hallway seemed to never end, the walls- were they really even walls?- seemed to be perpetually closing in on her. Elizabeth could feel a cold sweat trickle down her face, and her breathing grew quicker with every step.As she walked down this never ending hall, the cracks in the walls seemingly growing larger at the second, she stepped on something. It was a paper. Elizabeth picked it up quickly, and tried making out the words.
Subject 002

002 seems to be rejecting treatment. The paralytic seems to wear off after a few hours. 002 has been placed in the nightmare chamber to further research the treatments side effects. They seem to have figured out a way to disorient the
A_dI_ Il_usi_n
devices. 002 hasn't gotten the patch yet. 003 to 007 have gotten the first version of it, but subjects 008 and 009 haven't been retained yet. End of log.What the hell? Elizabeth squinted down at the paper again, but the words seemed to be constantly moving now. She crumbled up the paper and shoved it into her still bright pink messenger bag. When Elizabeth looked back up, what she saw disturbed her.There were cracks everywhere. Wide, toothy grins shined through the walls dark crevices. This was beginning to become too much, something was here with her. She just knew it, something was watching her, they were laughing at her. Poor little Elizabeth, crying out to daddy, she could just hear them mocking her! They were, she knew it! Something was here, with her, waiting to take her back, take her back to her father!
NO! Elizabeth wouldn’t let them! Where was that flashlight again?! She fumbled around in her purse? Bag? Whatever it was, Elizabeth fiddled around in it until she found it, her taser! Not a flashlight, but it would work. She clicked on the button, and rejoiced in the sliver of light that popped out of it.And then it went out. Oh god, oh god, did she forget to charge it?! Elizabeth began breathing frantically, smacking the small rectangle a few times. It didn’t turn on.
They were taunting her at this point. Elizabeth thought she felt someone grab her, and quickly turned to look behind her. She immediately wished she hadn’t.A hand was reaching out for her in the darkness. Elizabeth stumbled a little, and then began speed walking, trying to outrun the creature? Whatever it was, it matched her pace, and it steadily followed her. It was like a cat playing with it's food, it was going to take her back to father! Elizabeth began walking faster, repeatedly looking back to see if she had outrun it. It stayed behind her steadily.And then it grabbed her.“Ugh David, what do you want me to do about this mess?” Monika said, frowning at him. She held a hairbrush in one hand and a fork in the other.“Pleeease? Just try it?” David held the plate in his hand and waved it a little. Monika just fake gagged.“Dude, you might as well trash this. You put to much damn pepper, Mark is still whimpering in your kitchen!” David just sighed."I just don't know what I'm getting wrong here, I remember almost everything else.""Have you tried winging it?""Monika, this is 'winging' it." David said bitterly. Monika grimaced and backed away."Yeaaah, why not try again? You still have a few more tries, and me and Mark can be here all night." David just trashed the too spicy Fettucine and got up, tying an apron around his waist."Fine, just don't eat all the popcorn."
WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE HELL WHAT IS THAT SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE HELL SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING IT'S COMING HELP HELP IM SORRY HELP WHAT THE HELL SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING.

SOMETHING'S IN THE WALL'S

The Hall is so cramped

Pale blue light came from somewhere

The Hall is so long

A smile wait's for me in the dark

The Hall is so tight

It's teeth look so sharp

The Hall is so narrow

Where even am I?

Something's coming for me?!?!?!?
Elizabeth felt afraid. Something reached for her, the cracks in the wall bearing their ugly teeth. She was dead, more than dead, she was in hell. She wasn't crazy, she was good at figuring things out. Daddy always said that was his favorite thing about her. Something pulled Elizabeth's hair. Elizabeth tried grabbing at it, and it's smile twisted and contorted, the disfigured hands fluttering through the hall. Lollipops were littered across the floor. Something tried puling Elizabeth's flashlight away. Elizabeth screamed in response. Something grabbed her ankle, Elizabeth desperately tried kicking it off. Pale blue light shimmered on the floor while papers flew around. Something shoved Elizabeth, who staggered and shouted. At least, she tried. What came out of her mouth was a dry gasp, and she realized just how much her throat ached. Her voice was rough and hoarse from screaming. Something only laughed wildly in response.
"Lizzie."
Elizabeth tried punching one of the smiles. It cackled and faded away. Elizabeth felt it shove her down to the ground, and she scrambled to get up. She kept her eyes on the eye at the seemingly unreal end of the hallway. Pale blue light shimmered through the cracks in the wall. Something grabbed Elizabeth's ankle again. She stomped down the arm holding onto her. It didn't let go.
"This is going nowhere fast, is it?"
Elizabeth felt tears pricks her eyes. Of all the stupid things to go and do, she came back here. She might as well have just jumped off a building. Something giggled horrendously while it reached for her heart. Elizabeth just let out a sob and kept running.
"Take a deep breath. Don't be afraid."
The pale blue light began to soften. Something taunted Elizabeth through the darkness. Elizabeth felt tear's roll down her cheeks. She might as well just sit down and accept her fate. The wall's just kept distorting. The eye at the end of the hall kept it's unwavering gaze fixated on her. Something laughed as it shoved Elizabeth.
"Remember Lizzie, it's not as scary as you think."

The familiar sound of the voice made Elizabeth slow down, but not stop. She kept running as the eyes watched her, mocking her. She frantically ran her hands through her hair as she slowed down her pace. Something just giggled eerily. (Just calm down Just calm down Just calm down Just calm down)
Elizabeth slowed down as she held a hand to her heart. It as thumping loudly, erratically, as if it was about to explode. Her vision pulsed, her ears were ringing loudly, and that stupid eye wouldn't stop watching her. She stopped.Her breath's came slower now. The giggles seemed to respond to this by quieting down. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, not wanting to look at the eye at the end. She could feel it's gaze fixated on her, it's pupil flashing from black to red. She took another deep breath, keeping her eyes shut. The giggles seemed to be gone now, but Elizabeth didn't dare to open her eyes. The air seemed to be clearing up, not as disgustingly stale as before. Elizabeth just kept breathing slowly, in and out, in and out. Elizabeth began to feel her legs ache, and the room was now deathly silent. Elizabeth opened her eyes, and looked around.Everything was..... normal?!
(What the hell?!)
Elizabeth thought, incredibly confused. And agitated. What even was that? What parts of that were real? Elizabeth looked around, and saw her flashlight on the floor, flickering weakly. Elizabeth went over to it slowly, her eyes looking around the room quickly. The shadows didn't seem to be moving this time, but Elizabeth still kept looking behind her back. There was a distant red light, flashing dimly. Elizabeth also heard a high pitched drone at the end of the not so long looking hall. Elizabeth just picked up the flashlight and looked around, and saw something on the floor. A paper. Elizabeth walked up to it and picked it up suspicously.
Subject 003 Susie Smith

Good at taking orders. Paralytic dosage needs to be increased though. Keep nightmare chamber usage to an absolute minimum. Better than the last two. Subject 002 has been seen trying to make conversation with 003. Upon investigation, the team has been made aware of the fact that 002 has been trying to rile everybody up. May need to separate connections and try not to let 003 get in any uncomfortable situations. 003 has difficulty managing emotions
Elizabeth's jaw dropped, and she shoved it into her purse to show the detective later. Pale blue light seemed to be shining from the Audio Illusion disk, and Elizabeth remembered that she came here for answers. And also to destroy something like this. She took it in her hands, it seemed so easy to destroy now. Who would have ever know this tiny disk caused so much fear. A memory of someone familiar came to mind.
Elizabeth took a deep breath, and dropped the disk onto the ground. With one final stomp, there was finally peace.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“What do you think we should do?” David asked quietly. Elizabeth turned to him.

”We should make him something! I know, let’s bake cookies!” Elizabeth got up from the chair and grabbed David’s hand.

”W-Wait! We can’t though! We don’t know how to use the oven.” Elizabeth frowned.

”It’ll be fine, I remember how to. Now come on already, the more we wait the less time we have!” David got up and grabbed his Fredbear plush. It watched them silently.

“Are you sure? What if we get in trouble with dad?” Elizabeth grimaced. Then she shook her head and began walking to the kitchen.

”Don’t worry, he wont be home for a long time. Now come on, help me find the sprinkles!”

David followed her to the kitchen, but when he got inside, she wasn’t there. Instead, a large, pedestal stood there. David felt his heart sink to his stomach, and tried to leave.

There was no exit.

David slowly approached it, his eyes darting across the room frantically. He hugged his Fredbear plush tighter. The room was dead silent, except for a weird, high pitched drone. David felt like his head was a bee's nest, buzzing loudly. The drone grew louder. David finally got to the pedestal, which had a bear symbol on it, and David only looked at his Fredbear plush. As he did, he felt this sense of fear, of disgust, come over him. He quickly put it on the pedestal and shut his eyes.
A screeching noise made David snap his eyes open. He looked at the pedestal, and it wasn't there anymore. Instead, there was this large, ominous, mass of metal, adorned with a black top hat. An eerie yet scarily familiar smile painted it's face, and David felt his left eye begin to throb while the monster trudged towards him slowly, rhythmically, each step shaking the ground a little. It looked down at David, its eyes hollow and black. David screamed as it opened its mouth, revealing a second set of teeth, more grotesque and knife like than the soft, square one that the bot had shown before. It reached for him, it's large hand stained in crimson red, and it squelched as it flexed it's fingers mechanically. (Oh god,
is that blood?)

The sound of a scream came from behind him. David looked behind him, and saw a shadowy figure. A piercing blue eye was the only thing of color, and David found himself running to it.

"???, I'm scared. Will you help me?" The shadowy figure began to fade. David reached out to it, but his hand phased right through. The shadowy figure let out an arrogant scoff.
"Don't be such a crybaby, there's nothing to be afraid of. You're brother isn't afraid of it, and neither is your sister. It's time for you to man up
D a v i d , you're embarrassing us." The monster took another step as the shadowy figure spoke. David looked back, only to see it's mouth wide open. The buzzy feeling in his head got stronger, and he let out a pained gasp. He looked back up, and the shadowy figure appeared to be smoking now. It took the cigarette out of it's mouth and kneeled down to David's height. David let out a sniffle as it put it's hand on his shoulder."Remember
DavId,
real men don't cry. I don't want to have to use force now, do I?"
David was about to reply, but he felt something grab him as he did. He let out an even more shrill as his vision began to be filled with red. The last thing he saw was the bears sharp teeth encircling his head.

And..... CRUNCH

David woke up with a start. His whole body shook as he breathed, and his eye darted around the room quickly. He ran a hand through his hair as he checked the time, 10:12, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
(Just a nightmare. Calm down)
He blinked slowly, trying to reorient himself with where he was. He looked around, and realized he was in the living room. Static played on the screen, and popcorn was scattered on the floor.

(Oh yeah)
David remembered now. He had given up trying to recreate that old recipe and just decided to watch the movie he got at block buster with his friends. It was a horror movie, called the The Thing. It was about an alien that was frozen in the ice being released and terrorizing an arctic expedition. David had liked it, even though the ending was a bit weird.After his friends had left (Mark had been a bit too eager) David had just re watched it. He looked at the kitchen, and remembered the mess he had left from…. what was it again? David just groaned and looked at the living room. Sunlight bled through the curtain, popcorn was scattered throughout the room. The smell of pasta and melted cheese made David feel just a bit nauseous. The messy living room felt…….. familiar. David just sighed again and closed his eye. His throat began to dry up, and his eye socket began to throb as he sat there, wondering why the living room he had inhabited for 9 years felt weird to him. David just shut his eye and took a deep breath.David remembered a messy living room, with a tacky wallpaper that was always complained about. A bowl of butter on top of the old TV, an old family portrait.A Fredbear plush, always watching.David just shuddered, and opened his eyes again. That weird feeling was gone now. (I’m bored) David was bored. The diner still wouldn’t be opened today, so he had to find
something
to do today. After thinking for a few seconds, he decided to just try and do that recipe again. Sure, it was routine, David hated that, but there wasn't much else to do today. Except for his English homework. Not even his worst nightmares could be as soul crushing, as life draining, as mind numbing than whatever the hell Ms. Drake put in there.David just got up and started walking to the kitchen, stepping on a piece of popcorn on the way.
(I'm gonna have to clean this later)
David just brushed it off, and kept walking. He mentally told himself he would have to clean that up before Elizabeth came home. Whenever that was.Elizabeth walked slowly, her flashlight flickering weakly in her hand. This hall seemed to never end, it was just so long. Elizabeth looked at the paper she had found again, that weird subject thing. 003, a girl named Susie? Why was this even in her houses basement? What on earth was happening down here? Elizabeth's mind flashed back to the photos the detective had shown her. Were those chairs, that weird table....... was someone put in those things?! Elizabeth remembered the dried blood around those 5 chairs? (Am I safe down here?)
Elizabeth thought, before remembering what happened like 30 minutes ago. That weird hallucination, panic attack, whatever it was? That admittedly was
not
normal. Elizabeth had claustrophobia, she had always known that. But she never hallucinated. Was it from that weird disk thing she broke? Elizabeth just shook her head and kept walking.
And walking.And walking.(Geez this hall is long)
Elizabeth thought tiredly. This was exhausting, and Elizabeth was worried her her flashlight might die soon. The weak flickering didn't help that worrying, and Elizabeth quickened her pace. And then, she found it.A red door. Elizabeth felt two things. She felt relief, that she finally found something, that she could go home with at least something to think about. And hopefully a few answers. The second thing she felt was fear, like what if she didn't like what she saw? What if it was horrific, what if something inside was dangerous? What if
someone dangerous was in there? Elizabeth knew her dad was dangerous, her old 'nightmares' proved that. She felt goosebumps pop up on her skin just thinking about it. And also apparently he did some
messed
up things. The photos proved that too. Elizabeth felt her fear wasn't unwarranted, but also, what if someone was still in there? What if someone was in there, and in pain? Elizabeth just stood there, thinking about it. She moved her flashlight a little, and noticed a symbol near the top of the door.
A weird clown mask. The colors were faded, probably due to how old it was, but they were still distinctive. White, with rosy red cheeks, and forest green eyes. And under that, the number 002 was emboldened with that same shade of green.Elizabeth just took another deep breath, grabbed her taser from her purse, and opened the door.What she saw shocked her. And then it made her grimace. It was just a padded room. A white, padded room, something looking like it was built for an insane person. A colorless bed sat in the far right corner, and except for a small closet and dresser, it was just, blank. Like a hospital room, soulless, like you were going to die there. It also did look like someone died there, based on the dried blood splotch Elizabeth discovered on the floor. Was this real, or like the one from upstairs? Elizabeth just decided to just ignore it, oooooor. Elizabeth pulled out her phone, turned on the flash, and snapped a picture. (I'll show the detective later)
And Elizabeth began walking to the bed and dresser.
She didn't really know what she was expecting, as it was just as bland as the room. She opened the shelves, and they were empty. Shelf 1, shelf 2, shelf 3, and then.... the 4th one. It was almost as empty as the others, except for a paper. Small, more like a photograph. It had a few written words on it too, and Elizabeth shined the flashlight on it and squinted.It was of a robot. Thin, like some sort of metal mannequin. A tall endo, with two holes for eyes. Forest green eyes, more like pinpricks, and Elizabeth could almost feel like it was staring at her. It had a weird thing near her chest, looking sort of like a ribcage, and surrounding the ribcage was.... a gift box? Elizabeth just sighed, loudly, and read the description.
'I'mnotcrazyI'mnotcrazyI'mnotcrazyI'mnotcrazyI'mnotcrazyI'mnotcrazy' 'DO YOU SEE IT TOO? SOMETHING BRHIND YOU’
Elizabeth just grimaced some more. That idea of someone insane being in here suddenly started to make an uncomfortable amount of sense. But why?
(Why is this in my house?)

Why was this in her house? If someone insane was here, why? Why not a mental ward, why in her dad's basement. And then, a thought, a horribly fitting thought flashed through her mind.Was.... was this her dad's doing?
Elizabeth looked behind her. Her brain was reeling, her mind racing with possibilities. She just sighed, and gently put the photo in her purse. She would think about this later.Right now, she was exhausted
Attempt 5
David put too much broccoli. Even though it became a bit too chunky, and the texture got weird, he could tell it wasn’t right. He sighed and trashed his plate.
Attempt 7
Cauliflower tastes, weirdly airy? It was hard to describe the flavor, and he just slowly chewed before swallowing and taking a drink of water. He looked at the clock, 11:43.
(Ugh)
He trashed the dish and got back up again, opening the final bag of pasta.

Attempt 9.5
Did this count as half of an attempt? David had gotten attempt 2 wrong, messed up and put waaaaay too much cheese
(Seriously what was I doing?)
But that attempt also used chili pepper. Since he hadn’t even tried it due to the overwhelming amount of cheese, he didn’t even get to see if Chili Peppers were the one. So this was that, but with normal amounts of gouda. Whatever, it was done. David took his fork and took some of it, and bit down.Wrong, and too spicy.
(God am I really that British?)
Attempt 13
Bell peppers tasted the best out of all the attempts. It complimented the pasta well, but it just wasn’t right. David took another bite and concentrated, trying to remember the ingredient. (Think David think, what was that ingred-)“MMff!” David bit his tongue. He swallowed quickly and took a drink of water. Maybe it was time to do something else. Something less rage inducing.He looked out the window, and saw a bright blue sky. Fluffy clouds were scattered around aa a flock of birds soared through the air. It also wasn’t all that hot, which was surprising for a summer in good ole Utah. He wanted to finish that architecture book he has been reading, and he also really wanted a break. Believe it or not, failing at the same thing multiple times, but not knowing how your failing, got David feeling annoyed.He walked out into the living room and remembered to turn on the weather channel. Sunny skies all day. (Perfect)
David decided to go out for a walk to the nearby lake. He loved going there, as most days it was pretty quiet. There was a secluded part behind a bunch of trees that Mark had shown him a year ago, and whenever David began to feel upset or frustrated, he went there to cool down. It was nice, especially since no one was there to stare at him. He hated all the stares he got whenever he went outside with his eyepatch. Staring at him like he was some sort of moving museum, like a robot.The memory of his nightmare came back, and David shuddered.So he went to go get some nicer clothing, and looked around his room.
(I really should clean this later) David thought. Oh well, it's time to go outside!***********
David looked at the park.
(Oh god)
It was so loud. Children screaming loudly, dogs barking incessantly, and the occasional soccer moms were dueling it out in front of everyone. More importantly, David’s spot was blocked by these infamous soccer moms, and he did
not
want to get involved with whatever that was. He just took a few steps backwards, the bag he was holding containing his architecture book fluttered loudly in the soft breeze that passed through. David just sighed as he resigned to the fact he couldn't read now. The shining sun glared through his shut eyelid as he tried thinking of what else to do.(Maybe I should come some other time?)
David looked around. There was zero way he was ever going to go into the park like this. And he was kinda hungry….. so David made a decision. He had only had a few bites of pasta with every attempt, and it had been one or two hours since. Sooooo, might as well get a sandwich while he was out here. And he could come back later, when it would be less crowded. And a bit less hot.
Hopefully.So, David just turned back and walked to the nearest breakfast place that he knew of, some quirky French place. They had amazing sandwich's, and they made an amazing Mocha. And from that nightmare, David felt like he deserved it. David just smiled softly as he thought about reading and drinking a mocha. It was a time old comfort, he did it regularly. Yet he never did it repeatedly, so it never felt like a routine. David's stomach growled quietly as he just kept walking through the bright street, which was weirdly empty? Maybe everyone was just at the park? Whatever, David didn't really care.***********It turns out, everyone was at the deli. At least, it seemed to be like that to David, who's legs had begun to ache around 10 minutes ago. And he still wasn't even inside the damn place! The line
still
stretched outside the building, and David was beginning to get annoyed. He wanted to leave, but at this point, he had sunken in too much time to leave. And he was still hungry. But this line felt like it would never end, and everyone was talking so loudly. David just kept looking down, trying to just pass the time. And also so nobody would look at his eye. He already began to feel antsy, feeling as if everyone was staring at him. Of course, he knew that wasn't true. Sure, someone probably was, but not
everyone. But he still felt out of place, and no matter how many times he told himself that no one really cared enough to stare at him, that feeling of being watched never really went away.
The line moved up a little, and David moved along with it.
(Finally)

David thought, thankful he was at least under the building awning. The shade felt nice, but it wasn't as nice as actually eating something. Or drinking something. Or sitting down. Whatever, it was just as boring as before. The line moved forwards again, and David moved with it too.
(At least it's moving faster)
David thought, relieved he would at least get home before sunset.Okay, that was being dramatic, but it was already kind of late. Too late to justify a sandwich and an overcomplicated coffee. He went and grabbed his wallet from his pocket, and opened it.
(Thank god)
David thought, thankful he remembered to bring money. The line moved up again. It was going even more fast, and David whispered a silent prayer of thanks that he would finally eat. His stomach growled loudly.
The line moved up again, and now David was inside. The air conditioning felt wonderful, and he was getting a bit excited. He would get to eat soon! He could already taste the Mocha, and then he would have to go home. David’s small smile faded as he remembered the ness he had left the apartment in. What if Elizabeth had come home already? David doubted it, as she hadn’t sent him a text about it. Also, where even was she yesterday? David pulled out his cracked phone and looked up Elizabeth’s contact.
CrazedClown1979

-Liz have you gotten home yet?_

Message sent
David just stared at the screen for a few seconds, but then the line moved up again. David just sighed, and his stomach growled in response.***********Out of every architecture style that David had read about so far, Classical looked the prettiest. Victorian style seemed like the worst, at least to him. Every Victorian style house David looked at seemed like an oversized dollhouse. He half expected a ghost to be in a few of the pictures, they always seemed so creepy. David took another bite of his sandwich as he flipped the page.Now it was talking about Cape Cod style. David took another bite, chewing carefully (his tongue still stung a little from when he bit it) and swallowed. Then he took a blissful sip of coffee. A soft breeze flowed through the air, and David just smiled. This was…. nice. Peaceful. He looked around the place he was sitting at, this isolated little area. It was nice, quiet, and perfect for some late breakfast and a good book. David just smiled softly.Elizabeth felt a mixture of nostalgia as she drove the car. She glanced at the papers in the passenger seat, the ones talking about that weird experiment stuff she had found in her father’s basement. She just sighed tiredly, and kept driving. Elizabeth felt like she really needed a drop of coffee.This whole thing felt so……. Cathartic. Like a melancholy nostalgia, not such a good feeling, but a familiar one nonetheless. She looked at the address again, the first one the detective had wrote.The one to Charlotte Emily’s house.Or should she be called Charlotte Afton? Elizabeth had completely forgotten about the whole….. brother being married thing, but better late than never, right? She was now one block away, and she began to feel… nervous. Elizabeth thought of what she would be like now, how would she look like? Would she act differently? Elizabeth remembered Charlotte Emily as an upbeat and positive person, and Elizabeth was friends with her when she still lived in Hurricane. But would Charlotte want to be friends now?
Would Charlotte even want to see her?Elizabeth just sighed. Her brain felt too tired to really think about this, she still had that whole basement thing to unpack. Elizabeth drove when the light flashed green and drove onto the street, and looked for a parking spot. She also looked at the neighborhood, which looked like a standard American suburb. Elizabeth found a parking spot and began to park the car, slowly. She really could not get this thing even more bruised, it already had enough scrapes.After she parked it, she began to walk out of the car, slowly. Her feet already hurt from all the running she did, and she had stupidly worn her nice looking shoes.
(Come on, just one last thing to do, and then home!)
Elizabeth told herself, trying to find the motivation to do this. She looked at the address on the post it note, and yep, this was the house. Elizabeth looked at it, and honestly, it looked nice. Well maintained, nice lawn. Elizabeth felt a small tinge of jealousy, but she just shook the feeling away and began walking again.She got up to the front, with the door. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and opened them again. (Calm down. Everything is going to be okay, even if she doesn’t like you)
Everything was going to be okay, no matter what. Elizabeth just opened her eyes, cleared her throat, put on a smile, and knocked on the door. She felt a cold sweat trickle down as she heard footsteps, and oh god, she was really doing this! She was about to talk to Charlotte! After almost an entire decade!
(Oh god, what am I doing?! I have to go, What am I doi-)
The door opened.“Hello?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Hello?” The figure said, politely but distant. Elizabeth’s eyes widened as she realized she didn’t have any real game plan here. The figure looked at her expectantly, her eyes looking tired but guarded.“Oh! I uh- I m-mean…….. hi?” (Gee this is going great)
The figure just frowned while it eyes Elizabeth suspiciously, their cocoa brown eyes scanning Elizabeth.
“…. Yeah, hello. Do you need anything?” The figure, no, Charlotte asked. Elizabeth just took a deep breath and put on a smile. She hoped her nervousness wasn’t visible.“Y-Yeah, you’re Charlotte Afton, right?” Charlotte’s eyes widened in surprise. Her grip on the door tightened, and Elizabeth mentally berated herself for that.“Yes?”“So uhm, this might be weird to hear, but……”Charlotte just looked at her, blinking slowly, her gloved hands tightening its grip on the door. Elizabeth felt her heart beating through her chest, and began feeling a little light.
“It’s Elizabeth…. Elizabeth Afton.” Charlotte’s tired eyes widened, and she blinked quickly as recognition flashed across her face.“Elizabeth?” Charlotte said, her voice barely a whisper. “Lizzie!” Elizabeth felt a small smile from on her face as Charlottes eyes lit up with joy.“Yeah Charlie. It’s me.” Elizabeth said, her heart rate somehow getting faster. Charlotte opened up the door fully, and Elizabeth
“Lizzie I…. I mea-“ Charlotte paused, her grip on the door tightening. “I didn’t recognize you at first. It’s just been…. So long since I’ve seen you.” Charlotte’s voice trembled a little as she talked, and Elizabeth only nodded, stepping forwards, but then she stopped. It had been almost a decade since they had seen each other, and Charlotte was literally dying when Elizabeth had left. And now, she and Michael….Michael.“Charlie, I feel like we need to talk.” Elizabeth said, hopefully sounding more confident than how she felt. Charlotte just nodded and stepped back a little, making way for Elizabeth.“Yeah….. I think we should. Come in, I have some tea ready. Your favorites peppermint, right?” Charlotte motioned for Elizabeth to step in, and with one quick, deep breath to calm herself down, she stepped inside of her brother and friend’s house.
Elizabeth’s first thought was
(Oh my god, this place is massive)
And it was. Pretty Paintings and framed pictures were on every wall, and every hall seemed to be never ending. It also was nice, smelling like a pumpkin pie, with a carpet that made Elizabeth immediately feel inadequate. A fancy grandfather clock ticked in the corner, sort of like the one from her old house. The bottom was different though, and the hands were also different. Elizabeth frowned a little at the thought of her old house, but Charlotte led Elizabeth to what was seemingly the kitchen.“I have some food prepared, pumpkin pie. I know it’s not so great for the summer, but if you’re hungry, I could cut you some.” Charlotte said warmly. Pointing to the pan near a windowsill, while also pulling out a chair for Elizabeth. Elizabeth considered it, she hadn’t eaten all day…. But was she about to take food
just
after meeting an old childhood friend? Elizabeth felt bad enough, and she could go another hour without food.
“it’s fine, I’m not hungry.” Elizabeth said, not really meaning it, but she also didn’t want to be taking a handout. Charlotte just shrugged and cut one slice off, presumably for herself. Then she went up to the table Elizabeth was standing by and sat down, motioning for Elizabeth to do so too. Elizabeth sat down, and eyed the pie for a few seconds.
(Maybe….?)
No! Charlotte was already sitting down, Elizabeth didn’t want to go back on her choice now.
“So…. To start things off….” Elizabeth began, realizing she couldn’t really find the right words for what she wanted to say. Charlotte just took a sip of tea and tilted her head a little, expecting her to finish the question.“Yes?” Charlie asked, taking another sip of tea.“You… got Married! Why didn’t anyone tell me!?” Elizabeth asked. Charlotte’s eyes widened, but then she softy smiled.“It wasn’t anything big. Really. Just a small ceremony.” Charlie said nonchalantly, seemingly acting as if it was just a doctor’s appointment or something.“For how long?!” Elizabeth asked, a little frustrated it wasn’t being treated like a big deal. She had always loved weddings, they were big, pretty, and fun. They were like the ultimate symbol of love.“Uhm, I think 2 years. Going to be 3 by Halloween.” Charlotte said, sounding a bit far away. Elizabeth was confused, why on Halloween?“Why Halloween?” Elizabeth asked confusedly. Charlotte’s eyes gleamed with recognition, and she took a sip of tea before answering her.“We did the whole ceremony thing on October 30th. Earliest date is with the minister.” Oh. That made more sense. Well, that was out of the way.“Oh.” Elizabeth said, wanting to talk about the
other
thing, but not being able to find the right words. Charlie just smiled at her and took another sip of tea. Elizabeth cleared her throat, and held up her hand.“So, onto something a bit more sad. When did Michael go missing?” Charlie’s smile dropped, and she looked down at the table as she set down her cup. She didn’t answer right away, and she didn’t look Elizabeth in the eye as her mouth moved slowly.“Around a week ago.” Charlie mumbled. She looked….. distracted. She wouldn’t look Elizabeth in the eye, and kept fiddling with her cup as Elizabeth processed that information.“And why was I told of this two days ago?” Elizabeth said, trying to keep her voice steady. Charlie just looked up at her sadly while her gloved hand rhythmically tapped the table.“I hadn’t seen you in so long…. I didn’t know how to say it. In the beginning, I thought he just went off somewhere to blow off some steam… bu-“ Charlie paused abruptly, and looked away. Elizabeth would have said something, but her stomach interrupted her by growling,
loudly. Elizabeth swore as Charlie’s stormy expression faded to surprise, and then a soft, but melancholy smile.“How about this, I’ll give you some food, and you can eat while I explain everything.” Charlie said warmly. Elizabeth thought about it, on one hand, she didn’t want a handout. But….. she was hungry. And Charlie
was offering.
“Yes please.”David fiddled with his walkman as he walked home quietly. (Almost there). Today had been…. Nice. Relaxing. Peaceful. He was a bit ashamed to think that Michael going missing and his dad dying had made his summer a little more…?A little more what?David didn’t get to finish the thought as he saw the scene playing a half block ahead of him.5 people outside the diner.Five?!(Did I forget to put up the closed sign today?!) David slowed down immediately as he looked at the scene from afar. It was that girl again, Cassidy, the one who gave him the umbrella. With the black hair and those gray eyes, warm and disarm-Oh god.She saw him.
And now she was waving?!David considered just pretending not to know her, the awkwardness was just too much. But then he remembered that he was, A: Missing an eye. That would be pretty hard to forget. So he just sighed and started walking towards the diner, awkwardness be damned. He would get to return that umbrella to Cassidy, if he let her in. Or the entire group.He just kept walking and thinking, keeping a neutral face on as Cassidy’s face lit up with recognition. He sighed quietly before putting a smile on his face and walking up to the group of people outside the diner.“Oh, hi! Fancy meeting you here.” Cassidy said, smiling warmly. Her friends shuffled behind her as she waked towards David.“Hello, nice to see you too. Do…. Do you need anything?” David asked slowly. She just smiled again and pointed towards the door.“Uh yeah, we were trying to get a bite to eat, but the door is locked. We didn’t really see any closed signs anywhere…..” Cassidy said, trailing off towards the end as she saw David begin to frown.“Yes, that’s my fault. I forgot to put the sign up this morning.” David said, feeling pretty stupid as he said it out-loud.
How could he forget that?“Oh. So…. Is it open?
Can we go in and eat, or…?” Cassidy said quietly, fidgeting with her hands as she spoke. David stayed silent, contemplating whether he should. He had been having a pretty nice day, and this might just go and ruin it. But….. Elizabeth wouldn’t mind, right? She would appreciate some extra money, money never hurt. And it would help make up for that 7 dollars he kind of let go. That he hadn’t told Lizzie about yet. He could hear the lecture already. David frowned softly and took a deep breath and sighed again.“Fine. But only as long as you could pay, everything. 30 minutes tops, and I’m not making anything difficult.” David said in a monotone, wondering if he should really be doing this. Cassidy smiled brightly.“R-Really?! Thanks!” Cassidy turned around and motioned for her friends to come over as David put in the code and unlocked the door. “W-Wait?! Won’t you get in trouble with your boss?” Cassidy said as she walked in behind David. David waved his hand as he grabbed a menu.“It’s fine, my sister owns this place.” David said, pointing towards the door at the far right of the room, Elizabeth Schmidt emblazoned on the door under owner.“Oh.. well thanks again! I promise we’ll be quick.” Cassidy said, going to the nearest table as David left a few menus on the table.
“Call me over when you want to order. Nothing annoying, alright?” David said, pointing to the break room as Cassidy’s group sat down.“Okay, thanks!”
“And… thats about it. After I got better, I just went back to school with your brother. After college, we dated for a long time.” Charlie said quietly, not meeting Elizabeth in the eye. Elizabeth listened intently, processing everything Charlie has been telling her.“So…. My dad, and your dad… killed a bunch of animals….” Elizabeth said slowly, the words not registering in her head. Charlie’s grimace was visible, and she didn’t bother responding.
And then she did.“No, more than just animals…. Your dad, he…” Charlie paused, seemingly trying to find the right words on how exactly to say this. “He… killed people. Bad people. He.. uhm…. He experimented on them.” Elizabeth didn’t know her eyes could get any wider.“What kinds of people?!” She asked loudly. Charlie’s stormy expression grew as she scratched her gloved hand.“Let’s just say….. they deserved it.” Charlie said. Elizabeth would have asked just what exactly they did, but once Charlie’s cocoa brown eyes met Elizabeth’s, she got the feeling she should ask about anything else.“Alright, what did you mean earlier about Michael going off for two days?” Charlie looked up and cringed a little.“Something his therapist suggested. Go to a rage room and take a small break for a day or two.” Charlie said, scratching the back of her neck.“Why does he need to go and ‘take a break’?” Elizabeth asked, confused. She knew Michael had a temper
(Boy did he ever)
but disappearing for two whole days?“Your dad was…. Infuriating. And Michael had to go to college again. And my dad was also pretty annoying.” Charlie said, sounding a bit annoyed.“Oh… does he tell you where he goes?”“Yeah. Sometimes he and a few of his friends go. Sometimes I do. Most times he’s alone, but he’s usually just an hour away from Hurricane.” Okay, that was…. Elizabeth didn’t know how to feel about that. She just looked down at her purse, and then she remembered something.“Oh! By the way, I found this in my father’s house. Want to take a look?” Elizabeth said, taking out that weird paper and photograph she had found on her old house. Something about Subject 003 and that nightmare creature. Elizabeth handed it to Charlie, whose eyes widened as she read the paper over. Her lips trembled, and she had this look of disbelief on her face as she flipped over the photograph.“W-what… Where on ea-.. how did you find these?!”David flipped some eggs as he thought about his day. Cassidy’s little group chattered loudly as a patty sizzled.
(Why did I do this. Lizzie’s gonna be so disappointed)
David thought, and then remembering she had never texted him back. He hadn’t gotten a single text from her these entire two days. He pulled out his phone as he poured a cup of lemonade.
CrazedClown1979

-Liz is everything alright? Where are you right now?_
David closed his phone as he went back to the patty and sunny side up. Of all the things these people could ask for, why eggs?! David grumbled as he thought about how hard it would be to wash all these dishes.
***************“You cant be helped Dave.”
Monika said, David seeing her smug smile even now. Mark chuckled loudly in the background.“It’s not that bad. They’ve been really nice, and I didn’t have anything else to do.” David said, though he didn’t really mean it. He could already feel the soreness from dish washing.
“Alright, I’m done. Let’s talk about me.”

“Alright….. hows your song composition going?” David said, remembering Monika’s love for the piano.“O-Oh! It’s going great so far, though I haven’t come up with a good name yet.”
Monika chirped happily, and David smiled softly as she began to hum the song.
“Every day, I imagine a future where I cou-“
Monika stopped, being interrupted by a loud bang. It came from behind him, and David hear a swear over the phone.
“Enjoy~”
Monika said sarcastically. Then a small click. David got up and walked quickly to the main room, just to see a broken plate and a surprised and guilty looking Cassidy.She looked up at him and let out a guilty chuckle. David just groaned and went to get the broom.**************“So your total is going to be 57 dollars and 68 cents. Will you be paying cash or card?” David asked. Cassidy pulled out a wad a bills and began counting. Then she handed David 80 dollars. “Uhm… you gave me too much?”“Well this is to make up for the 7 bucks I owe. And for letting us in…. And for that broken plate.” Cassidy said, pushing the bills in front of David. He eyed it suspiciously.“No, it’s alright. Plus, you already let me borrow that umbrella.” David said, the small amount of embarrassment that he felt when he took the umbrella creeping back up as he pushed the tip money back. Cassidy just waved her hand.“Aw come on, that was just being nice. I already had a raincoat, and I wanted to help. Not counting the umbrella though, I still owe you for the broken plate and your tip.”
Cassidy wore a warm smile and looked into David’s eye. David then turned away and quietly put the money into the register.“fine. But no more of this, alright? And let me go and get your umbrella, it’s upstairs.”“Oh. Alright.” Cassidy mumbled, motioning something to her friends as David put al the money into the register, closed it, and began walking upstairs.He unlocked the apartment door and looked around. The apartment was a mess, and David was kind of thankful Lizzie wasn’t here to see it. As he walked to the closet to get the umbrella, he flipped open his phone and checked his message to her. She hasn’t responded. David sighed and picked the umbrella up, quickly picked up a few books on the floor, and headed downstairs.David went downstairs to find Cassidy alone, her friends seemingly gone.
(Weird)
David thought, before shrugging it off and walking back up to her. She seemed to be distracted with something on her phone, and David just stood before her awkwardly, waiting. After like two minutes of her not noticing him, he just cleared his throat loudly. Cassidy looked back in surprise, closing her phone, her eyes wide. Then she saw him, and her face softened.“O-Oh, it’s just you. Do you have my umbrella?” Cassidy asked. David held it out for her and she took it slowly. Then she coughed a little and opened her phone again. “Hey, uhm, I know this might be… a bit random, but… could I get your number? Y’know….. to keep in touch….?” Cassidy said sheepishly. David blinked slowly, surprised. He gave her a blank expression.“My number?” He asked in a deadpan. Cassidy scratched her neck and put her phone away, seemingly realizing she might be overstepping some boundaries.“Only if you want to! I just…. I dunno, you seem like….. someone fun to hang out with…? No pressure, really! If you don’t want to that’s totally fine!” Cassidy said nervously. David didn’t say anything for a few seconds, considering it. Then he sighed and got a napkin.“You got a pen?” David asked. Cassidy’s eyes widened, and she smiled sheepishly as she got one from her purse. She handed it to him and David paused again, beginning to fear this might go wrong. He just shook his head and scribbled down his number before handing the now written on napkin to Cassidy.“Just….don’t make it weird.” David said quietly,
and Cassidy put the napkin in her pocket gingerly before smiling at him one more time.“Thanks again David, see you around.” She said, waving at him as she left the building. David just sighed again and looked at the kitchen.
(Time to do the dishes)
David thought tiredly, before a small smile came up on his face. Today….. was still not that bad. He hoped Lizzie would come home soon, and he just walked to the kitchen while humming a tune. He didn’t remember where he had heard it.It was almost Fall. Almost Halloween. A dark sky made the house seem more ominous in the open. The smell of pumpkin pie wafted around. A pair of gloves were hastily thrown outside the bathroom door. Chocolate brown eyes overloaded with panic.Elizabeth had believed her. She had somehow believed. Charlotte was astounded, she didn’t remember Elizabeth being so….. trusting. Whatever, Charlotte wasn’t complaining. The only thing she could think about was bring clean.
Charlotte washed her face again. She rubbed the cold water over her eyes again, and again, and again, but that feeing of dirt, of germs, wouldn’t go away. The sound of the water rushing grated her ears like a broken violin. Charlotte turned it off and looked at her hand again. A dark, spotty, purple splotch was
still
there. Charlotte swore and got her gloves from outside the door, and put it back on.She went back to the bathroom and turnt on the water again, and washed her face one more time. She sighed, and turned off the water one more time, before getting closer to the mirror. She put her normal hand on her eyes, and took off her contacts.
The lights flickered quickly, and then went out. Shining purple eyes gleamed brightly in the darkness. The silhouette of a rabbit crept around Charlotte’s shoulder. (What a dream)
Charlotte let out a sigh and tried turning on the light. It didn’t work. Charlotte just opened the door and slowly went downstairs, the lights going out in pace with her movement. She grabbed the paper Elizabeth had left.Then she went to the front hall and opened a shelf, already familiar with walking in the dark. She opened the first shelf and took out a small lighter, and with one flick, turnt it on.
She read the paper again.
‘The patch.’
Written down, right there, was the answer.
(So it does exist) Charlotte thought determinedly. She read the paper over one more time, and the set the paper on fire.Charlotte looked up, and the lights flickered back on again.‘Dreams come true!’
Dad had told her. Charlotte had always believed him, or at least, wanted to. And then she got sick. And then she got better.But the problem is……… Dreams do come true, but so do nightmares. They were a package deal.
Charlotte wasn’t dead, but she also wasn’t quite alive. As the paper burnt out, Charlotte let out a sigh of relief.
She would find Mike, and she would find that patch. No matter the cost.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

"Wait, stop!" She said, struggling to move. Her father smiled at her, an insane grin plastered on his face. He tightened his grip on the knife, pushing it deeper into her skin, and wore a determined smile on his face as she struggled. The lights dimmed in response. Images of rabbits flooded her vision.
"C'mon pumpkin, live up to what you say! I didn't raise a quitter, right!?" She winced as he screamed in her ear. Her breathing got quicker as the lights flickered erratically. White Xeranthemums bloomed all across the floor. She tried moving her hand again, but her dad wouldn't let her. He kept it under the knife, slowly pushing it deeper and deeper into her skin. She began to feel as if she was on fire as he held her down.

"Dad, please! I swear, I'll never do it aga-!" She was cut off by the knife going through her hand. The lights exploded in response. White hot pain invaded her body, electric and unimaginable. She felt as if she couldn't breathe, and babbled a string of curse words as she just looked up at her father in shock. In betrayal. Her father's face now showed an expression of satisfaction. Of insanity. His eyes a soul piercing purple.

"Sorry pumpkin, just had to make sure it worked. Can't let ole Will cheat me out, right?" Henry Emily said, getting up. He loosened the chains on Charlotte's wrists, and dropped the knife on the floor. Charlotte's wound had already begun healing as he undid the last one. The lights flicked on as Charlotte put her other hand to her chest, feeling for her heartbeat. It felt like she was about to burn, as if her hand was on fire. Henry Emily took a needle out. It was filled with a warm orange light.

"W-.... why...?" Charlotte said, hurt, angry. She didn't dare look up, didn't dare look at her hand. She let out a sob as she thought about what just happened, looking towards the others. They all looked at her in fear. She began to cry as her hand healed itself, feeling her temperature rise as her chests heaved. This was too much, to much to bear. The feeling of betrayal got bigger and bigger as she thought about what had led to this moment. Chemo was infinitely better than whatever hell she forced upon everyone. On the others. "WHY! Tell me! You knew it worked! So-... why! To hurt me!" Charlotte screamed, struggling to her feet as she looked at her father. He wore a sad expression. He wore, like a costume. He wasn't really sad. He just waved the syringe around and pointed to the others.

"Aw… come one Charlotte, don’t be so mad. Next time, you’ll obey….. right?” He said, getting closer. He grabbed the knife off the floor. Charlotte backed up into the wall, but there was no where to run. No where to hide. He got closer, and closer, and he looked mad now. “Right?! You’ll obey next time, right?!”

Charlotte looked her father in the eye. His purple eyes met hers, and Charlotte saw it all.

At that time, she saw everything. His insanity. His desperation. His rot.

“y-yes.”

*********
1993

Current Day

Eternity Labs
Disfigured hands drifted around the broken down halls, all seemingly untethered. A shattered lightbulb flickered weakly. Chunks of metal were littered all across the floor, each one seemingly discarded.Each one having a massive bite mark….The words
‘Fight Back’
were sloppily written down on the walls. Bloodied bandages were all shoved into a corner, along with a few other things.A few bones. The occasional skull.Someone crawled through the darkness, avoiding the disfigured hands reach. The cameras all blinked red searching for them. They stifled their breathing, holding their hands to their mouth. The sound of metal scraping on metal rang through the hollow halls.Someone else’s axe. Someone familiarThe lightbulb went out in the darkness as they frantically got up to their feet and began to run. No light, no cameras. The axe scraping stopped….. and then came a giggle. And then laughter. And then…..A scream.They let out a swear as they ran faster, blindly in the dark. Down, down, down, deeper into Eternity Labs. The lightbulbs exploded as the scream grew in volume, but that didn’t matter. They knew this place by heart, after all, thei-They slipped on a syringe, and fell down sharply. They twisted their knee,
hard,
and stumbled blindly. Their heart pumped erratically as they moved around in the dark, the scream close by. They hid behind what was probably a box, and stayed there, trying to gather their thoughts….. or what was left of them. The light bulbs began to flicker again as the screaming went away, and they spotted another message on the walls. This one was painted on, like it was a decoration. Or some sort of encouragement for any employees that worked here. A familiar looking bear and familiar bunny stood next to a blank looking humanoid figure, patting him on the back. The bunny held a syringe, and the bear held a axe.
’Eternity Labs! A Dream Come True!’
**********Elizabeth let out a tired sigh. She was finally home. She fiddled with her purse and pulled out her keys, and opened the diner. She looked at the clock in the corner,
10:12,
Elizabeth could already feel her bed. So soft, so comfy, and her slippers! Elizabeth felt a small smile tug at her lips while she locked the door behind her and went to the stairwell.
She finally got upstairs, and took out her keys again. She paused for a few seconds, remembering that she had only sent David one text this entire trip. Granted, it was only 2 days, but she knew he got worried. She mentally berated herself for not at least calling him, but everything would probably be fine.Probably.(I can’t just stand out here. David will understand) Elizabeth thought woefully, just wanting to get into bed. Her legs felt like glass, and she slowly unlocked the door. She heard the lock click, and she gently opened the door.“Where have you been? Have you eaten anything?” David said, looking up at her from the couch. He was watching his favorite show on the TV, and Elizabeth flicked on a light. David shielded his eyes for a few seconds, but then shook his head and kept looking at her. Elizabeth sighed and walked inside, closing the door behind her. David kept his gaze on her as she set down her purse.“Things happened. Everything is fine.” Elizabeth said. David didn’t turn away from her. Instead, he got up and headed towards the kitchen.“What about dad? Or Michael? Do they have any information on him?” David said quietly. Elizabeth let out a small groan as she plopped down onto the couch and grabbed the remote. She was debating on whether she should tell David what Charlotte had told her…..
(never mind, that’s a terrible idea)
David disliked Charlotte to say the least, and he wouldn’t particularly enjoy hearing their father was a murderer.
“They are investigating for Mike, and I have to reschedule my appointment to see father’s body, so I will have to go back soon.” Elizabeth said, probably sounding as exhausted as she felt. She heard David get a plastic plate and turn on the microwave. Even now he still doubted himself. David came back out to the living room with a cup of water.“Okay, that’s all things for tomorrow. When was the last time you ate?” David said, the apathy in his voice faltering. Elizabeth sighed.“I ate at around….. 1 something? Whatever, it’s fine.” Elizabeth said. The microwave dinged. David crossed his arms and gave her an all too familiar, and judging, frown.“Well, I made some pasta. It’s called….. well it’s cheesey and stuff. Fetter or something.” David said, the disappointment dripping from his words. Elizabeth looked at him for a few seconds, and then just took a drink of water. David groaned and went to the kitchen, opening the microwave and taking out the food. He came back a few seconds later and held out a plate for her. “Here, I made this. I…. I hope you like it.” David said, looking away from her.Elizabeth looked at it, it was familiar. Something Michael had made for them whenever he had time. He would softly hum while making it, naming every ingredient for every beat. She looked at it quizzically, before taking it and wrapping some pasta around the fork. She looked up at David and smiled, who had just been standing there awkwardly. “Awww, you remember that too!” She said, teasing him. David rolled his eyes.“A little. I can’t…. I can’t remember the
whole
thing. Only like, 90 percent?” David said, sitting down onto the couch next to Elizabeth. Elizabeth began to eat while David watched the TV, and
(Oh my god it’s good?!)
Elizabeth thought, a bit shocked David remembered almost the entire thing. But…. Something was missing. Something important. Elizabeth swallowed and drank some more water.“Not to be ungrateful, but…. Did you get the feeling it’s missing something?” Elizabeth said, turning to her brother. David nodded slowly.“Yeah, I agree. Do you know what the last ingredient was though?” David asked in a deadpan while flipping through channels. Elizabeth thought for a few moments, but she came to a blank. She also couldn’t remember, which surprised her.
“Actually, no. Did you…. Oh my god!” Elizabeth exclaimed. David snapped towards her, looking at her in slight concern.“What?!” He said. Elizabeth stared at him dumbly for a few seconds, and then, she smiled.
“You miss Mike!” She said happily. Oh this was going to be so much easier than she thought. No awkward apologies, no glaring at each other silently, no-“And what gave you that idea?” David said, his voice more hollow than before. His anger was evident though. He kept his eye fixed on the ground, who was feeling like she had royally messes up right now.
“O-oh, you don’t have to-!…. I mean…. It’s your choice, I wasn’t trying to force anything!” Elizabeth said frantically. David just scoffed and rolled his eye.
“You must be starving. Eat please.” David said quietly, eyeing Elizabeth’s plate. Elizabeth just sighed and resumed eating the pasta. It was really good though. Elizabeth chewed slowly, letting herself get lost in the light hearted drama of
The ‘Immortal And The Restless: High School Years!’
And turn her mind off. After everything Charlotte had told her, after everything she had seen, that weird basement claustrophobia hallucination thingy, and after two days of work, Elizabeth just let the TV distract her as she took another bite of pasta.
1985

August 28th

Eternity Labs….
“H
e
y
a E v
e
R y
o ne!” The Host said, struggling under the UV light. . One of the main scientists, Daniel Layes, took a step back as the ground cracked underneath him. The Host giggled insanely, lighting a fire on her hand. The lightbulbs exploded, and Daniel jumped out of the way, a chunk of metal falling down from above him. The Host kept her gaze on Daniel, soft giggles emanating from one of their appendages.“ C o m E o n!” The host said, another metallic limb adjusting the hosts arms, acting as if she was just a puppet. One claw grabbed her throat and twisted, a sickening crack reverberating through the now hollow halls. The host giggled again, its voice glitching and crackling. A familiar voice rang through hall, the host now smiling smugly.“Now now, there really no need for that, right?” The host said, a robotic arm pointing towards the screen. The words ’Patch V 1.43 installation process: 72%’ The patch stood in the USB port. It was shaped like a cleaver, with the labs symbol plastered on the handle, which carried the USB part. Instead of a blade though, was a large needle. When the host was still human, that would have been useful.But now……. she, no, it, was something else entirely.Anyways, Eternity.EXE had stopped functioning correctly. The lightbulbs exploded as Daniel ran to the monitor. The Host giggled insanely as she watched eerily. Daniel ignored the dismembered body parts on the floor as the host just let out a manic laugh, dancing its body around as it grabbed the light with a limb. Daniel stopped and looked for a few seconds, but then…..
The sound of exploding glass scattered through the hollow lab.The host let out a sadistic scream as it charged for Daniel, who swore and ran faster to the monitor. He looked up at the percentage,
83%,
and decided, no. The host couldn’t be saved. The others could though. He grabbed the patch USB out, and began to run out of the main hall. An arm grabbed Daniel’s ankle, but he only slashed it off and kept running.The host screamed maniacally as it’s limbs reached out for Daniel in desperation, who was muttering a quick prayer as he ran to test room
007.
As Daniel ran, he snuck a quick glance back at the host.It’s purple eyes shined unnaturally as it frantically ran towards him. Its appendages were all out now, and it was making a disturbing whimpering sound. It smiled sadistically as it played with its body like a puppet, propping up its head as hands reached out from the inky black void behind it. It's chest was ripped open, revealing a crackling, metallic rib cage. Pieces of metal surrounded the Hosts heart. The Hosts light brown hair was now matted with blood, and her arms and legs dangled uselessly in the air as the robotic appendages moved for it. Daniel looked on in shocked horror, before turning back and keeping his focus on 007.He ran in the dim light, closer to the entrance, but he didn’t escape. Instead, he turned left and ran for the subjects cells. The lightbulbs exploded behind him like the shooting of a shotgun, and Daniel muttered another quick prayer as the Host laughed in the dark. Daniel took a quick peak behind him. It’s purple eyes stayed laser focused on him, and it’s sharp teeth glistened as it took a small bite out of some piece of wall. One of its appendages waved a small disk, one that Daniel knew all too well. A red dot started blinking in the dark.He took a deep breath as the high pitched drone began. Daniel kept running, dodging the bodies strew across the floor. Strangely, there was no blood. Daniel felt his head begin to pound as the high pitched noise grew louder, more grating, more…… controlling. Daniel looked back.The host was gone now. All that was there was a bunny thing, yellow in color. It skipped playfully, knife in hand, towards him. It held a syringe in the other, and its purple eyes flashed to a warm brown, and then purple again. It was…. A robot. Daniel remembered Mr. Afton describing something a lot like this. What was it's name again? A spring thing? Daniel couldn’t remember the name, he couldn’t remember anything. His mind was filled with one thought.Survival.Daniel managed to get into the holding cells, and frantically pressed the lock button, shutting the heavy metal door behind him. Luckily, Mr. Afton had somewhat predicted this sort of situation, as the Host couldn't seem to get on. It banged against the door brutally, seemingly putting all its force in it's attempts. Daniel let out a quick
'Thank you'
to god, before surveying his surroundings. There were 10 rooms, 5 on each side. 002, the Hosts room, had a bloody trail leading to where the door was. Daniel winced, and then looked for 007's room. It was right next to 002's, and Daniel walked quietly, tightening his grip on the patch, looking back at the door that had shut out the Host.The banging had stopped. Everything was almost silent now. The only exception was that familiar high pitched drone.Daniel just shook his head, and walked up to 007's door. He entered the code, 3891, and the door opened slowly. In there stood a crying girl, about 10 years of age, huddled up in the corner. Daniel looked on sadly, before clearing his throat. The girl looked up in surprise.
"You need to get up. Things have gone wrong. You need to get the patch,
now."
Daniel said, hoping to try and not freak out the child. The girl backed farther into the corner. Daniel sighed, and clenched his fists. Now was not the time to start screaming at a child. "I'm going to need you to get up so I could administer the patch. You already know what happened to 002." Daniel said. The girl looked up, her eyes wide in fear. David felt that guilt start to tug at him again, but he just shook it off and got closer. The girl stood up and walked towards him. Daniel just let his shoulders relax, and held out his hand for the girl. He prepped the patch to administer a human. "There there, everything is going to be okay, alright? Your parents are going to be here soon, okay?" Daniel said, trying to comfort the scared child. The girl rolled up her sleeves robotically. Daniel looked to the side, and as he was about to administer the patch, he saw something.A small, blinking, red light. Right there, under the girl's bed.Daniel snapped his head to the girl, who had grabbed his wrist with an ironclad grip. She began to giggle, soft, before grabbing the patch from Daniel. Daniel lunged for it, but an appendage sprouted from under the bed and grabbed him, holding him against the wall. Daniel only looked on in shock as a horrific realization came to mind.
007 giggled crazily, before slamming the patch onto the ground. The high pitched drone stopped abruptly, and Daniel only struggled, desperate to stop what was about to happen. 007 glitched, a staticky shockwave moving across it's body. The girls body glitched once, then another time. This wasn't 007, this was.....The Host gave Daniel a sickeningly sweet smile, waving at him like a little girl. Then, it let out a maniacal laugh as it crushed the patch with one smash of it's mechanical arms. She giggled some more, an arm unlocking the door as it stared into Daniel's soul."D-D-Did you r-really think you could r-replace little old me?" 002, no, the Host said playfully. A claw came out of her back, and it stabbed Daniel as she walked slowly out of the room, dragging Daniel across the floor. Daniel desperately clawed at the door frame, looking back quickly. The Host waited for him patiently outside the room, with what seemed to be thousands of disfigured hands reaching for him out of the darkness behind Her. Daniel only let out a scream as the Host won, dragging him across the floor. Daniel let out another scream as he saw more of the hands starting to grab his ankles. David struggled in desperation, but there was no use in trying. 002 was too strong.The Host, 002, whatever she was, giggled crazily as they took him out of the subject hall, and threw him against the wall of the main entrance. The blinking red light came back, louder, more invasive. Daniel looked at the lone window above the labs main entrance, which was blocked off by discarded, massive chunks of metal, and the world was flooded with an unnaturally pale blue light. He let out a gasp as he struggled to keep himself together. Daniel felt as if his head was about to pop, and he covered his ears as he looked up at 002. It was that weird bunny thing again, although, this time, it only held a knife. No syringe now. David uttered out a quick prayer as the Bunny thing lunged towards him. It's hold on him tightened as it looked at him blankly, no true life behind it's purple eyes. it giggled again."Well, I enjoyed our little game of hide and seek D-D-Danny, but now..." The Host stopped, using one of it's many arms to grab a chunk of metal. It took it into it's own hands, and bit into it hungrily. "It's time to go to s-s-sleeeeep!~ Sweet d-dreams D-" The Host was cut off by the main door opening. Weird. Daniel could have sworn it was blocked off.
"Everyone stand back, everyt-....." A distinctly British accent cut off the Host. Daniel looked at the entrance again, natural, real
light making the two figures who just opened the door appear as only silhouette's. The Host giggled, before closing the door behind them. The second one pulled out a flashlight, and shined it right at the Host."Ahh! W-What the h-h
e
L l!" The Host screamed, most likely in pain from the UV
flashlight. Daniel looked at the two people. He could see them more clearly now. There was a boy, seemingly 16 to 15 years old, holding a cleaver. He had a horrified look on his face. The second was an older guy, one that Daniel recognized.
Mr. Emily.The teenager looked at the scene quietly, before gagging a little and backing up to the door again."What the bloody hell?!" The teenager said, before gagging, clutching his stomach, and vomiting. Daniel only then remembered, or noticed, the overwhelming stench of blood. Mr. Emily sighed, his tired brown eyes more dull than the last time Daniel had seen him, and looked at the teen."Michael, now is
seriously
not the time."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

August 1985

Eternity Labs….

“OH MY GOD?! Uncle Henry, what the fu-!” Michael said, choking on some leftover vomit, before being grabbed, slashed, and slammed into the wall by the Host, right next to Daniel. Henry cursed and kept the UV flashlight focused on the Host. His brown eyes were overloaded with panic. Mike groaned, and then tried slashing the arm holding him up with his cleaver. The Host giggled softly, before grabbing Henry and throwing him away, far from Michael and Daniel. The UV flashlight exploded in Henry’s hands.“Aww, is t-this a f-f-f-family reunion? Hahahaha, you can’t s-s-stop us!” The Host said, grabbing Daniel and throwing him to where Henry was. Then, they grabbed Mike with 4 more robotic arms, and squeezed,
tight.
Mike let out a cry of pain. “As for y-y-you Mikey~, remember, you d-didn’t ha-“ The Host was interrupted by a gunshot. It came from behind Daniel, who turned to see Henry holding a pistol in his hand. The Host scoffed, and then the disfigured hands grabbed them both, and started pulling them into the darkness. Mike looked on in pain, wincing as the limbs tightened their grip.“Henry!” Mike shouted. The Host squeezed him harder in response. Uncle Henry shot the Host again, and managed to cut off a limb. All three of them watched in horror as it regenerated right in front of them, as if the bullet never existed. The Host giggled. Henry started clawing to not get dragged into the void, but Daniel didn’t. The pools of blood on the floor made it impossible anyway.
“Mike, you need to give her the pa-!” Henry was cut off by the a claw grabbing him by the mouth, and two more hands grabbed his head. Henry let out a small yelp as one held onto his neck.
“Aw, H-Henry’s mad.” The hands made a thumbs down, and the Host didn’t even try to hide her mocking tone. “Well, you t-two are r-r-really sweet, too bad you’ve served your p-purpose.” The claws tightened their grip on Henry’s neck. He let out a muffled yelp, and the Host giggled again. “Don’t w-worry, your b-backups will forg-give me.” The claws squeezed even harder. Henry shot off another bullet, but only grazed the Host. The wound was gone in a matter of seconds, and the Host giggled, and snapped her human finger.
Snap
Mike let out a pained cry, his face a mixture of shock and fear, and the Host threw Henry’s twisted neck, Henry’s body, along with Daniel into one of the test chamber. Daniel got up and tried opening the doors, but it was no use. He saw the Host give him one thumbs up, before snapping again. The lights exploded violently as she threw Mike around into a wall. She let out a sadistic hackle, and pinned him to a wall as the lightbulbs died.“Liz. Wake up.” David said, nudging his sister. Elizabeth did not respond. David just sighed, before going to the kitchen and starting a pot of coffee for the both of them. With Lizzie home, that meant working at the diner again.Back to routine.David just looked at the coffee pot in silence. Then he walked over to the fridge and took out the creamer. As he silently shuffled around in the kitchen, he heard his sister waking up.“Oww, my head…. What time is it?” Lizzie asked quietly, clutching her head in pain. David popped out of the kitchen and pointed to the clock. It read
7:28,
and Lizzie groaned as she pulled herself off the couch. David brought out her favorite mug, filled with black coffee. Lizzie smiled at him as she took it gratefully. “Thanks David.” She said quietly. David nodded, and then went to the kitchen. He took out some weird health yogurt Lizzie liked and got a spoon. Then he got his book. He walked over to the couch and began to eat breakfast while he waited for Lizzie to get ready.Lizzie came out 7 minutes later. She had bags under her eyes and a blank, tired expression. She looked at David, and then she frowned. “David, you can’t eat yogurt for breakfast.”“Why?” David asked quietly. Lizzie sighed and walked into the kitchen.“Becauuuse, it’s not a real meal. You’re still growing a little, you need real food little bro.” Lizzie said, sounding a but annoyed now. David set down the yogurt and put down his book. He rolled his eyes at Elizabeth’s hypocrisy.“I’m not in the mood for anything else though.” David said. Lizzie just huffed, and started the stove up.
“Fine, but~” Elizabeth said, turning to him with a smug smile on her face. “I’m making pancakes for myself. Help me decide, blueberries or chocolate chips?” Darn. Lizzie struck him in the heart with that. He suddenly
was
in the mood for something else. He licked his lips a little, and looked away from his sister dramatically with a huff, crossing his arms too.“chocolate chips please.”************“Your sister needs to get better with scheduling.” Monika said, tying up her bow again. David rolled his eyes and flipped to page 12 of his book.“My dad died Monika. You don’t really schedule that sort of thing.” David said sarcastically. He waited for a response, but Monika didn’t say anything. He looked up, and saw her face twisted into a mixture of concern and cringe. “Oh wait….. I mean… I’m pretty sad I guess.” David said. Monika just kept that look of concern.“David, do you…” Monika paused, seemingly trying to find the right words. “Do you want to talk about it?” She said softly. David looked up from his book, looked her right in the eye, and shook his head. Monika sighed and shrugged it off. “Whatever you want dude… just remember, you can always talk to me and Mark about it.” Monika said gently. David didn’t look up again. Monika sighed and mumbled ‘dork’ under her breath before walking out of the room.David felt his eye socket begin to throb as he thought about what he just said. Great, she probably thought he was some psycho killer thingy.
(Great. Just great)
David thought sourly. Whatever…. David just didn’t let himsef care.
************Charlotte walked into the house wordlessly. She held a gun, an all too familiar gun, in her right hand. She held her lighter in the other. She was hoping that the patch would just be down in William’s basement, but chances were, it wasn’t.
Chances were, it was destroyed.Charlotte shook her head, and tried clearing her mind. She tubbed her gloved hands together as she ducked under the caution tape, courtesy of Hurricane police, and stepped inside the Afton household.The first thing she noticed was how disgusting it smelt in here. It reeked of stale air, mucus, and Mike’s
disgusting
oil paints. It also smelt like blood, but Charlotte expected that part. She looked around, around this house she almost grew
up
in. This was where she first met all of the Afton’s. This was where she met Mike. This was where it all started. Charlotte felt a purple haze begin to gather around the corner of her vision, and she just shook her head and let out a shaky breath. She fished in her for a few seconds, putting away her lighter and taking out a UV flashlight.She eyed the basement like a hungry animal. There was a chance. A chance. Maybe, even if the patch wasn’t there, there was a needle. A syringe. Something to stave off the feeling of rotting away. In front of her eyes. She cursed quietly as she walked down the stairs. She already knew the layout to the house, even with this crappy UV light.Why did Charlotte bring a UV light? Because, if
she felt herself start to…. Go all ‘spooky scary ghost girl’ as Mike affectionately put it, she could snap herself out if quickly. Yeah, it hurt like hell, but a little burning never hurt anyone right?Right?She already began to feel that familiar simmer start to fester again. That feeling of fire, taking apart her skin inch by inch. That feeling of burning dirt, how no matter what she did, she would never be clean. No matter what. That feeling of boiling alive whenever she had a nightmare, or accidentally hurt herself. Like she was a candle, just melting under everything.Charlotte realized she was just standing above the stairwell when the sound of something moving echoed throughout the empty halls. Charlotte turned back immediately, and tightened her grip on the gun.Down, down, down, Charlotte descended down the stairs quietly. Nervously. It never got any easier to be here. But things had changed. William’s death had changed something in this house, if the papers Elizabeth found said anything. The ‘secret’ part of the basement was wide open, and based of what Elizabeth had said, she was hallucinating pretty heavily once she got down here. Charlotte shined the flashlight to the floor. The blood trail Elizabeth had told her about wasn’t there too.What was there, though, was a piece of paper. Right there, right at the bottom. Had Elizabeth missed this? Charlotte picked it up, and shined to flashlight to read it.She began to feel afraid as she saw
002
right there on the page. Her breathing quickened, shallow breaths running in and out, and she felt her temperature begin to rise as she fumbled for her lighter. As she kept reading, she also saw something else.It mentioned the patch again.Any feeling of fear was quickly swept away for excitement and giddiness. She smiled wide as she read about it. The date on the top told her exactly what she wanted to hear. She lit the note on fire with a quick
flick
of the lighter. She watched as the paper turned to ash in front of her very eyes, and a feeling of relief washed over her like a tidal wave.Charlotte was safe.. for now.
August 1985

Eternity Labs…..
Daniel got up with a start. His eyes darted around the room rapidly as he surveyed his surroundings. He saw blood on the floor, the walls of one of one of the test rooms, and…. Henry Emily’s body. He cringed, and tried to silently crawl over to it. He almost slipped on the blood.Henry Emily’s neck was snapped. Daniel winced and sucked in a sharp breath. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. If Henry was dead, then 002, the Host, would be uncontrollable. Daniel didn’t dare shake the body, not wanting to inflict any more damage on the corpse. Instead, he got up, and went over to the locked doors. He looked out one of the windows, and….. it was pitch black out there. Daniel could only see the occasional purple light, and all he could hear was soft, childish giggles. He held his ear closer to the door.
There was a scream.And there was also the sound of footsteps behind him. Daniel snapped his head at the direction of the noise, and was met with a very much not dead Henry Emily scratching his neck. He looked up at Daniel, and Daniel saw as his dull brown eyes changed into a dark purple hue. Henry Emily looked at him sheepishly.“Soooo… what do we do?” Was all that Henry asked. Daniel backed away from his quietly.“How are you….. alive?!” Was all that Daniel asked. Henry cringed, and rubbed his neck again.“I uh… have the same thing as the others… the cure…” Henry said, looking a bit ashamed of himself. Daniel’s eyes went wide. The cure was… Eternity. EXE. Daniel took another step away from Henry.
“Did you get the patch?” Daniel asked. Henry didn’t respond for a few seconds, fiddling with the gun he held. Then he looked up, and shot himself in the foot. Daniel nearly jumped out of his skin, and put a whole 8 foot distance between him and Henry. Henry didn’t even flinch from the bullet. Daniel watched as the bullet hole disappeared in a few short seconds, leaving only a hole in the mans boot. Henry looked Daniel in the eye.“No,” He said bluntly. “Why didn’t she get it either?” He said, keeping his voice level. Daniel swallowed.“She was going to get it, but then….. something happened. She freaked out, and then…..” Daniel paused, feeling the adrenaline leave his body, leaving him with a freezing cold panic. “We tried to stop her… but she couldn’t calm down. 002…. 002 wasn’t herself anymore. She’s nothing but a Host now.” Daniel didn’t even seem to realize how fast the words tumbled out of him. He was panicking, badly. The whole facility was dead…. And now he was going to die too. Henry looked at him, annoyance plastered on his face. Then it twisted, and Henry didn’t look annoyed anymore, he looked furious.“What on earth caused her to become whatever that thing
is?!” Henry asked, clenching his fists together. His eye color darkened, and Daniel tried getting even farther away from him, but he realized too late he was backed up against a wall. Henry got closer. Daniel swallowed, and tried putting on his scientist mask on.“She sustained a life threatening injury, and was incapacitated for a time period of 60 hours. When she woke up, she wasn’t….. herself. After 006 got the patch, we decided that we couldn’t wait any longer, and took her to get it too. We seemed to have been too late.” Daniel said shakily. He watched as Henry clenched his fists, shut his eyes, and mouthed something silently. When he opened his eyes, they were a dull brown again.“Who gave her that ‘life threatening’ injury exactly?” Henry said, sounding distant. Daniel swallowed again. He knew Henry wouldn’t like the answer. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself. Henry looked at him expectantly. “Well? Who did this?”
“Mr. Afton.”************“W-Where are you?~ We can have a l-lot of fun y’know.” The monster said, smiling. Michael didn’t dare to look back, didn’t dare think about anything but running away. He held onto the cleaver like his life depended on it, his fingers trembling as hands grabbed at him. He pressed the blade to his skin a little, trying to avoid disassociating again. The tip of the knife made him realize just how much of a problem this was. He turned back, and there was darkness everywhere. It surrounded him like an ocean, watery and always moving, and that feeling got bigger as the lights dimmed, then died.All that was there was giggling.
Michael felt his heart start to pound in his ear, like a timer, telling him just how much time he still had. Michael looked around frantically, scanning the room for something. And then…. He saw it.A pair of purple pupils.There was a giggle.And then a scream.Michael’s heartbeat got louder, it was throbbing, like someone was playing the drums.
Thump Thump Thump.
The pair of purple eyes got closer.Another scream.Michael fished for something in his pocket, but he felt a pit in his stomach drop as he realized he forgot his lighter, and lighter fluid in the car.
(God I’m so Stup-)
“Mike~, w-w-why wont you come o-out? Is t-this a game o-of hide ‘n s-s-seek? We k-know your b-brother loved that g-game.”
Mike choked on air. He held onto the cleaver for dear life, his fingers probably white from how tight he was holding it.
Another scream. It was closer this time.
Then…. The purple eyes were gone. All that was there was…. A light came from somewhere. Michael looked at it in fear, and then…It was his brother, David, waving at him slowly. He had a smile on his face, and a bleeding eye. Michael swore, and backed away from the image. No, no, this was a hallucination. Michael’s heart felt like it was about to combust, a ticking time bomb in his chest, on a hair trigger at this point. David, whatever that thing was, looked exactly like he did on that
day. Bandages wrapped around his head, stained crimson red. Dried blood all over his face, his nose and mouth all brownish.“If you c-come out, I’ll f-forgive you Mikey~”What?Now Michael knew this wasn’t real. Or had David forgotten? Michael began to calm down, this was fine. He hadn’t told anyone about what David told him….. he kept it all to himself. Not that it mattered. He wouldn’t be seeing David, or the rest of his family, for a long time. Michael held a hand to his chest, and felt for his heartbeat. He could fee it under his hoodie.
(Crap Crap Crap.)
Michael thought, trying to find a way to calm himself down
(Think of fire. Think of drawing. Think if Char)
Michael stopped dead in his tracks. His breath got caught in his throat.There was a plush on the floor. Soft, golden in color. A familiar purple bow and top hat. Soulless black eyes.
You’d never think there were cameras in them.He took a step back. And another. He couldn’t think of Fredbear right now. Not after what he saw. He tried looking away, but the plushie was almost hypnotic. It drew Michael’s attention in a way that he has never felt before. An indescribable feeling of fear and fascination washed over him like how a fire burns a building. Michael felt like he was going to vomit.The plushie glitched once, then twice, like a broken TV, static washing over its entire body. It glitched one more time, and then…There was blood on its mouth.Michael let out a choked cry. He couldn’t look at it any longer. He couldn’t handle looking at the now bloodied Fredbear plush, (That had David’s blood on it. It’s all my fault)
Michael couldn’t handle how Fredbear’s empty black eyes were now a blinking red, in and out, like a heartbeat.He couldn’t handle that feeling of being analyzed.(Wait….. red….. blinking?)
Michael had to stop himself from face palming. He breathed a small sigh of relief as he walked over to the Fredbear plush, and stomped on it, hard. Again, and again. Henry had warned him about this, what were they called again? Audio Illusion disks. Michael stomped on the now destroyed piece of plastic one more time one last time, brutally. He felt… a little less panicky now. He looked around, remembering his life was still in danger.
Purple eyes again. Michael groaned internally.Soft giggles.The sound of metal grinding somewhere.
A smile, all teeth, pointy and sharp. They glistened in the dark.“Fine, w-we tried playing n-n-nice. It’s always a shame to g-get rid of an old toy.” The monster spoke robotically. The lights flickered, and Michael saw it. He saw
002,
though he was sure she didn’t normally look like this.
It was at the top of the room, watching Michael, observing him. It had a 3 claws protruding out of each shoulder blade, 2 from each side holding 002 up. One from the left held 002 up, like she was a rag doll, while another just stayed limp. Each claw was bathed in crimson. Michael felt his heartbeat grow louder, more fast, more uncontrollable. He tightened his hand around the cleaver. The monster, 002, whatever it was, just smiled at him.“You ‘know, we c-can hear her v-v-voice. Right now, s-she’s saying this isn’t w-what she wanted…. Isn’t t-that cute?” The monster smiled at Michael, but it didn’t move. The lights got brighter, and Michael saw more of the monsters original body. All those robotic limbs, they all looked strangely organic too. Like the robotic parts were just extensions, not the real thing. The implications of that made Michael a bit sick. He took a deep breath, and walked a bit closer to the monster. He pressed a button on the handle of his cleaver, and a small USB popped out from the bottom.“What are you?” Michael asked, since the thing wasn’t really trying to kill him right now. The monster grinned.“A p-puppet,” The monster said’ “We are all just t-toys, aren’t w-we?” Michael groaned. Stupid thing had to be an existentialist. He got a bit closer.“A puppet for who?” Michael asked, trying to keep his voice level. He didn’t think he was succeeding though. The monster lowered itself to Michael’s level, and he saw a bit more of it. One of its human arms had a green bracelet, and it wore a familiar pair of sneakers.“For 002 o-of course. We a-are only following o-orders. You s-should have f-followed orders too.” Another limb popped out of the left shoulder blade, and it was a human hand. Michael swallowed. The human hand held a small, blinking disc. “You w-were our favorite t-toy, so useful. You a-always obeyed, it’s a b-bit of a shame you stopped now.” Michael stayed where he was. The monster giggled. One of its claws grabbed its head, and lifted its head up. Its entire upper head was covered in bandages, letting out only its mouth and nose. Holes were cut out where the eyes were, and those familiar purple pupils zeroed in on Michael.
“So you’re one of the test subjects?” Michael asked shakily. The monster eyed the cleaver with eerie purple eyes.“More l-like your all our c-cute little puppets. It hurts our feelings you don’t remember us.” The monster said. It glitched, static running across it's entire body. Then it was…. It was SpringBonnie, his father’s first robot. It held a syringe in his hand, and waved at Michael creepily. Then it was gone.“What’s with the creepy animatronic’y thing?” Michael asked shakily. The monster Scoffed.“Easier to o-obey.” The monster said. Michael backed away, his whole body shaking in fear. One of the monsters claw beckoned him towards it.“Never.” Michael answered, tightening his grip on the cleaver. The monster sighed dramatically.“Understandable, b-but stupid. Now w-we’ll have to do s-something shocking.” The monster snapped one of its claws, and a claw lowered down from the ceiling. The SpringBonnie suit disappeared, and it was back to before, claws and arms and bloodied. It looked up hungrily.It was holding a body.To be more specific, a girls body. Bright orange hair, a pink and blue dress. A familiar red bow. It was Michael’s little sister. Elizabeth. She was struggling to get out of the claws.“H-Hey, wait!” Michael started running closer. The monster giggled.“Goodbye, Sis.” It said softly. Then, it pulled.
CRACK
Michael stopped dead in his tracks. The robot has pulled his sister in two, and it bit into her neck and upper torso brutally. It threw her lower torso behind it. Blood spilled onto the ground like a waterfall.“…..w-what..?”The monster then charged for him, claws and all. Michael stood there, frozen in fear. He tried running, but his eyes just stayed fixated on the small, bloodied bow that fell onto the floor. He tried moving his legs, but he felt paralyzed. He bit back the urge to curl up and vomit again. He held his cleaver to his chest, and pressed the blade to his hand. The pain brought him back to where he was.He turned around to run, but saw something going straight his way. He ducked out of the way, falling onto the ground, hard. He let out a cry of pain, looking down at his now twisted ankle. He let out a hiss of pain, and looked at the place that
bullet
came from. Another bullet whizzed past his ear, and he saw Henry standing there, pistol in hand. The monster let out a snarl.“Michael, give her the patch, or give it to me!” Uncle Henry said, shooting off another limb going for them. The monsters original human body just sprouted out another one. Michael’s heartbeat quickened. Henry looked over at Michael, and held out his hand.“Michael, everything alright?” Henry said. Michael swallowed nervously, and held out the cleaver for Uncle Henry.“N-No.” Michael said, his hands shaking. His head felt light, and his chest felt like it had exploded. He gave Henry the cleaver. He took it gently.Henry smiles hungrily. His eyes blinked red.“G-Get pranked, d-dummy.” Henry glitched. He disappeared, and a claw came out of the now glitching mess of static, pushing Michael against a wall. The cleaver disappeared in the darkness. Michael landed with a loud Bang
against the metal walls, and groaned a little as the monster got closer, unable to run. He tried putting pressure on his twisted foot. He hissed in pain from the white hot shock that ran through his body. The monster got closer.A claw grabbed Michael’s face, and he let out a yelp as a claw dug into his face. It covered most of his face, and Michael felt blood cover his face. He couldn’t tell if it was his or from the many bodies littered around. He let out another yelp as he saw, in the corner of his eye, the monster get closer.“T-This was all really sweet M-Mikey, but unfortunately, y-you go against our directive.” The monster said, not even bothering to hide its mocking tone. Human hands slithered around in the dark.“Remember Michael, y-you didn’t have to see this.” The monster said, another claw grabbing Michael’s twisted ankle. He suppressed a scream. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the monster. Purple pupils, one winking at him, a toothy, bloodied smile. Anticipation swirling in its gaze.(Am I really about to die for this?)
Michael thought frantically, kicking and struggling to get out of the monsters claws. The claws squeezed tighter.
(Breathe. Call out for help)
Yeah, like that would work. His mouth was covered with the claw. He searched for the cleaver. It was gone. Michael now felt like it was an appropriate time to panic. He was going to die. The monster squeezed him again, and Michael heard a Crack and felt electric pain blossom around his hip. Michael suppressed another scream. Part of it was pain and another was a scream of fear. He was going to die, he was going to get torn up and eaten alive. Probably. Michael let out another scream.Was he okay with this? Michael didn’t know. Henry had warned him. But…. He didn’t talk about this part.
(Selfish bastard)
Michael went limp as the monster giggled gleefully. He was going to die, go into the inky black void. Of course, now was when his luck would end. After David, after dad, all the times Michael got undeservedly lucky, now. Michael wasn’t even all that surprised. He knew this was what he deserved anyways. That image from before about David only furthered that idea.
(At least I served some purpose)
A bright blue light flashed in the corner of his eye.The monster screamed. It was a guttural, agonizing, soul piercing scream. Michael snapped his eyes open.“Put him down Charlie.” A girl’s voice said. The monster dropped Michael, and covered its face. Smoke began to come off of it. It let another wail of agony. Michael looked up.There were 5 kids. One stood at the front, holding a massive flashlight. Michael looked at the monster, who had begun to whimper softly, as if in pain. The lights flickered, a few exploded, and the smoke coming off the monster got bigger. All the monsters limbs lies uselessly on the ground.“C
H
a
r
R l
i
E

I s n’ T
H E r
e!”
The monster let out another cry of pain. The lights all turned on. Michael looked around, his mouth agape. There was blood,
everywhere.
Fingers were littered around everywhere, bones just left on the ground carelessly. Bodies were all shoved into a corner. Michael felt bile rise up in his throat, his stomach churning as the true reality of the situation quite literally came to light. The monster just kept whimpering. Michael looked at the person shining the light on the monster.Black pony tail. Yellow rain boots and a matching yellow rain coat. A pair of garden shears in one hand, the UV light in the other. Looking to be around 10 to 9. 4 kids stood behind her. The girl looked at him, and Michael saw her grey eyes filled with anger. She looked at him with annoyance.“Are you okay?” She said. Michael nodded numbly. She went up to him, and held out a hand. Michael blinked slowly, and then took it.“Who…. Who are you?” Michael asked. He felt stupid.
“The names Cassidy. You?” The girl said absentmindedly. She kept her eyes focused on the monster. The monster that she called…..
Charlie?!“Wait! What did you call her?” Michael said loudly. The girl gave him a look like
You didn’t know?“Charlie? That’s her name? Well no actually, it’s Charlotte, but we all just call her Charl-““Last name please?!” Michael asked, cutting her off.“Uhm… I think it’s Emmy? No, no, it’s Emily.” She said, keeping her eyes on the monster.Or wait, Charlotte.
The
Charlotte Emily. No wonder Henry was so quick to get here. Michael looked at the bodies in the corner. His heart rate quickened,
Thump Thump Thump,
a drumming in his ears. He looked at the monster, and it clicked. That was
her
forest green wristband, those were
her sneakers. Michael forced down vomit, it burned his throat like acid. His stomach churned, and his head felt light, like a balloon. He looked at the monster, smoke coming off of it like a steaming pie. The bandages that one wrapped her head came off, and familiar brown hair fell down. Michael let out shallow breaths.“C-Charlotte?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

August 1985

“C-Charlotte?” Michael asked, his voice low and quiet. The monster just let out a groan of agony. He looked back at the 5 kids next to him. “Who are you people?” Michael asked. The girl shrugged her shoulders. A red head behind her counted all of them, and then answered.“I’m Fritz, thats Susie-“ Fritz said, pointing to the girl with blonde curls, “This is Jeremy-“ He said, pointing to the kid with the baseball bat, “And that’s Gabriel.” He finished, pointing to the kid with the frying pan. Michael blinked slowly, feeling as if his brain was fried. Now
this
was confusing. Michael raised his hand to say something, but just stared at the kids, mouth agape in shock.
“S-…. So you guys are telling me… that thing is Charlotte?!” Michael asked loudly. The monster let out another set whimpers. The girl shining the light on it shrugged.“Yeah?” The girl said way too nonchalantly.“She killed everyone in the facility!” Michael said indignantly. He pointed to the bodies. The 5 kids winced.“Yeaaaah….. Well, it’s not like she chose to.” Susie said. Michael could feel himself begin to grey. He looked around the crimson floor for the cleaver. He slowly went up to the monster, who now was just hugging itself on the floor, smoke coming off it in waves.“Charlotte? Are you….. you in there?” Michael asked gently. The monster just let out another cry of pain. Michael turned back to the girl holding the flashlight. “Is she… is she going to be…. Normal again?”
“That’s…… that’s Mr. Afton’s hope.” Gabriel said warily. Michael’s mind blanked.“What the f-“

1993

Present day

Charlotte walked down the cramped hall slowly. Cobwebs sat in the corner, and bugs scuttled around the floor. She kicked a beer can due to the lack of any thing better to do. After finding that paper about her, she didn’t really find anything else. This damn hall was so long. She took another step, and felt something
Crunch
under her shoe. Charlotte looked at it, shining her UV flashlight at it.Seemed like a broken audio disk. Charlotte smirked a little. Did Lizzie do this? She had mentioned hallucinations. Charlotte thought about it for a second. She stomped on it one more time, and continued down this stupid hall. She sighed, wondering why she didn’t just go to an abandoned lab. Not the
lab, one of the smaller ones, mainly used for the prisoners.Charlotte sighed again. Her legs hurt, and her hands were clammy under the gloves. She took off her left one and inspected the purple splotch. It was bigger, and she could see a little bone too. She winced, and just put the glove back on. The UV flashlight gave off a lonely blue light, the shadows elongated, larger than life itself.Charlotte finally found something around 30 minutes in. This hall was
long.
Stupidly long. She kicked another beer can as she shined her flashlight on the family door, 002 emboldened in forest green. Charlotte scowled. Bad memories festered in her head like bitter food. She sighed, and opened the door.It was….. exactly the same as she had left it. And exactly as insanity inducing as she had left it. White walls, cushioned and not as soft as one would think, but just soft enough to not hurt yourself. White walls that drive you to the brink, wondering if the blood on the wall is yours.She walked up to the shelf, and opened all of them. All empty, as she had expected. Her mind flashed back to the picture Elizabeth had shown her. The one she took home with her. It was a monster, at least to Charlotte. For anyone else it was a creepy Endo skeleton with a weird rib cage and doll face.Still pretty creepy now that Charlotte thought about it.When she had taken that picture, it had seemed like she was at the point of no return. Charlotte had thought she had went insane. 9 years later, and Charlotte scoffed at how false that statement was.
From what she could remember, she’s has 27 panic attacks in her life.
(God I’m pathetic)
Charlotte closed the shelf roughly, not caring for the small crack that came from it. This was a mistake. The Afton house was where nightmares came to life for anyone here. At least, Charlotte remembered it that way. Her mind flashed back to the first night she spent in that room. How sick she felt that day, it was her introduction to chemo after all.
“I wanna go home da…” Charlie mumbled, her steps heavy as nausea coursed through her body. Exhaustion tugged at her, and she only wanted her bed. Or death. All she did was fall asleep outside, she didn’t think a nap warranted this.

”Almost there pumpkin.” Dad had said distantly, not looking her in the eye.

” ‘M tired dad.” Charlie said, holding onto her father’s arms for dear life. She opened her eyes slowly, and then stumbled a little. They were at…. Mike’s house? Uncle Will’s? Why? Her father’s grip on her strengthened.

”Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.” He muttered quickly, whispering just loudly enough for Charlie to hear. She struggled to match her father’s pace, her head spinning. Maybe she was hungry. Father got up to the door, took one quick glance at Charlie, and knocked loudly. Charlie winced, as if the noise was fire to her skin. They stood there for a few seconds, and then Uncle Will opened the door.
This was a mistake. Charlotte felt a cold chill run through the air, and she bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself grounded. Now was not the time to relive trauma. She looked at the room one more time, taking it all in. She was alive. And semi happy. It was up for debate. But what did she gain? Charlotte bit her cheek more, until she tasted a familiar iron in her mouth.This sucked.Charlotte swiftly left the room, her eyes fixated on the ground. Her breaths were shallow, and she began to feel sweatyScratch that.Charlotte felt like she was burning alive.She quickened her pace, and stopped breathing for a few seconds. Then, she inhaled through her nose, out through her mouth. One two, one two, one two.She looked up again.A suspicious wall. With a keypad right there. Maybe
Mr. Afton
William wasn’t that much of a genius. Charlotte let out a sigh of relief as she felt herself begin to cool down. She shined the keypad with her flashlight. Simple number keypad. Charlotte thought for a few moments, and then inputted the number
1983
into it. A few seconds later, and the wall went in. Charlotte let out a huff. Who were the Afton’s if not dramatic?Holy crap, this was excessive. Charlotte was used to blood
(Boy am I used to it), but jeez, William was vicious. And organized. Save for the gallons of blood, every book was stacked up by whatever color she could make out. Papers were stacked up on a desk, and there was a massive screen. Blood was also stained on that. Cameras watched from the corner, watching. The whole room was…. Nightmarish, but well organized.
(Good)
Charlotte thought with relief, (Just look for subject files)
The monitor though….. it powered on.
143 : Ringleader… Execute command #589.59 Teleport. Coordinates (?%\€?*#\€?_?!?!?!)

Be still ;)_
Charlotte looked at it with confusion, the monitor bathing the room in an eerie pale blue glow. A quiet jingle played through the empty hall, echoes sounding more sinister than the last echo. Charlotte stopped dead in her tracks. The monitor now was overloaded with numbers, and Charlotte looked with confusion. Then fear. The jingle grew louder, and Charlotte recognized it.
It was the jingle when someone left the nightmare chamber. Charlotte whizzed her head around, and was met with a mess of orange purplish static. A humanoid figure stood there, a smile so big and dazzling it pierced through the static. Charlotte shined her flashlight on it, but it exploded. Charlotte swore, and squinted, trying to find some identifying features. She saw that the figure was holding something long and metallic. A shotgun. It had messy hair, short, so probably male, and there was a sadistic laugh. The static got louder, and the jingle got louder, and Charlotte felt a sharp pain pierce through her skull. She squeezed her eyes shut, and her hands began to shake as she lifted them up to massage it. When she opened them, the barrel of a shotgun was shoved right against her face.“Just in time for breakfast~”A gunshot.What a way to start the morning.“David, are you
sure
you’re alright?” Mark asked in concern. David grit his teeth.“Yes Mark, I’m fine. My dad was a scumbag, I couldn’t care less.” David said through clenched teeth.
“You blew up at the cooks today… 4 times.” Mark said quietly. David scoffed. He just wanted to just read, why couldn’t this smiley trash bag leave him alone right now? David shut his book loudly.“Mark, I swear, I’m fine! Now leave me alone, I have 5 minutes left of my break.” David said, hoping Mark could see his glare. Mark just gave him that stupid look of pity. David felt a weird mix of anger and panic as he looked at his friend. Mark just went back to watching the TV. David looked at the clock.
01:24.
David got up quickly, tied back on his apron, and got back to serving customers.
(This sucks)
***********“Have you eaten today?” David asked quietly, looking at his sister with concern. Lizzie sighed, putting down her pen and taking off her reading glasses.“Except for breakfast…. No. I’ve been too busy for food.” Lizzie said, her green eyes cloudy. Probably from hunger. David just rolled his eye.“Want me to get you anything?” David asked.
“Uhm…. Maybe a yogurt?” Lizzie said. David scoffed.“You’re pale. And it’s been like 5 hours since breakfast. You need a bit more than a yogurt.” David said, a bit angrily.
(Hypocrite) Lizzie just sighed, and put her glasses back on.“A yogurt, green tea, and a piece of toast please.” She said, not even looking up at David now. David stood for a few seconds, a question on the tip of his tongue.
(Are you upset about Dad? What about Michael? What should I be feeling?)
David wanted to ask. Instead, he just quietly left the room to go get the tea.***********David fell on the couch with a
Thump. He was exhausted, and he let out a small groan of pain as he kicked off his shoes. He grabbed the remote, and began to flip through the channels as Lizzie ate. She was looking at him weird. David just pretended not to notice.“You okay?” She asked. David frowned.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” David muttered. Lizzie gave him that look,
’You sure about that?’
She set down her tea.“Alright, well I guess I should tell you now, I’m going back to Hurricane tomorrow.” She said. David stopped flipping through channels. He turned around, and looked at her quizzically.“Why?”“I missed my appointment with the detectives last time.
I uh…. Fell asleep?” Lizzie said, running a hand through her hair. A lie. Pretty obvious. David could tell, because whenever his sister lied about something, she fidgeted with her hair. He thought about questioning it, but the eye bags under his sisters eyes made him decide to put
that
off for later.“Alright…. Are you going to go no contact again?” David asked, eyebrow raised.“What do you mean?” Lizzie asked, feigning ignorance. David’s frown deepened.“You basically went no contact for two days. I just want to know when I should get worried if you don’t answer soon.” David said. Lizzie’s neutral face morphed into a small smile.“Oh yeah… sorry. Promise it won’t happen again though!” Lizzie said cheerfully. David just snorted, and went back to watching TV.
*************Ding!David looked at his phone quizzically. A text. From some stranger? He thought for a few moments, trying to figure out how some stranger had his number…..
(Oh yeah)
David opened up his phone and looked at the number again.Who is this?_
David texted.It’s me, Cassidy. Just wanted to ask if you’d want to hang out with a few of my friends on Thursday?_ David stared at the text for a few seconds. This was weird…. David thought for a few seconds. Having someone to talk to that wasn’t badgering him about his dad and brother would be nice… but, this all felt a bit too fast.Sure, what time?_ David’s heart beat quickened. He set his phone screen down, a bit too scared to see what Cassidy might text back. (Oh god, what if they think I’m boring? Or weird?) Another Ding! David looked down.12:30. Gonna be bowling by the way. See you then!_
David looked at the screen.
(That… wasn’t so bad actually)
David let out a groan. He just knew he was going to regret this soon. What’s done is done. He set his phone down, texted a quick
Okay,
and decided to get ready for bed.
Cranium penetrated by foreign objects….

+}£[*,><[€?

Help. Ping…..

003_ Access Denied

004_ Access Denied

005_ Access Denied

006_ Access Denied

007_ Access Denied

143_
I hope this hurts

Help. Ping failed. Beginning Reboot.
Would
002
like to reboot now? Y/N
Yes_
Charlotte got up quickly, sucking in a sharp breath through clenched teeth. Her chest felt indescribably light, full, like an over inflated balloon. She bit the inside of her cheek, strong enough to draw blood. The familiar taste of iron made her calm down.
(Still alive)
She thought with relief. She took another deep breath, and lessened her bite force on her cheek. Her breathing started becoming a little more quicker as she realized she was handcuffed to something. Where was she again? Oh yeah.“Oww, my freakin head,” Charlotte said, blinking to try and negate the spider web of pain in her head. They were back by the way. Her body felt like it weighed 10 tons, and she looked around the room slowly. Her eyes began to water as she realized someone was shining a light right on her. Charlotte scowled. What the hell even happened?“Wakey, wakey~” A strange voice said. The light shining on Charlotte turned off, and Charlotte looked up at the figure. Blonde hair, messy, looking as if someone made an attempt to do it up, but gave up halfway. The figures eyes were so purple they were bordering on violet. They had a crazed look to them, eager, like a starved animal. They were leaning on the too big shotgun lazily, and they, no, he smiled at Charlotte again. That dazzling smile, pearly white teeth contrasting the monitors blue glow eerily. Charlotte struggled under the handcuffs, tugging desperately.“Who are you?! What do you want?!” Charlotte said angrily. The man chuckled. Fear began to inflate again, Charlotte’s chest going
up
and
down
rhythmically.“Never thought I’d lay my eyes on you. Y’know, that was pretty cool, taking over the entire facility. The scientists never saw it coming. Not gonna hurt you, just….. want to see a few……old friends.” The man said, getting off his shotgun. Charlotte watched carefully as he put his hand on the trigger.“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Charlotte said angrily. She felt the rot on her hand begin to deepen, and she let out a small swear as her lip quivered.
“Tt, she doesn’t remember,” The man said, raising his hands as if he was talking to someone, “You have no idea, huh? Let me give you a reminder, does the words Eternity Labs mean anything to you?” The man said, his gaze fixated on her creepily. His smile, though relaxed, differed from his shoulders, raised and seemingly ready to shoot her. It was almost like he was scared. Charlotte felt herself bristle as unwelcome memories began to play out in her head.“Y-You… there were only 5 other people who got the program installed!” Charlotte said, scrambling to get up. The stranger let out a scoff as she realized she was stuck to one of the pipes on the wall.“Tt, I wasn’t one of the ‘official’ subjects,” the stranger said lazily, waving his hand with flair. Charlotte looked at the monitor.

+£+~’^•~¥[!^<€[=]••~^![*|€[¥\€~•]=|^_
“Are you going to answer my question or not?” Charlotte asked impatiently. The stranger chuckled again, propping up the shotgun. It was facing her face again. Charlotte could smell gunpowder. She swallowed nervously.“The names 143. No thanks to you.” The stranger said, his tone drastically different. More guarded. More jaded.Furious.But also frightened.“What do you mean?” Charlotte said, trying to keep her tone flat, still. The stranger slumped, and then threw his head up, beginning to laugh. Manic laughter, sending shivers up Charlotte’s spine. The stranger fixed his gaze on Charlotte again, but this time, the stranger wasn’t smiling.
His cheeks were damp with tears.“I’ll cut you a deal. You tell me where the Afton’s are, and I’ll give you what you want.” The stranger, 143 apparently, said. Charlotte looked at him with confusion.
(Play dumb. This guy just shot you in the face, and knows way too much. He might be dangerous)“Who’s Afton?” Charlotte said nervously. 143 rolled his eyes.
“Don’t play dumb, I know you married one. I also know another visited you yesterday.” 143 said, his tone back to that strange flatness from before. Charlotte could still detect the anger though.
(This guy is creepy)“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Are you stalking me?” She asked, hoping to replicate the strangers flat tone.
(I’m probably failing)“You just admitted to it. Now,” the stranger shoved the shotgun barrel against Charlotte’s head, “Why don’t we talk about that Patch?”What?Charlotte’s heart soared. Her eyes widened, and she began to feel her mind blank as she watched the stranger smirk at her confusion.“W-What?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

September 4th

1985

I want to feel again

“Hello?! Hello?” Jeremy said, running through the halls nervously. He didn’t know where he was, didn’t know how he got here, and didn’t know where the exit was either. This hall though, this hall was never ending. Blood red walls, with pictures of German Shepherds on each door. X’s were drawn over their eyes with mocking purple. Jeremy took a deep breath. (Remember)Crash!
Jeremy stopped dead in his tracks. The crash echoed through the halls, bouncing off the walls like a ping pong ball. Jeremy took another deep breath, and walked up to one of the doors. This door had a picture of something else.
A Fazbear chocolate bar.Jeremy closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and set his hand on the doorknob. With one turn, he opened the door.Chocolate. Chocolate everywhere. Jeremy felt like throwing up. He balled up his fists and counted to three, just like his therapist said.Calm.Serenity.Jeremy walked into the room hesitantly, eyes darting around the room observantly. More chocolate.
(Ugh)
Jeremy’s face contorted into a scowl. Jeremy picked one up, in hopes of being able to satiate the gnawing in his stomach. He slowly unwrapped it, trying to ignore the growing knots in his stomach. The crinkle of the wrapper made him woozy, and his breath hitched as he peeled off the foil.He threw the candy out the room.Not now.He walked deeper into the room, ignoring the growing darkness and the increasing amount of chocolate bars on the floor. All he wanted was to go home, to hug his parents. To see his dog again. A lump traveled up Jeremy’s throat, and he stifled a small sob. He’d been in here for around 6 days, ever since that
thing
killed him.
Jeremy could still remember it, even now.
His parents had taken him to their workplace after Scout’s death. He barely remembered the drive there, all he could remember was telling his parents
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know.’ Jeremy balled up his fists again. This wasn’t fair. He wanted to go home already. He could head mom and dad’s boss’s stupid voice even now, telling him to ‘man’ up. Jeremy scoffed.When Jeremy had walked inside of his parent’s workplace, he remembered the distinct feeling of pressure, like something bad was boiling, waiting to spill over. (Guess I was right)
Jeremy thought bitterly. He hated this. He hated his parent’s stupid boss, he hated his stupid therapist and stupid teachers and most of all, he hated that stupid, stupid idiot who got him into this mess. He didn’t quite remember who did or what happened to bring him here, but wishing stubbed toes on someone you don’t know was better than crying out of frustration. All he wanted was to go home.He remembered being sat down at the waiting room, and his dad, his voice warm and rich, telling him to
‘Stay there
sport’. Jeremy remembered feeling super bored.Jeremy remembered the screaming.
(Stop being useless)
He sat down on the rose colored floor, and just lied back, looking up at the ceiling. He wasn’t in any rush, and like Ms. Quinzel said, he had to process bad memories at some point. Back to the screams.It had started small. Just a small yelp from a female voice, childish. Almost playful. Then another scream.That’s when the alarms started.Jeremy remembered that slow feeling of pressure finally erupting, and the absolute panic he felt, uncontrollable and immobilizing, when more screams came. Not playful. Painful though. Pleas, begging, it didn’t matter to the murderer. The lights all exploded, and Jeremy remembered huddling under a table to avoid the falling glass. He remembered feeling fear for his parents, praying to god they were alright. After what felt like hours, hours of agony, it grew quiet.Jeremy remembered someone entering the room. He remembered his mom entering the room. She called for him. Jeremy remembered getting out of his hiding spot.He also remembered the red glint in his mother’s eye.
_Access Denied

Another crash snapped Jeremy out of his reverie. He got off the floor quickly, noticing that the darkness in front of him was now gone. The whole room was lit up now. At the end of it was a mountain of chocolates and dog treats.

(Stay calm)
Needless to say, Jeremy left the room fairly quickly. Not much to do other than gawk at what seemed like a cruel joke. Jeremy hated it. He hated when people made jokes at his expense. He left the room quickly, eyes up on the ceiling. It was the only place without chocolate.Another crash.Jeremy startled, and then looked around the blood red hall. He never got surprised all that easily. Another door was opened, this time by itself. Jeremy hesitantly walked towards it, his legs feeling like jelly. His ears picked up the sound of a soft giggle. He froze up. He slowly turned around.No more giggling.He walked through the door.It was…. His living room. From back home. The familiar tacky carpet mom had bought, the family photos all over the mantel. It even had Scout’s water bowl tucked into the corner, and his chew toys peaking out from under the couch. A warm yellow light bathed the room, and Jeremy noticed how.... Artificial it looked. He put a hand on the doorframe and tightened his grip on it as he looked around his old home. A never used fireplace, considering his family once lived in Australia for God's sake, and pillows scattered across the floor alongside playing cards.
Jeremy stood there silently for a few seconds, basking in the too soon nostalgia. Then, with bated breath, he took a step inside.The TV turned on suddenly. A familiar theme song began to play. The Fredbear and Friend’s song wafted through the room, echoing off the walls softly. Jeremy let out a small smile. Now all it needed was a bowl of cereal and his….. parents.A loud scream. Jeremy’s head snapped behind him. The door shut quickly, and Jeremy ran to it, and jiggled the doorknob.
Locked.Jeremy’s breathing became shallow as he tried harder to open the door. Locked. Jeremy banged on the door in desperation. Locked. His head began to buzz like a hornets nest as he kept looking behind him and back at the door frantically, his arms feeling weak. His throat felt dry, and he suddenly realized how hot he was.

(Ignore it)
“Hello?! HELLO!? Is anyone there!?” Jeremy looked back. Chocolates everywhere. Jeremy pressed his whole body weight against the door. Locked. Chocolates everywhere. The lights exploded, and Jeremy looked back with fear. Purple pupils, shining in the dark sharply. Cartoonish teeth glistened dimly.Jeremy let out a scream

I wonder how those other kids are doing. I looked one in the eye when it happened. She just looked at me pitifully.

I wonder….. does she feel guilty?

The hall. Again. Jeremy got up, sucking in air sharply with fear. He was back. Back in this nightmarish hall. Again. Jeremy thought back to what happened. Locked. Darkness. Purple.
(No point in calling for help) Jeremy thought bitterly.

Crash!
Jeremy let out a groan. He looked around, and sure enough, another door, opened. What made this one send goosebumps up Jeremy’s shoulder was the disfigured hand beckoning him towards it. It pulled back quickly, and then, it was as if it was never there.

(Is this hell? What’s the fu-

_Access denied

-WHAT!?)
“HELLO!? Is anyone there?!” Jeremy screamed, getting off the floor and backing away quickly from the door where the hand has been. He couldn’t stop thinking about what had just happened, how a voice, not his own thoughts, screamed in his heads. Access denied? Jeremy sucked in quick breaths as he backed farther and farther away from the opened door. The hallway turned a deeper, more bloody and muddled red, as if responding to him. Jeremy suppressed a shudder.
Crash!
Jeremy froze up. The sound had come from behind him, shooting chills down his spine. His neck prickled with goosebumps, and every instinct in him told himself to leave. Run. Run. But where? The creepy door in front of him, or the unknown behind? What gave Jeremy a better chance of survival?
(I really don’t want to do this)

Jeremy looked behind him. The once vast, infinitely stretching hall of crimson that had been behind him was now…. Gone. Nothing but what seemed to be… a waiting room? It was…. Everything was just, normal?! Jeremy’s head began to buzz as he realized, that was the same purple couch from his mom’s job, that was the same vase of Forget-me-not’s on the table.This was the room he died in.And there, where he had sat before the pressure burst, before the alarms went off, before the nightmare that had been plaguing him, leaving him stuck in this empty void of torture, was a girl. Long, flowing brown hair, curly at the end. Messy too. She wore faded green sweater, and due to her back facing Jeremy, he couldn’t make out anything else. Jeremy’s eyes widened with fear.
(NO! NO! THIS IS THE GIRL THAt kil-

_Access Denied

*]%[%~^[
It wasn't that ba*$&~d... Wait, WHAT?!)
Jeremy swallowed down a nervous laugh. He didn’t know why he had to. There was a voice in his head. Maybe he really was wrong in the head, just like everyone said. Now he had voices in his head telling him what to think. His eyes began to water as he let out a breathless giggle. That was another thing wrong with him. Most people would cry in this situation, someone else’s voice in their head, but Jeremy laughed when he was nervous. Or crying. That was part of the reason his parents thought he purposely left the chocolate on the floor. Right next to Scout's bowl. He was locked. He was Locked. A tear rolled down his cheek as he thought about how he couldn't remember his dad's voice. How long has he even been here, opening random doors? Was this voice new? Jeremy's bit his lip.
(Man up. Don't be such a baby)
He thought to himself angrily. He felt helpless, like a shot deer, just waiting for the hunter to take them out.
He turned around to see if there was any escape.There wasn’t.
(Nowhere to go but forwards)

(Who are you?)

(Not an issue right now. Keep going)
So Jeremy did. He walked hesitantly, his legs feeling like lead as he did. The room dimmed as he walked, as if the lights could sense his fear. The growing darkness didn’t help with that fear. A pale blue light shimmered through the room, and Jeremy just kept walking, hoping that everything would be okay. Just like mom had always told him as a kid, whenever he had a bad dream he would run to her arms, his dad making him tea as she sung a lullaby to him. Maybe this was just a dream, a stupidly overcomplicated dream because he was insane, but that would be okay. Because it was
just
a dream, and he would be okay, he was just crazy, but he could get better, and everything would be okay.Everything
would
be okay.This was all a bad dream. Sure, Jeremy never had any sort of dream like this, and he was pretty sure this qualified as a nightmare, buy 14 was never too late, right?Right?
(This is real)

(Thanks creep)
The lightbulbs exploded. Jeremy stopped walking, his eyes blinking hard. All that was left was the pale blue light and the girl, his murde-
(Your Savior-
Jeremy felt his breath hitch. What the hell was going on? Whispers began to emanate from the- (She’s 002)
-whatever that
thing
was. Then…. She turned around. And…. She wasn’t like what she looked like before. The girl was replaced by a gray staticky cloud, purple eyes contrasting against the cloud like a cars headlights on a dark, icy night. Jeremy felt a familiar feeling of being watched, like he was prey and those intense, violet eyes were the predators. Jeremy clenched his fists.“H-H… hello? Can you help me? I have a few questions,” Jeremy said quietly, a weird feeling of panic seeping into every word as it tumbled out of his mouth, “Is this a dream? My memories feel fuzzy, and I… I need to call my parents. Do you have a phone, or do you know where I could get one?” The cloud grew bigger, and the pale blue light began to flash erratically as hands popped out of the clouds, writhing, as if in pain, desperate to escape."Hello. You m-must be t-tired. Me though, I-I'm starved. My next m-meal was..... six days a-ago?" The
thing
said lazily. Jeremy felt a sharp pain shoot through his head, as if his neurons themselves were on fire, and he held a hand over his eyes, closing them shut. He let out a gasp as the pain
somehow
got worse, and he realized he was probably about to die, as his head felt like a bomb exploding in slow motion, the explosion trying to escape but not being able to. Being locked inside his head, slowed down. He stumbled a little, and his hand searched for something to hold onto blindly, his eyes still being shut. He grabbed one of the room's chairs, and even its legs scraping on the floor felt like nails on a chalkboard.Jeremy leaned into the chair like a lifeline, and he let out a quick Thank You
to god as the pain began to lighten, stumbling around the chair a little as he tried to take a seat. He opened his eyes a little, and began to hear soft humming coming from his left. His eyes were blurred with tears, and he took his hand off his head and slumped into the chair a little as the pain tapered off, letting out a sigh of relief. He opened them a little more, and noticed a few new things about the room.It was more sterile looking, cold white frost, and it made him feel a little more uncomfortable, the brightness making his head hurt a bit more again. Jeremy could hear soft humming over the loud ringing in his ears, and he let out a breathless chuckle as he opened his eyes a little more.
The blood on the floor contrasted against the white walls and floor sharply. It was bit off putting, and Jeremy barely suppressed a shudder as he looked at the center of the room. A little girl, wearing a golden bunny mask played with a plushie in the floor. The plush was soft looking, purple bow and top hat standing out against its over saturated gold fur. It sorta looked like a bear. The girl, no no,
thing,
had matted black hair, congealed blood giving it a disgusting sheen. The ringing in Jeremy’s ears got louder as his face crumpled with disgust.
“What the…. Who are you?” Jeremy asked quietly, the echo of his question releasing a blast of pain in his ears. The thing didn’t look up, it’s soulless mask, distant green eyes focused entirely on the plush. Jeremy noticed a missing eye on its right. The girl pulled out another plushie from out of nowhere, a white clown thing, orange red pigtails moving around stiffly in the air.“I’m b-bored. And h-hungry. T-These stupid t-things lost their appeal a-ages ago.” The thing said nonchalantly, and Jeremy remembered what the thing said before the pain started. (So it’s… hungr-
I’m starved Jeremey-
“Why are you hungry? And where am I exactly? I need to go home… I want to go home.” Jeremy said tensely, his throat constricted with dread. The bear plushie had blood on its mouth, and the thing just smeared more of it into the clown plushie. Jeremy swallowed.“To be b-blunt, you di-died. 002 killed y-you. Someone evil arranged f-for everybody to d-die.” The program said, it’s robotic voice cutting through Jeremy like a hot knife and butter. Dead? Time slowed down to a snails pace, and the red on the floor and the white of the walls began to blur as a distant ring played in Jeremy’s ears. No. No. No! (NO! I CANT BE….. I’m-

You’re dead Jeremy. Just like Scout-
“GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I can’t be…NO! I don’t want to die! Why!? Was I really that bad!?” Jeremy felt hot tears prick the corner of his eyes as he finished his sentence in an angry whisper. The thing was looking up at him, vacant green eyes hollow, ready to swallow his soul. Somewhere deep inside him, Jeremy had known someone has hurt him, but those memories always felt off, like a blurry picture. Was this hell then? Ms. Quinzel promised though. She promised Jeremy he wouldn’t go to hell. It was an accident!
“You were a v-victim of a m-monster. He and his whole family a-are beacons of r-rot. He needs to b-be eradicated. He killed you a-and your par-rents,” The thing said, holding the head of its bear plush tighter. It’s ghostly white skin, as pale as a sheet of paper, moved around the things arms tightly, as if it was just wearing the skin, not truly belonging to it. It’s hair flopped around sadly, the blood creating sickening knots. Jeremy felt goosebumps prickle his arms as his hands shook with anger.He proceeded what the thing said. Someone orchestrated his death. His parent’s death. Why? What did Jeremy ever do to them? Jeremy remembered the screams of agony back when this whole thing started. And small children were involved in this too. One of them left Jeremy to bleed out. Jeremy wasn’t mad at that, it was understandable, the kid was like what, 10? But that guy? Why? Why did he order everyone to be killed? Fury coursed through Jeremy’s veins as he bit his bottom lip to calm himself down.“Why? Why did someone want to kill me. Why everyone?” Jeremy asked, his voice shaking with anger. His hands began to get a tingly feeling, and he got up from the chair and walked towards the thing. It looked up at him lazily, as if it couldn’t tell how angry he was, how could it be acting so nonchalant about this? He wanted to hurt someone, and his breaths came in quick intervals as he thought about it. The thing just grabbed the clown plushie.Jeremy looked down at the creature, and an innate sense of evil seemed to exude off of the thing. Its mask had specks of blood. Its neck seemed stiff, and Jeremy noticed a faint purple splotch under the white gown it wore. Jeremy’s hands shook, he would never see his parents again and this stupid thing was playing with toys. It just looked up at him intensely, and Jeremy noticed how, except for its mask and that purple splotch, it was almost entirely monochrome. It had no shadow, and it didn’t even seem truly alive to Jeremy. But he didn’t care. He was angry. He had
died,
like,
died died.
“Answer me! Why was I killed?!” Jeremy said angrily, stepping closer to the thing. The blood on the floor squelched in response.“He was b-bored. And afraid. Afton w-was always afraid of de-death.” The girl said, ripping the plush bear’s head off in one quick tear, throwing the head to the back of the room. Jeremy felt cold dread begin to spill over his spine. Was this it then? Was this hell, or heaven? Was this girl god? Jeremy never thought the afterlife would be so off putting. Though, considering the whole hall of red, taunting pictures on each of the endless doors, maybe he really did go to hell.“So now what? Is this heaven? Will I get to see my parents? This can’t be all there is….. right?” Jeremy said, his voice a subdued whisper. His anger had stopped simmering, and now it just waited, pooling in his guy like a fire. Jeremy felt like throwing up. He actually might’ve, and he leaned into the chair for support. The girl looked up at him, and took off the mask.“That d-depends. Are you re-ready to die with your murder r-roaming free? With y-y-your parents murder un-a-avenged?” The girl said, her purple eyes trained on him intensely, hollow, not real.
Jeremy swallowed, ignoring the lump in his throat. The tears had just stopped, he couldn’t admit that
no,
he wasn’t ready to die. He didn’t want to. He wanted to hurt his murderer, he wanted to make him suffer. He’d force feed him chocolate till he- “I need a-an answer.” The girl said, cutting him off. The distinct lack of humanity in its voice brought Jeremy back to reality.“NO! I DONT WANT TO DIE!”
Jeremy screamed, as if it was not obvious. Of course he wanted to live. He wanted to hurt. His chest began to ache and his head began to pound as he thought about his mother’s smile, his father’s laughter. The thing smiled, gums blood red and almost all teeth, pointed and sharp. Jeremy suddenly felt very uncomfortable having it stare at him like he was some piece of meat.“Well then, I p-propose a d-d-deal.” The girl said, pulling out a doll put of nowhere. Jeremy stared at the creature with angry confusion, angry that it pulled out a doll in response to him dying, and confused cause a
doll?
Jeremy looked at it, and was more confused and now creeped out cause it looked really
similar to him. A light tan with blonde hair, with his favorite jeans and a Freddy Fazbear’s T-Shirt. The face was where the similarities ended. It was empty, three holes where eyes and a mouth should be.
“What your ‘deal’ then?” Jeremy said, trying to keep his tone flat. Depending on the thing’s answer, he knew things could go very differently based on how he acted towards it. And what even was this thing anyways? Was he about to make a deal with the devil? Was Jeremy really in hell? The girl’s inhumane grin grew wider, her eyes fixed on him a cat eyes a mouse.“You c-can get a second c-chance, and in return, y-you just have to let me in.”

(What? What do they me-

(Let us in Jeremy-
“Why are you in my head? I…. I need some time to think about this, okay?” Jeremy said, trying to be patient, and not totally creeped out that this thing was blaring its message into his head. The thing smiled, its head turned towards him in an unnatural angle as it turned around, their back now facing Jeremy. They walked away slowly, like a baby giraffe, clumsily, sloppily, swaying around like a rag doll. It grabbed something from the end of the room. Jeremy’s eyes widened.There it was, that weird doll that looked just like him, but now bloodied. A massive hole, stained at the edges with a muddy brown and red, right where his heart should be. Jeremy let out a shaky gasp, and put his trembling hands onto his chest.No heartbeat.Jeremy bit his lip and tried to bite back tears. Crying wouldn’t help now. Crying wouldn’t bring mom and dad back. Crying wouldn’t bring him back. But, the corners of his eyes began to itch and burn anyways. This just wasn’t fair. It wasn’t. Jeremy pressed his hand harder into his chest.
No heartbeat.And yet, his chest still felt light, and his mouth still felt like it was filled with mothballs, and that thing just stared and stared and
stared!
“What happens if I refuse? What happens if I choose,” Jeremy inhaled a deep breath, ignoring how it felt as if it didn’t fill his lungs fully, “To die? What comes after death?” The thing stopped smiling. It’s claws,
(When did those show up?)
clenched the copy tightly, and it snarled for half a second.
Just a second though.That smile was back again. Somewhere deep inside of Jeremy, something primal and purely instinctual, told him to run. Run. Just run. Anything to get this things gaze off of him. It began to walk back to him, like a robot on a track, legs dragging along like a broken Barbie doll, hands hanging limo off its sides, paper white skin dragging unnaturally.“Fire. B-Broken teeth. H-H-Hell. Did you r-really thi-ink
you
would go to h-heaven?” The thing said condescendingly, it’s smile now a sneer. Jeremy felt a small tear run down his cheeks.
(No. I’m not a bad person. I’m worth more than this. I am a good pe-
(Your the reason Scout is dead-
“Seriously, get out of my head! I need some time to think,” Jeremy growled quietly, trying to convey his anger yet also not make the thing angry, “I need to just… internalize everything, Okay?” Jeremy said.“I’m o-offering you a l-l-lifeline here. It would be foo-olish not to accept. Would you rather your m-murder’s children carry o-on his legacy?” The thing said, staring him down. Jeremy suppressed a shudder. He felt so unstable, he just needed to get his hands on something, preferably his murder’s neck, maybe smash a few vases. He just needed to destroy something.
His hands shook as thought it over.“Who…. Who are you? I mean, are you God? An angel?” Jeremy asked, and then added quietly, “are you the devil?”
“No. Let’s just s-say….. I-I’m a AI, designed to r-regenerate and aid my….
+%#>=)=)=)” The thing said, and Jeremy couldn’t quite catch that last part. What did they say? Something about host or whatever? Jeremy thought about it. What would being… whatever a ‘host’ was, mean for him, if this whole thing wasn’t the world’s worst and most vivid fever dream. Would a ‘host’ be possessed sometimes? And why did they garble that word anyways.“Why did you garble up that last part? Is there something you’re not telling me?” Jeremy tried keeping his voice confident. He could cry later. Why was he even considering this anyways? But somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he had no other options. The girl licked her lips hungrily.“As p-part of my programming, t-that word is exchanged for a s-s-subject number. There have be-een 142 s-subjects.” The thing said, gesturing towards a wall, head tilting robotically. Jeremy looked at it with a frustrated frown.7 silhouettes appeared, with numbers 002 to 007 for each. 003 to 007 were all crossed out with purple. 002 had the word
disconnected
on top of it. Jeremy looked back at the thing.“What is this supposed to mean? Why are 5 of them crossed out? And what does disconnected mean?” Jeremy said, the words tumbling out quickly. The girl pulled out a needle and red thread, with purple buttons. She pointed towards the last one, 007.
“They have r-rejected my treatment. 002, the p-p-per-son who was c-controlled, has been disconnected f-for some time.” The thing said, waving their arm as if trying to brush off their statement. Jeremy but his lip.“Why did they reject your treatment? What are your ‘treatments’ side effects?” Jeremy said, feeling that small hope of life shrivel up and die. The thing shrugged.“To r-regenerate, you must…. Consume synthetic b-biomass. If y-you don’t, your body will o-over heat, due to the remnant being injected n-needing new life to cool down.” The thing said, it’s voice barely a whisper. Jeremy gasped, and then looked at it with disgust and dismay.“Are you saying I have to… eat people? What about normal meat? I-… I won’t become a cannibal!” Jeremy said, disgust rolling over him in waves. What the hell? Was this some suck joke? What the hell is remnant? Jeremy bit back more tears, this just wasn’t fair. How come his stupid murderer got off scot free and now he was being offered
*{%[+|*^[-
(Look at the bigger picture-
“Seriously, let me think by myself! You can’t…. Why am I considering this?” Jeremy said, to no one in particular but himself. Why was he considering this?
(I don’t wanna go to hell)
Jeremy shook his head, “….I can find….. I can find my own way out of this.” Jeremy said, trying to sound more sure of himself than he actually was. He tried to ignore the things snarl.“You’ve been trying for 6 days. Every t-time you get in a b-b-bad situation, I have to reset this entire thing. The l-longer you wait, the c-closer we come to….. death.” The thing said. Jeremy felt fresh tears start to come up, because damn it, the thing was right. He had been trying for 6 days, his memories didn’t feel blurry anymore.
He remembered the feeling of his heart being ripped out.And Jeremy let out a cry. He was 14. He wanted revenge. This was so stupid. He knew he didn’t do anything wrong, but as mom would tell him, fate is a cruel mistress. Jeremy wanted to punch whoever decided that in the face. He especially wanted to punch his murderer.
(I have to negotiate. I can’t let this deal go)
Jeremy dug his finger nails into his hand to find something else to focus on, not wanting to cry, and cleared his throat after blinking a few times.“What if…. I eat normal meat? Is there anything I can substitute,” Jeremy felt himself grow nauseous, “…. Human meat for?” God this was stupid, and god did Jeremy want to vomit. The thing shook its head.“You c-can put it off, but e-e-everyone succumbs to the need to e-eat. Meat m-may substitute though. I d-don’t really know.” The thing says, not looking at Jeremy. It opts to look at the golden bears ripped off head in the corner instead. Jeremy bit his lip with fear.Was he really about to do this?Was he about to accept death?
(No. I won’t)
There was a chance. He could get off on just eating normal meat. Maybe it just meant being more hungry than usual. Jeremy slowly reached out his hand, his hesitation palpable, his fingers trembling with fear. He didn’t want to accept this, to roll the dice. He didn’t even known if he could back out of this ‘deal’, but anything was worth a shot.And if it meant hurting his murderer, tearing him and his whole family to pieces, how could he refuse? Jeremy put his other hand where his heart should be, and took a deep breath.“I-…. I accept. Do what you need.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

August 1993

“Uhhh, you done now?” Charlotte asked, her face all stone. She was pretty bored. This guy never shut up, something about backstory or whatever? He completely ignored her, continuing his villain monologue. Right now he was going on and on about power, and vengeance, and his parents. He kinda sounded like a homicidal Batman, just…. More crazed. He sounded insane, cutting his sentences off, stuttering up to five times, he called Charlotte a 'wraith', which was kinda mean, but okay? And was it homicidal if he knew she was immortal? He obviously knew that bullet wouldn’t kill her, so did it still count? Charlotte looked at the man again, who seemed to have reached the midpoint of his crazed ramblings, waving his hands violently. Charlotte let out a quick why? to god, before making the decision to just count the blood splotches on the wall. But before she could start, the screen began to blink rapidly, white and blue, so blue, the light so bright it made Charlotte's headache flare up violently. The guy let out another crazed laugh, and Charlotte frowned as she looked at the monitor.Nothing but garbled static now, the words Be Still
popping up occasionally. The guy pointed his shotgun at Charlotte. She looked at him with mock fear and very real boredom.“You.” He pointed an accusing finger angrily, “Are not paying attention!” He half yelled. Inside voices dude.
“Sorry sorry, continue please.” Charlotte said, not able to hide the sarcasm dripping from her voice. The man sneered at her.“You know, I would’ve thought you would pay attention more. Considering you also don’t have the patch.” The man said, pointing towards the monitor. Charlotte rolled her eyes. He had mentioned it a grand total of one time, and now he was giving Charlotte the super villain backstory she never asked for.“Okay, what about it?” Charlotte said, trying to sound hopeful. But her voice cracked, something she thought had tapered off in her teenage years, so now she sounded like a dopey high schooler. But she also missed two years of actual high school, so did she really count in a teenage demographic?“Welll, if you tell me how to find all the Afton’s, I’ll help you find the patch.” He said for like the
fifth
time.
Charlotte had already told this guy, she didn’t know.“I already told you, I don’t know.” She said, for the third freakin time. And 143 again, for the third freakin time, ignored her and just glared. His face was a white hot mania, and it was kind off hard to look at. His body though…..He never took his eyes off her. He wouldn’t let himself turn around, let his back face her. He would put a hand to his chest periodically, right where his heart was.“Right, like you don’t know where your husband and childhood friends are.” He said, his hands doing a whole circling motion. Charlotte let her head hit the wall. This was going nowhere, and she had better things to do anyways. She hadn’t even searched the whole house yet.
“Haven’t you seen the news? My ‘husband’ is missing.” She said. She never liked calling Mike her husband. It made her feel a bit too old for her liking. 143’s eyes widened, genuine surprise plastered all over his face.“What.” Was all 143 said. His eyes began to dim down. Then he shook his head and turned towards the monitor. He walked towards it and began to type on it. He kept looking behind him though, looking back at Charlotte every 30 seconds or so. Charlotte waved at him mockingly the first time, then just got comfy cuffed against the wall. She tried looking at the monitor, but it was
way
too bright for her to stare at it for more than a few minutes. “Oh, well then. Don’t tell me, that’s fine! That’s bloody fantastic! I do exactly what you want for
years,
and you can’t spare me a few minutes?!” The monitor crackled, a spider web of cracks appearing in lightening speed. The man inhaled deeply. “Fine! I can do this myself!” The monitor got even brighter.
Shut it ringleader.
“Uhm, are you done? I have things to do.” Charlotte said, trying not to look at the blood soaked carpet. After the threat of this guy doing anything creepy was vanquished, Charlotte just felt plain ole bored, and uneasy. She fumbled with the handcuffs, trying to get free, but they wouldn't give out. Charlotte looked around, trying to find something to help free herself.
There it was, a shiny knife. Charlotte saw something in it's tiny reflection. And it was within arms reach too.(Just a last resort. Just a last resort)
Charlotte told herself. She was sort of surprised she hadn't noticed it before. She suppressed a shudder. Then she noticed that the man was looking right at her. Like,
right
at her. His purple eyes peered deeply into Charlotte's fake brown ones. Charlotte swallowed.".....Can I help you?" She said slowly, her tongue feeling like dead weight in her mouth. The rational part of her mind told her that there was nothing he could do to harm her, but the irrational part of her told her she
really
needed to get this guys staring at something else. That was the human part of her, of course. The man tilted his head, and it sort of reminded Charlotte of an owl, eyes big and absorbing, but then, he grinned, all shark like, teeth pointed and contorted into a grin. He tore his gaze off of Charlotte, to which Charlotte let out a small thank you to god, and then noticed that the guy was loading his shotgun."I got everything I needed from here. I can't believe they changed their names, and to Schmidt? Afton is waaaaay more recognizable. Anyways, turns out Wittle Willy is a bigger creep than I thought, so your not needed. Now.... How do I make sure you don't tell anyone?" He said creepily, raising the weapon. Charlotte let out a small gasp, and then began to struggle against the her shackles even more. Where was dad's pistol again?
(He must have taken it)
Charlotte thought, a slow dread beginning to creep up. The large screen flickered erratically, the pale blue light it emitted making the man look almost shadow like.
"U-Uhm, I do- I won't-! I don't even have their phone number!" She sputtered, her hands gripping her jeans tightly with fear. She scooted away and looked at the knife, anything to not look this guy in the eye. He got a little closer, steps emitting sickening
squelch's
as he walked, his hands holding onto the gun steadily. His eyes tracker her every movement like a camera, and a weird garbling sound began to play in Charlotte's ears, like a broken radio. Charlotte's breathing got quicker, even though she
knew
he couldn't hurt her. At most, that gunshot hurt for like 10 seconds. Thank remnant for increased pain tolerance. But, that stupid, itty, bitty purple spot under her gloves was already beginning to ache and itch, and another headshot would only speed up the process.
Charlotte
really
didn't want to know what came after stage 1."And what about the police? No no, that won't do. So, how's about we cut a deal? You don't tell anyone,
anything,
and I'll tell you where the patch is, alright?" The man pointed to the monitor. A picture of a cleaver came up. The man reached into his pocket, and pulled out a physical photo too. He showed it to Charlotte.

Facility #3
A small white building, rotted with age was in the picture. Large trees surrounded it, and vines twisted around the walls, covering the windows. Charlotte didn't recognize it, but the implications weren't lost on her. Was this...A mixture of dread and hope filled her heart. Hope, because she was being given a chance for true freedom. Dread, because was she really about to sell out her childhood friends like that? 143's intentions were obvious. He wanted to hurt Elizabeth, and David. Charlotte cringed a little thinking about him. Elizabeth had barely mentioned him, just the text book
'He's doing fine',
and Charlotte had sort of forgotten about him after that. She bit her tongue. He would have picked apart the irony about that like a vulture picks apart a carcass. But....
Charlotte still had nightmares. She hated this constant feeling of hunger. She hated feeling scared of waking up in the morning and not being herself. Truly
Charlotte.
That thing was a sadistic copy. And now, her hands always shook. She had cold sweats all the time. The sun glared at her violently.
Mike would never forgive her. Charlotte would never forgive herself either. Hate would be deserved."N-No, I-... I don't accept. I won't help you."The mans smile dropped.His eyes were ablaze with hate and fear. Charlotte looked at him defiantly.“….Well then, I guess we have to do this the hard way. Enjoy the chains 002, hope the smell of blood doesn’t knock you out,” The man walked over to the computer, and aimed his gun. He pulled the trigger. The screen cracked in a spider web formation, and the screen died, only showing the man’s reflection and Charlotte’s. The man turned to Charlotte, his eyes a glossy Fuchsia, and grinned sadistically.“Oh, and one more thing,” The man said, walking over to Charlotte and grabbing her by the hair, lifting her up so they could see eye to eye. “Take those terrible contacts out, they look bloody terrible mate.” He said, and then slammed Charlotte’s head into the wall. Charlotte crumpled, falling to her knees. But she didn’t cry put in pain. She smiled a little.
As Charlotte’s vision began to blur, and her head began to ring, She smiled a little, knowing escape was already guaranteed. She looked at the knife behind the leg of the desk.Escape.“We need to talk.” David said. He crossed his arms and looked at his sister expectantly. Elizabeth ignored him for a solid five seconds, before sighing and looking away from her notepad.“Well?” Elizabeth said. David closed the door behind him.“First, I’m going to be hang out with some new friends on Wednesday,” Elizabeth smiled warmly in surprise. David held his hand up, “Also, I have to tell you about something important that happened while you were… gone” Elizabeth’s smile dropped. She hunched over, and looked him in the eye.“Whatever it is, it’ll be fine. You don’t have to tell me of it’s anything private, just-““I let some guests in a few days ago!” David cut her off, blurting the words out quickly, squeezing his eyes shut. He was a bit scared to be honest. He counted to five, and then opened his eye warily. Elizabeth had an odd expression, like a tired anger, fueled by annoyance and hunger. Ugh, did she forget again?“How many? And how much did they spend?” Elizabeth asked in her business voice, the voice she used with all her employees. Flat, but shaky, as if she was about to snap like a violin string. David gulped.“Uhm, around 5? They paid and everything, I just… I just forgot to put up the closed sign.” David mumbled. Elizabeth sighed.“….. Alright, that’s…. It’s fine, just don’t do it again, okay?” Elizabeth said quietly. David let out a sigh of relief. She wasn’t going to give him a lecture. Small victories, right? “And where did you go? Were you buying ingredients for.. Mike’s food again?” Elizabeth asked. David felt a small scowl begin to tug at his lips as he thought about it again. He had just stopped thinking about it, ignoring the kitchen and everything.
(Always a crybaby)
”N-No, I just went out to get something to eat.” David said, rubbing his eye. Now was not the time to start thinking about this stuff again. Elizabeth sighed, which was a record three in a row.
(She must be exhausted)
Then she gave him a small smile.“Alright then, I hope you had a nice time. Must have been nice huh? Just you, yourself, and a nice cup a’ coffee.” Elizabeth asked, looking back down at her notes again. David nodded. Elizabeth just flashed him a thumbs up, and put her reading glasses back on. David took that as his cue to leave.“Oh, and Lizzie,” David said. Elizabeth looked up, “Try to eat
something
soon.” David said quietly, before leaving the room.
Elizabeth smiled fondly.
October 12th

1987
“Stop making excuses!” Michael said furiously, slamming his fist into the table. Dust flew into the air wildly,. Charlotte didn’t flinch. She also didn’t look him in the eye.“It’s not an excuse, he’s just tired. Stop reading into it.” Charlotte said, trying to act as if she also wasn’t angry. As if she was just jolly and skipping around, not a care in the world. Michael, giving her
a lecture on parenting? She scoffed internally.“Yes it is! There’s mold on the bread god damnit! Look around, this place looks deserted!” He said, pointing to the cobwebs in the left corner of the room. Charlotte crossed her arms and shuffled a little. It had been a long time since she’d cleaned.“It’s fine, really. I’m old enough to take care of myself Mike.” She said, and Michael gripped the table tightly, brows furrowed in anger, “Besides, it’s not like
you
know anything about good parents.” Charlotte blurted.Silence. Charlotte could just barely hear the faint chirping of birds outside. Michael looked at her coldly, his silver blue eyes fixed on her in anger.“That’s a low blow Charlotte.”“W-wait, I didn’t mean it like that! I just….. it’s not like he hits me! He’s just…. He’s tired, alright? If he wants to go away for a few days on a ‘trip’, who am I to stop him?” Charlotte said quickly, tripping over every words. She wanted to claw her skin off, how could she ever say that?! She couldn’t lose Mike too.She already lost everyone else“It’s not a few days though! It’s been 20 days! The fridge is empty, and the heat stopped! Look at these bills!” Mike said, pulling put a few stacks of paper. The words OVERDUE
printed on, bright red and scary. Charlotte tightened her sweater..“I’m old enough to take care of myself.” Charlotte repeated, as if she were a broken record. She wasn’t sure she believed those words anymore. Michael muttered a string of curse words under his breath.“Oh yeah? At least my ‘father’ gives me money for food, wherever he is! At least I’m not freezing to death in the winter time because my ‘father’ is normal enough to pay for heat!” Michael said, pointing to the bundles of blankets on the never used couch. Charlotte bit her tongue.“It’s fine. We live in Utah, we never get bad winters.” Charlotte said in a monotone. Mike looked as if a vein was about to burst.“Stop it! Stop with these excuses already! Admit it, your ‘dad’ is neglectful." Mike said. Charlotte shook her head and looked down at the ground, the corners of her vision beginning to blur. Her ears began to ring as she gripped her sweater tighter. Dad wasn't neglectful, he wasn't. He was just stressed. Charlotte couldn't betray him, even though a small, buried part of her wanted to. The part of her wanted to lash out, ask
why why WHY!?
Why did he have that pained look in his eyes when he was around her? Why did he have to be so drunk he couldn't walk straight.Charlotte dug her nails into her skin, and she heard Mike say something to her, but she wasn't paying attention. The ringing got louder, and she felt a lump begin to grow in her throat as she blinked furiously. No. She couldn't cry. She had survived worse.".....Charlie? You okay? I didn't mean to- If I got too loud you could just tell me." Mike said. Charlotte felt a pit begin to grow in her stomach as she shook her head, well no, more like thrashed it with how stressed she felt. Her vision began to swim as she took a deep breath, and she looked at Mike with blurry eyes and a newly formed headache."And? What does admitting that do? You think I-You thinks it's fun? To have your dad always somewhere, spending all his money on drinking? What would admitting anything do?" God, she couldn't cry now. Her lips trembled, and she realized a tear was on her cheek. She sniffled and quickly wiped it away. She took a quick glance at Mike, who looked utterly wrecked. He cleared his throat, and put a hand on her shoulder."No, I'm... I'm sorry for making you cry. I just.... I didn't, no, I
couldn't
understand why you kept defending him..." Mike said softly. Charlie sniffled again. Then she clenched her fists. She felt her blood begin to boil, an ugly, abominable anger began to rise up in her chest, her ribs beginning to hurt as she breathed heavily.
Defend?

DEFEND?
Wasn’t that funny? Wasn’t that
hilarious?Charlie looked at the pen on the ground. If she picked it up, it was so sharp, how quickly could she kill him? The ringing got louder, and the pins and needles infesting her arms and legs got more intense, writhing, like a colony of hornets anxious to be released. The light reflecting off of it was so sharp, it was as if it was burning into Charlies’s retina’s. She was so tired, so damn tired of the dumpster fire her life had been ever since she fell outside of Freddy’s. What if she had just died? Right then and the-Guilt and disgust roiled in her gut, and she quickly realized how disturbing her thoughts had become. She looked to her left, where Mike was, now looking down at the ground, guilt plastered over his face. God, wasn’t Charlie just selfish? She truly was a monster. Mr. Afton was right, he couldn’t fix her, no one could
”I can’t fix you.”

(Claw your skin off. Let me OUT)

No. No more nightmares. Charlie shook her head and ignored the familiar voice, evil words invoking a feeling of pain, as if she was swallowing barbed wire. The ringing got quieter as her breathing slowed.
A bunny mask, golden color faded, green eyes hollow, came to mind, and she pressed her hand to her mouth in an attempt to not restart her little ‘episode’, as dad would say. She cleared her throat, straightened her back, and tried pushing the thoughts away.“…..I-I’m sorry. Sorry you had to see that. It’s just that….” Charlie trailed off, suddenly realizing that she was not, in fact, able to find a good enough excuse this time around.“I don’t know what to do. I messed up, dad hates looking at me, and- nobody wants to talk to me anymore.” Charlie said quietly, pulling her knees up and burying her head in her hands. She hated the pitying look Mike gave her, hated how nice he was being. She wanted to be a kid again, when everything was more black and white.“….. I still like talking to you.” Mike said, his voice soft, if not a little bit mumbled. He covered his face with his hand, and kept looking and looking away from Charlie. She looked up with surprise, and Mike just gave her a smile.
“W-what?” Charlie said, trying to hide how shocked she probably looked. Mike gave her an even bigger smile.“So what if those kids don’t like you? It’s not like you wanted to that stuff, they should understand that. And if they don’t, well, you can always make new friends.” Mike said with a small shrug. Charlotte sniffled, and let the tears fall.“I don’t deserve a friend like you.” Charlie said, not caring if her voice cracked a little. She felt a smile, a small, truly happy smile begin to creep onto her face. Mike rubbed her back a little, and just smiled again.“Well, you got one. Now, how about you come to this one party with me? No pressure, only if you want to, you can just come over to my house and read your comics.” Mike said, getting of the chair quickly. Charlie wiped her tears, and looked up at him. “And how’s about we take you out of this mausoleum of a house, huh? I don’t get how you wake up in here everyday, it’s plain ole depressing.” Mike said, pointing towards the doorway. Charlie let out a small chuckle, and began to gather her things and followed Mike towards the doorway.“Hey Charlie.” Mike said, stepping over the shattered pot on the ground. Charlie cringed a little. She really needed to clean her house soon. Preferably after she got home from…. Wherever Mike was taking her. Hopefully out to eat, she was starving.“Yeah?” Charlie answered. Mike pointed to a picture hung on the wall.“Remember when you first met us? Elizabeth thought you had responded to her ‘add’.” Mike said, all smiles. Charlie smiled too. It was still funny. Charlie took the picture down and looked at it. It was of a much, much younger Mike, Charlie, Elizabeth, and David all on the first day of summer. Charlie had crashed her bike and scraped her knee, and went up to Mike’s house to get some bandaids and hopefully call her dad.Everything seemed fuzzy looking back on it, fuzzy and brighter. Charlie remembers the tough sidewalk she made a direct collision with, the refreshing smell of rainwater as she trudged up to the front door, and the total surprise she had felt when this small, 9 year old girl grabbed her, and full on dragged her into the house, blabbering and squealing about how Charlie was ‘right on time’.“Yeah, Lizzie was so happy. Then my dad walked put of your father’s office, and gosh, that was awkward.” Charlotte said, remembering the hour long lecture she had gotten about how ‘dangerous’ it was to follow strangers into their house. Dad had grounded her for three weeks for that, and walked her to school everyday. But, after the initial anger, Mr. Afton had proposed to take a picture of all of them.
Charlie looked at the door with a mix of fear and hesitation. She knocked again, looking down at her knee. Blood oozed down, already drying into a gross brown. She cringed. Dad was going to kill her. And just when she was allowed to leave the house by herself. She heard the soft sound of footsteps rapidly approaching the door, and Charlie dusted herself off and put on a plastic smile. Maybe it would be a kid her age. Maybe they could become friends. Maybe then she wouldn’t feel like such a burden.

”Oh my gosh oh my gosh, Mikey I told you!” The girl said, grabbing hold of Charlie’s arm and pulling, hard. Charlie stumbled a little, her head still hurting from her fall, and what was this girl even talking about?

“H-Hey, I think there might be a small misunderstanding here!” Charlie said, the girl, who looked to be about 7, with bright red hair, kept dragging Charlie further into the house. Charlie looked at her knee again. New blood was already trickling down.

”Liz, who’s that?” A soft voice murmured. Charlie looked down, and saw a most likely 5 years old boy sitting on the floor, dice in hand. He looked to be playing Monopoly. Charlie gave him a small, stiff, and awkward wave. He looked at her with curiosity, and a small, yet adorable frown.

”This, is my new big sister!” The girl, presumably Liz, said, hands pointed to Charlie. She looked at the younger girl quickly, and shook her head no.

”W-Wait, I- what are you talking about?” Charlie said a bit too quickly for her liking. The girl just beamed, and then took out a piece of paper.

”This is the add I sent out, and you,” The girl pointed right at Charlie, “are the one who answered!” She said, holding up the piece of paper. Charlie knelt down a little to read it.

’Big sister needed. Please be ages 9-13, and know how do hair, play catch, and do makeup. I am a very well behaved little girl, and can pay very well. Please come at 10:00! :) :)’

”So, you want a…. Big sister?” Charlie asked slowly. Liz nodded wildly.

”Yeah! I have two brothers, but they’re both dull!” The girl said. Her voice was so loud, it grated Charlie’s ears like a nail on chalkboard.

”Hey! I didn’t even wanna play Monopoly!” The small boy said, throwing the dice onto the board and walking over to the TV, turning it on. A familiar pair of animals, and an all too well known jingle began to play.

”Uhm, I don’t know how to tell you this, but…” Charlie trailed off, because the girl got the biggest, saddest, most crushed looking face in the world, at that very moment. She shut her mouth, and looked at the house.

“….. You’re not gonna leave me, are you?” The girl asked quietly, her voice oozing with sadness. She looked like she was holding back tears. Charlie sighed.

”No, I’ll stay a little bit. Can I get a bandaid though? And I need a phone to call my dad, he’s going to get stressed out if I don’t call.” Charlie said, resignation clear as day in her voice. It would be fine, she had all of summer break to goof off, by herself. The girl responded the Charlie by smiling again, and grabbing Charlie, again, and dragging her to what was hopefully the bathroom. She looked down at her now burning, aching knee, and began to wonder just what exactly she got herself into.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Hi, so this Fic will be going on an indefinite hiatus due to personal issues and the fact I have lost one of my key writing sources. I apologize for the disappointment, I will try to get this updated as soon as humanly possible. Thank you all for understanding, have a pleasant day.