Chapter Text
Time seemed to stop after everything had been done.
Michael stood unmoving, seemingly having frozen in place. Not blinking, not breathing, not seeing. As If every thought within his head had stopped at that moment.
His knees remained locked into place as their parents approached what now seemed like a very dark room. His mother was kneeling beside his brother, holding him in her arms as tears started to fall from her eyes. Michael couldn’t see his father, the world had become a blurry mess of light and sound.
But his words eventually broke through Michael’s brain “What have you done?” he asked, he screamed. His son tried to respond, but his throat was too tense to let any sound pass through. All his brain was able to do as it caught up with the actions it had commanded, was to make tears run out of the boy’s still wide-open eyes.
Eventually, his knees allowed themselves to unlock, as he lowered himself beside the body of his younger brother. Was it a body anymore? Or just an empty shell? a corpse. He tried to get closer as his gasping for air grew louder. But he was easily pushed away by his mother’s arms, as she shot him a look of utter betrayal.
His father kept shouting at him, but his words had once again become mere echoes resounding in the restaurant walls. Only at that moment did he realize he was alone. Only a few spots empty of blood splatter remained as evidence of them ever having been there. His stomach became heavy with regret as he tried to utter apologies that would become lost to time to his younger brother.
Henry Emily hung the landline telephone inside the restaurant’s office. Adrenaline left him as his mind was filled with what had transpired in what he believed was the happiest place on Earth. After Disneyland of course. The thought of a tragedy striking the dreamland he had helped to build had never crossed the gentleman’s mind.
No one was there, no one had been there to stop what had happened. Not himself, not the other parents, and not William. Michael had always been a strange boy, but no one would have predicted things would turn out like they had done. But even If Henry could have not foreseen it, he could have still done something.
To be frank, he found himself surprised and relieved at the same time that nothing like what he had witnessed today had happened before. It had been foolish of him and William to have trusted the other parents and employees with watching over the children. It shouldn’t have happened.
And he wasn’t about to let it happen again. He would find a solution. A security measure more advanced than any human and more attentive than the best of parents. Something to keep the children safe. To keep his daughter safe.
He counted on William to deal with Michael. But he wasn’t about to let the same mistakes repeat in their establishment. He would use everything he had learned to make sure of that.
Unlike his siblings, Michael had always liked going to the hospital. He considered it a special day, just like going to the dentist or the ophthalmologist. This time was different of course.
There was no pleasant small talk, not even from his younger sister Elizabeth, who clung to her mother’s skirt as If the fabric would be enough to protect her from what she was about to witness.
No instructions about what to do when the doctors or nurses meet them were given. William did not even look at him to tell him to be on his best behavior. As If he had given up on him.
The only thing that remained was them following behind their father, as they had always done.
Each one of them had a role to play as they entered the room. His mother left the freshly picked flowers next to his bedside, trying in vain to make the gloomy room feel brighter. William stood beside him in the bed, as Elizabeth hugged him from behind, offering comfort despite his emotionless expression. His wife stood beside him as he gestured for his son to come closer.
“Come here Michael, apologize.” It was strange to hear his father once again use a neutral tone with him. But Michael wasn’t about to complain, he bent slightly above his brother, as his mother and sister held their breath, perhaps thinking that he would deliver a finishing blow during their lowered guards.
But instead, he simply did as instructed and apologized. Something he would like to think he would have done even If he hadn’t been told to do so. He tried to be as quick and as unfeeling as possible, not wanting to cry after what he had done. But all he could hope for was that his honesty would reach his brother.
After that, he simply stepped aside. He pushed himself against a wall as he pretended to look at the windows while his father whispered what he could only imagine were comforting words to his brother. But it almost seemed like a curse, when with his final word, the beeping that had mixed with the hospital’s ambience ceased, only to fill the room with silence.
His mother immediately started sobbing loudly as Elizabeth moved on to hug her. William simply got up and left. And never came back into the room. Michael simply stood where he had been, letting the world move while he stood still. As he pondered what had put them into such a situation.
When he was Gregory’s age, his parents had taken him to a clinic after his teacher’s complaints. He had learned about that after a parent-teacher conference, where his mother had yelled at his teacher after he had called her son “a retard”.
She had gone on a winding rant about how he was “normal” how he had been raised “the right way” and how “the doctors just said he was afraid” along with many other things that had become jumbles in Michael’s brain by the time he was twice that age.
But he knew deep down that wasn’t true, the only reason he had been allowed to be “normal” in school had been thanks to Dean. He had explained to him that by being friends with him, the most popular guy at school (according to himself), he had gone up a spot in the social ranks. Going from “freak” to “regular person” as he had put it.
Michael wasn’t dumb, at least not in that regard. He knew actual regular people didn’t bite their classmates, or tackle them to strangle them. So that funny sounds would come out of their throats. Or scare their little brother until he would start breathing rapidly as If he were a chewing toy.
The little brother he could only wish would banish from his life.
The jealousy he had felt towards his brother seemed to dissipate as he looked at what was now his brother’s carcass. All of the achievements he had accomplished that Michael had been unable to surpass, became as meaningless as his death.
Michael’s father never returned. He did not return to the hospital. And he did not return home. Michael knew. He hadn’t slept that night. Maybe If he did not sleep, time wouldn’t move on. So he simply stared at the clock, hitting the side of his head whenever he dozed off to try and stay awake.
His mother did not go to sleep that night either. He could hear the television through the walls, and its faint blue light filtered itself through the crack in his open door. He had never been allowed to close it. Not during the night, and not during the day either. His window on the other hand was always locked shut.
Ever since that day, he had run off to Fredbear’s.
The Saturday morning at the funeral home had been rather dull. The local mortician had done their best to salvage what was left of his brother’s face. But despite their best efforts, most guests focused their attention on the eyes of Mrs. Afton and little Elizabeth.
Their time was mostly spent comforting the former on the tragedy that had befallen her child, and entertaining the latter with the cheerfulness of someone who has just met their granddaughter on Christmas dinner. William in the meantime had been trying to convince the officials to let him bury his son on his property. Much to the church’s dismay.
Michael simply sat beside his sister, looking down as he performed his function as a coat rack for his family members, and as a vase holder for his little sister. Who had insisted on carrying some of the flowers that would be placed atop her brother’s tomb.
For better or for worse none of the guests had addressed him during their brief time there. And eventually, it was finally time to move on to the church service. So Michael handed out the coats to their respective owners.
The only one looking back as he did was his father, still with no movement on his face. His mother simply refused to look at him, not moving. While his sister turned her head away from him as he gave her back the flowers.
As they entered the church behind the coffin. Michael couldn’t help feeling overwhelmed by the baroque structure that seemed gigantic in comparison to even the large hospital corridors they had traveled the day before.
The floorboards creaked below their feet, making it feel like the centuries-old structure would come apart at any second. Finally, the coffin was placed in its position and the priest instructed everyone to take a seat as the ceremony commenced.
Elizabeth left the flower bouquet she had been carrying beside the coffin. And sat back down beside her mother on the front bench. Despite a dirty glance from his father, Michael had sneaked away from most people’s glances as he sat at the furthest corner of said bench. Hidden by the shadows of the dimly lit church. Next to one of the many ornate confessional booths.
He couldn’t feel the glares being sent towards his corner as the proceedings dragged on. The priest’s speech was lost in the immense reverberation of his voice echoing against the walls. But he could imagine them coming from the statues that surrounded the altar, judging him with their unblinking eyes as he failed to do the sign of the cross over and over again.
His parents had never really been “true believers” of the faith. Only really attending to the proceedings because everyone else did so. He had refused to do his first Holy Communion, the only one besides another boy from his class. And his parents had not pushed it as long as he didn’t mention it.
He had secretly refused based on a conversation he and his best friend Dean (who had not attended the funeral, as far as he had seen) had had when they were eight years old. He had eventually managed to convince Michael to pray. After being answered by nothing but the silence of his head, Michael had become convinced he was going to hell.
From that moment onwards, Michael had gotten nothing but the uneasy feeling that he was trespassing whenever they visited church from there on out. And now just like those times, they were judging him for having stepped inside of somewhere he didn’t belong to. Which he supposed he didn’t after having killed his brother.
As everything wrapped up, he caught sight of his father abandoning his mum’s side to talk to the priest through the shadowy side hallways. Seeing him slip a bundle of green bills into the clergyman’s pockets while he whispered something in his ear. They then nodded to each other, as his father came back with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes plastered across his face.
The family was then given the good news of Gregory being able to be buried in the forest that surrounded their house. So that he could stay beside them forever and ever.
Later that night after a few too many beers, William was speeding through the highway. Almost missing his exit as the retro purple Plymouth drifted out of the wet pavement road that led to his house. And most importantly, towards the last stop of his midnight road trip, Jr’s bar.
The bouncer recognized William and quickly got the drunken man to turn around and go be someone else’s problem. The last time he had visited he had tried to strangle his competitor Bill A. Williams after they had insulted each other’s restaurants. And the owner of Jr.’s had since banned both of them from coming around. Not wanting to call the police.
So more sober than he would like to be, the patriarch of the family stumbled towards his house on the hills. But he wasn’t the only one creeping towards the property.
Michael had been expecting the roar of his father’s Plymouth as he repeated last night’s routine. But the sound that caught his attention instead could only be compared to the rumbling of a mechanical guillotine.
His tired eyes fell upon Fredbear, as he stood outside of his still-locked bedroom window, his golden fur now damp from the rain outside. Michael felt his blood freeze as the gigantic animatronic went to open his bedroom window, breaking the glass when it couldn’t force the lock open.
It looked at Michael, all the boy could see in his mind was the blood-stained teeth of the bear. But before it could attempt to come into the room, the roar of an old car engine that had just arrived startled Fredbear. Making the bloodied child entertainer flee into the night.
Michael breathed once more, as his mind caught up with the fact that what he had just seen was real. He closed the door as he tried to quickly dispose of the window shards that were now scattered across his windowless room. Only to get cuts on his hands in his impossible attempt to fix what was broken.
He could now hear his father talking to his mum in the living room, the latter making a tired attempt to stop her husband in his tracks. As the boy’s mind raced, he jumped out of the window, following Fredbear’s tracks in a desperate attempt to escape his father’s wrath.
He had never disobeyed the man in such a shameless way before and he wasn’t about to find out what his father was capable of beyond his usual disappointment. He was convinced he was dead.
Williams' rage escalated when at the end of the hall, he saw his son’s bedroom door locked. His wife tried to appease him from the couch, still watching one of her shows. But William ignored her after a few sentences that went through one ear and out of the other.
His rage grew when he realized the door had been locked from the inside. He would make that boy pay. He would make sure he didn’t ever disobey him again. His imagination ran wild with all kinds of violent fantasies, as he visualized his son's head on a spike. But he knew that would be too merciful.
Thankfully, in his mind. Michael himself had chosen his punishment when he ran away through the broken window. William would make sure he would never even think of running away from him, ever again.
Eventually, Michael lost track of Fredbear’s footprints in the rain as the hills became nothing more than a few trees and mud. He was soaked from head to toe and had started to deliriously shout to the air while tears started falling once again. At first, he tried to take out his frustrations on an innocent lamppost by kicking it over and over again.
As the insults he shouted towards the night became geared towards himself. He switched from kicking to bashing his head against the metal pole, still muttering insults and threats “You always ruin everything! Why can’t you just be fucking normal! Just take it, idiot! Take it!”
He kept wandering the streets until morning, still making stops to throw his rage against anything that looked solid enough to sustain it.
