Michael turned to face Will. "Surprisingly well, actually. We talked and caught up. That was about it."

Will seemed happy...maybe. Hard to tell. "That's nice."

Michael nodded. "Yeah. We had some tea and I learned how...uh...his son died."

Will froze up, his glowing blue eyes staring at Michael. "...You did?"

Michael nodded. He could tell this was a bit of a touchy subject. The eyes turned green and the other personality, Charlie, spoke up. "I told you to fix her, but no! You had more important things to do than keep a promise!"

His eyes turned back to normal. "I fixed her eventually, didn't I?"

Green. "But did you properly apologize?"

Blue. "...No."

Will went on like this for a while, Michael sitting there the whole time in awkward silence. Eventually Will stopped and seemed to compose himself. "Alright...I'll deal with that issue later." He turned back to Michael. "Sorry about that. Where were we?"

Michael shrugged. "I had a plan for tonight but your little...interaction just made me completely forget it."

Will tilted his head. "That's unfortunate." Then he snapped his fingers, which just sounded like metal on metal screeching. Not pleasant. "Why don't we play a game?"

Michael raised an eyebrow. "What game?"

Will walked behind the desk, next to Michael, and opened a drawer, pulling out a deck of cards. "Go Fish?"

"...How did you know that was there?"

Will looked at the drawer, then at the cards, then back at Michael. "I found this when I first began my employment here."

Interesting... Michael shrugged. "Weird way to say when you were first activated, but okay. Why not?"

Will shuffled the cards, before passing both of them seven cards. Will looked at his hand and seemed satisfied, before looking at Michael. Michael's hand was...a hand, he supposed. Nothing special about it. Looked like a normal hand in Go Fish. And so the duo began their long...long game of Go Fish.

Two Hours Later

"Got any fours?"

"Ah, dammit. Here you go."

Michael handed Will his last card, the fox laughing triumphantly.

"Ha ha! I win!"

His eyes turned green. "That was a good game, Michael. Really quite a challenge."

Blue eyes again. "Agreed. Well played, sir." Will held out his hand for Michael to shake, and he did. Michael looked at the clock, surprised how long they'd been playing.

"Damn, four o'clock already? How long were we playing?"

Will tilted his head, before shrugging. "No idea."

The duo sat there for a bit, enjoying the silence. Then Will stood up, looking at Michael. "Wanna take a walk?"

Michael shook his head. "I've gotta stay in this office 'til the end of my shift."

Will scoffed. "Yeah, right. You're just chicken. What's wrong? Scared you're gonna get got by the big...bad...animatronics!?" Will slammed his hands on the table, his speaker playing a weird staticy screech.

Michael just stared at him, unamused. "Very mature." Then he got out of his chair and checked the time. "Suppose I have time."

Will played a celebratory sound on his speaker, before spinning around. "Let’s go to my place!"

Will began walking off, Michael following behind.

-------

Will and Michael walked for a couple minutes, talking about whatever came to their minds to fill the silence. When they reached the Party Bin, Will turned to the stage next to his.

"Any clue what this is for?"

Michael shrugged. "I just started working here. I don't know anything."

Will shrugged, before laying on his stomach on his stage. "Tell me a story, Michael."

Michael crossed his arms. "Why?"

Will shrugged. "I'm bored. And it's not like you have anything better to do."

Michael stared at Will before sighing and grabbing a chair, sitting down. "You wanna hear a story? Let me tell you the story of a very bad man..."

-------

Years ago, a man lived happily with his wife, two boys, and daughter. He co-owned a successful local business with his friend since childhood, who also had a wife and child of his own. And when you looked at the man, you could tell he had everything he wanted in life. At least, that's what it seemed. In truth, the man felt like he was missing something. There was an urge in his gut he hadn't felt since his youth. He didn't know what it was then, nor did he know now. But it didn't matter. As long as he had his family, he'd be fine.

One day, his wife was diagnosed with cancer, a deadly disease that is not easily cured. This caused the oldest of the three children to begin acting out, bullying his younger brother. Things didn't look good for the mother...and then she began to recover. All was right in the family again.

But then the man's friend lost his wife during the birth of the second child. A baby boy. The man was made the child's Godfather, and the child was even named after him. This child, the man could tell, was destined for greatness. But the man's friend, the boy's father, began to draw into himself.

The man's friend began working longer and longer hours at their business, an animatronic Pizzeria. He created beautiful machines that entertained children for years, and he was proud of himself. And then the incident happened.

Around five years after the death of the friend's wife, the oldest of the man's sons began bullying his younger brother again. But the man didn't notice, for the son would only do it when his father wasn't around. Then one day, the son took things too far. The youngest son was afraid of the animatronic characters that performed within the walls of the Pizzeria. So the oldest son decided to get his gang of friends and lift him into the mouth of the lead animatronic. A giant animatronic bear.

The son and his friends carried the younger son, who was crying heavily, up to the bear and set it within. But these animatronics were special. The contained highly sensitive parts called "Springlocks", which would trigger with moisture and fast movement. And wouldn't you know it? The youngest son was crying and thrashing around once he was left inside the animatronic's mouth, which caused the Springlocks to trigger. The animatronic mouth clamped down, crushing the child's skull.

The boy just stared, horrified, while the man ran to try and help his youngest son. "What did you do?!" He shouted at the older boy. "What did you do...?" The younger boy was rushed to the hospital, where he died within a week.

-------

The alarm bells went off, causing Michael to stop telling the story. He stood up and walked towards the office, with Will following.

The fox seemed unsatisfied. "Is that it? That's how the story ends?"

Michael shook his head. "I'll tell you more tomorrow. For now, just go about your normal day."

Will mumbled something, but Michael didn't care. He just wanted to get out of there. He put on his jacket and left, leaving Will to do whatever.

Michael began the walk to his house, enjoying the cool Autumn breeze. He looked at his phone to see he had a missed call from an unknown number. He turned it on and listened to it. A voice he hadn't heard in years sent a chill up his spine.

"Hello, Michael...I saw you moved back into town recently. I'm a bit sad you didn't come say hello. I've got to admit, the name change almost threw me off, but you didn't exactly try that hard to change it, did you, Mike Schmidt?" The voice paused, taking a breath. "I know why you're here. You want answers. Well, when you get the time, come visit the old house. You know the one. I'll see you soon...son."

Michael stared at his phone. How had his father gotten his number? And how did his father know he was here? Before Michael knew it, he arrived at his house and pulled out his keys. Michael unlocked the door and walked in, closing the door behind him. He made a beeline for the room he used for storage, opening the door and pulling out the box from the closet area. He opened it and revealed a bunch of old family pictures he kept. But one in particular stuck out to him.

There was a picture of him, his parents, and a young Elizabeth standing in front of their house on the sidewalk. Michael was holding a bundle of blankets in his arms, Evan, seeming very happy. It was taken shortly after they moved there from Britain. His mother had been American, which meant that he and his siblings were, by law of blood, also American citizens. Their father was able to come with them because he was married to their mother. He remembered when they were happy. Before the accident.

Michael pulled out the picture and brought it out of the room, closing the door behind him. He walked to the kitchen and tore off the part with his father's face on it, before setting it on fire and throwing it in the empty trashcan. He watched as it burned, getting some odd satisfaction from watching his father's face turn to ash. He watched the flame extinguish itself as it ran out of photo to burn.

Michael dumped a cup of water on it, just to be sure, and walked to his room. He set the picture on his bedside table and fell asleep, not even bothering to change.