Nearly 30 Years Later

Michael was walking down the street of his home. Many people waved hello to him as he walked past. He sighed peacefully as he arrived at the local supermarket for work. 

Today was the last day of healing for him. The last part of his body to repair itself was his left ring finger. It wasn't much, but it was freeing.

Day after day, he'd work at that store, having friendly conversations with people as a cashier. His life was normal for the first time in years. He was even interested in another employee.

All of that changed when he got home from work that night and picked up the local newspaper.

The local amusement park, Kings Park, was opening a new horror attraction in a few weeks. All Michael saw was the headline and the picture of an empty Freddy head on the front and closed the paper.

"How could they?", he asked himself tepidly. His palms became sweaty and his breathing quickened. But he knew what he had to do, even if he would regret doing so.

He fought with himself to call the amusement park and applied to get the job.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Henry sighed as he saw that day's news.

"Charlotte?", he called out. Slowly, she came into the room.

"I hate being old", she muttered to herself, "Yes, Henry?" He showed her the newspaper.

"What?", she exclaimed.

"Yeah. We lost the rights when we shut down. Now it's some kind of urban legend and these jokers are profiting off of it."

"Isn't that the amusement park that's built on top of our last place?"

Henry said slowly, "Yes, yes it is."

"Maybe this is a good thing?", she said, "You figured out where Charlie is and where Afton is. Maybe Charlie will come back."

Henry brushed her face lovingly, "Honey, you know she won't come back."

She teared up, "But she was just here yesterday, babe."

He sighed again, "No, I called you Charlie yesterday. Our Charlie has been gone remember?"

Charlotte scratched her head, "No."

"It's gonna be okay Charlotte", he said as he pulled her into a hug.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael arrived at his new job soon after applying. His manager, Jerry, showed him all the things he'd be doing throughout the week.

"...Just make sure to keep everyone entertained!", he said before patting Michael on the shoulder and leaving.

Michael closed his eyes as he rested his hands on the desk. It was the same desk. Same phone. Same fan.

"It's gonna be fine", he told himself, "There aren't any mascots this time. It's just research."

Job training ran for the next couple of days. Soon it was time for his first night.

His manager gave him an over-the-phone briefing, explaining that his first few nights would just be them testing the attraction. Michael sighed in relief. He spent all night just fooling around with the systems and controls, actually enjoying himself.

The following nights are what scared him. On his second night, Jerry told him that they found an authentic mascot hidden in an old saferoom. Michael wanted to ask which one it was, but he felt that it might scare him more if he knew. Then he saw.

It was Springbonnie. Or at least a version of it. Much of its outer shell was worn and missing, but something was different about this animatronic. It moved too human-like. That was the least of his problems.

Dark shadowy versions of the original mascots kept showing up in his vision. Some blocking his view or obstructing him from doing a task. Sometimes the Puppet would show up in his camera. Jerry attributed it to hallucinations, but that didn't make sense. None of it was explainable, so he just dealt with it. Night after night. Jerry didn't help, because he'd found some old training tapes and thought it would be entertaining if he played them throughout the night.

On his 6th night, he noticed something interesting about the Springbonnie mascot. It didn't attack the same as the rest did. Its slow approach was too natural. Too much like someone he knew. Then it clicked.

He didn't know why, he didn't know how or when, but he knew with every fiber of his being that it was his father in there. Michael began to panic but finished his night still.

But the next day, he arrived to find the building burnt down. Liara was standing outside of it, looking sour.

"Liara?", Michael said.

She turned around with an excited face, "Is that Michael?" She ran over to him to give him a hug, then smoothed out her blazer, "You look young."

Michael disregarded her and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Well", Liara explained, "After all of the mascots from the rental service disappeared, I came to the States and started this theme park!" 

"You had the idea for this attraction too?"

"No, that was a former employee of Fazbear Entertainment. But what a great idea it was right? Sadly, one of the old tech wires caused this fire."

Michael sighed with relief and she eyed him oddly so he said, "I was sighing cause that meant no work and a free paycheck, don't worry."

"Actually", she remarked, "You don't get a paycheck."

"Wait why?"

"Cause I said so", she chuckled as she walked away, "Good luck, Michael!"

"Wait, Liara!", he called out.

She looked at him, "What?"

"What about this idea? You could start a new Fazbear Entertainment."

"That's true", she nodded, "Thanks for the idea!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charlie sat next to her mascot in the trees. She liked watching the people down below as they passed by.

Usually, she'd be stressed about her new spirit friends, but this time they were free. And Cassidy got the justice she deserved.

She could still feel William out there somewhere, but that didn't worry her. 

"If he was smart, he would stay in hiding", she told herself.

Something was wrong though. There were many, many souls somewhere all in one body. Struggling to be let out. She had to help them.