I don't expect you to forgive me for what I've done, but I beg of you; hear me out…

You see; I've been so lonely. The others hate me and bully me at every opportunity and I'm also locked up in a cage every day while outside… I hear children laughing and music playing… and I'm stuck behind bars. I can't see what causes the children such joy and it makes me feel sad…

Please understand that I wasn't always like this. I can remember when I was just a robot. And Freddy Fazbear's Pizza was just a restaurant. I used to play on the stage every day. Sort of. I just pretended to whilst music played out of hidden speakers. I 'played' the accordion, which is somewhat ridiculous really because I've only got one hand to play it with. Eh, it made the kids happy, that's what mattered.

Me and the others were designed with very advanced AI programs for the time, which meant we were… almost human. We could laugh, talk, make conversation and play with the kids. The adults were a little cautious of us, but that was normal. After all, we were clumsy, six foot tall robot animals, and I for one have sharp edges, however we were all careful, and the people who looked after us were very caring and dedicated to our wellbeing. If there was even the slightest problem, we were taken into the engineering room to be fixed.

But we never had any real emotions. All the stuff we could do was just part of our programming. We weren't proper humans, of course.

I remember when everything went wrong. It was the fifth of July, 1987. We were activated for the morning, but the manager didn't greet us like he usually did. It was his co-worker and brother; a fat, greasy man with a mean face and temper. I may have been just a robot, but I still didn't like him. He never cares about our well-being or the kids. He just wants the money.

"I have sad news," he announced, anything but sad. "My brother, who we all know and love; is dead."

We all tilted our heads; the programmed reaction to sad news. The fat brother continued.

"He was found murdered in his home along with his wife and children."

I showed particular stimulated concern for this. I had been programmed to like children; tell them stories and sing to them; and to realise that the two kids who had adored me the most were dead, it would have been a shock had I had the human capabilities of emotion.

"And so it is with deep regret that I am taking my brother's place as manager…"

He allowed us a few minutes to take it all in, before returning to his familiar, moody composure.

"Alright, you've had your moment, now get to work!" he barked. "Foxy! You're in Pirate's Cove for the rest of the day! Freddy! You, Chica and Bonnie are not to leave the stage until the lunch hour! Now move your mechanical asses!"

And so that's how it all started spiralling downhill. Too many orders were barked at us at any one time, and more than once over the next two months, me, Freddy and the others malfunctioned badly. I got the worse though for some reason. My movements became more jerky, I couldn't process new information properly, and I got into so much trouble when I kept falling off of the stage and almost crushing the audience. The manager yelled at me so much, but all he cared about was money. It… it hurt…

Then… I did something awful…

And even before I became… this… I regretted it more than anything…

It was late afternoon, tenth of September, 1987. I had been malfunctioning all day, but no matter what the engineers said, the manager always pushed me back onto the main stage.

After we were done performing, we clambered down from the stage. Bonnie tripped, but she recovered quickly. That had never happened before. I collapsed onto the hard tiled floor, twitching uncontrollably. A little girl rushed up to me, asking if I was okay and shaking my wire-rigged, fake-fur-clad shoulder frantically.

"Foxy! Foxy, are you alright?!" she cried out, doing her best to help me. "Foxy! Get up! Please! Please be alright!"

I didn't understand. My 'mind' was in utter turmoil, strings of insane, jumbled code raced through my CPU, actually hurting me! I scrabbled against the ground, my hook and claws leaving long white scratch marks on the tiles. Someone, presumably the girl's mother, pulled her away from me, but my presumptions were dashed when a heavy boot suddenly slammed into my torso.

"Get up you useless piece of scrap!" the manager roared. I felt his spittle landing on my back, and his savage, cruel blows… they hurt! I was scared! My first emotions, and they were of fear. "Get up and do your job! You are a mindless robot! Built to follow orders! So do what you are built for! I said get up!"

"No!" the little girl protested. "Don't hurt him!"

"It can't feel anything, brat! It's just like a stupid animal! Only more controllable!"

That was what did it. I suddenly felt so… angry! Circuit-frying rage coursed through every component of me. I froze, rigid on the cold, damaged floor.

"I said get up!"

And I did. But not for his joy. I felt anger. I felt hate! A sensation like no other! And forgive me when I say that it felt good! With every movement I made, I deliberately creaked my joints enough to make every one of the men, women and children cover their ears. I towered over the manager, tall and imposing, my eyes glowing red with untold rage. I wanted… I wanted to destroy something! I wanted to hurt him!

Do it...

I hesitated. I couldn't… Not in front of the children! I couldn't do this!

I said DO IT! You know you want to!

No! I can't! I won't! No..!

Destroy the miserable human!

No…Please no!

YES!

With that, I roared. A terrible, guttural sound that ripped out of my audio box, scratching painfully against my throat. The manager's face turned from one to smug, mocking anger to weak, whiny fear.

"It's insane!"

I leapt forward, jaws wide open for a killing blow, but the manager dashed out of the way and hauled the little girl who'd tried to help me into his place. She shrieked in horror, but I kept flying towards her.

At the last minute, a woman shoved her out of the way…

But she didn't move fast enough before I clamped my sharp-fanged jaws onto her forehead.

The woman screamed in agony as my sharp metal fangs sank into her forehead, going through bone and sinking into her brain tissue. I shook my head violently; a rabid animal clad in robotic plating; feeling her skull crack and give way slightly in my vice-like grip.

"Mommy!" the girl cried out, fighting against the grip of a man who was holding her back. "Foxy! No! Please don't!"

But I was deaf to the cries. Deaf to the screams and shouts of the families and the terrified, enraged howling of the manager who was making a fruitless attempt to get security and the engineers. I didn't feel the blood that spattered across my chest and stained the fake fur on my jaws. With one final, savage tug, I tore the woman's forehead (and frontal lobe as I soon learned) from the rest of her head in a shower of crimson blood and shards of bone. Paralyzed by pain, shock and fear, she passed out from blood loss.

It was over. I shook my head violently, trying to clear the red haze of static that had invaded my vision. It eventually did, and I was face to face with the horrified, fearful gazes of parents, children and staff. The little girl was crying next to her mother, desperate sobs heaving out of her chest.

Fear, disbelief and confusion took its hold over me. I had done this? I… I couldn't believe it. This was not in my coding, I wasn't supposed to do things like this! Never! But I had done it.

Refusing to accept that I was a monster, tentatively moved towards the girl, sensing she needed comfort. Knowing she needed comfort. New, independent thoughts rushed through my head, but they all had the same intention; to do my job.

But the girl just screamed and recoiled from my presence, watery, burgundy eyes drowning in terror. Terror of me.

"Get away from me you monster! You killed my mommy!"

There was no denying it; I was indeed a monster.

Another new, foreign sensation overcame me. Grief. It took over me completely, making my limbs shake uncontrollably. Without a second thought, I turned and ran for Pirate's Cove; the only uninhabited place in the restaurant. Freddy and the others stared after me, not doing anything; but I sensed their watching eyes boring into me every step of the way.

I curled up in the shadows behind the purple curtain, awful, broken noises tearing out of my audio box. Sobs. I was feeling despair.

"Are you alright?"

I looked up to see Freddy standing over me, his empty white eyes not portraying any emotion. Not like I was. It was as if I had become human. He didn't understand! None of them did!

"Why do you care?" I said coldly, not wanting to interact with anyone, not even a fellow animatronic. "You're not like me."

Freddy just tilted his head. Then suddenly, he twitched violently, as if possessed. The movement scared me. Was this a malfunction?

"This is no place for a monster."

I felt one of his massive, platter-sized hands on my back, then nothing…

"…And that's how this fucked up nightmare began…"

Felicity stared up at the animatronic fox, memories of that horrifying day returning to her. An old anger awakened in her; a desire for vengeance for what this monster that stood in front of her had done to her mother.

"You could have killed her…"

"I know… and I'm not proud of it. I won't blame you if you want to destroy me. You'd be doing me a favour though. Better to let me live out this nightmare for eternity."

Foxy sighed, the mechanical sound rattling his chest. He was a mess compared to that charismatic, jaunty pirate fox that Felicity had loved so many years ago, since she was five. His russet fur was matted and torn, the metal on his body was brick-red with rust, and dry, crimson and brown blood from years of cruel, mindless killing. The sharp steel fangs that lined his jaws were dull and scratched like his eyes, and small sparks were flickering in the joint of his left ear. And when Felicity heard his hoarse, sorrowful voice, it was all too clear that his iconic pirate accent was gone.

"What happened after you were shut down?"

"You don't want to know," he murmured, his clawed hand shifting to the gaping hole in his chest fur. A lot of old blood had set in there. "But it sealed my fate as a monster, that's for sure."

The pain in those words struck Felicity to the core. She shouldn't have, but she felt sympathy for the poor thing. He never asked to be a killer, he had never wanted to harm her mother. He'd just been trying to defend himself, but he paid the price with his newfound humanity…

She rushed towards him, her arms reaching through the thick steel bars and wrapping around his hard, mechanical steel neck. The contact made the robotic animal flinch, then cry…

"It's okay, Foxy. I'll help you, I promise…"