"It's been a year, Dad. I never knew that things would take a turn for the worse so fast. I'm seventeen now. You missed out on my birthday. Mom says the animatronics are doing good. I don't ever want to go there alone. Too many painful memories happen when I walk through those doors. Mom says that she hasn't told them that you passed yet. Why did we have to lose you to your cancer? It just doesn't seem fair! The kids at school have started to make fun of me for losing my dad. I know they don't understand, but it's still so hard. I've managed on my own very well. I know, if you can see me, that you're proud of me. I'll continue to be strong for you, Dad. I love you. Mom asked if I would tell the animatronics that you died. I guess I have to do that then. I just don't know when. Please, Dad, if you can hear me, give me the strength I need to do this. I don't know how they are going to react when I tell them the news. I just hope they don't try to hurt me. I miss you. It seems to get a little harder everyday. I've dreamt about you, and our family. I love you. I have to go now. Mom is waiting. I'll talk to you again soon, I promise." By now, I had started bawling. It's been really hard without my dad around. I haven't been back at the museum since the day he gave me a tour. I just hoped everything was fine. Mom has told me that they miss him. They don't talk to her, and she never sees Freddy anymore. Foxy told her it was because he knew something that he wasn't sharing. I think it could be possible that he sensed that my father was going to die.
He tried getting treatments, you know. But they failed him, and he got even more sick. It was hard to watch the strongest man I know to slowly become unable to everything he loved to do. He lost interest in many things, but he still insisted on wanting to make the finishing touches to the museum. Mom and I are on our way there right now. Even she doesn't know if she can go in. We pulled into the parking lot, and parked the car. She took a deep breath in, and turned to me. "Well, I guess I'll be right back, unless you'll come in with me this time," she said unbuckling her seat belt. I looked between her and the building, and I nodded.
"Yeah, I'll come in with you." So we both got out, and walked to the front door. She pulled out the keys, and unlocked the door. It swung open with a whoosh, and we stepped inside.
"I have to run to the office," Mom started, "why don't you go find them?"
"Okay. Dad asked me to tell them that he was gone. I think I shouldn't put that off any longer," I said looking down the hall.
"I'll find you as soon as I'm done."
"Okay. I love you, Mom."
"I love you too, sweetie." And with that, we went our separate ways. I walked down the hallway and into the dining hall. I looked up onto the stage, and the animatronics didn't move. I looked down the hallway to where Pirate's Cove was located, and didn't see Foxy either. I walked over to one of the tables, and sighed. I felt myself become more emotional the longer I sat here. I felt the tears run down my face, and I choked on a sob. At that moment, I didn't care about anything. I became so overwhelmed by the loss of Dad that I just cried. After a little bit, I felt a cold hand rest on my shoulder.
"Are ye alright, lass?" I recognized that voice anywhere. This was Foxy. I used my sleeve to wipe my face off, and then looked up into his cold, bright eyes.
"No. I'm not alright. I'm sorry it's been so long since I've been here," I said standing up.
"Ye don't have to apologize. Is something bothering ye? Is that why yer crying? he asked kneeling in front of me.
"Yes. There's something I have to tell you all," I said looking to the stage. I saw that Bonnie and Chica were looking my way, but Freddy still hadn't moved.
"What is it, Brogyn?" Bonnie asked walking off of the stage and coming over by me.
"The reason we haven't been here. Why it's been a year. Why I was crying," I said wiping away another tear. Foxy moved slightly, and brought his hand up, and I rested mine in his.
"And that would be…?" Chica asked walking over by me.
"My father," I started, my voice already shaking, "he won't be coming back."
"We had a feeling something was off," Bonnie said.
"Bonnie be right. Freddy was the first to know, right after Josh said he was leavin'," Foxy said standing up.
"Freddy? You knew?" I tried to get him to talk to me, but when I looked up, he was gone.
"He said that Josh was dying," Chica said, hanging her head.
"He did know then. Yeah, my father passed away a year ago. That's why my mother and I don't ever come here anymore," I told them, wiping away more tears.
"Yeah. Freddy took it a little personal. He got a little, twitchy, I guess. We all were close to him. Well, as close as we could be, being robots," Bonnie said.
"But you aren't."
"Aren't what?"
"You guys aren't just some robot animals," I started, "you were people a long time ago."
"Ye be right, lass. We were. But time changed us. We be nothin' more than old buckets of bolts now," Foxy said letting go of my hand.
"I'm sorry," I said after that statement.
"Ye don't have to be," he said walking over to the others. I watched him go, and then I looked at the floor. After a while, Foxy left, and Bonnie and Chica returned to the stage. The only one I couldn't find was Freddy. So naturally, I got up and looked for him. I looked everywhere, and even stopped to ask my mom if she had seen him. She said no, and I left the office. I wandered down to the mechanical room, and peeked inside. There were more animatronics in there, and I wanted to know which ones. Little did my father know, but they made videogames out of this place. Well, the history of all of the locations. I flipped the lightswitch on, and walked in. I looked around, and began to notice many things. I saw the "toy" versions of the animatronics, Balloon Boy, Marionette, Springtrap was there, as well as another Freddy suit. I looked closer, and I think that it may be Golden Freddy, but I don't know for sure. I was never really into the history of this place, or into the game. I've only ever heard the other kids at school talk about it, and the YouTubers that have played it.
"Ye lookin' for Freddy?"
"Hmm? I was, and then I got off track in here. It's an interesting place."
"Aye. That it is."
"Is this your toy version?" I asked Foxy, turning to look at him.
"Aye. That be the Mangle. Everyone thought she be a lass, but if she be based off me, then she'd have to be a laddy. It doesn't really go by a gender, though. And it lives to it's name."
"Ah, I see." I was a little curious about what Foxy could tell me about this place. I want to ask, but it would make me feel pretty bad. I never listened to my father when he talked about this place. But I think Dad would like it if I took interest to this place.
"Are ye alright, lass? Ye seem a bit...off," Foxy asked kneeling next to me.
"Not really," I said as I turned to look into his glowing eyes, "I was just thinking of how I never let Dad tell me about this place, and now it's too late."
"Don't cry, it'll be okay. I'm sure in some way Josh is looking down on ye and smilin' because ye actually be asking me about these things," he said handing me a rag.
"I want to know the truth, and I want to hear it from you guys, but I just don't want to stir up any painful memories," I told him as I wiped my eyes.
"Brogyn, ye can ask us anything. We promised Josh we would take care of his family, and keep ye safe and happy," he said as he brought himself off the ground. I could tell he meant everything he just said. They might not know it themselves, but their eyes glow a little brighter when they want to help and show slight emotion. Well, as much emotion as they can show for being robots.
"Thank you, Foxy. That means a lot," I said as I walked to the door. "Shall we go?"
"Aye, we should."
"Come on then," I said smiling to him. He walked out, his gears creaking slightly, and shut the door behind him. I walked him back to Pirate's Cove, and told him goodbye. He waved to me as I made my way to the stage to tell the others goodbye. Bonnie and Chica were there, and they waved to me as I left to go back to the office. I saw Freddy walk back into the room he was in, and walked down to him. "Freddy?"
"Let me be."
"I just wanted to see if you're alright."
"Fine. Go."
"He missed you a lot, you know. He always said you were the most interesting of all the animatronics here. He asked me to give you something."
"What is it?"
"I'll bring it tomorrow. I promise."
"You sound like he did."
"Is that a bad thing?"
Freddy laughed lightly, "no, it isn't."
"Well, then I guess, thank you."
"Brogyn, you look like he did too."
"A lot of people say I look like Dad more than Mom."
"They'd be right."
"I'll see you tomorrow, Freddy."
"Bye, Brogyn." I left the room with Freddy behind me, and said goodbye to him as well. I walked to the office and met up with my mom, who was just finishing up her work.
"Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah. Can I borrow the car tomorrow?"
"Why?"
"To come back. I'd like to keep this going, for Dad."
"Sure. I think he'd be very proud of you for that."
"Thanks, Mom."
"Anytime." The rest of the drive home was quiet. Once we were home, Mom made dinner and then we talked and played a few games before heading off to bed. The next morning, I planned to leave after breakfast and spend all day at the museum. Once I finished, I got in the car and left. I had the gift Dad left for Freddy with me, and I smiled as I looked over at it and back to the road. It was a picture album, full of pictures of them, Dad, and our family in it. Dad also left a letter with it. I pulled into the parking lot and parked the car before getting out and heading to the door. After unlocking it, I headed straight for the office. I turned some things on, and switched the rest of the lights and things on. As soon as I did, I saw the animatronics start making their way to the office. It didn't take long for Foxy to get there, and he hummed in happiness. Not too much longer passed before the others arrived. I smiled as they filled the room, and I told them all to sit down. I looked at the door where Freddy remained, and handed him the gift.
"This is what Dad left for you," I told him as he took it from me.
"Thank you Brogyn. It means a lot."
"You're welcome." He left the others and I alone in the room, and they all seemed less tense now that Freddy was getting back to normal. The others watched him go, Foxy looking after through the door. I could tell they all had built up a safe link between them during their time together. I wondered if they would actually open up enough to tell me about who they used to be. To me, I would love that. Dad knew about them, although he never talked about it. It had to be the truth, because why else would he keep this place open?
"You sure do seem to be becoming friends with Freddy," Bonnie said finally turning to me.
"I want to be friends with all of you, no matter how long that may take."
"It means a lot to us, Brogyn. After Josh left, we didn't know if there would be anyone who would like us the way he did," Chica stated, looking at the ground.
"Did Dad know what you guys looked like without the animatronic bodies?"
"Aye, he did lass."
"I hope to gain your guys' trust enough for you to feel comfortable with me too. I think that's what Dad wanted to do, but I just never listened to him," I said.
"Well, I'm sure we'll get there eventually," Bonnie said resting his paw in my lap.
"Yeah, I'm sure we will." I said smiling up at them.
"I feel like I can already trust you enough," Chica started, "and there's enough power to this place to actually show what we used to look like. No matter what way you look at it, we are dead. There is no changing that fact. But outside of this suit is a whole other world."
"I get what you're saying. I really don't know what I would do or would've done if I was in your situations," I said standing up. I walked out of the room, and they followed after me.
"Why don't you tell us about you?" Bonnie asked after a short moment of silence.
"I could do that. Anything specific you want to know?" I asked looking over my shoulder at him.
"Anything."
"Well, then let's go to the beginning," I started, "back to when I first started remembering things. I grew up in a small city, and for a while it was fine. Some things happened between my families and Dad decided it would be best if we moved closer to Mom's parents, and wait for everything to settle down. But it never did. My grandfather is a very prideful man, and he wouldn't apologize to my parents about the things he said to them. He had told them they weren't meant to be, and that they should give up on their happiness. Of course, Dad got his pride from his father, and refused to give up his life with us. Grandpa became angry with Dad, and we moved away.
"For a while, we lived with my other grandparents before finding a house of our own. My parents got jobs, and they never saw each other very often. When they did, the stress of things got to be too much, and they started fighting a lot. I remember there was a time that Mom made me move back into Grandma's house for a while, so they could have some cool down time. After a couple of weeks, Dad came and brought us home. He had found a new job that let him work from home.
"Things settled down, and they tried having another baby. I was so excited to be a big sister. I was around eleven at this time, and this tore our family apart again. Mom went into labor, but it was too late. My brother was stillborn. Mom was devastated, and I knew enough that I was the same way. Mom locked herself away from us, and got very sick. Finally, she let Dad take her to the doctor and she grew well again. The doctors ran tests, and found out that Mom was lucky she even had me. She had a bad uterus, and they did surgery to take it out.
"When I was fifteen, Dad decided to start taking ownership of all that remained of the Fazbear Entertainment, and decided to make this place. He took two years to finally get everything in order enough to bring Mom and I to see what he had been working on. And that's the first day I saw you guys. After that, Dad started getting sick, and we found out that he had cancer. It was in a very tough stage, but he tried to fight as hard as he could. In the end, he lost the battle, and you know what happened since then," I finished, leaning against the stage. I think that's the most I've ever revealed to anyone. I didn't make many friends in school, so saying all of that was new to me.
"Thank you for sharing that with us," Bonnie said softly. I nodded to him, and then looked up to see Freddy had wandered in.
"I had a sister…"