Dave closed his eyes and lifted his head, reminiscing. Good memories flooded back to him. All the good times he had with them. It had all began one day, a very long time ago. When he first met Henry. However he needed to give her a picture of his family first.

"I guess, I'll start with my parents." "You see my father, was an alcoholic."

"That explains a lot," Charlie thought to herself. She was surprised for a moment, but that being the case.. it just made perfect sense. I mean how could a guy like him not have had a messed up home life.

"He spent most of his time watching television or sleeping. He got welfare checks in the mail often since he couldn't work because he had a certain disease that made him more susceptible to breaking his bones. Or that's at least what he told me. So, he rarely left the house. He'd always guilt me for not helping him do stuff. So I was always the one who cleaned up the messes whether or not I made them, I washed the dishes which mostly came from him, I did the laundry, and I took out the trash can full of beer cans and microwavable meal boxes. You sensing a pattern here? Though I learned quickly to not deny him, he didn't hesitate to punish me. And I mean messed me up good. Like to the point where my whole body ached." "As for my mother, she left the house often. Sometimes for whole weeks. She would always come back though. And she bring lots of money home. To this day, I still don't exactly know where she got it from. She was beautiful and very sweet. I sometimes wondered why she stayed with my father. They seemed like exact opposites, I can't imagine why she'd ever marry him. But she taught me how do a lot of things on my own. How to do the dishes, how to do the laundry, how to fold laundry, how to wash towels, how to vacuum, how to mop, etc. I became like the stereotypical housewife for my father while she was gone." "She always told me she never wanted me to be like him. And that she wanted me to be something more. She wanted me be much better people than them. And in some respects I managed to achieve that. But now… Now that I think of it. I do look a lot like my father..." He went quiet for a moment before moving on. "Now onto meeting your dad. You see the first time I ever met your father was when we were kids. Probably about 10 or 11. Living up in New Harmony, it was such a small town, only about 200 people. However, when I wasn't going to school, I left the house and traveled around town to try and find friends or kids I knew from school. Of course I found that most of them tried to avoid me as much as they could. And if they didn't avoid me, they made fun of me. I was teased constantly by a group of older kids. They teased me a lot about my weight, yes even as a wee lad I was quite chubby, then out of nowhere your father came up and defended me. I barely knew him at the time. He sat in the back of one of my classes, but we had never spoken to one another. To suddenly see somebody I barely knew, for the first time ever, defend me. I couldn't believe it." "He managed to get the bullies to leave and he asked if I was alright. I thanked him and told him that nobody's ever done something like that for me before. And he smiled. That was the first time I ever saw that wonderful smile of his. His pearly whites, missing a tooth, and his wide, shining, chocolate brown eyes. I felt my heart skip a beat. He told me that I shouldn't worry about others and that he would be my friend. I thought I was going to cry. He took my hand and told me he wanted to show me all the stuff he'd been working on. I was happy to oblige." "From then on, I always hung around his house for an hour and a half each day. And three hours for the weekends. Your father had such a vivid imagination. He'd go on and on about things. And I'd listen for what felt like hours. It was almost like he sucked me into his mind. He showed me sketches he made of superheroes, villains, and robots. He even started to craft his own little machines. He always seemed very interested in robotics. Tinkering with devices and toys. He told me he wanted to make his own robots one day. And he showed me how to build my own robots. Through trial and error, I ended up making some of my own. I never made anything that I was ever proud of prior." "The years went by and we finally entered Middle School. And that's when your mother came into the picture. She had moved down to New Harmony from Salt Lake City. She was the prettiest girl we had ever seen. At the time we were both interested in her. However I never became jealous of Henry's affection towards her. In fact, if anything I encouraged it. We mainly kept our distances from her as we were afraid of making a bad impression. However we soon began chatting with her when Henry saw her drawing during a Study Hall. She was good with drawing backgrounds and good with color scheme. Two things that Henry was terrible at. They instantly began chatting it up and showed each other their art. Caroline was no longer some pretty stranger but rather a friend. She was shy and embarrassed of certain things she liked. For instances they both had an interest in Doctor Who when it started airing. She really liked 'nerdy' things too, but didn't want to admit it. They got along so well, like bread and butter. They were adorable." "And then high school came and things changed once more. Up until then, I was kind of that fat friend of the friend she was actually close too. The one she knew but really didn't go out of her way to talk with. I was hoping that would change, however, instead, her and Henry's relationship changed. When Sophomore year came, they were no longer just friends. But they decide to start dating. Which surprised me, but at the same time, it didn't.. It always seemed that they were soulmates. That was something I came to accept." "But they started behaving differently. They'd hold hands and snuggle. When they did, I'd always feel myself blush. I liked seeing them together like that. I'd often tag along when they went places, because I wanted to see them close. And I even remembered… the first time I saw them kiss. My heart skipped a beat, my face turned as red as a beet. Their love was so.. so beautiful. I.. I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to be encapsulated in it. There was just something so heavenly about it. Something I can't quite explain. But it was definitely a feeling of some form of ecstasy. I wanted to feel it more and more, and thus I overstepped boundaries. But I'm getting ahead of myself."

Charlie thought about it deeply. So basically, he enjoyed her parents' intimacy? Gee, that wasn't perverse at all. She was wondered how her parents would've been ok with him acting as a third wheel. But she knew that back then, they probably thought of him as harmless, awkward, and meaning well. So they let him do what he wanted. They had unknowingly given him hope that one day he could experience intimacy for himself. Which, to her knowledge he hadn't. But she didn't know, between now and then he could've invited a few hookers over. Ugh- the thought of Dave and sex being in her mind at the same time made her feel like she could hurl.

"Senior year came with a big change. It was when we made the plan, got the education and money, to set up the business. Basically, Henry sat the both of us down and told us about his plan. He wanted to make a restaurant where he could show off his robots to the world. Not only that, but he wanted to inspire future generations to experiment with robotics. But he knew he couldn't do it alone. So he asked for our help. Us, being the two closet people in his life. Henry would cover the robotics and other machinery, Caroline would cover the ascetical design of the building as well as the design aspects of backdrops and certain room layouts, while I was tasked with finances, legality, and business. I'd always been good with math. So it didn't come as much of a shock to me." "But in order to be brilliant enough to run a business I needed more education. College was coming up and Henry wanted to know if we were willing to commit to a dream he came up with. That even though he said he knew it seemed selfish, we were the only people he really knew who could help him. I was, of course, happy to oblige. I mean why else was there to do. I had talents yes. But no clear goal of what I wanted. But I knew one thing. I wanted to apart of their life. Caroline agreed as well and the deal was set. We set our sights forward to the dream we were all going to help him achieve. College was, for the most part, lonely. I spent all my time studying finances and business, while they worked 3 part time jobs. Trying to get as much cash as the can to buy out an old vacant diner that went out of business years ago. They were lonely years, but I kept reminding myself that it'll all be worth it in the end." "Then I graduated with my bachelors. We were ready. We managed to buy the building. Then over the coming months, we remodeled it. Lots of hard work. Lots of hours spent. Then it was done. I remember the 3 of us looking up at the building. Sweaty, covered in dirt and paint, and tired. It was finished. The passion project we each poured our hearts into had finally come to fruition. I remember Henry telling us, especially me, that he couldn't thank us enough. I told him that I was more than happy to help him reach his dreams. I hadn't seen him so happy in such a long time. He was even crying. I wanted to hug him. But Caroline did before I could. I felt it would've been awkward if I joined in too." "After that, we spent more months buying equipment and supplies. While we were getting everything in. Henry was building 2 animatronics. A bear and a bunny. Henry said due to limited technology. They couldn't move from the stand. They hand to be stuck in place. However part of Henry's dream was too be able to have them walk around and great the kids. And that was an aspect he was not too keen on giving up on. So he devised an idea. He was going to create a function that allowed them to transform into wearable suits. However, no other establishment with animatronics in it, ever managed to create such a thing. The idea on its own was definitely ahead of its time. However, this meant, there was added risk. If he were to try to execute this thing on its own, there was a very high chance of never achieving it or it being extremely dangerous to use. And obviously the latter of the 2 was the case as you already know. And after all Charlie."

He leaned in close to her ear. "You ever wonder how I got these scars?" Her eyes widen. The scars.. the scars looked like they came from a machine such as that. The symmetry of it, the way it looked perfectly mirrored on both sides. She even remembered seeing the crescent moon shapes on his neck. Even then she knew it must've been some kind of design that caused it.

"The springlocks. But, how are you not dead?" She asked shakily. "The springlocks.. they.. at least 99% of the time, kill the person inside. How did you not die?"

"Because I tampered with it prior. I knew what was going to happen. So I tried to fix the problem. However I didn't fix it completely, as you can tell. But I did survive," he replied.

"I died the first time I wore it. But then, that's when I discovered my ability to go back and fix things after I died. And just recently when I died at your hands. I once again was given an opportunity to fix what happened. But the first time I died, your father was a witness to the gruesome scene. Even the second time when I didn't actually die. I can't tell you he much he was apologizing and trying to hold back tears. He always was a sensitive man…"

"But anyway, after that incident happened and I remained in the hospital for a week. The entire time, all I could think about, was what went wrong. I was sure that I had fixed the problem, but the suit still malfunctioned. I became fixated on understanding why. Whenever your father wasn't around I examined the animatronic, took it apart then put it back together again. Learned what all the little mechanisms did. Understood how Henry built them. Then tried to see if I could build them differently. Maybe fix their flaws and make them better. I often took the Spring Bonnie suit with me on my way home and worked on it. Making the suit my own in a way. You know back in the days of diner, when I was up on stage and performed in front of kids, I got to pretend to be someone I'm not. I got to play the character of Spring Bonnie. The kids loved Spring Bonnie. They loved me. I didn't matter to them that under the suit was an overweight, tall man. They enjoyed my performance. No, they loved it. It made me so happy. I felt that, even without the affection of your parents, I was still loved by some people. That's why when I'd meet all of those kids. I didn't want them to leave every day. Some of those kids, I had really grown attached too. After your parents rejected me I..."

He cleared his throat,

"I haven't gotten to that part of the story yet. I'm trying to keep this linear but I'm having a bit of difficulty. But yes. Before the rejection. Is when I learned that Caroline was pregnant. I remember that day Henry came into work with the biggest smile on his face. He had smiled other times, but those times were different. He obviously wasn't there in reality. However this time, he was very obviously in reality. I mean how couldn't he. When he told me the big news, he was jumpy with glee. I remember feeling butterflies in my chest. She was pregnant. Something they made together with the power of their love. An embodiment of their love. It would be perfect. I couldn't get it out of my head. I kept track of the growth of Caroline's baby bump, made sure I could help at any opportunity. I admittedly became rather obsessed. But I had good intentions. Near the end of her pregnancy, they told me to back off. So I did, and it hurt. It hurt really bad. So bad that I began harming myself. During that time I spent distant from them, I felt so empty. I needed someone in my life again. Someone to love. I saw an opportunity during a Halloween party we were going to have.-"

Realization hit Charlie like a stone wall. It was true. Any doubt she had about it, was now absolved.

"So, you really did it, didn't you. You took him away from me. Just like you took those kids and Michael." She felt a rage enter her, she had only felt it once before. "You killed them all didn't you! You took them all away from me!" She pulled free from his grasp. He had a look of shock on his face. She was facing him near the end of the bed. "You selfish bastard! You ruined my life! You ruined everyones' lives! And why?! Because you were lonely!"

"I didn't mean to kill Sammy! It was an accident!"

"But the other kids weren't! You knew what you were doing. You killed them all!"

"They left everyday. Leaving me behind to lonely, sleepless nights! I never wanted them to leave! And now they can't."

"And my father, if you loved him so much why did you do that to him, you sick son a bitch! You pushed him to suicide!"

"I didn't push him to suicide! I-!" His expression changed instead of anger it was blank, he mouth hung slightly agape and he didn't speak.

"What?! You what?!" Charlie continued, she waited for a response but none came. Her breathing calmed and she studied his face, trying to figure out what he was thinking. But she couldn't. He was just staring.

"Dave?" She finally asked. His voice came out shaky and quiet. Almost as if coming to a realization.

"He didn't kill himself... I killed him."