Epilogue

There was a change in the air, but Charlotte didn't know if she had the courage to open her eyes. She could smell pizza and hear children laughing. The Prize Counter looked the same as it always had. Curious, she looked at the display case. Everything was the same as it had always been, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

A customer came up to the desk with his son, wanting a Bonnie plushie. Putting her curiosity on hold for a second, she smiled and took his tickets and handed him the plushie. When they had left, one of the differences finally clicked. They had customers. There were children running around laughing and playing. For the first time in years, they actually had real customers in the restaurant. But what did it all mean?

"How's it going, Sweety?"

Charlotte swung around slowly at the familiar voice. Her eyes widened wildly. "Mom?" she whispered, her voice cracking.

Marian smiled with a hint of confusion on her face. "Yeah, honey. Are you okay?"

"Mom!" Charlotte sobbed and threw herself into her mother's arms. "I've missed you so much!"

Marian chuckled. "Sweety, I've only been gone for twenty minutes. I just needed to take a phone call upstairs."

"Right," Charlotte sniffed with a laugh. She swiped at her tears. "Sorry, today's been kind of weird."

"Okay," Her mom smiled and then tucked a piece of Charlotte's hair behind her ear. "I'll be at the front if you need me."

Charlotte pulled herself together and wiped her eyes again. How could this be happening? She didn't even care. This was better than anything she could have ever wished for!

Another customer walked up to the counter, and Charlotte asked how she could help him. He wanted to get a bag of Meat Bites, but while she was grabbing it for him, she studied his face. There was something about this man that looked familiar. She handed the snack to him, and finally recognized the man standing before her. It was Felix's dad.

"You! You're Felix's father!" she exclaimed.

He, like Charlotte's mother, looked confused at her surprise. "Yes," he replied slowly. "Who are you?"

"Sorry," she explained, "I know Frederick, and he introduced the two of us. They're friends."

Felix's dad nodded and then jerked his head back towards the party rooms. "Yeah, we're here for his birthday party today, actually."

"Which one?" Charlotte asked.

"Which one what?"

"How old is he turning?"

"I don't know. Ten? Is that important or something?"

All at once, Charlotte realized why she had been brought back to this specific day. She had to stop Michael. "I'm so sorry," she tumbled over her words. "If you need anything else, I'll be back in a few minutes. I just remembered I have to go get something."

Before he could reply, Charlotte tore past him and ran down the hallway to the storage room. The door opened easily, and she flung it open. The Golden Bonnie suit was missing from the wall. Panic ensued. Was she too late? She hadn't seen him in the dining room.

Suddenly, Golden Bonnie walked around the corner with his head down. "Michael!" she shouted. "You can't do this, and I'm not going to let you out of here until you give me the gun. Now. I know what you're planning. Give me the taser too while you're at it." He stared blankly at her. "Now, Michael!"

Michael removed the mascot head, confusion written all over his face. The third person today, but she couldn't let that phase her. "I know what Dad told you to do, and I'm not going to let you do it. Just give me the gun, and together we'll go to Dad and tell him how wrong he is. He can't make you do this."

"Charlotte, what the heck are you talking about?"

"It's Frederick's tenth birthday. You're going to go out there and lure him back here to kill him, but then his friends will want to come too, so in order to not make a scene, you bring all of them back here and kill all of them. I find their bodies after hours."

He started to respond, but she continued. "It's because of Danny. I know technically you were responsible for Danny's death, but it wasn't your fault. It was an accident. Sure, you shouldn't have been teasing him because he really was terrified, but—"

"Charlotte!" Michael interrupted her. "What are you talking about? Danny died? Where did you get that idea?"

She paused. It was her turn to be confused. "Danny, he…" she paused. "Danny died. He was scared of Freddy after watching Baby kill Elizabeth."

"Did you hit your head or something? You're not making any sense."

"Stop trying to distract me! I know what I'm talking ab—"

Running footsteps interrupted her. Two children ran into the room, a boy and a girl. The boy was holding a Chica plushie, and the girl was chasing him for it. "Charlotte, Michael" the girl whined, "tell Danny to give Chica back! I was playing with her, and he took her."

"Elizabeth, stop being such a baby," Michael scolded. "There's plenty more in the Prize Counter. Just go get another one. Actually," he reached up into a box on a top shelf where the toys were stored, "here. Play with this one." He handed her a new Chica plushie. She smiled triumphantly.

"Ha! Danny, I've got my own now!" Elizabeth cheered.

"Now get out of here," Michael warned. "There's a bunch of dangerous stuff back here. You guys shouldn't be in here." He looked at Charlotte. "You too, unless you need something."

Charlotte looked over in the corner where mere minutes ago the kids had shoved Michael into the very suit he was wearing. None of this made sense. "No, I'm good," she said thoughtfully. Michael stepped back and let her pass him before closing the door behind them. "But what about Baby?"

"By Baby, do you mean Elizabeth's new birthday present? Is that what they're calling her?" He looked surprised. "I didn't know she had a name yet. What about her?"

"There's something wrong with her," Charlotte explained. "Does Henry still work here?"

Michael nodded slowly. "Yeah," he said, confused. "Why wouldn't he?"

"Nothing. Never mind. I need to go talk to Dad. Where is he?"

"He's running the security system since Henry has the day off. That's the way it always is every year on Frederick's birthday. You know you sound crazy, right?"

Charlotte ignored him and rushed over to the security room. Her father sat at the desk and flipped through a magazine. "Dad, I need to talk to you."

"Yeah, what's up, Sweety?" he turned to her and smiled.

"Have you talked to Henry about Baby yet?'

William reared back in surprise. "How do you know about Baby? And how do you know what her name is? No one knows about her except Henry and me. Did Elizabeth find out? That little stinker."

Charlotte shook her head. "No, that's not it. I can't explain right now. What you need to know is that there's something wrong with her, and if he gives Baby to Elizabeth, Baby is going to kill her. There's something wrong with her facial recognition software."

Anger crossed William's face, and he stood up. "I'm going to talk to him."

Charlotte stopped him. "Don't be angry with him, Dad. He was afraid to talk to you because he knows if something else happens, you'll fire him. Because he's been on thin ice ever since you caught him taking more than his share of the money."

Her father stopped in his tracks. "How do you know that?"

"Dad, please! Don't worry about it. Just go talk to him, but don't be angry with him. He tried the best that he could, but he couldn't fix the program bugs."

Afton shook his head, perplexed. "Okay, Charlotte, whatever you say."

"Oh, and Dad? You might think about giving him a raise. We've been making a lot more money recently, and you've been dishonest with him."

William's face turned red. "Thank you, Charlotte. You can go now. I'll talk to him."

"And give him a raise?"

With a sigh, William continued, "Yes, Charlotte." He made his way over to Frederick's party room and the two of them started talking. After a minute or so, the two of them walked to a secluded area where they could have a more private conversation.

Charlotte joined Frederick's party to see if they needed anything. She smiled at Frederick and his friends, completely overjoyed that this day would end the way a birthday should: happy and full of wonderful memories. While she was watching the party, she noticed Frederick say something to his friends and then walk over to the stage where he stood in front of Freddy.

"Hey, Frederick. Are you okay?" Charlotte asked.

Frederick turned around and smiled up at her. "Hey, Charlotte. Yeah, I'm fine." He watched Freddy sing for a few minutes before continuing, "There's something about him that I really like. It's like we know each other. Is that weird?"

Charlotte smiled and shook her head. "No, not at all." She thought fondly of the Puppet inside of the prize box in the Prize Corner. Though she didn't miss the ties to her animatronic at all, she would miss their late-night conversations. She sighed and patted Frederick's back. "Let's get back to the party. Your friends are waiting for you."

Frederick ran back to his party table, but Charlotte sat down at the stage for a minute. Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie were playing a song and singing. She smiled. "Nicole, I don't know if you can hear me or not," she said quietly, "but if you can, please tell Shaddid, Lizzie, Sheila, and Nikki that I said thank you. I never would have been able to do this without any of you. Thank you too. Thanks for bringing our story to life.

"Everything turned out even better than I could have ever imagined. I'm going to miss you guys."

"You're welcome, Charlotte," Nicole said with a smile. "We'll miss you guys too."

She saved the Word document and shut down her laptop.