14 years. That's how long ago Charlotte "Charlie" Emily left Hurricane under the care of her mother and Aunt. Most people feel a sense of nostalgia when coming back to the place they were growing up. Looking at the ice cream shop they used to go to with their brother after school. The swing sets they used to play at with their best friend. Their childhood home where a new family moved in, to make their own memories...That's not what Charlie felt. All she felt was melancholy as the bus she took drove closer to the place she lost nearly everyone she cared about.

Hurricane was known only one thing: for being the place that started Freddy's Fazbear Pizza. Many years ago, two friends decided to pursue a partnership in a great business venture. One was Henry Emily, a man who grew up in Hurricane and lived there nearly his entire life. The other was a British immigrant by the name of William Afton, Henry's brother in arms.

The two met in college, at a bar. They took a liking to each other. Henry was studying robotics and engineering, as well as taking few film classes. He was a rather quiet fellow, more content with just focusing on the technical side of the job, designing and building rather than dealing with people. William on the other hand was charisma incarnate. He had the skill to turn customers into friends, and that was rather an important skill when studying accounting and making sure that the customer keeps paying.

The duo decided to start a pizzeria, but not just any old pizzeria, one where the customers are served by robots. Kids would love it, adults could take a breath, everyone would be happy. And so the two founded Fredbear's Family Diner, with their one and only animatronic, Fredbear the Bear. Henry created one of the most complex rail systems in the field, which allowed the robot to move around the entire establishment, while William made it so that the customers realized "You're right Will, why shouldn't I buy another portion of pizza? And of course, it only makes sense for me to buy a Fredbear hat for my Lil Timmy."

Everything was going well, the two friends were successful and well-loved by the community. Soon, both of them started families, with the two getting married practically at the same time, and their firstborns having their birthdays only a month apart. Henry and Martha had had twins: Charlie and her brother Sammy, while William and Joanna had their little boy, Mike. After some time The Aftons had two more progenitors, Evan and a few years later, Elizabeth. Everything was going great...until the facade started to break. William and Joanna had some relationship problems, they had those for a while. One night, during a storm, Mrs. Afton decided she needed to go for a ride, to clear her head after another argument with Will. However, she never came back.

The crash made it nearly impossible to recognize her, the funeral was held with a closed casket. This event changed William. He distanced himself from everyone. Especially Henry. Many times the Afton children would stay over at the Emily's with Henry going out to drag the passed out William from the bar. And then tragedy struck. In 1982, late at night, Henry finished his shift. He locked up the restaurant and was about to leave when he saw something lying in the mud before the establishment. When he went closer and he was mortified. It was Sammy, with his throat slit and face covered in tears and blood. This event broke the father, as he held the corpse of his son. Few weeks after the funeral, Henry was last seen going to a bridge where he and Sammy used to feed the ducks. He said he wanted to look at the beautiful place his son loved. His body was never found.

That's what Charlie remembered as she exited the bus. All that this town took from her. After the tragedies, Martha alongside Henry's sister Jen decided to move somewhere else, with too many horrible memories. What happened to The Aftons, Charlie didn't know. All that she knew was that at some point, Mr. Afton sold the rights for the technology and characters to Fazbear Entertainment. And soon, the face of Fredbear was popping up everywhere. After some time they phased out Fredbear and replaced him with Freddy Fazbear. While Charlie held no ill will against the company, it still hurt to see reminders of her painful past.

As she strolled down the street, memories came flooding back. It's been so long since she had seen those houses. Most of the people were strangers, but she recognized some old faces. An old lady that used to serve lunch at her school even waved at her. As she kept walking absent-mindedly, she finally noticed something. The bridge...

"Charlie?!" a voice suddenly snapped the girl out of her trance. Before her stood a woman straight out of a Vogue magazine. With her fashionable blouse, shoulder-length elegant blonde hair, and brown, sparkling eyes. It took a few seconds, but after the woman smiled, she finally realized who stood before her.

"Jess?"

Jessica's smile beamed even more.

"The one and only! My god, it's been too long. How is my bestie holding up?"

"Really, bestie?" Charlie looked at her childhood friend with a sarcastic smirk.

"What?"

"Aren't we supposed to be adults?"

"Maybe you Grandma. Me? I prefer to be a child at heart"

"I see you're as mature as you were when we last saw each other"

Jess let out an overdramatic exhale "Oh, you WOUND me, Charlie. To see YOU in such a state where you DARE to call my 12-year-old self immature. Or have you forgotten all the trouble you'd get into? Don't you remember the shrinking chair? The bologne launcher? Or how about the dancing frogs?

The two old friends started laughing as if they were back in grade school. After calming down, Jessica resumed the conversation.

"Seriously though, how did you make those frogs move their legs? I am pretty sure to this day the Bio teacher has traumatic flashbacks when she sees Kermit."

"Ehh, nothing too hard," explained Charlie "I just took some copper and pieces of a wet blanket to create something akin to a circuit. I then used a small battery and the electric charge made the frogs muscles move"

"Damn, now that's a side of you I didn't see. Reviving the dead huh?"

"Oh shut up," responded Charlie, accentuating her response with a mock punch to Jess's shoulder. The blonde continued the conversation.

"So, besides being "a responsible adult", what have you been up to?"

"Not much really. I finished college for one, got a degree in robotics. So far I only did small contract jobs, but maybe I'll get a big break at some point. What about you? "

"Well, not long after you left, my family also decided to move. We ended up in NYC"

"Wait really?"

"Yep," boasted Jessica proudly "The Big Apple. At around 17 I got into some modeling, and now I've had my pictures in a couple of local mags"

"Wow, awesome" responded Charlie "You definitely have the looks for it"

"Can't disagree with that" said Jess smirking "Roman definitely agrees, although you're not that bad yourself"

After some more idle chatter and catching up, Charlie asked what's been on her mind for quite some time.

"So, why are you here?"

"Oh, fair question. Well, some of my family still live here, especially my grandparents. What about you?"

Charlie stopped and thought about the question posed by her friend. Why did she come back here? None of her family was here, she basically lost contact with everyone she used to know, and the only memories she had were those of pain and loss.

"I guess..." she started "I guess I want closure. I have left this town long ago, and I never got to get over what happened to Sammy and Dad"

"Oh, honey..." Jessica looked at her friend sympathetically "Is there anything I can do?"

Charlie looked at Jessica. If she really were to confront her past, there was no holding back.

Just her seeing the old bridge was enough to freeze her up. If she were to get closure, she needed to go into the beast's maw.

"Actually...there is something"

"You can't be serious," said Jessica in disbelief as they stood before the family restaurant. It was late afternoon when they finally arrived near the old Freddy's Pizzaria, with its scratched paint and graffiti smeared across its walls.

"What, too adult to got to a kid's pizzeria?" retorted Charlie.

"Hey, I still ask for a Happy Meal every chance I have, but...are you sure you want to do this?" Jessica looked at her friend with a concerned look "I know you want to confront your past, but don't you think it's a bit much at once? "

"If I keep procrastinating, I'll never do it. I'll just go back to Ballard and never come back. It's now or never"

"Alright, but if it's ever too much, just let me know, ok?" Jessica looked at Charlie with a pleading look.

"...Alright...bestie"

As the two entered the establishment, they saw that they were the only customers. The chess-board tiled floor was being cleaned by a depressed-looking janitor, and the walls were covered in generic party slogans depicting the robot animals. Speaking of the animatronics, they were there, singing some royalty-free jingle with their music boxes.

When the two friends sat down at a sticky, plastic table, a disinterested teenager walked up and asked for their orders. They opted for water.

"So..." started Jessica "...you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I guess"

"Good"

An awkward silence filled the room.

"So" spoke up Charlie "Any clue what happened to our other friends?"

"Well, I don't know much. John writes for some gazette, Carl does stand-up, Marla and Jason moved to New Jersey and Lamar is a motivational speaker. I haven't really been in contact with any of them for quite some time"

"What about Mike?" asked Charlie, noticing that Jess omitted her best friend.

While Jess might've been her best girl friend, Mike Afton was her best friend, period. Sammy, Mike, and Charlie were inseparable. The trio constantly got in trouble...or more accurately Mike and Charlie got in trouble, and they dragged Sammy along. On multiple occasions, the two would sneak into the kitchen to steal some sweets prepared for birthdays. With Mike being especially fond of gum. After Mike's mum died, it was Charlie who gave him a shoulder to cry on. And he did the same when Sammy was murdered.

After she moved, Charlie tried her best to keep in contact. But as time went on, they drifted away.

Charlie reminisced as she waited for Jess to respond "You know where he is?"

"I'm sorry but...I've got no clue. After you left he seemed...sad and angry. He pushed everyone away, started getting into the wrong crowd. I don't know what happened to him later since I've moved."

"Oh...alright, got it, no problem" Charlie responded sullenly.

Jessica looked sadly at her friend. Silence once again returned.

After some time Jess excused herself to the bathroom, and Charlie was left alone. She decided to stretch her legs and decided to take a closer look at the singing animals. She went towards the stage where Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica kept their show going.

Charlie never saw any of them this close. After everything that happened, her mother, and especially her aunt never allowed her to go to any Fazbear locations. As such, she never got to appreciate the craftsmanship that went into the robots. All of the pistons and wires making the endoskeleton joints move the plastic, to breathe life into that characters. To her, they seemed almost life-like.

The band stopped singing and started rambling their pre-determined dialogue

"Hi, kids, nice to meetcha. Are you ready for Freddy?" boomed their leader

"My name is Freddy Fazbear, and I couldn't be happier to have you as our guests of honor"

"Oh, quit stealing the show, would you Frederick? It's not always about you Fazbear"

"My bonbon, you're quite cranky today"

"Maybe he didn't eat a good, tasty dinner?"

"That just might be it, Chica"

"Gosh, would you two stop, I'm not hungry, I just want to go back to the show."

"He still seems hungry to me"

"I am not Chica, thank you very much"

"Well, let's see what Foxy thinks about it?"

All three of the members went quiet as they stared towards a small stage located across the room. The stage was covered up with closed curtains and an out-of-order sign placed. Charlie walked towards the small stage. No response was coming from behind the curtains. What kind of animatronic could be hiding there? The mystery was eating away at her. Suddenly, Charlie realized that there was no one besides her. The janitor left and so did the teenage employee. No one would notice if she just, took a quick peek at the robot, right? Ultimately curiosity got the best of her as she was about to uncover the curtains when-

"Oi, lady! I wouldn't do that if I were you unless I wanted to find out if I could survive my frontal lobe being bitten off. I mean...it's not the same animatronic, those were scrapped but-" A voice with a hint of a British accent started addressing her. As she meekly turned around she saw a security guard wearing a purple uniform standing behind her. He was rather tall and skinny, with a tired expression on his face. For some reason, she thought he looked familiar. The guard kept on ranting before her.

"And besides, can't you notice the sign? OUT OF ORDER. For crying out loud, there's even a bloody exclamation point." Charlie kept looking closer at the guard, ignoring his complaints. Something about his face was...recognizable? "Hey, Ms? Are you even listening to me?" he asked before taking out...a new piece of gum. And then it struck her.

"Michael?"