Charlie ended up spending the night over at Jess's grandparent's house. The elderly couple was as kind and witty as she remembered. Jessica kept joking it was just like their old slumber parties.

However, the young woman's spirits weren't the highest. After she bumped into Mike, he ran away from her imedietally. She tried to catch up after him, but despite his scrawny frame, damn he ran fast. When she went back to Freddy's, she started asking the other staff about "the security guard". All of them immediately knew which one she meant. Unfortunately, they seemed to know even less than her.

What she did piece together was that he now went by "Mike Schmidt", his mother's maiden name. He was the employee who worked at most of the locations ever since 1987. No one really seemed to like him for some reason. They all said he seemed strange. He used to work the night shift, before being moved to the afternoon hours. They described him as quiet, mysterious, he seemed to talk either to himself or to the robots, mostly with snide remarks.

"I don't blame the boy," said the janitor, never breaking eye contact with the floor he was sweeping. "Most of us, here at Fazbear's aren't all that chipper. Especially any of the night guards. Weird things happen here at night"

"Weird how?"asked Charlie"What could happen in a family restaurant?"

"Oh, I can't tell you, miss. I may not like the job, but I still need funds if I want to retire in Florida" The older gentleman paused, before whispering "All I'll say is that on more than one occasion...I had to mop up blood from those floors." Afterward, the janitor walked away, seemingly really interested in a corner on the other side of the room.

Charlie's curiosity s started to skyrocket. Why would there be blood? Why did Mike change his surname? What was happening at Freddy's at night? Those were the questions she posed at Jessica in the evening as they sat on the porch in front of the house.

"Alright, so our childhood friend, whom we haven't seen in years works right here, at Freddy's, everybody finds him shady and weird stuff happens there at night. Anything else?" asked Jessica skeptically.

"You forgot about the fact that he ran away from me for some reason" replied Charlie "I don't know, none of this makes sense. Any theories?"

"Well, I do remember he started hanging out with the "troublemakers" after you left. But they weren't like good-spirited pranksters like you two used to be. They were bullies" Jessica's expression saddened "They skipped school, broke other peoples windows, and spent loads of time at Fredbear's"

"Wait, didn't his Dad sell Fredbear's to Fazbear's?"

"Oh right, you wouldn't know that. Basically, Fazbear's re-opened Fredbear's. Bigger and better. New animatronics, more characters that are now mainstays. They had loads of merchandise. Toys, posters, masks. Oh, and the masks are important. See, Mike and his "friends" started wearing masks of the characters. Not sure if it was to show off or to hide their identities. Mike always wore a foxy mask."

"Ok, but where are you going with that?" asked Charlie. That couldn't be Mike, could it? Sure, he was always a bit rebellious, and he was quite vulgar (although with his British accent it always sounded hilarious to her), but he had a heart of gold.

He would always try to help others. And when he was playing with his little sister, he treated her like a princess. The best example was when Elizabeth wanted to host a tea party. Charlie joined in, but the little girl insisted they needed a third guest. And then came Michael, dressed in a paper crown, a pink boa, with him making his accent sound as posh as possible, asking for the tea. Both girls cried from laugher with the boy trying his best to maintain his over-the-top snobbish expression.

"Well," continued Jess "What if he got into some kind of gang and he uses Freddy's as a cover."

"What?!" exclaimed Charlie.

"Now hear me out." started Jess " Maybe he does business there at night and if that's why he acts so weird. Hell, maybe it's an inside job. The pizzeria is barely earning anything. Fazbear's tried to break out of Utah for decades but they can't get a footing anywhere"

Charlie was shocked by her friends' accusations "What, they use Faz-tokens to earn protection?"

"What else could be happening there? It's a children's restaurant for crying out loud!"

"No child should ever set foot in that cursed place" The startled young women looked towards Jessica's grandfather.

"Why is that Pappy?" Asked Jess, mouth agape.

"You might not know about it, but ever since Afton sold Mr. Emily's restaurant to that damned company, the place became a dumpster fire. The robots looked terrible, their eyes looking rotten and they smelled like shit. And then in 1987, few towns over a guard were attacked by one of the toy-looking ones. A whole chunk of his brain chomped off" suddenly, the old man's face grew furious "And then there were the "incidents". Multiple times children went into that place, only to never come back. Parents asking where were their darlings, what happened to them. And after 9 MONTHS" the elder started to grit his teeth "The management addressed the "MISSING" children. MISSING they put it. MISSING MY ASS! Those little innocent souls, who did NOTHING wrong to anyone WERE MURDERED!" at this point, the old man was screaming in a hushed tone "THIS PLACE TOOK LIVES OF THOSE CHILDREN! HELL, TO THIS DAY BURKE IS STILL LOOKING WHO TOOK AWAY HIS LITTLE GIRL! AND THEY DARE TO STILL STAY OPEN HERE! THOSE MOTHER-"

"Arnold!" Jessica's grandmother scolded her husband "Our little Jessie came into this town to visit us, and I don't want her to visit to end with you having a cardia arrest."

"I-.. I'm sorry Dol" the whipped husband's expression softened, he looked over at the frightened girls "I'm sorry sweetheart," he said looking at Jess "It's just that...you used to hang out at that place a lot, you used to love it there. And if you didn't move, and stayed you could've-..." Arnold's eyes started to glisten. Jessica hugged her Grandfather, trying to calm him down.

"I have to rest now. Goodnight girls" Arnold walked away.

"Excuse him for saying all of that," said Dolores towards Charlie "Burke's daughter, Susie, used to pass him on her way from school. He got attached to her. He never got over her going missing. I hope he didn't open any old wounds."

Charlie didn't know what she meant. A murder at Freddy's was horrible, how could've something like this happe-...

Sammy.

...

"No, don't worry about that Ms, thank you for the concern."

"Very well then, I'll also go hit the hay, and I suggest you girls do the same."

The girls bid the elderly couple goodnight and went into the guest room.

As Jessica went to her bed she looked at Charlie, who wore a depressed expression.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, don't worry."

Charlie looked at her friend with a worried expression. "You don't think that Mike had anything to do with..."

"No! No, of course not. While he may have been a delinquent he would never..."

Charlie's face relaxed, her lips returning to a sullen position.

"If you want" started Jessica "We can try to talk to him tomorrow. Maybe if the two of us corner him he'll come clean.

Jess's bestie brightened up "Really?"

"Yeah"

"Thank you"

"Anything for friends. Night night" Jessica turned towards the wall covering herself with a blanket.

"Night" Charlie laid on the side. How could the thing that happened to Sammy happen again? Did Mike have anything to do with it? She earnestly hoped not.

The two friends made their way towards Freddy's once again a few minutes before noon.

"Last time he could run because his shift was ending" stated Jessica "But I doubt he'll skip an entire shift because of you."

"Yeah, we'll see" Charlie really hoped they could clear everything up.

As the girls entered the restaurant, the janitor seemed surprised to see them return. In response, Jess simply flashed a smile towards him. Charlie settled for a wave.

This time they were served by a disinterested teenage girl. Big changes.

As they waited for 12 pm, they started to discuss what they could do to gather more information.

"What if, theoretically, I were to follow him after he finishes his shift, and find out where he lives?" asked Charlie, a small amount of blush appearing on her face.

"You gonna stalk a boy? My, my Charlie, I didn't think you were that desperate."

The girls, chuckled, although Charlie's laugh was a bit more nervous.

"But seriously, would that work?"

"I don't know hun" responded Jessica with a more serious expression "I know he probably wouldn't hurt us, but if anyone sees us they might call us out or something along those lines"

"Yeah, you're right"

Jessica smirked "Looks like you'll have to ask him out some other way"

"Oh, shut up!" retorted Charlie with a sheepish expression.

Truth be told, Charlie didn't have much experience when it came to romance. Back in grade school, she used to have a crush on a bunch of her friends. John, Carlton...even Mike. But she never made any moves. They were puppy crushes. In high school, she tried flirting with some boys, but she was so awkward that she might've come off as creepy. By college, she was laser-focused on her studies, with no time for boys.

As she entertained her train of thought, a slim, purple figure came through the entrance. With a walkman in hand and bubble gum, Mike Afton ("or I guess Schmidt" thought Charlie) suddenly stood face to face with his two childhood friends. He froze, eye growing and gum's bubble popping.

"Hiya Mikey," said Jess, flashing a smile towards him.

Mike looked towards them, then towards the entrance doors, then towards the clock, then back to them, and then towards the bathrooms...

"Oh don't you dare-" before Jess could finish the security guard sprinted towards the male bathrooms. The girls followed suit. Jess was ahead, catching up to him, looking like a lioness chasing her prey. Charlie on the other hand was left in the dust. She could lift 80 pounds, but she could not run faster than an average teenager.

As the girls ran behind him, their fugitive locked himself in a stall. Jessica started banging on the door.

"Mike! Get out! We know you're here!"

"You're harassing an employee. You'll have to be removed from the restaurant"

"Well, you're the security guard"

"...Shit"

Charlie spoke up "We don't want to do anything to you, I just want to talk"

"Well, you're talking to me right now. See? Done. Can i go now?"

Jess punched the door once more "Don't you dare to sass us, mister. Now get your sorry ass out of here, and talk to your old friends like a normal person"

"Please Mike...I just want to know if you're alright."

A moment of silence passed. Then the lock turned and the doors opened.

"Fine, what do you want to talk about?"

The three stayed in the guard office (Mike's conditions).

Each of the girls stood next to the doors, cutting off the man's escape paths.

The interrogated himself sat lazily in a chair looking at the girls.

"So," he started "you gonna do good cop, bad cop? Or will both of you beat me to a bloody pulp"

Jessica scowled at him. Charlie decided to be the 1st to respond.

"Nothing like that, I just want to catch up. That's all"

"Alright, nothing really. I just live"

"Oh come on. We haven't seen each other in ages."

Mike's expression softened, but he remained silent.

"I have an idea" continued Charlie "We'll do it so that we ask each other one question at a time, alright?"

"Sure, whatever floats your boat." He responded. When Charlie smiled a bit, he himself let a smirk crawl on his face.

"Aight, so you still doing robots?"

"Yup, I built some that are rather good. What about you, what did you study?"

"I didn't go to college. Not by choice mind you." Before Charlie could ask Mike to elaborate he cut her off.

"Next question, favorite food?"

"Still meat-lovers pizza"

"Really! Haha. Then again mine is still buttered popcorn"

"Let me guess you eat it while still watching "The Immortal and the Restless re-runs?"

"Hey, that show is a classic, don't you knock it"

"Oh, is it because of the terrible plot? The crappy visuals?

"You may try to make it sound bad, but you're just reaffirming why I love it"

"Even with the corny dialogue?!"

"The dialogue is great."

" 'Clara, the baby isn't mine. Bleh bleh"

"Oh come on he doesn't do that"

The two started to banter like they used to once more. Laughing and joking. Charlie simply needed to find more topics to grasp.

"So, seeing how much you changed" she started "How much did Evan and Betty change"

Suddenly Michael went dead silent. His face went back to a neutral expression. He got up.

Charlie looked at him with worry "Wait, did I do something? I'm sorry I'm just curious what they're doing now?

"They're dead."

Silence filled the room.

"Mike, I'm..."

"It's ok. Now if you excuse me, I have a job to do.

Both of the girls left him alone in the office.

Charlie could still see his eyes filled with sadness. Just like Jessica's grandpa.

"Well, that didn't work..." said Jessica

"At this point, I'll never learn what's happening to him"

Charlie then stopped and looked at the clock. The afternoon shift would end in 3 hours.

"What now Charlie?" asked Jess

"...I'm gonna follow him and find out what happened"