Every important story has a different side, a mirrored reflection, a changed point of view.
Vinnie passed through the parking lot entrance in his little beat-up pickup truck, courtesy of tîo Ramirez just over the border, who believed that every man, whether born, raised, straight, gay or trans, needed a good vehicle to tinker with, and parked at the edge of the lot, right next to the sign.
Fredbear's Family Diner, est. 1983. Home of the First Freddy Fazbear!
He picked up a dropped trash bag full of small litter and stared at it, shivering in the mid-February air.
Vinnie's younger half-brother, Zach was usually out at this time picking up litter and any aluminum cans found in the parking lot or road as a way to keep him out from underfoot.
Vinnie was often disappointed but not surprised by the litter left behind by customers coming through to LA.
Hurricane, the town Fredbear's was located in, was too small for a police force but big enough for a profitable arcade, seeing as it was north of upper LA by about thirty miles or so.
Still, Vinnie didn't like William sending Zachary out on his own around noon every day.
Vinnie knew better than to question his step-father's decisions now that Vinnie's mother had passed. Vinnie knew that one bad move and Vinnie would be out for good and his half-siblings would have to fend for themselves. Now that the franchise had been solid and steadily rising since '84, money was rolling in quickly.
Vinnie, Zach, and Isabela, however, didn't see a single cent until school started.
The first location in the Fazbear chain was a small, homey Diner with a front showroom, an arcade, and a prize counter, with a hidden storage room and matching kitchen, mostly used for reheating frozen Tombstones and DiGiornos', depending on what William could get in bulk and on-sale.
Vinnie was sharply pulled from his thoughts by loud yelling. Looking up from the litterbag, Vinnie saw a struggling Zach in the arms of three teen boys.
His fists clenched.
"He's kind of a baby, ain't he?" A boy stooped over Zach who was sobbing. The boy, Liam, grabbed Zach's arm and dragged him to his feet, beaten sneakers soaked with the remains of winter. Zach, as usual, was underdressed, his neon colored jacket too thin for the February winds.
A frequent punishment from William.
"We should help him get a better look!"
"Hey! That's my brother!" Vinnie barked from where he stood.
"Don't worry, Vin, he'll love it!" Chris, small town bully he was, looked up from where he was roughly pulling Zach away from Liam's grip, "C'mon guys, let's get the little man a lift."
"No, no, no!" Zach yelled, kicking as the three boys hoisted him up, restraining his flailing arms and legs.
Vinnie ran across the lot as his little brother yelled for him, boys laughing.
"Sounds like he wants to get up close and personal with Fredbear!"
"Put him down!" Vinnie ordered as he knocked over a small child by the door as his brother was carried away.
The little one reached to him, catching Vinnie's eye, but was roughly shoved to the pavement by Billy, boys laughing.
"Forget it Vinnie, ya wanna be a baby like your brother?" Chris taunted by the door, "Come get him if you're scared, b**ner!"
Vinnie's dark face grew darker, "Eat shit, Verga Pinche!"
Forgetting the little kid left in the cold, Vinnie shoved past, lunging for his brother, door slamming behind.
Vinnie weaved around Henry in a bear costume handing out goody bags and candy to the children inside, the group of teenagers and little boy still fighting and struggling, all the way to the small showstage. A security guard was now yelling at them for disrupting the peace.
"No! I don't wanna go!" Zach cried, fighting to reach Vinnie's hands. They barely touched hands when Billy wrenched Zach away.
Laughing, Chris added, "You heard the lil' guy, he wants to get closer!"
"No!" Zach shrieked as Benji, a skinny, pimply busboy slunk out from the kitchen, one of two cooks in tow to watch the unraveling chaos of screaming children and phunphur.
The group of teenage boys stood in front of the showstage as a rabbit and a bear caterwauled and hissed, bouncing Zach wildly.
The guard, not allowed to touch patrons, was uselessly trying to stop the squabbling.
"You heard the man, he wants to give Fredbear a big kiss!"
"Let go of my brother!" Vinnie shouted, roughly pulling at the boys' shoulders in an attempt to retrieve Zach.
"Stupid b**ner," Chris hissed, "Can't you take a-" Vinnie slammed the hardest sucker punch he'd ever thrown, landing it on Chris's mouth.
Chris stumbled as the riot became a brawl between the two.
"On three!" Chris slurred, taking it right in the gut from Vinnie.
"One!"
Punch!
"Two!"
Smack!
"THREE!"
Crunch.
A sudden silence fell across the restaurant as Zach went limp, dangling from Fredbear's broken mouth.
Vinnie turned, stomach sinking, earring swinging, fists falling.
Fredbear, mid-lyric, let out a loud crunch.
Everyone stared at Zach's limp body dangling from Fredbear's mouth.
At first, Vinnie was unsure what the crunch could have been.
Could've been a springlock, or a broken air cylinder, like any animatronic might have made when faced with a human skull.
And then he saw what everyone else saw, leaking down the chest of Fredbear.
A sickly red stream trickled at first into the yellow fur.
The trickle became a steady stream.
And then a gushing, almost fake-looking fountain of blood and brain matter came streaming down from Fredbear's broken jaw.
"Oh. Shit." Chris mumbled from where he slumped on the checkered floor.
Speechless, Vinnie turned to where Chris sat, staring.
Everyone was staring at Chris and his friends for what they'd done.
All eyes were on Vinnie when he'd let out a howl and slammed Chris to the floor, screaming and slamming and crying and hitting, as angry parents, hungry children, teenagers, and a highway patrol siren drowned out the muffled knocking on the glass as a child was strangled outside.