A/N: A thanks to everyone who's read and is enjoying the story so far. As a quick FYI, I made some small additions to the previous chapters. Sam has a journal going. I hope it makes Sam's thoughts more natural and effective.

The key slid seamlessly into the lock and the door opened swung open. Clay stepped aside and allowed them both inside. Sam looked around in amazement at the size of the house. Granted, it wasn't as big as Kyle's parents' house, but it was still bigger than he expected.

Well, he is a police chief, I guess.

A noise from the kitchen immediately drew their attention.

"That would be my son," Clay sighed, walking over with the newcomers right behind him.

Standing in the kitchen, hidden behind the open refrigerator door, was someone clearly trying sneak as much food into their arms as they could.

"And what are we doing, exactly?" Clay asked.

Movement stopped. Silence fell.

"I didn't think you'd be coming home so early," a voice spoke. "Besides, I'm hungry. I haven't eaten much today."

"How about you look me in the eyes and tell me?" Clay said, desperately wishing for his son to notice the company.

Carlton groaned. Closing the refrigerator and putting a few bowls and plates of saran-wrapped food onto the counter.

"Dad, gimme a break, ok? I've been watching movies all day, and I haven't had the chance to eat anything!" He began unwrapping half a sandwich.

"Oh, you poor child," said Clay mockingly, growing impatient. "You never thought to take a break?"

"You know how hard it is for me to get from one spot to another," said Carlton, finally turning to his father. "I can't-"

He stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the guests. His eyes widened as they studied Sam's face.

"Who-? What-?"

"I guess now's as good a time as ever to tell you," said Clay with a smile. "I made a little trip to Chicago to go find somebody. Carlton, this is Sam, Charlie's twin brother."

Carlton continued staring at Sam, mouth agape and twitching, struggling to find words.

"Is he ok?" Kyle asked.

"I don't know," said Clay. "Being the prank master that he is, I don't think I've ever seen him this shocked."

Carlton put one foot in front of the other and eased himself forward a step, grunting in pain and putting a hand to his chest as he did so.

Sam took this as a sign and walked over to him, extending a hand.

"Sam Anderson."

Carlton glanced down at the hand that was extended to him and back into Sam's face. Hesitating for a few more seconds, he reached forward and grabbed it, shaking it weakly.

Either he's confused or still recovering, Sam thought.

Carlton continued to stare into Sam's face silently for a long time, carefully studying every feature. He raised a hand and stroked the air, curving it around Sam's face.

Clay cleared his throat. "Um, son?"

Carlton blinked. "I'm sorry. I just...didn't expect...wow."

Sam glanced back at Kyle, who shrugged.

Don't look at me, dude, he mouthed with a smirk.

"So, you're Charlie's brother?" Carlton asked.

"Yeah," said Sam, "as I've recently been reminded."

"I never knew she had a brother," said Carlton, still struggling to find his voice. Something very unusual for him, Clay noted. "I mean, she never mentioned you at all."

"Well, his mother never mentioned her much, either," said Kyle, trying to lift the awkwardness of the situation as best he could.

"Ah yes," said Sam as he and Carlton both turned to face him. "This is my friend, Kyle Jackson. He volunteered to come along."

Kyle shot him an annoyed look that said: Yeah, totally my decision.

"Yeah," he said to Carlton. "I've got some flying experience. Figured it might help in the search."

Carlton turned to his dad. "So, you're still looking for Charlie, then?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, I am," he said. "That's why I went to Chicago. I've been tracking Charlie's mother these last few weeks and finally found her...and Sam." He nodded to Sam.

Carlton turned back to Sam, a smile forming on his face. "So it's true? How much do you remember? Did you guys get into any fights when you were little? What about-"

"Easy, son," Clay said. "Let's go into the other room. It's actually good that you're here. I promised these boys I'd give them all the details."

They all walked into the living room and sat down, Sam and Kyle on the sofa and Clay and Carlton in nearby chairs.

"So, what's been going on?" Sam said immediately.

Clay and Carlton looked at each other.

Clay sighed. "To put it bluntly, this town has seen some murders and paranormal activity in these last few years."

Sam and Kyle stared wordlessly at him for a minute.

"When you say paranormal activity," said Kyle, "you mean, like, ghosts?"

"In a way," said Clay, looking mainly at Sam. "You see, for reasons that I still cannot explain properly, some of Henry, your father's, old animatronics were, how do I put it, inhabited by the spirits of deceased children."

"Deceased?" said Sam in shock. "Is that what you meant by kidnappings? You never said they were killed!"

"Sadly, yes," said Clay. "Back in the mid-eighties, before your father's restaurant closed, five children were kidnapped and killed by your father's partner, William Afton. One of these children, Michael, was a good friend of my son."

Sam and Kyle looked at Carlton, whose face had sunken upon hearing Michael's name.

"I'm sorry," said Sam. Carlton nodded, saying nothing.

"Yes, they were very close. They probably would've grown up to be yin and yang, much like you two are," said Clay. "But unfortunately...it happened. There was nothing anyone could do."

"That sucks," said Kyle. "I'm really sorry."

Sam nodded. The weight of the tragedy hit home. As irritating as he could be, Kyle was like a brother to him. Losing him to such a tragedy was unthinkable.

"It's ok," Carlton said softly with a small smile. "He's ok, now."

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked.

Clay looked at his son. "I think we should start from the beginning." Carlton nodded.

The Burkes then launched into their accounts of the past two years unfolding of events. Clay discussed how Michael's parents, the Brooks, sought to put together a memorial/honorary scholarship event in their son's name, which in turn brought his teenage childhood friends together for the service, including Charlie. Carlton talked about how they met frequently in the local diner and made late-night visits to the abandoned Freddy Fazbear's Pizza entombed inside the mall. Carlton went missing, Clay brought the rest of them to the house and talked to them, Carlton was trapped inside a suit and was freed by Charlie as they tried to escape the restaurant, Clay burst through as the animatronics attacked, and Dave the security guard, a.k.a. William Afton was supposedly killed by Charlie. A year went by, and mystery struck once more as dead bodies began appearing around the town and on the road to St. George. Clay had gotten Charlie reluctantly involved, which in turn, led to her eventual abduction and their discovery of an underground pizzeria beneath Henry's house. Afton, alive and nicknamed Springtrap, was present and tormented them with his twisted animatronics before fleeing, and one of those demented animatronics swallowed Charlie and, as far as he was concerned, killed her. Six months later, another version of her, which fooled many of them for a while, began masquerading as her. Carlton, like the others, was initially willing to believe in her miraculous recovery despite John's suspicions, but Clay felt something was off, and his suspicions put him in a hospital for a while. Carlton, along with Jessica and Marla, had gone to Circus Baby's Pizza to find out the truth and rescue the new batch of Afton's kidnapped children, and Carlton nearly died but instead helped save the souls of the deceased children from ten years ago, including Michael, by exposing Afton as their murderer. This was only a month ago, and the rest was already known. Carlton had to stay home for a while to fully recover, Marla and Jessica had both gone back to school demanding promises of updates, and John and Charlie, their Charlie, were mysteriously gone. Clay had spent the entire month searching tirelessly. After losing hope and preparing to announce Charlie's official death, he was compelled to track down any of Charlie's relatives in the hope that they could be of any assistance in finding her. And here, after all of that, sat her brother on his couch.

"And that brings us to why you're here," Clay finished. "Questions?"

Sam and Kyle were looking back and forth between each other, the Burkes, and the newspapers, pictures, and police reports on the table Clay had brought out while Carlton had gone to the bathroom. Neither Sam nor Kyle had much comprehension of many of the events that had been told.

"So, this town is, like...haunted?" Kyle finally asked.

"It was, apparently," said Clay. "It's been completely calm this last month since Circus Baby's burned down, but then again that means nothing seeing as we've had longer periods of peace before things got weird again."

"This town's always been weird, though," Carlton said. "It's always the small towns in the middle of nowhere that the crazy stuff happens in the movies."

"What do you mean?" asked Sam.

"I don't know," said Carlton. "It's like...ever since I can remember, there's always been something weird going on with this town. It just…" He moved his arms and hands in an attempt to illustrate, "...feels different. The isolation and all that, it feels like we're kind of away from the world, out where the world doesn't notice that much."

"Yeah, I see that," said Kyle. "In a big city like Chicago, crazy people are always making headlines."

"Oh, it's really bad in New York. Trust me," said Carlton. "But that's what I mean. In a town like this, stuff like that doesn't get that much attention in the rest of the country, so it's almost like the creepy stuff goes a lot more...unnoticed."

"Forgive me," said Sam, "but what makes you think that these hauntings or whatever are related to the child murders?"

"It's a long story," said Clay. "I wish I could tell you more, but Carlton knows more about it than I do."

Kyle opened his mouth to interject something, but Sam shot him a warning look. Kyle nodded and raised a hand in surrender, obviously getting the message clearly.

"It's still confusing to think about myself," said Carlton. "I know it sounds really crazy. I wouldn't have believed it myself either before, but I'm not kidding. Believe me, I saw what I saw and did what I did. I didn't really start thinking about how strange it was until later. All I cared about at the time was doing what was right. Setting those kids free."

Kyle and Sam exchanged more confused glances. The look on Kyle's face was still skeptical, and Sam knew why. Kyle was always creeped out by animatronics, so to him, the events described sounded more like what creepy animatronics would normally do.

"But let's not focus too much on that," Clay interjected. "After all, what's done is done. You're here to help us find your sister...hopefully."

"With all due respect, sir," said Kyle, "do you put this much effort into every missing persons case?"

"Well, yes and no," said Clay. "As a policeman, my job is to serve and protect, and everyone is of equal value. However, I do admit that these circumstances have taken some extra attention from me. Charlie, as average and normal as she appeared on the outside, has become increasingly unique to me these last few years. The only daughter, or so I thought, of the man who founded Freddy Fazbear's and who has somehow come back to life after being crushed, along with a monstrous doppelganger who nearly killed me. Strange things like that typically draw some extra attention. Besides, she is still my son's friend, so I am admittedly a bit biased there."

Sam shook his head in confusion. He was still trying to wrap his brain around what he had been told. Charlie had been crushed inside a suit, bleeding profusely, and that somehow led to another version of her, a fake-yet-real version, walking around town. And this William Afton person, who had apparently been his father's old partner, was the culprit behind all of the chaos? It shocked him that someone so close to his father could have done so much. And for what? The whole thing seemed like a horror movie or even a setup. Part of him thought and hoped that at some point Clay and Carlton and others would yell "Surprise!" and Charlie would come out and tell him that it was a secret homecoming party or something. But the looks on their faces told him that they were being serious, not to mention Clay would have probably declined Kyle's accompaniment if that were the case.

"So, what do we do?" Sam asked.

"Well, there's not much to do tonight," said Clay. "But tomorrow, we'll be really getting started."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Well, I want to take you boys around the town, first of all, get you acquainted with the area and point out some...key areas. Then we'll go from there."

"And, uh, what about me and my expertise?" said Kyle.

"I know someone who might be able to hook you up with a plane," said Clay. "It might not be much, but I think it'll work."

"You fly?" Carlton asked.

"Yeah. My parents own their own company, so learning to fly was kind of a given."

"That's cool. I've always wanted to see these mountains from up in the air, and see all the people moving around like ants below."

"Trust me, they'll look even smaller than ants with how high I like to go."

Carlton beamed, but Sam shot him a warning look.

"Easy, Kyle. You wanna kill yourself, that's one thing, but…"

"Ah, stop worrying," said Kyle, waving his hand at him. "I won't be too dangerous. After all, this is technically a rescue mission, isn't it?"

A rapid knocking on the door suddenly rang through the house. They all looked over as it continued almost non-stop with little breaks.

"Who's that?" Sam asked.

"I have no idea," said Clay, checking his watch and getting up to answer the door.

Carlton cleared his throat. "Oh, by the way, I made a quick call on my way to the bathroom earlier."

Clay opened the door. Standing there, dressed in a T-shirt, lightweight jacket, and blue jeans was a woman, brown hair and eyes threatening to bulge out of her skull in anxiety.

"Jessica!" Clay exclaimed. "What a-"

"Where is he?" she demanded.

Clay glanced at his son, who smiled in return.

"In the living room."

Jessica rushed past him and into the room. There, she stopped and looked Sam dead in the face, studying his features.

"Hi," he said, getting up and walking over to her. "I'm-"

With no warning, she threw her arms around him, almost crushing his lungs in a tight embrace.

"Um," said Sam, looking over her shoulder at Clay, who only smiled and shook his head. Carlton was also looking in amusement, while Kyle shrugged as if to say Well okay then.

Finally, Jessica let him go and looked at him.

"You look just like her."

"Like my sister?" Sam asked.

"Yeah! I feel like I already know you, even though we've never met before. I didn't even know she had a brother until Carlton called me, but I just got so excited, that I-oh, it's great to see you! I haven't felt this much hope in a long time!"

"Wait," said Sam, looking between her, Clay, and Carlton. "So, Charlie never mentioned me?"

Carlton and Jessica shook their heads.

"Not as far as I can remember," said Carlton.

"Me neither," said Jessica.

Clay, on the other hand, remained silent with a knowing look on his face.

"Well, it looks like you two were separated at a young age," he said, turning to Jessica and Carlton. "Not to mention it took Sam a little while to remember her. She probably forgot herself."

"Yeah, it did seem like her memory was a bit off sometimes," said Carlton. Jessica glared at him. "No, I'm serious. She did remember quite a bit, but there was always a sense like she was lost in her own head sometimes, and you were never sure what she was thinking about."

"Well, nevertheless," said Clay, sensing an argument, "the past is the past. Right now, what's important is that Sam is here, and starting tomorrow, we'll see if we can finally get somewhere with trying to find Charlie."

Jessica turned to Sam. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Sam. I'd love to talk more, but I have to get back. I have a big exam tomorrow. I hope we can meet up again sometime. I really want to know more about you, and Charlie as a kid."

Sam smiled. "I'll see what I can do."

"Well then," said Clay. "Sam and Kyle, there's a few spare bedrooms for you to use tonight. And assuming we're all done raiding the kitchen…" He gave Carlton a knowing look, "...I think it's time we get some shut-eye. We've got a big day tomorrow."

Well, this is certainly getting more and more interesting, not to mention bizarre. What Clay told me and Kyle was mind-blowing. That stuff only happens in fiction, right? Haunted machines, fake people impersonating real people. Reminds me of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" a little bit.

I don't know. I'm still a little skeptical, and Kyle is, too. I think he waited until after we were alone before telling me to not offend them. Ever since that fight with Johnny, he's become so intimidated of saying something stupid, even though he occasionally still does. He's really skeptical about this whole thing, still.

I'm not sure what's going on, and frankly, I don't think I really want to know. I just want to help find my sister, and hopefully, we will, and get back to the way things were before whatever craziness in this town gets to me, too. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day to help clear things up.

Sam lay in his bed in one of the spare bedrooms, staring up at the ceiling. Clay and Carlton's stories kept running through his mind.

"She seemed so real, but she wasn't," Carlton had said, which Clay confirmed.

That was the part that he couldn't understand, no matter how hard he thought. How could Charlie have died and supposedly come back to life, along with another version of her wandering around that knew how to say the right things and play the part fooling most people around her? According to the Burkes, she was a monster, only revealing her true form when she encountered one of them alone with their guard down. What sense did that make? Did his late father have anything to do with this?

He rolled over onto his side, glancing at the clock. 12:32 AM. The second night in a row of him having trouble falling asleep. For only being April, it was significantly warmer here than it was in Chicago. Granted, that was to be expected, but it still caught him off guard.

He kept thinking about what was going to happen the next few days. According to the Burkes, Charlie's doppelganger was indeed dead, but it still irked him to think that something that looked just like her was roaming around the town just a month earlier. It weirded him out, just imagining a pair of familiar yet different eyes looking at him as if gazing into his soul. He shuddered, hoping that Clay and Carlton were right.

He heard footsteps walk by his door outside. Either it was someone getting up to get something, or...

Uh-oh. Forgot to tell them about Kyle's sleepwalking habits. Oops. He chuckled to himself. Well, I'm sure he'll wake himself up by walking into a wall at some point. He has enough trouble navigating our apartment in his sleep.

And with that, Sam found himself fading into sleep.