Begin Prompt in 3, 2, 1…

"It started talking to me."

Prompt: Freddy had a serious talk about your mental health.

I wasn't doing well after the accident. The pain was one thing, but to look down every day and see only one leg... It got to me. It felt like I was broken, and that they- the animatronics- took something from me that I couldn't ever get back. My feeling of self was totally gone.

It didn't help that I was pretty much stuck in bed. I fractured my neck too, you know, so I was in a brace and told not to move too much. Didn't have my fake leg yet anyway, so I would've had to use crutches, and that... Yeah, bed-bound.

Nobody from Freddy's came by, I didn't have any family, so all I had was a nurse who was there during the day to help me out. But I was on my own at night, and oh boy, night was rough. I felt more hopeless laying in that bed then I had any night at Freddy's. Even that night.

So, I had a lot of Freddy's merchandise in the house at that time. It was all over my bedroom. Just stuff I saved from being thrown away: posters, old costume pieces, clocks, toys, tickets- I even had those paper plate people kids used to make. On the walls, on the floor. All over my bedroom.

But the main piece of my collection was this head of Freddy from an old costume that I had up on my dresser. To be honest, the thing creeped me out, but I kept it up there. Sometimes I'd throw a shirt or something over it just to get to sleep, but I never moved it.

Now what I didn't have in the bedroom was a TV. I had some books stacked on the nightstand to keep me distracted, but I couldn't really lose myself into something. Not to mention that sitting up on the pillows put pressure on my spine and that led into my neck, so not much of a distraction.

I slept a lot, and when I woke up I got to stare at Freddy Fazbear and his friends. They took away my leg and now they were overtaking my life... They took my life, really. I-I already knew I wasn't ever going to be okay again... It started to get to me. Stopped taking calls- not that I got many- slept all the time, and as embarrassing as it is to admit, I cried a lot. I cried like a baby.

One night the pain was bad and I couldn't sleep. The medicine wasn't working, so I popped an extra pill, and I think maybe one more-? Uh, don't give me that look. I know what you're thinking and no. I was depressed, but I wasn't... I was looking to escape the pain, but that's it.

Long story short, I got pretty groggy at that point. Wasn't feeling anything, and if I did, I would've probably tried getting out of bed. I don't think my legs- uh, leg would've held up with that. Now I'm telling you this so you don't think I'm completely crazy. It could've just been the medicine.

...But that Freddy head, the one on the dresser? It started talking to me.

"Scott," he said. "Look at you. Look at what you've done to yourself."

And I wasn't really thinking straight, so I said something like: "Don't say that, Freddy. You did this to me." Heh, I think I even said, "This is why everyone likes Foxy more." I think he laughed. You know, one of those sad laughs. A pity laugh.

Then he tells me, "You're not getting better, Scott. You're getting worse. I've been watching you and you're giving up."

"Giving up?" I asked. "How am I giving up? I can't do anything but lay here. What am I supposed to be doing?" I think I remember asking him if he wanted me back at work. "I didn't quit, they fired me. They just took my leg instead of giving me a pink slip." ...And then I rambled a long time while Freddy watched me. I almost thought it was over, because he was quiet for so long, but then he tells me:

"This isn't the end, Scott. Whether or not you believe it, you were given a gift. You're free from the nightmare, free from Freddy's, and you're alive... Many of us don't get that chance. You'll get better, you'll put yourself back together, and you will live again."

...I have to tell you, that was a turning point. When the doctor said I was lucky to be alive, I didn't think anything of it, because I knew my life was going to be so different. But hearing it from that Freddy head, and knowing that... That there were others who weren't so lucky and didn't get another chance made me realize that I had to keep on. That it was going to get better.

And maybe I was confused- I probably was- but I thanked the hallucination of my monster. I thanked it because I knew that's what I needed. It's what I needed to put myself back together. So I told him, "Thanks, Henry."

I still keep that bear head on my dresser. It never talked again, but sometimes I feel like there's something else in the house with me. Something familiar and friendly... I don't think I could bear ever getting rid of him.