Carlton shifted in his seat and listened closely to the bored, yet authoritative-sounding voice coming over the loudspeaker above his head. While he crackling static made it a little hard to make out what they were saying, he got enough of it to know that they were approaching Grand Central Station. He glanced down towards the map spread out across his legs and then traced his fingers along the route that he'd spent a couple of hours figuring out.
It had taken a lot of persuasions to convince his aunt and mother to let him go all the way to New York to visit his friends; not to mention that nightmare that had been agreeing to let him make the trip all by himself. But he'd made the case that he needed to get away from everything going on with his parents for at least a little bit for the sake of his health. Using that argument had been what allowed him to win through his family's concern; so long as he kept his promise to call them once per day. After almost a week jumping from station to station, he was almost finished with his journey.
Even though he hadn't been totally dishonest, Carlton still felt rather bad about lying to his family. He'd led them to believe that the trip was for him to reconnect with his friends and take a break from his troubles. Thankfully no one had figured out his true intentions the night of his mother's birthday, otherwise, they wouldn't have let him go anywhere outside the county line.
His trip's true purpose was more akin to a rescue operation. At least, that's what he'd been calling it in his head while planning it all out. For the first time in his life, his father's nickname had been accurate because Carlton felt like an actual soldier that was being sent into hostile enemy territory on a mission to save his friends from everything that was trying to destroy them.
As the train began slowing down, he felt the large backpack between his legs tilt forward. Carlton rushed to grab it before it could hit the floor and managing to get his grip on it just as it was a few centimeters away from striking the ground. He winced as he heard the sound of muffled clanking emanate from within his bag before then looking around at the other passengers sitting near him.
To his relief, all of them seemed either too preoccupied with their own matters or just didn't really care all that much about their surroundings. After letting out a quiet sigh, Carlton quietly moved the bag up to his chest and hugged it tightly.
'Just another hour or two...maybe a bit more than that but, we're nearly there.' He chuckled internally while taking another look over the map. He'd have to switch trains at the next station and ride it until he was close enough that he could hitch a ride into town or see if there was a bus that could take him straight to Brookhaven from the station itself.
While the bus option was ideal, he'd also prepared for the possibility of having to go with the former option. He'd tried getting a hold of Charlie or John to try and pick him up but found that the time difference made things rather difficult contact wise due to him not knowing either of their schedules.
After the tenth attempt at getting into contact with them, Carlton had given up and just decided to cross that bridge when he got to it. But even though he'd long ago mastered the art of "winging it," when it came to somewhat perilous situations, being alone on the other side of the country was something, not even he could have prepared for.
'At least you've managed to finally fulfill your goal of seeing more of the world.' Carlton thought, somewhat ruefully, as he folded up his map. The train lurched once again as it came to a final stop in the station.
Before Carlton even had the chance to get to his feet, the other passengers around him seemed to suddenly break out of an immobilizing trance that hadn't affected Carlton while the train was moving. Everyone began moving towards the train doors, pushing their way past Carlton's seat and almost blocking him off from exiting. It wasn't all that surprising to see so many people getting off at the same stop as him, seeing as how the station was called Grand Central for nothing but it didn't make it any less of a hassle for him to deal with.
"Well...that figures," Carlton grumbled to himself as he tried to squeeze into the ever-growing crowd of people. A task that was much easier said than done, especially with everyone in the car trying to get out of the same exit. Carlton had to hold back a rather surprised yelp as the crowd swept him up and began moving him over towards already packed train doors.
But before he found himself getting too uncomfortable, the doors opened up and allowed the crowd to spill out into the station proper. Carlton walked along with them for a short distance before breaking away from the larger group and then headed off in his own direction.
But his attention was soon drawn towards the station's interior. He'd never seen anything like it before, at least not outside of some of the old movies that he'd watched when there'd been nothing else on TV. It was almost like stepping into another world for him, one that didn't exist anywhere back in Hurricane.
"Man, they really don't call this place "Grand Central Station" for nothing do they?" Was all he was able to say before he nearly collided with a couple of other passengers.
After quickly rambling out an apology to the people, Carlton continued on his way to the bus terminal. Having now decided that it would be better for him to stay focused on the following signs rather than spending his time gawking at the station's interior.
But even with his focus now firmly set on finding his goal, he soon the station's vastness meant that finding the bus terminal took longer than expected, But once he'd managed to follow the signs where he needed to go, he found himself speaking to one of the many station employees.
"So you said that you need to get to Brookhaven?" They asked carefully, making sure that they got all of his information right.
"Uh-huh, I know that there's not a station for it anymore but do you know if there are any buses that I could take out there?" Carlton said, and then looked down at his hands as a mixture of excitement and nervousness building up within him as he watched the employee type something into their computer.
"We do have a bus heading out that way in about half an hour, if you're able to handle a few extra hours on a bus then I can get you a ticket for it right now."
"Considering how much time I've spent on trains these past few days, a bus might be a good change of pace." Carlton chuckled weakly as he passed them some cash, groaning internally at his failed attempt at humor that only earned him a polite smile from the employee as they got back to work on getting him a ticket.
"Okay Sir, here's your ticket to Brookhaven. Just make sure to keep an eye on the time and make sure that you have the right bus line. " The employee helpfully said while handing him both the ticket and his change. "We hope you'll have a wonderful trip as well as a good night."
"Thanks, I hope you do too," Carlton replied. Despite knowing that the "good night" remark employees gave someone was usually just a generic phrase, it felt rather nice to have some positive interaction after the long hours he'd spent on the train with the other passengers.
He walked away from the counter and over towards the bus terminal's waiting area. But as he entered the room, he was blindsided by the freezing fall air that was coming off of the sea. While he was used to the cold back in Utah, it was nothing compared to being out by the sea in the waning months of the year.
He shivered and stopped walking just long enough to zip up his jacket before settling into a seat near the exit, even though his jacket provided only a little respite from the cold air. Carlton shivered and pulled the collar up; silently praying that it would be enough to at least to tide him over till his bus arrived.
In an effort to distract himself from the biting cold, he began looking around at the various advertisements scattered around the waiting area. Taking note of how each one tried it's best to stand out against both the other advertisements as well as the grandeur of the station itself. Carlton knew that it wasn't much to do, but it would at least keep him entertained for a little bit.
That was until he spotted a newer ad in the farthest corner of the room, the sight of it making his blood colder than the air outside. He tried to blink and then rub at his eyes to make sure that he wasn't seeing things but soon realized that his eyes were not playing tricks. Even with all the changes that had been to his design, there was no mistaking the smiling, cheerful form of Freddy Fazbear waving at everyone who looked at the poster.
Carlton felt his stomach churn about and twist into a tight knot as he stared down the poster. Just looking at it made him feel like his entire body had turned into lead, but he couldn't stop staring at it. Almost as if the poster had managed to capture him in some kind of spell.
He continued staring at it even while getting to his feet and moving closer to it. Locking eyes with the friendly-looking bear whose smile hid a bloody legacy that had nearly claimed him just the year before. With each step, he felt his initial moment of fear turn into something dangerous as a wave of burning anger rose up within him. So much so that by the time he'd gotten over to the poster, he was ready to tear it right off of the wall.
His fingers dug deep into his palms as he gazed directly at this insult to the memory of everyone who had been hurt by the original Freddy's. Not just Michel's memory, but also the memories he had of all his remaining friends almost being killed. But before he could act upon the urge to tear down the poster, a familiar voice from his left caught his attention.
"I still can't believe that they actually went through with that." The voice was little more than a whisper, but Carlton was close enough that he'd been able to hear it clear as day.
He turned his head to look at the person who'd said the comment, half expecting to see someone in the midst of a conversation that he'd accidentally tuned into. But what he actually saw delivered the second biggest shock of the night to him.
"Jessica?" He gasped. Even though she was bundled up in what seemed to be the warmest coat and hat he'd ever seen in his life, it was impossible to mistake the confident looking girl beneath for anyone but his old childhood friend. He watched as Jessica flicked her apprehensive gaze from the poster over to Carlton and then let out a gasp of her own.
"C-Carlton? What are you doing all the way out here?" She asked as her face lit up with surprise.
"Oh, I'm just finally going out to see the world outside of Hurricane and figured what better place to start than the big apple?" He flashed her quick grin and chuckled, having used this explanation to convince his family. While he trusted Jessica, he wasn't too sure how she'd react to what he was doing.
"How about you? I mean, I know you live here out but I figured that you'd be home by this time of night."
As with the bus terminal employee before, Jessica didn't give him the reaction he was hoping for. Her mouth turned into a lopsided frown as she glanced back over at the poster before looking out the nearby window.
"Well considering that you didn't call me about coming for a visit and how we seem to be boarding the same bus, I'd wager a guess that we're both here for the same reason."
"Umm...that...depends why you think I'm going to Brookhaven." Carlton looked aside and lightly dug his toe into the floor. Even though he was happy to see Jessica, he had been caught off guard by how quickly she'd figured him out.
Jessica looked to the side again, her mind trying to form the right words as she glanced back towards the poster again. Her face turning from a frown into a sneer upon seeing Freddy's elated face once again.
"Well, I supposed you've already found out about the Freddy's that some ex-partner of Charlie's dad built over there-"
"Wait, it's in Brookhaven!?" Carlton's jaw dropped as he looked over the poster again. His eyes widened as he noticed and read the address printed out at the bottom, giving him another possible answer as to why Charlie and John hadn't been picking up their phone.
"Yeah, I went over about a couple months ago to try taking their minds off it but…"
"Let me guess, they're not responding anymore," Carlton said as his mind flashed back to the dream that had started him on his journey. At the time he hadn't been sure if it was a vision or some kind of replay of Charlie's own memories and the revelation of this new Freddy's began making the answer all too clear for him. But before he could give it any more thought, Jessica spoke up again and snapped him back to the conversation.
"Kinda...ever since the place opened Charlie's been becoming...distant again." Jessica rubbed her arm as concern flooded over her face. "I know that it sounds a bit nosy but, I'm worried that this place is causing her to slide backward...y'know what I mean right?"
"Yeah, I getcha…" Carlton nodded affirmingly. Even though he was by no means a psychologist, he'd become very familiar with the dark place that the experience at the old Freddy's had left him in. So if Charlie was entering a similar place, then that meant she was liable to do something like what he'd tried to do. But unlike him, there was a much higher risk of something going wrong. That is if he wasn't too late to help already.
"I'm here because of that too…well...it's a lot more complicated than that actually." Carlton murmured as all hints of his usual tone quickly left his voice. "But it's...going to take a bit of explaining."
Jessica let out a small, "hmm," in response as she looked at her watch and then pulled her own bus ticket from her pocket.
"Well, it looks like we've got another twenty minutes before our bus comes and then a couple of hours ride after that so that should give you plenty of time for you to tell me everything" She gave him a confident grin, trying her best to mask her insecurities about the situation.
"Alright, but I just have one thing to ask you." Carlton briefly smiled before it fell back into a frown. "Promise me that you won't think that I'm crazy."
'If we could just corner it inside that room next to Rick's office and maybe use some of the tables covers to restrain it then we might be able to weaken it enough to destroy it but...' Charlie stopped scribbling in her notebook and grabbed her head with an angry sigh before she angrily ripped out the page and tore it apart. Violently scattering the pieces about until there was almost nothing left of her most recent failure.
After letting out another frustrated sigh, that briefly turned into a pathetic wheeze, she slumped back in her seat and moved her hands up to her temples. Her fingers pressing deep into her forehead as she tried using breathing exercises to calm herself down. But the unknown voice in her mind refused to grant her more than a moment's peace and pushed forward yet another plan to rid the world of Dave's suit.
The price of doing all this planning was beginning to have a rather high mental cost as over the course of the past week, she'd started distancing herself from almost everyone around her. At both work and home, she'd do what was needed with her head hung low, only responding whenever someone directly asked her a question. While she'd done her best to continue being engaged with those around her, her mind was constantly pushing the need to make a plan over everything else. Forcing her to constantly fixate on her end goal of destroying Dave's suit and finally ridding the world of his evil.
But coming up with the "perfect" plan had gone beyond a simple desire to shed herself of Freddy's bloody legacy, it was now an obsession. As she kept on planning no matter how many of them fell; spurned on by the little voice giving her idea after idea.
"Alright... Let's try this one more time" Charlie muttered as she brushed aside the scraps of paper and began jotting down another idea on the next page.
Coming up with all of these plans had once again caused Charlie to begin reflecting on the events of last year. Making her wish that all of her friends from that incident were here now to help her out, but all of them were now out and living their own lives so it just came down to her and John.
While she knew that he'd vowed to always be by her side, the reassurance that promise provided had recently begun to dwindle with each passing day. Patching up the tension between them hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped due in part to her dedicating all of her spare time to coming up with her plans.
Even though they'd been practicing walking on eggshells around each other it hadn't diminished how much both of them cared for the other. But there seemed to be something like a dark cloud trying to push its way between them; doing everything in its power to separate them in every way possible except for physically. While there hadn't been anything close to a fight between them, Charlie feared that if she didn't think up a solution soon then it'd only be a matter of time before they actually had one. The prospect causing her stomach to sink even lower than it already was.
Eventually, she began wondering if her father had felt the same way during the original murders. It must have been hard to constantly put on a brave face to make the world believe that everything was fine while he collapsed from the inside out; suffocated by his mental torment until he'd reached a breaking point that he couldn't return from.
She didn't want to be broken the same way that her father had, but it almost felt like she didn't have a choice but to follow his footsteps. Especially since her newest plan was yet again not turning out the way she wanted it to go.
Charlie stopped herself mid-way through writing out something and stared down at the paper. She could already feel the frustration building up within her as she gripped the paper, intending to destroy it as she had all of her previous failures. But before she could begin tearing it to pieces, she felt John's hand lightly squeeze her shoulder.
"Hi," Charlie said as she looked up at him with a tense smile.
"Hey, I just wanted to check in and see how all the planning was going." John looked at her with an equally tense, yet reassuring smile before turning his gaze towards the floor. Charlie watching on as he looked down at all of the scraps and then partially open his mouth to say something but quickly deciding against it and instead of going for,
"I'm guessing it's not going well." He said after a moment of silence.
"That's putting it lightly, actually saying that it's going terribly would probably work better," Charlie grunted angrily and then shoved her notebook and pen across the table. "Nothing that I'm coming up with is working."
She tensed up a little as John slowly ran his fingers down her back in an intimate gesture that managed to slightly calm her down.
"I just…" Charlie once more reached up to sink her fingers into her hair, almost ready to pull it out from frustration. "I don't know what to do anymore…"
John reached over and squeezed one of her hands, the gentle touch bringing a little smile to Charlie's face as she squeezed his hand back. But the smile quickly faded away as the little voice began speaking up again; commanding Charlie to get back to working on a plan.
"Do you remember what you told me when I was working on my haikus?" John asked softly while using his free hand to massage her shoulder.
Charlie looked at him with an almost irate gaze that'd brought out by the internal voice's now constant demands. She defiantly nodded her head and let out a chuckle.
"About how you needed a break so you didn't force it your work and end up unhappy with it? Yeah, I remember. Were you going to say that I need to follow my own advice?"
"Well...something like that, yeah." John knelt down so he was able to evenly meet Charlie's eyes and squeezed her hand again. "Given how you demolished that page, I think a little break is more than overdue."
Charlie smiled and was about to give John a reply in the affirmative when she suddenly felt a quick flash of anger flare up within her mind. The now not-so-little voice loudly ordering her to turn down John's suggestion and get back to work on the plan with a tone of voice that indicated it was more than a little tired with her getting sidetracked.
But she knew that John was right about her needing a break, even if it was just a small one that was only long enough to rest her mind so she could have a fresh approach to the situation. But the voice wasn't having any of it, barking at her to finish the plan.
Charlie internally huffed and looked back down at the paper. Her already frayed patience with the voice began to wear very thin as she responded to its anger in kind.
'I'll finish this plan, but then I'm taking a break.' She mentally told it what she hoped was an authoritative-sounding thought. She felt the voice's anger flare up once again before it suddenly subsided like an angry child stomping away from an argument. While it hadn't fully gone away, it had apparently decided that this wasn't a battle it wanted to fight right now.
It was a temporary victory at best though; she knew that it'd be back sooner or later. But for now, she'd wrap up this plan and then enjoy the momentary peace that she'd achieved.
It was then she remembered that John was still next to her and was waiting for her to give him an answer. She reached out to once again take hold of her pen and then looked back at him.
"I'm going to finish up this and then I'll take you up on that offer. If you don't mind waiting a bit." The nervous smile that had been making its way across her face fell once saw the disappointed look that John quickly hid by returning his face to a neutral position.
"Alright...just come to get me when you're done with...that." He gestured towards the notebook in her hands and then stood up to make his way over to the living room.
Once more, she felt the flash of anger rise up within her mind, this time directed towards John more than her, and this time she found herself agreeing with it at least a little. Whether or not those thoughts were really her were irrelevant as she could worry about it once she was done with the plan.
She clicked her pen open and began once again trying to recall as much as she could about the new Freddy's general layout. While she hadn't seen all of the Pizzeria, she hoped that she'd experienced enough to at least give them some sort of edge against the suit
There were only so many places that it could hide during the day and thus it'd have to stay hidden until the coast was totally clear. Figuring out those potential hiding spots was a crucial part of all of her plans, with Charlie holding out hope that it'd be easy enough to trap him while he was hidden and thus not have to deal with a lot of resistance.
But as she finished up this plan, she realized too late that it was going to be just like the ones that had come before as it was too complicated to work with just the two of them. The lack of extra people to help them out was once again the biggest stumbling block whenever it came to bringing these plans to life.
It was then that the little voice suggested asking some of the people that she'd met since moving to Brookhaven for help, but Charlie had shot that idea down before it even had the chance fully form. She didn't want to put anyone else in danger of ending up like Arty. Not that any of them would ever believe her story in the first place.
Charlie sighed in defeat and set down her pen to start shredding this paper as she had the last one but then stopped herself at the last second. While the plan wasn't going to work without more people, it was still a pretty good plan that could be refined to fit their lack of people power.
She made a quick mental note to try building off it for her next attempt at a plan, she stood up and closed her notebook. The little voice already making itself known, but Charlie quickly managed to get it to hut up by reminding it of their earlier deal. Just like before, the voice flared up some anger but then quickly faded away like a child rushing back to their room to hide from an angry parent.
After taking yet another calming breath, she stooped down to start picking up the scattered remnants of the shredded pages while also recalling thinking back to when she'd chastised John for doing the same.
Bringing up this memory caused her to begin reflecting on everything that had happened since that first week working at the store and how the following two months of her life had come to feel like several years. As she was picking up the last scraps of paper, the quote from Aunt Jen's friend about change came back into her mind.
"A good change can be one of the slowest things you'll ever experience, but a bad change can come about in an instant." The memory of it made Charlie scowl and bitterly mutter something about needing to actually listen to that kind of advice instead of just brushing it off.
While she was throwing away the scraps of paper, she glanced over at the living room tossed that that John was now seated on the couch with one of his books. Although she couldn't initially tell if it was for his classes or for fun, the fact that he seemed to focus hard on reading meant that it was probably the latter.
She could always tell if John was enjoying what he was reading by how often he looked up from his books and from what she'd seen he hadn't torn his gaze away from this one since he'd picked it up.
As she quietly went over to the couch, she began thinking of something that could break the tension between them. But because she'd spent so much of her mental energy coming up with plans that she'd effectively drained her mind dry of anything else. After nearly half a minute of thinking, she managed to get out a somewhat strained "Hi," before being suddenly cut off by the sound of someone knocking at the front door.
The two of them jumped and snapped their heads towards the door before slowly then directing their gazes back at each other. As though they were trying to silently ask if they'd been expecting someone to drop by and had forgotten about it.
After they both received confirming head shakes that indicated that they hadn't been expecting anybody, Charlie looked at the door with a concerned expression. The worrying thought that it might be the police began to take root in her head, which wasn't helped by the familiar little voice taking the opportunity to speak up once again. Trying it's best to stoke up her fear that whoever was on the other side of the door did not have her best intentions at heart.
After about a minute of breathless waiting, the knocking came again. This time it was a bit harsher than before with the addition of a voice calling out through the edges of the doorway.
"Charlie? John? Are you guys in there?"
"Is that…Jessica?" John whispered as he shot up to his feet while both of their jaws dropped to the floor when another voice joined in.
"Maybe they're not home?"
"Unless they decided to go somewhere this late without their car and left all their lights on, then I'm gonna assume that they're home."
"C-Carlton?" Hearing the second voice was what finally allowed Charlie to find her voice as her hand covered her mouth in shock. Both she and John exchanged stunned looks that were then returned to the door as Carlton called out to them.
"Huh, guess you were right. Yeah! It's us, can we come in it's...a lot colder out here than I expected."
"What did I tell you?"
"Give me a break Jess, it's my first time outside of Utah."
Before Carlton had finished his sentence, Charlie had already sprinted over to the door and was in the process of throwing it open as just as Jessica began her familiar remarks about inappropriate winter dress.
Now it was her and Carlton's turn to be stunned as they snapped to attention and looked at Charlie. Jessica remaining quiet as her eyes slowly scanned over her friend's appearance while Carlton greeted Charlie with a friendly smile.
"Hey Charlie, uh…is your new job going well?" Despite Carlton's jovial attitude, a few hints of concern made their way into his voice as he too took in Charlie's unkempt appearance.
"It's been…" Charlie trailed off from giving her usual stock answer and gave Carlton a confused look. "…Wait how do you know about that?"
"I filled him in on some details while we were riding the bus over here," Jessica said while guiltily raising her hand with a nervous grin. "He's actually here for kind of the same reason as me."
Charlie felt her chest tightening at Jessica's statement. She'd already had a good explanation in mind for Jessica's sudden appearance, but Carlton's presence had thrown all of her theories out the window. She glanced off to the side and let out a chuckle, hoping that neither of them would pick up on her nervousness.
The little voice in her head hissed out some unhelpful advice on how to get rid of the two, advice that Charlie did her best to tune out while trying to come up with an explanation for her behavior that didn't reveal her current plans.
But before she could think of anything to say, a cold blast of wind swept across the complex and sent a chill through everyone standing at the doorway. After they'd all stopped shivering, Carlton spoke up again.
"I don't mean to sound rude or like a broken record but is it alright if we come in? Between you and me I'm not really in the mood to freeze to death out here." Carlton asked jokingly while also trying to keep his shivering down to a minimum.
"Oh-oh right! Yeah, come in." Charlie mumbled as she stepped aside and gestured towards the apartment's interior. Carlton slid past Jessica and looked about the room as he walked over towards the still stunned John.
"Woah, nice to finally see this place in person." He raised his hand up to John and grinned. "Hey, there's my second favorite college-bound buddy."
"Second favorite?" John asked somewhat incredulously. The remark having finally snapped him out of his stupor and return Carlton's high five as he let out a friendly laugh.
"Well, it's kind of hard to beat Lamar's track record, I've heard from a little bird named Marla that he's already made the honor roll and is looking at graduating early." Carlton shrugged his bag off of his shoulder and slid it down to his hand.
"Do you guys have a place where I can put this? If not, I'm more than happy keeping it on my person."
Charlie tuned Carlton out and focused herself on shutting the door once Jessica had walked in after him. With everything going on in her life, she recognized when someone was doing their best to hide something from those around them.
To her, it was plain as day that Carlton was trying too hard to cover up his nervousness with his jokes. As she was about to walk over to him, Jessica reached out to give her shoulder a firm squeeze. Charlie turned to face her and saw that Jessica's expression had become hardened with concern.
"Charlie, are you okay? Don't take this the wrong way but, you look like hell compared to when I last saw you."
"Y-yeah…but…well…" Charlie looked down at the floor while running a hand up the side of her hair. "There's just been a lot of stress from work and...other stuff. Looking like crap tends to happen when you don't get enough sleep." Charlie rubbed at her arm and let out a deep sigh.
"I know that I've been distant and a bit short with our phone calls but life's just gotten really busy for us." She frowned as Jessica shook her head in response.
"No...Charlie, I know that you want to hide it but I can tell when something's bothering you. I'd just assumed that all the advertisements for the new Freddy's were getting to your head but then...well… I met up Carlton at the train station a few hours ago and he had...quite the interesting story to tell me that I feel you'd be rather interested in hearing."
"Oh really? W-what kind of story?" Charlie asked quietly, her body tensing up and she heard the voice angrily shout at her to ignore everything that Jessica was saying.
It was getting harder to ignore the voice now as it began trying to put words in her mouth that she'd normally never even dream of saying to her. Just keeping it silent was proving to be a more difficult task then it was worth, but Charlie held her tongue.
"Well according to him, Michael showed him a few things that we're hoping you can elaborate on."Charlie gasped a little but then quickly collected herself, letting out a deep sigh as she carefully considered what she wanted to say next. But after thinking it over, she knew that the best thing to do was to be upfront about what was actually going on.
"Okay…But I want him to tell his die first and then I'll mine okay? Just promise me that you won't judge me too harshly okay?" To Charlie's surprise, Jessica responded to her request with a burst of laughter.
"He asked me the same thing before we got on the bus and after hearing everything that he's been getting up too, I don't think anything will surprise me anymore."
For the first time since her trip back to the new Freddy's Charlie felt a genuine smile cross her lips. Even though she was shocked by her friend's sudden reappearance, the idea that Michael had sent them her way made her more than a little grateful to have them back on her side. Maybe now, she'd be able to put her plans to good use and end this once and for all.