If you can, feel free to inform me if any of the tools existed in the 90s or beforehand, in the automotive shop of Kaleia's family.

Chapter Two

Damaged

Small as this place was, it was a workman's paradise with all the tools in the right places.

"This my wife and I built together as soon as we left Hawaii and came here, because it was the best we could afford at the time, but there are no regrets," Mason Kai was telling him as he showed Michael around. "We don't look like much, but at least it's better than some greedy, vast corporation which is overrated." He scoffed, shaking his head and tapping on his clipboard. "Believe me when I tell you that I made that mistake when I was your age and never looked back. Almost cost me everyone I loved."

Words to live by. I'd grown up in that kind of environment.

On the walls were every tool imaginable as well as within toolboxes: pliers. Hammers. Drills. Picks and every existing wrench. Chisels. Air compressors. Fluid drainers. Safety glasses. Fire extinguishers. He could go on forever, but this little place was a dream come true on a small scale. Old guy was still speaking. "Got three kids - well, actually, one now. One was a son who died towards the end of the war in 'Nam. Daughter with a family of her own back in Hawaii, and a daughter and son-in-law who are also gone. My granddaughter I raised with my wife," he said proudly, as soon as they arrived back into his office, and there Michael saw the personalizations which he could see were genuine, unlike the destroyed Afton household.

It was too close to home, but this man had also lost two children but were fully grown.

Mason Kai was no one he would have ever expected to interview with. Michael had lots of shit luck in the past because of who his father was and what he "did" to his brother, but you know what they said about scandals: no one cared about the details. That was back in Hurricane, though; his face never wound up in the newspapers because Old Man made sure of it. William didn't want anything else added to the Afton name this way. Thank God Michael took his mother's maiden name after Uncle Henry took him away. Anyway, back to Mason Kai, his new boss who was nothing like the stuffy, stern, and overtly dressed bitches and assholes who let him stay temporarily before finding an excuse to get rid of him, whether he did something wrong or accidentally. This guy was chill but firm, meaning business because it was called for, otherwise treated everyone who worked for him like a human being. The navy blue t-shirt he wore clung to the body he still maintained in his old-ass age, bearing his company's logo - the name as well as some water waves and a bunch of colorful flowers called, what? Hibi - hibi - damn, he was never a flower person, but Mom would know. Mason's jeans were dirtied from work, being hands-on himself because he hated being lazy, he said.

"I'll tell you all about them another time," Mason said of his family, sitting behind his faded desk, which seemed to have been here since the beginning. "Okay, so we discussed this already, but the pay's good, hours fair, and all you gotta do is make the customers happy with their requests. And of course, make sure the equipment is polished and organized. Got me a couple of other employees here already, but they might like you." Psh, yeah, whatever. Not like I'll have friends after the others basically abandoned me.

"Oh, and there's fantastic health coverage in the event of injury," Mason added, dark eyes twinkling along with the sprinkles of gray peppering his slicked-back dark hair.

"That's...great." Good healthcare in this country was always promised and a God-given right, but difficult to come by. Not even Fazbear's was that accommodating to its employees, always citing it wasn't responsible for death and/or injury. Here? He finally hit what was close enough to the jackpot.

Mason beamed then, reaching for the picture frame to his left - the old man's, by the way - and taking it into his hand. "My grandbaby, Kaleia," he said, slightly on the verge of choking up, unashamed at showing it. He turned the frame around to show a faded wood scratched with what resembled emerald green paint. "She's still in nursing school, but she works at the hospital we're covered by. She graduates next year, my girl."

Michael swallowed, feeling the lump form. He hadn't been lucky with girls, not even with his "pretty boy" looks, and always wondered who the hell would put up with a baggage load like him. And now that he looked at the exotic beauty who Mason added was a few years younger than him - nope, nope, all aboard the train NO. Never mind the honey-tanned skin, translucent coconut-colored eyes, ebony hair braided in the front of her head while the rest fell over one shoulder, and what looked like a dress fluttering and painted with hues of yellow, flowers in shades of pink from light to dark, and teal ferns against light blue.

He had to stop this train of thought before he regretted something later. He did NOT come here for a job only to even consider getting into the pants of his boss's granddaughter he never even met.

There was a knock on the door, saving his grace from these thoughts he couldn't afford right now. "Come in," Mason called to the person on the other side, and when the door opened and they stepped in - "Ah, Jeremy! Come and meet Mr. Mike Schmidt. He's starting today. You can show him the ropes if you want."

Michael froze at the name Jeremy.

~o~

There the little crybaby was, sitting alone at his table with Charlie. He and the gang were together, and he was bored out of his mind and brooding.

"Little shit crying because of something Daddy made? Stupid."

"Mikey, when's he gonna grow the hell up?"

Sometimes he wondered why he was friends with these jackasses, except Jeremy. Jer was more or less coerced into this group, but himself? You could say that they noticed his enjoyment of the torment of Evan and called him one of them, and he had no friends, so he just joined in so he could have a group. Sperm donor didn't give two shits about him, so what?

Jeremy said nothing to what the others said, which made him the pansy of the gang. He was also in the back when...IT happened.

~o~

Just when he thought he'd have a good day as soon as he got here, but karma was a bitch as usual.

There was his old friend whom he hadn't seen since leaving high school. The only one he'd had after the others abandoned him following what had been dubbed the Bite of '83. Not much contact after Jeremy and his family moved out of Hurricane after the incident, but now...

"M-Mike?!"

"Oh, you two know each other?" Mason asked with widened eyes and a broader smile. "That's something."

"A long time ago, sir," Michael said quickly. "We just...went our separate ways because of life."

The man's face fell slightly. "I see, yes. Ahem," he said, clearing his throat, "well, you're both here now. Always good to have at least one friend in the same workplace. You two can catch up after today, but Jer, my boy, would you do the honors of showing Mike the ropes here?" His eyes kindly twinkled. Damn it. Just great.

Michael's anxieties burst to life just like that. How long it had been? TOO long. Jeremy looked his way without an expression except for a soft smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Just great. His past he could never get away from. What was next?

But at least Jeremy seemed to be thinking something similar to him, taking him into his working station, showing him the tools and whatnot, and when everything was over, the gloves were gently off so that everything was on display. "Man...it's been a long time," Jeremy said awkwardly, hands in the pocket of his navy blue suit.

"Yeah, it has been," Michael agreed awkwardly. Damn it, they used to be so close. But one thing hung over their heads and it wasn't each other directly.

"Something to talk about when we get a chance, though. We got work to do. Something came in I could use your help with. Your first." Now he genuinely grinned, and things started to look and feel a whole lot better.

~o~

"Morning, Ms. Shmidt. How are you today?" Kaleia asked, wearing her teal scrubs and walking into the exam room for her second patient this morning before she saw Dr. Jones. It was a routine checkup and nothing more. Woman was in such excellent health it wasn't funny.

This woman looked like she came from either the Midwest or maybe somewhere in the South because she looked the part. She slung her maroon cape over the back of the chair, showing off a denim dress wrapped at the waist and with the sleeves rolled to her elbows. The triple strands of pearls around her neck and wrist looked like something the First Lady wore back in the sixties. Her reddish blonde hair was its natural color, with no signs of silver or gray yet, but there were crow's feet on her face, though nothing severe even though she was in her early fifties. "Very well, if not for the fact I came close to spraining one ankle during one of my classes," Clara Schmidt answered with a snort, crossing one leg over the other like the proper lady she was. "But hell, nothing can take me off that dancefloor unless it's me. Never again."

She was referring to that ex-husband of hers that she mentioned back when Kaleia met her as the new girl among the nurses. The young nurse didn't know him by name because her boss's patient refused to divulge too much than necessary, so she knew to respect boundaries. Everybody's business was their own. What Clara said was more than enough of what she needed to know:

"It had been a home in the beginning, but over time...he hid within walls far from me and the kids. There was no more joy, just lifelessness in a tomb."

That ominous, somber, and mysterious line was enough to spark Kaleia's curiosity she had to shove back, or else. Curiosity killed the cat. Clara went on to say the father of her children was a workaholic who put more effort into his life's work than his family, and she'd been a damned fool to fall for his charm and handsome face. "Learned the hard way that appearances aren't everything, honey," she'd told Kaleia grimly. "I also was amazed by his genius, but I was young and stupid. Guess we both were. Got worse after he came home from Vietnam."

That was another thing they bonded over: Kaleia's service record in the Middle East, though a short period of time and enough to see a lot that made her realize she knew what was good for her. Clara didn't see the signs in her ex until it was too late, or rather, she'd been ignorant to a fault and thought their marriage and family could still work out.

As a result, two young children were dead since almost a decade ago, and now her adult son was all she had. The one who now works for Grandpa.

Vital signs taken, the doctor was now in and impatient to deal with his patient. "You can go now, Nurse Kai," Dr. Harrison Jones said gruffly, in one of his moods at the worst times. A mild similarity to bipolar, but the man had been in his field since he was her age. It was so easy to get annoyed with him, too, but it was just his personality, so Kaleia sucked it up.

Clara gave him the stink eye but said nothing.

"Have a good day, Ms. Schmidt," Kaleia told her before grabbing her clipboard with the documented results of the woman's blood pressure, pulse, heartbeat, etc.

Another thing: Clara took back her maiden name after the divorce. Whatever it was, good riddance to bad rubbish, as Grandma Akela would say.

However, before she could get to her station, she heard her name over the comm system, paging her to the emergency OR. "Damn it," Kaleia hissed. If she could guess who could need any of the following - stitching up, anesthetic, the electric paddles...

She withheld a gasp at the sight of the young man helped onto the bed, blood covering the white and teal of the doctor and nurses who aided him. She recognized him because of the picture Clara Schmidt showed at her last appointment because she loved her now only child so much.

~o~

Goddamn it, it was just his luck that someone from his past had to come into the garage and instantly recognize him.

And attack me at the same moment.

He didn't think anyone from Hurricane would wind up here in Beaver of all places, but then again, six years had passed since then. He'd never met the woman in person, only seen her on the telly when the incident took place. When Clara moved here, she'd wanted a fresh start away from the madness that was Fredbear's Diner and then Freddy Fazbear's, Circus Baby's being right in the middle. She still wished to this day she'd taken Michael with her when she had the chance, but then Henry swooped in, also leaving Hurricane and Fazbear behind.

It was a goddamned sick and twisted way to gain a new family after losing your wife to post-childbirth complications and then your only child to a murderer who was never caught. Not that he blamed Henry, but whoever did this to them.

It was bad enough Michael still had nightmares about Evan, even seeing Fredbear along with blood dripping from his gaping jaws - my baby brother's blood - along with the whispers of "It's ME" accompanied by ferocious growls. He had to whimper and cry in his sleep as he was plagued at night in juvie. His dead brother haunted him in the form of the animatronic that killed him, no, that Michael put him up to on his final birthday.

He'd deserved being locked up briefly, but not what this woman did now.

The mother of one of the missing children, Fritz Wilson.

I realize I never mentioned where our characters live in the present, further enough away from Hurricane (which I'm very happy to learn IS a real place in the south of the state of Utah), but Beaver it is. :D Got my info on it from the article "Best Places to Live in Beaver, Utah".

I have absolutely no idea if it could have been possible Jeremy was one of the kids involved with the Bite of '83, and that's also why I didn't write which mask he would have worn.

Kaleia's boss is named after both actor Harrison Ford AND his Indiana Jones character. :D

There's absolutely nothing in terms of the victims' last names (the missing children), but my loving boyfriend helped. :3 The rest will be revealed in due course.

Yyyyeah, poor Mikey got attacked at work, and by none other than the mother of Fritz (Foxy). Why the hell would she do that?! Read the next chapter and find out...