Luis Cabrera was many things: socially inept, purposely ignorant of any faults a certain blonde may or may not possess, and an overall dork (as Ness sometimes jokingly calls him). But one thing he was not, was a fool.
As a child he had been privy to information the general public hadn't, regarding the five missing children's case. His abuela, and by extension his mother, never recovered from Gabriel's disappearance, and were probably the most paranoid people in all of Hurricane.
Attending any gathering (birthday parties, school-sponsored events, concerts, and anything remotely similar in nature) was prohibited without someone to actively watch over him.
It was embarrassing, to say the least.
People whispered amongst themselves, and it felt like only he could hear them. Nasty, horrible things that made the flesh underneath his skin burn with unbridled rage. He once made the mistake of asking his mother why people were so "concerned" with their family.
She stopped smiling for a few days following his question.
His abuela, especially as she got up in age and her mental-state slowly declined, became more and more lax. But never, in all the years Luis knew her, did she ever smile.
After his father passed away-joining Luis' abuela, abuelo, and mother in their eternal slumber-he had been tasked with cleaning out his childhood home. Lots of old junk and knick-knacks from way back when, covered in cobwebs and layers of dust, but in between all that, he uncovered photographs from his mother's youth.
Overexposed pictures that had worn edges and a smell that Luis can only liken to a really old book. He found a bunch of them hidden under his abuelo's mattress, like he was afraid the man who took Gabriel away would return and snatch them right up.
There were his grandparents' wedding pictures. Both of them young, scared, but oh, so hopelessly in love. Adoration written across each and every glance they paid one another-something that would never change, even after their son's disappearance, and would remain so until Luis' abuela took her final breath.
And even older pictures of abuela and abuelo as children, playing freely on the streets of a place he can't quite recognize.
But the photographs that really grabbed his attention were the ones with his mother and uncle.
His mother was a few years younger than Gabriel, being five-years-old when the incident took place. In the few stories she managed to get through without tearing up or lashing out, she liked to reiterate how much he reminded her of her brother.
And, seeing his uncle in color and not in the black and white print of a newspaper obituary (which always seemed to be the photo placed at the altar on Dia de Los Muertos), Luis could see the resemblance. The same broad nose, wide brown eyes, and curly, untamable, inky-black hair.
He and Luis' mother are standing outside one of the original Freddy Fazbear's restaurants. They're standing hand-in-hand and smiling-the very last time either of them would ever smile so freely.
It made him unspeakably angry.
It made him so, so, so angry.
It made him so angry that he almost ripped up the photo, trying to erase his uncle's smiling face from his mind. All those years of being socially isolated and alone, not being able to keep friends because they all-eventually (because it's not a matter of if but when)-grow impatient at tip-toeing around Luis' family overly-strict rules. All because his uncle had to go and get himself kidnapped.
He felt bad as soon as the thought popped into his head.
But it didn't go away, and it sat there at the back of his mind, like an itch he couldn't scratch.
He tried to make up for it by taking his childhood home off the market. He cleaned the place up as best he could on the limited budget he had, but eventually-as it always does-the money ran out. And, though he hadn't wanted to work within the borders of his home town, he decided that being able to afford food and other necessities far outweighed his desire to never see his peers again.
But it was hard finding somewhere that was in need of an IT guy, especially in a town as worn down and in shambles as Hurricane. All the positions, from the highest paying to the lowest, were full-not that there were many to begin with.
So, when yet another Freddy's location opened its doors, Luis saw an opportunity.
An opportunity to: A, finally get a decent job behind the scenes, and B, leave behind his family's no nonsense policies and perhaps enjoy all the things (even vicariously) he was denied as a child.
And he scored an interview…a job…a friend …
Still, the itch stayed, nestled firmly in between thoughts of concern over Vanessa's odd behavior and the sweet, rose-tinted memories of his childhood.
He tried to make up for it again, throwing himself headfirst into his work.
Luis quickly rose to the top of the IT department and was soon in charge, second only to Mr. Shaffert, the head administrator. But it still wasn't enough.
So, he threw everything he had in him to maintain his friendship with Ness.
She was kind and the prettiest girl he's ever talked to before. He had been unsure (is still unsure) why she was so forthcoming, honest and earnest in a way that he hadn't been used too. Always so anxious and unsure of herself, but also one of the wittiest people he had ever met.
God, he loved her so much.
Not that he would ever tell her that.
And the itch remained.
Watching Vanessa on the CCTV footage had been a shock to his very core. It had been by pure chance that it was him in the security room-the main one at the heart of the Pizzaplex-and not one of his many coworkers.
Luis was fast, downloading the video to his laptop, and then deleting it from the security system.
It couldn't be happening, not again.
All the tabloids and true crime podcasts about his family's misfortune-about all the other missing children's families' misfortunes-came to mind. How the narrators always made it sound like-with their power of foresight and retrospect-the incident could have been prevented entirely.
But retrospect is retrospect for a reason, and no amount of wishing for a different outcome will ever make the dead come back to life.
He wished he could've seen the signs earlier, all those months ago.
He raced to the conference room, tripping over his feet on the stairs and nearly dropping his laptop (which is arguably the most important thing he owns).
Maybe he can't bring the dead back to life, but maybe he can save someone's life.
Stopping the madness before it could begin anew, saving her again if he has to.
Luis sent a message to Vanessa's pager and another and another, until she finally responded. He almost feels bad for lying to her about the meeting. Almost.
She entered the room in a frenzy of anxious energy, wearing a noticeably different shirt then she had been earlier. Wide eyes looking at him confused and a touch worried.
Why did it have to be so familiar?
They talked.
He felt the same sort of rage that felt all those years ago, still burning underneath his skin. He hates it! And he thinks-for just a moment-that he might hate her.
Again
She explained herself, kind of.
He feels himself slowly calm down, slowly…very slowly.
This wasn't like last time.
Luis put the pieces together, and had Vanessa take the lead to the daycare storage room.
She explained herself better, sounding unsure if she did the right thing.
He reassured her. He loved her (even though he hated her a minute ago), and seeing her so distressed made him feel off balance.
"Ness," he said, they were outside the mall, just outside the side door she had told him about, "I'm not mad at you, okay?" Luis needed her to know, for some unexplainable reason or another, that his earlier dramatics were for a purpose. And that purpose was designated for a version of her that no longer existed.
"Okay, and I understand why you would be mad if I was going to do…that again" She nervously laughed, turning to swipe her card on the reader.
He looked at her, the world feeling a little more balanced and thoughts clearer than they usually are.
The door opened with a mechanical click, sensor blinking green.