Saturday, July 25, 1987
Ever since Evan left Freddy Fazbear's Pizza the day before, he couldn't stop worrying about Mangle and he felt bad for leaving her, even though he had no choice in the matter. He kept thinking about how lonely she must be and imagined the other animatronics being mean to her. So when Michael finally agreed to take him to the restaurant, even though it was in the late afternoon, Evan felt relieved knowing that he'd be able to spend time with the broken animatronic and keep her company.
However, as the boys approached Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, Evan felt a sinking feeling in his stomach that something was terribly wrong. The entrance was closed and seemingly all members of staff were outside with concerned looks on their faces. There were even a couple of police officers talking to some of them.
The boys walked up to one of the staff members, a man who looked to be in his early twenties.
"Uh, hi. What's going on?" Michael asked as he took in the scene.
The staff member regarded Michael and Evan, and then replied, "It's better if you don't know."
"Can we please go inside?" Evan pleaded, though he worried that he already knew the answer.
Letting out a sigh, the staff member said, "Sorry, kid. The place is closed."
Evan's lips quivered. "But… But I promised Mangle I would see her today…"
The staff member gave him a rueful smile. "It's better if you don't. The animatronics aren't safe to be around anymore, especially not that one."
"But I promised," Evan said as tears began to well up.
Frowning, Michael asked, "When will you open up again?"
The staff member grimaced and replied, "Not for the foreseeable future." He gave Evan a look of sympathy. "Sorry, kid."
"... What?" Evan looked absolutely distraught with tears now streaming down his cheeks. "Nononono! I wanna see Mangle! Please, you gotta let me see her! You gotta!"
"Sorry, kid. I don't know what to tell you," the staff member said with a shrug.
"Mangle!" Evan cried out and tried to make a run for the door, only for Michael to grab him by the wrist, keeping him in place.
"The hell is wrong with you, you ditz!" Michael berated his younger brother. "Didn't you hear what he said?! It's not safe!"
"I don't care! I wanna see Mangle!" Evan sobbed. "I promised!"
Michael let out an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, well that's not happening!" He then pulled his little brother along as he began to leave. "Come on, let's go home."
Evan's crying turned into a wail as Michael forcibly brought him along to the bus stop.
Michael ground his teeth as the eight year old continued to bawl his eyes out. Finally, he snapped. "Evan, cut it out, for fuck's sake!"
This, of course, had no effect, and Evan just kept wailing and begging for them to go back to the restaurant.
Having had enough, Michael grabbed his little brother by the collar and shouted, "Shut up!"
Evan kept on wailing.
"I said shut up!" Michael shouted and struck Evan with the back of his hand.
The eight year old cried out in pain, but then went quiet for a moment. However, before long, he started wailing again, but he then stopped when he saw Michael raise his hand against him once more. Afraid of getting hit again, Evan sobbed and whimpered quietly to himself instead.
"Finally!" Michael exclaimed upon getting some reprieve.
Once they returned home, Evan spent the rest of the day crying in bed, not even coming down for dinner.
When William came home that night and learned of what had happened, he went to check on Evan. Quietly opening his door and peeking inside, William saw that the boy was lying with his face buried in his pillow and sobbing uncontrollably.
William entered the room and sat down on the side of the bed. Gently stroking the back of Evan's head, he said, "I heard about what happened today. I'm so sorry, sport."
"It's… It's not fair…" Evan sobbed.
"I know, sport. I know," William replied as he continued to stroke his son's hair.
"I told her… I told her I'd see her today…" the eight year old whimpered. "Now I'm never gonna see her ever again…"
"I know how hard this is for you," William said softly as he tried to comfort the boy. "But hey, perhaps I could build you a new animatronic friend?"
"I don't want a new animatronic! I want Mangle!" Evan sobbed.
"I know. But I'm afraid there's not a whole lot I can do about that," William replied. "But if you change your mind, know that the offer is still on the table."
Evan didn't respond. He just continued to cry.
William regarded him with concern. He then bent down and kissed the back of his son's head. "I love you, sport. Now please try to get some sleep, alright?"
Evan hummed in reply in-between his sobs.
Sunday, July 26, 1987
Still in his pajamas, Evan rubbed his eye as he groggily made his way downstairs. He spotted Michael eating a bowl of Cheerios at the dining table. Trying to ignore his older brother, Evan sniffled as he passed him on his way to the kitchen.
Michael let out a groan upon hearing Evan's sniffles. "Oh my god! Are you still crying about that stupid animatronic?!"
Evan just glared at his older brother as he continued into the kitchen. There, he grabbed a bowl and filled it up with Cheerios and milk. After getting a spoon, he returned to the dining table and sat down on the opposite side of Michael, all while avoiding eye contact.
The boys ate their breakfast in silence, but were interrupted when the phone suddenly rang.
Michael got up and went over to the phone to answer it. "Hello?"
William then spoke up from the other end, but he sounded off, like he was putting on an act. "Hey, Mike! It's Dave. Listen, I'm in a bit of a pickle here. I've been arrested due to some misunderstanding, so I would like to ask you to watch the house for a couple of days. Don't worry, it should only take a couple of days for this mess to be cleared up so I can return home. Though, if it takes longer, call Henry so he can help you out. Alright, thanks Mike!"
"W-wait, what's—" Before MIchael could get a word in, William hung up. He just stared befuddled at the phone for a few moments before he looked up at Evan. "Father's been arrested…"
Evan's eyes went wide. "Wh-what?!"
"He's been arrested, and from the sounds of it he was calling from jail." Michael went quiet as he considered his father's words and all of the potential implications. "He told me to watch the house and that he'll probably be home in a couple of days."
"But what if he doesn't? What's gonna happen to us?" Evan asked with a worried expression on his face.
"Then we call Uncle Henry," Michael replied. Giving his younger brother a serious look, he added, "Evan, it's important that you don't tell anyone about this. If someone finds out that we're all alone here, CPS will come take us away and put us in foster homes."
Evan looked absolutely horrified. "I-I-I won't tell anyone!"
"Good," Michael said before finishing what little remained of his cereal. He then grinned at his little brother and said, "Well, since I'm in charge now, how about you take care of the dishes? It's the least you can do after everything I had to put up with yesterday."
Evan furrowed his brow, but didn't say anything. He just went back to eating his breakfast. Michael, meanwhile, got up and went over to the living room to play on the Atari 7800. Once he had finished his cereal, Evan took his bowl and his spoon to the kitchen, where he put them in the dishwasher, but he left Michael's dishes on the dining table. After the way he had been treated by his older brother, Evan sure as hell wasn't going to do his dishes for him.
Evan then returned to his room upstairs, where he changed out of his pajamas and then tried his best to distract himself from worrying about Mangle. He tried playing with his action figures and plushies. He tried reading one of his Choose Your Own Adventure books. But no matter how hard he tried, Evan was unable to stop thinking about her. Finally, Evan grabbed some blank papers and color pencils, layed down on the floor, and started drawing Mangle and himself.
The eight year old sniffled and rubbed his eye as he began to cry again. Although it hurt to focus on the times they had spent together knowing that he might never see her again, drawing felt like a good outlet. And as Evan had learned after losing his sister and his mother, putting good memories on paper helped him hold on to them.
Evan wasn't sure how much time had passed, but after finishing five drawings he heard the door open. He looked up and saw Michael entering his room with an angry and annoyed look on his face.
"What the hell, you little brat!" Michael shouted. "I told you to do my dishes!"
Evan scowled at his older brother. "Do them yourself."
"Uh no, you don't get to talk back to me!" Michael scolded Evan as he approached him. He then took the drawings Evan had made.
"Hey!" Evan cried out in protest.
Michael looked at the drawings with a sneer. "Looks like you're still obsessed with that stupid animatronic," he remarked. He then gave his younger brother a cruel smile as he ripped the drawings to shreds.
With tears streaming down his cheeks, Evan stood up and glared at Michael. Balling up his fists and clenching his teeth, he had never felt so angry in his life. "Why you… you…"
"Awww, did I make you angwy?" Michael asked mockingly before laughing.
"You fart-face!" Evan shouted and pushed Michael into his cabinet, causing his older brother to lose his footing and fall on his ass and for everything on top of the cabinet to fall down, with the table fan hitting him in the head.
Michael cried out in surprise and pain, and at first Evan was worried that he had hurt him, but then he opened his eyes to glare at the eight year old, looking as if he was about to explode.
Scared of what his older brother might do to him, Evan quickly grabbed his backpack and ran as fast as he could downstairs, out the front door, and away from the house.
But it wasn't just fear that propelled him onward, but also determination. Determination to see Mangle, even if he had to break into the restaurant to do it.
After walking for almost an hour, Evan finally made it to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. As the day before, employees were standing or pacing around outside of the building with worried looks on their faces. Gradually, other members of staff came out of the restaurant, while others left the premises altogether.
Evan decided to keep his distance until everyone had left, and after about half an hour of waiting, the last employee left to go home.
Although he assumed it was locked, Evan tried the front entrance first, but his suspicions proved correct. Next he walked around the building in the hopes of finding an opening of some kind. Eventually, he spotted a small window, just large enough to squeeze through, that had been left open. The only problem was that it was too high for him to reach. Fortunately, there was a dumpster nearby, and it had wheels on it.
Evan went up to the dumpster and pushed it until it was right beneath the open window. Smiling as he took in his handiwork, the eight year old proceeded to climb up the dumpster. But as he got closer to the window, he could hear someone rummaging around inside.
Carefully peeking over the window frame, Evan realized that it led to the kitchen and he saw a beakless Toy Chica gorging herself on whatever food she could find there. Although he wasn't as afraid of the other animatronics as he had been in the past, Evan really didn't want to run into them. Weighing his options, he figured that Chica was probably too distracted to notice him, provided he snuck in quietly.
Taking a deep breath to steel himself, Evan hoisted himself over the window frame and looked down to make sure that there wasn't anything beneath him that could make any noise when he dropped down. Fortunately, there was nothing but bare floor tiles. The boy proceeded to climb through the window and then dropped down. However, the thud of his shoes impacting the floor proved loud enough to draw Chica's attention.
Evan quickly dodged behind a counter as the chicken animatronic bawked in surprise. Much to the eight year old's relief, Chica just went back to eating instead of investigating the cause of the noise.
Thanking his lucky stars, Evan snuck out of the kitchen and emerged in the Main Area of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. However, what he saw there shocked him.
Several of the tables and chairs were overturned, and there was blood splatter on some of the tablecloths and on the floor, with a blood trail that led to the main hallway.
Swallowing, Evan was not too keen on following the trail of blood, and instead opted to go look for Mangle in Kids' Cove, all the while keeping his eyes and ears open for any of the other animatronics. Once he reached Kids' Cove, he peaked around the entryway, but saw no sign of Mangle inside.
Frowning, Evan turned his gaze to the main hallway, knowing that Mangle was most likely in their favorite hiding spot. After letting out a sigh, the eight year old approached the hallway with apprehension, all the while eyeing the blood staining the floor. Much to his dismay, as he went down the hallway, he found that the blood trail led into the vent where he and Mangle usually hung out. The vent cover was lying on the ground, having seemingly been torn open in a hurry.
As Evan stepped closer to the vent, he heard faint sobs coming from inside, and he instantly knew who it was coming from. Mangle.
The boy was about to enter the vent when he hesitated, staring down at the blood trail. He then took a deep breath and collected himself before finally crawling into the vent.
As he crawled further inside, the sobs became more audible. "Mangle? A-are you there?"
"Ev-Ev-Evan…?" Mangle sniffled in surprise.
"Are you okay?" Evan asked, wanting nothing more than to comfort his friend.
"No," Mangle replied between glitched sobs. The boy could tell that he was close to her now.
"What happened?" Evan asked as he stopped to pull out his flashlight from his backpack. He switched it on and shone the light on the animatronic, and what he saw almost made him scream.
"I di-di-di-did something ba-ba-bad," Mangle sobbed, her mouth completely covered in blood and a darker red substance.
Evan tried to say something, anything, but found himself unable to. He just stared in horror as the pace of his breathing grew more rapid. This was not like when Mangle bit Timmy the other day—the amount of blood and gore covering her mouth was enough to make the boy's skin crawl.
Seeing Evan's reaction, Mangle lowered her head and covered her face as her ears drooped. "You hate-ate-ate-ate me now too, do-do-do-don't you?" Her sobs intensified. "I'm just-ust-ust-ust a bad, malfun-fun-fun-functioning animatroni-ni-ni-ni-nic that hurts people and can't do anything-ing-ing-ing right! I dese-se-se-serve to be scrapped!"
"Don't say that!" Evan shouted.
Mangle uncovered her face and looked at the boy in surprise.
With tears starting to trickle down his cheeks, Evan said, "I don't know what you did, but if it was anything like what happened with Timmy, then you probably had your reasons!"
Mangle's ears lowered again as her gaze drifted back to the ground. "It doesn't mat-mat-mat-matter. I'm getting scra-scra-scra-scrapped either way." She let out a mournful whimper. "It's pro-pro-pro-probably for the best…"
"No!" Evan cried out and hugged Mangle's head tightly, all while sobbing uncontrollably. "Mangle, you're my only friend in the whole world! I don't want you to get scrapped! I don't want to lose you!"
Mangle was quite taken aback by how much the boy cared about her, despite what she had done. However, as the reality of the situation set back in, her ears drooped. "It does-does-does-doesn't matter. The mana-na-na-nager said that I should get-et-et-et-et scrapped, and ev-ev-ev-everyone agreed. Even if I hide, my bat-at-at-attery will eventually run-un-un-un out…"
Sniffling, Evan thought to himself and then said, "What if you come home with me? My father is good with animatronics. He can change your battery and stuff."
Mangle looked conflicted. "Wou-wou-wou-would that be ok-ok-okay? What if your fa-fa-fa-father gets mad?"
"Even if he does, I'm not leaving you here," Evan replied, hugging her tighter.
Mangle thought it over and then finally said, "O-o-o-okay."
Evan broke the hug so that he could look Mangle in the eye. With a hopeful smile, he asked, "Really?"
Mangle nodded.
Sniffling, Evan began to wipe away his tears as he thought of ways to break Mangle out of the restaurant. "Great! Now I guess we just have to—"
Suddenly, Mangle pulled him into another hug. "Thank-ank-ank-ank you for ca-ca-ca-caring about me," she sobbed.
"Of course!" Evan replied and hugged her back. "You're my friend."