Five Nights at Freddy's belongs to Scott Cawthon
"Good night, Abs," Michael said as he got up from Abby's bed. He raised her blanket to her chin and smoothed down her hair before moving to turn off the lights. After the night they had, he was more than ready to go to his room and crash. Almost getting killed took a lot out of a person, and the dull, throbbing pain throughout his body wouldn't let him forget.
"Mike?" Abby started.
"Yeah?" He looked back at her. Though she was exhausted, he could see it on her face; the way her head was tilted and her eyebrows were furrowed. She had a question.
"When you said you made a mistake, what mistake did you make?"
Mike hesitated. For some reason, of all the questions he expected her to ask about tonight, that wasn't one of them. "I… I almost lost you," he finally said, his voice quiet. "I made a stupid mistake that would've taken you away from me forever."
Abby sat up slightly in her bed. "What was it?"
Mike swallowed and took a shuddered breath. "I… Your friends…they wanted you to stay with them forever." He glanced down, remembering what "Mom" and "Garrett" told him in his dream. "I'm sure you would've loved it." He looked back up at her. "They told me if I let you stay with them, they'd let me see Garrett and Mom and Dad every night. That I'd have dreams as if Garrett never went missing." He took another slow, shaky breath. "I said yes, at first."
Abby looked hurt, and Mike wished he could ignore the stabbing pain of guilt in his chest.
"You were so happy with them. I doubted you'd… But then I realized I made a mistake, and when I said no…they weren't exactly happy."
Abby's eyes flicked to the bandages wrapped around her brother's arm and legs. "Were they the ones who hurt you?"
He nodded slowly. "Yeah." Seeing the conflicted expression on her face, he quickly added, "It's not their fault. William made them do it."
"The old guy in the yellow rabbit suit who killed my friends?"
"Yeah," Mike said after taking a moment. He took a breath. "Abby, I know I said this already, but I meant what I said. I promise. I will do better. And I promise I will never, never make a mistake like tonight ever again."
Abby gave him a small smile, and he couldn't begin to explain how much better that made him feel. Returning the smile, he went back to her bedside and sat down. Holding out his hand, Abby placed her hand in his. They sat in a comfortable silence. Mike rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. He remembered how much smaller than his it used to be. When Abby was younger and would insist on holding onto someone's hand for everything. He guessed kids really do grow up fast.
"I promise." He cupped his other hand over hers before raising his eyes to meet hers. "For as long as I'm here, for as long as you need me, I will always be there for you. No matter what happens."
A short silence followed before Abby spoke, "I love you too, Mike."
Mike's smile grew. Abby went to hug him and he accepted it with open arms. He tried to commit as much of the hug as he could to memory. The feeling of his sister's arms around him, her warmth, the way the curls of her hair felt in his hand. And to think, he almost gave this up. He was such an idiot. But thankfully, he was a lucky idiot. If it wasn't for Vanessa… He didn't want to think about it. They stayed that way for a minute. Mike stifled a yawn, only for Abby to yawn herself not a minute later, which was his cue that they needed to finally go to sleep. Forcing himself to break the hug, he re-tucked Abby into bed and once again smoothed down her hair.
"Good night, Abby."
"Good night, Mike."
Mike turned off the lights and looked at Abby one more time before closing the door to her room. Limping to his room, he closed the door behind him and got in his bed. Letting out a sigh, he looked at the empty ceiling. His poster, sleeping pills, Walkman, and cassette tape were all back at Freddy's. It was probably for the best. As exhaustion began to claim him, his last thought was wishing he still at least had his Walkman and headphones, because he had plenty of old cassette tapes he'd love to listen to again. And his backpack. Having his backpack would be nice too.
Bright light is what woke Michael up, and he didn't appreciate it one bit. Groaning, he felt this morning's events taking their toll. He looked at his alarm clock and saw it was close to four. With another groan, he tried and failed to turn over, before opting for burying his face under the blanket instead. Though try as he might, he couldn't fall back asleep. Begrudgingly, he came to the conclusion that sleep was no longer an option, despite how exhausted he was, and forced himself to get up.
With more effort than he'd like to admit—and using his nightstand for support—he managed to get on his feet. Mike grunted as his body made it clear it was not happy with him. Not even going to humor the thought of going through his morning routine, he leaned against the walls for support as he limped to the bathroom. He rummaged through the medicine cabinet to find painkillers and took two pills. He doubted it'd be as effective as whatever Vanessa or the hospital used, but something was better than nothing. He let out an exhausted sigh. Hopefully, the medicine would kick in soon. He glimpsed at the mirror and saw his bruised cheek and split lip. It felt as bad as it looked, but save for an ice pack, there wasn't much he could do about it.
Going to check on Abby, he saw she was still fast asleep. Not wanting to bother her, he closed the door quietly and went to the living room. His eyes fell on the morning paper. Well, now was as good a time as any to start a new job hunt. Grabbing the paper and a pen from the drawer, he sat down at the kitchen table. He sucked in a breath as his body protested. Looking through the job listings, he circled anything he qualified for, red ink staining the paper. After a while of mulling over his options, he heard a door open and waited.
"Hey, Abby," Mike said once his sister entered the living room.
"Hi, Mike." She went to his side. "Job hunting?" she asked as she looked over the newspaper on the table.
"Yeah." For once, there wasn't shame in his voice when admitting it. Abby had seen him seated at the table miserably searching for work because he had gotten fired too many times to count. But for once, needing a new job wasn't his fault. Entirely. But saying the place closed down was so much better than saying he got fired. He put the pen down. "You want something to eat?"
Abby smiled. "Yes, please!"
She went into the kitchen and he followed, noting that moving hurt slightly less. Abby had already opened the fridge and stepped to the side so he could see what they had. There wasn't any soup left. Mike knew Abby probably hadn't eaten all day yesterday, so Aunt Jane must've had the rest of it. There were some leftover pancakes and bacon, however, and even some extra batter. Breakfast for early dinner wasn't technically ideal, but heating up the leftovers would be easier than making something from scratch in his state. Grabbing the plates and the large bowl, he placed them on the counter and closed the fridge. As he grabbed two plates for them, he saw Abby open the fridge again and grab the carton of orange juice before placing it on the counter as well. She gave him a knowing smile, which he returned with an amused smile of his own. Might as well go all the way if they were having breakfast so late.
"Hi, my name is Mike. I was calling about your job listing for a retail sales associate. I was wondering if that position was still open."
Abby glanced at Mike as he began telling someone on the phone about his skills and experience. Looking back at her drawing, she grabbed a blue crayon and began coloring in Vanessa's shirt. She was drawing herself, Mike, her friends, and Vanessa in the fort they built a few days ago. They were all lying down in a circle like on that night, and smiling as they looked up at the night sky. She heard a cartoonish thud and glanced up at the TV as the coyote fell for his own trap. She giggled before looking at Mike as he finished his call.
"All right. Thank you for your time." Mike hung up and wrote something down on the notepad before dialing another number.
Abby brought her focus back to her drawing. Some time passed before Mike hung up the phone for the last time. He sighed and stood up from the table as he grabbed the newspaper. Flipping through the pages, he placed the comic pages and coupons on the table and tossed out the rest. He put the coupons in a kitchen drawer before grabbing the notepad and tearing out the page he had written on. Abby glanced up at her brother as he grabbed the comics and torn page and went down the hall. Presumably to put the comics in her room and the torn page in his. Looking back at her drawing, she only had to finish coloring in Bonnie's ears and then she'd be done. As she finished, Mike limped past her and she heard the light creak of the couch as he sat down. She smiled at her work. The coffee table she was leaning against shifted slightly.
"What do we got?" Mike asked.
Abby moved her paper so he could see. "It's us in our pillow fort."
Mike smiled as he looked it over. "Nice. Vanessa would love it."
"And my friends."
"And your friends. Want to hang it up?"
Abby's face brightened. "Yeah!" While she went to her room, Mike went to the drawer to find some thumbtacks. As she looked around, she pondered where to put her latest creation. She was proud of it, and wanted it to be somewhere she could easily see it. But she also wanted Mike to see it easily, too. Going back to the living room, Mike had retrieved the thumbtacks and looked at her.
"Where to?" he questioned.
Abby hummed. She looked at the living room wall. She wanted it to be somewhere special where it would stand out. Unfortunately, the wall was already half covered in her drawings. Where to put it? Mike stayed quiet as he waited for her to make up her mind. On a whim, Abby turned on her heel and looked at the dining room. Would Mike let her hang her drawing on the dining room wall? It was a really good one. However, before she could truly consider whether her brother would allow her to do this, she caught a glimpse of the fridge. Perfect. It was empty, save for the magnets and some small stickers making a smiley face, and would be fitting with her drawing since it was in a pizzeria. Holding her paper against the fridge door, she looked at Mike.
"Here," she said, smiling.
Mike put down the thumbtacks and went to her side as she started moving the magnets in the way. Grabbing a small green magnet, she put it by Mike's side between him and Foxy, and Mike put a small red one between Vanessa and Freddy. A blue 'O' went between Mike and Chica, a green 'H' between Chica and Abby, and a blue 'T' pinned the bottom right corner where Bonnie was. Stepping back, Abby and Mike admired the new addition. The drawing added some "much needed color" to the kitchen, as Mom would probably say.
"Hang on," Mike said and went down the hall.
Abby watched as her brother left before looking back at her drawing. She wished she could show her friends and Vanessa like Mike said. When Mike came back, he was holding a picture and smiling at it fondly. He grabbed an orange 'U' magnet and pinned the top left corner of the photo to the fridge. It was the family photo Mike kept in his room from when Garrett was still alive. Mom had a hand on Garrett's chest, Dad was doing bunny ears behind Mike's head, Mike was flexing to show off whatever muscles a twelve-year-old could show off—even though he was wearing a long sleeve shirt—and Garrett was doing a less exaggerated flex of his own. Large smiles were on everyone's faces.
"They'd love it," Mike said warmly.
Abby looked between the photo and her drawing. She could see her family being there with them. Smiling wide just like they were in the photo. She wondered for a second if the fort would be even better if they were still here. Would they get along with her friends and Vanessa? She looked up at Mike. His focus kept shifting between the photo and her drawing.
"We can show Mom when we visit," she suggested.
Mike looked at her, still smiling. "Yeah."
A content quiet fell over them. It'd be a few months before they'd visit Mom, but it'd be nice to tell her what happened. She was finally able to play with her friends, and Mike made a new friend, too. She'd also tell Mom that Mike promised things would be better. Which she hoped meant that they'd never have to see Aunt Jane again and that Mike would keep a job for more than a few months. Not having a sitter would also be nice. She knew why she had one, and it wasn't that she didn't like Max—she was nice and would look at her drawings and play with her—but she'd rather be with her brother.
Eventually, they went back to the living room, the cartoon still playing. Abby lay down on the floor, propping her head in her hands, and the recliner creaked as Mike sat down and leaned into the cushion. A gag started playing out in the cartoon. Characters running in and out of doors that weren't connected properly as they avoided the villain, ran into each other, and ran with the villain. Abby laughed and Mike gave a half amused chuckle.
As the main characters outwitted the villain and made their escape, Abby glanced at Mike. Even as he watched the cartoon with mild interest, he looked incredibly tired. Abby swore, if he could recline the chair any further, he'd just use it as a makeshift bed and fall asleep. But Mike always looked like he was about to fall asleep, even with all the naps he took. Maybe things being better also meant Mike wouldn't be so tired anymore.
Abby stayed quiet as she waited for Mike to get off the phone. She could hear him talking, but she couldn't make out any of the words. Her fingers pinched and rubbed at the fabric of her blanket before she grabbed her plushies again, resuming her play. Minutes passed before the door creaked open, causing Abby to stop what she was doing and look at Mike.
"Who was it?" she asked.
"The hospital," Mike answered.
Abby perked up. "Is Vanessa okay?"
"Yeah. She's getting better."
Abby noticed the slight pause.
He moved to her bedside and pulled the blanket back. "Come on. Time for bed."
She put down her toys and climbed in. She pulled the blanket over herself as Mike patted down the corners. "Can we visit her?"
Mike hesitated. "Soon." Something was on his mind, she could tell, but he didn't say anything. He went to the door. "Good night, Abby."
She decided not to push at it. "Good night, Mike."
She watched Mike turn off the light and close the door before she looked at the ceiling. Her thoughts focused on Vanessa. She remembered the drive from Freddy's. Vanessa quietly groaning as she held her side and Mike struggling to focus on driving and comforting Vanessa and her. She remembered pulling into the hospital parking lot and Mike immediately getting out to help Vanessa. He looked so scared. Strangers were looking at them, nurses were attending to them, questions were being constantly asked… It was all so much.
Vanessa was taken to a part of the hospital she and Mike couldn't go to. But they wouldn't have been able to follow anyway; Mike needed help too. When they left without Vanessa, Mike told her she was still with the nurses, and would be at the hospital for a while. When Abby asked how long, he said he didn't know. Mike said they would be able to see Vanessa soon, though. And when they did, Abby would show her the drawing she had made. Maybe she could make Vanessa a "get well soon" drawing too.
Abby brought her blanket closer to her chin and closed her eyes. She remembered Mike's promise and told herself everything would be fine. Mike wouldn't be tired, Aunt Jane would leave them alone, Vanessa would recover, and she would be able to spend more time with her brother. As she drifted off, she hoped a good dream was waiting for her. One where she could play with her friends again. And she hoped Mike and Vanessa would have good dreams too.
Author's Note: My first FNaF (movie) fic and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. There's no Abby Schmidt character tag yet, so when that's added, this will be fixed.
I hope you enjoyed the read. Until next time. Bye~