Mable: Thank you for the positive feedback! ^_^ I really appreciate it, it spurs me along. I hope you enjoy!

The Buried Voice

Chapter 2: Homecoming

Charlie didn't realize how thankful she was going to be that Jessica was coming to the house with her. At first she was just going along with it because she wanted to catch up more, but when she saw the abandoned abode she was a struck by a painful feeling. It was a mix between longing and nostalgia as she was forced to face the reality of what her childhood home had become. The image of its faded paint and overgrown yard quickly covered the image she had remembered from her childhood.

But she made sure not to show this to Jessica. She steadied herself as she parked outside and got out of the car. Jessica got out too and looked at the house with a mix of curiosity and somberness. Charlie doubted that she remembered the house from her own childhood, but it didn't take much imagination to piece together what it might have looked like when it was at its prime, kept with care and filled with a family.

Charlie's aunt hadn't been too keen on the idea of her staying at the house when she stopped by for the key. Jessica had waited in the car and Charlie popped in without calling beforehand, hoping to get in and out without having to explain too much. As much as she loved her aunt, she knew better than bring up the past. The excuse wasn't entirely a lie- she just wanted to see the house again- and it worked well enough.

The front door creaked open and revealed an emptied living room. Charlie could remember that the living room furniture had been given away years ago. Save the armchair that her father frequently used, which was now located in her aunt's house. She only hoped that some of the other furniture in the house was left she remembered it. She took a deep breath and stepped inside.

"Wow…" Jessica said quietly. "You haven't been here at all since you moved out?"

"No. Aunt Jen didn't like coming back here. I don't even think she came back when she was trying to sell it, and when it didn't sell she gave up and left it like this," Charlie explained. She ventured further into the house and looked around at it. She still remembered the layout even after all these years.

"I guess it must've been too hard for her," Jessica sympathized. She looked around somberly before remembering back to what she heard of the conversation with Jen from the car. She had gotten the clear impression that the woman didn't know Charlie had been coming into town. "Hey… Did you tell your mom you were coming back?" Jessica asked curiously.

She wouldn't have been surprised if Charlie got a look of guilt and wouldn't blame her if she hadn't told her mother. What she wasn't expecting was the briefly taken-aback look Charlie got, recovered from, and then the strained smile that followed it.

"I haven't really talked to my mom in a while," Charlie admitted. Jessica looked surprised and then curious, and that was enough to get Charlie to open up further. "After my father passed away, my mom and I went to stay with Aunt Jen for a couple of days… But then, out of the blue one night, she just… Left… And I haven't heard from her since."

"What?! She just left, just like that?! Did she ever call or…?!"

"I don't know if she's talked to Jen since she left, but I know she's never tried to contact me. I should've expected it though. After Sammy went missing Mom was barely around. She never said it but I think looking at me reminded her of my brother," Charlie admitted. She then noticed that Jessica was starting to get that worried look again. Charlie was quick to assure with a smile, "It's no big deal, trust me. Jen took good care of me and I grew up fine. The only reason it's even a touchy subject is because of how sudden it was."

Hoping to find a distraction, she turned away and looked around until her gaze landed in the kitchen. "Oh, hey! The fridge is still here! I hope it still works, I don't think I can afford take out every night." Jessica accepted that she wanted to change the subject and let it drop without another word.

Perhaps due to Aunt Jen's efforts to sell the house but both the electricity and the water were turned on in the house. Though that didn't mean it was in completely livable condition. There was dust and cobwebs everywhere, especially clogging up the sink. The cabinets were mostly cleaned out except one that had a small stack of plates left behind. Unfortunately, the only thing left of the silverware was a lone butter knife.

The bathroom was in a worse state. Dirt had settled and dried into the bottom of the tub and sink, though worse in the bathtub. The toilet water was foggy, though unused, and a few dead gnats floated in it. The cabinets in there were also cleaned out. There was no toilet paper, no toiletries, and much to Charlie's dismay, no hot water. She made a mental note to find out how to turn on the water heater.

While on the way to Charlie's room they passed over an out-of-place rug. While she didn't remember the rug she knew what was being hidden underneath it. She tried to ignore it and continued on. Jessica, however, noticed its crookedness and leaned down to move it. As soon as the other woman noticed, she called out.

"Wait," Charlie blurted out. Jessica stopped and the brunette cleared her throat. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. If I remember right, there's a nasty stain underneath it… And I wouldn't be surprised if its gone moldy over the years." This excuse worked as Jessica wrinkled her nose in disgust and dropped the rug on the spot. Charlie gave an amused smile and added, "Come on, let's go see what's left of my old room."

Ironically enough, Charlie's bedroom was the least unchanged of all the rooms. Most of the furniture and toys had been left behind, sat in the same places she remembered or expected them to be. Her bed was even still there and made up, though dust had settled on it too.

"It's just like I left it… After seeing the rest of the house, I was sure it was just going to be empty." she said as she looked around in surprise. She took a deep breath of the stagnant air. "It's… A little overwhelming, honestly. It brings back a lot of memories."

"But look, your bed's still here," Jessica said. She patted the pillow with an encouraging smile. "It's a little small, but if you can make it work until…" She trailed off as she slowly lifted her hand back up and looked at her palm with a grimace. She quickly dusted her hands off. "O-kay, so it's going to need a deep cleaning before it's safe to sleep in. Still, it can work." Charlie laughed and it felt good to do so.

"Pitching a tent in the backyard is slowly sounding like a better idea," Charlie joked. She looked down at the floor and her face brightened further as she noticed a familiar rabbit plush. It had been one of her favorites years ago only to get lost in the chaos of leaving home. She had never thought she would see it again. "So, this is where you've been," Charlie murmured. She picked it up, studied its old, lopsided features, and then showed it to Jessica. "This is Theodore. He used to be my constant companion back when I was little."

"Aww. He's cute," Jessica said. She looked around before pointing at the closet doors. "Three closets? Does a kid need that much closet space?"

"Apparently I did," Charlie joked. Though then she explained, "Really they're not actually closets… I mean, they are closets, but I only used the middle one for clothes. The small one has a doll in it and the large one was where my parents kept my brother's things."

"Yikes."

"You're telling me. I didn't open that closet much." Charlie trailed off again as she stared at those closets, then down at the rabbit doll in her hand. She knew she was edging onto a dangerous train of thought and wasn't certain if she was ready to open all of these doors that had been closed for so long. Almost like she was waiting for the rush of crippling emotions to collapse on her. Thankfully, they didn't.

But she had to get out of this room and they had the perfect reason to do so. "Maybe we should go get the cleaning supplies and groceries now. It's starting to look like this might take a couple of days of work before it's back in living condition," Charlie suggested as she set Theodore back down on the bed.

"Sounds good to me. I'm not touching either of the sinks without heavy duty gloves," Jessica agreed. She led the way back out of the house and it was only once they returned that the work really began.

As predicted, it had taken hours to get the house in some semblance of order. Together they managed to clean out the fridge and stock it with enough food to last at least a week, cleaned the sink, the plates, and replaced the silverware with some plastic forks and spoons for a temporary solution. The bathroom was next, managing to get the toilet and sink done before spraying cleaner in the tub and letting it sit. Finally, they bundled up the bedding into a garbage back and toted it to the nearby laundry mat.

All the while Charlie and Jessica talked. Not about Hurricane or Freddy's, but just about things. People in their lives, places they wanted to go, goals they wanted to achieve. Hours of work and talking, and by the end of it Charlie felt like she had met Jessica all over again. She wasn't just a girl she used to play with at the playground, she was another person with feelings and thoughts, and by some luck they still clicked. It was the first time in ages where she felt like she was bonding with someone after being so fixated on her studies.

By time the laundry was done it was already growing late, and the two decided to get dinner at a cheap diner close to the laundry mat. It was there that Charlie decided to take the plunge and tell Jessica why she was really back in Hurricane. She brought the letter inside in her jacket and waited until they were already served before taking it out.

"A few days ago I got this letter in the mail," Charlie simply said as she handed it over. Jessica took it curiously, pulled it from its envelope, and opened it to read what was inside. After a few seconds, her eyes widened and she looked up at Charlie.

"This is from your father?" Jessica asked in disbelief. The brunette nodded. "I don't understand. Did it come like this?" She had also noticed the lack of a return address.

"Just like that. All of a sudden I found it in the mail… And I think it might be his handwriting. I'll have to double check later to make sure."

"And you don't think someone could've sent this to you just to mess with you?" Jessica asked. She then frowned as she looked over the words again. "Though if this is a joke, it's a pretty sick one."

"It could be, but I don't know who. Nobody at my college- nobody that I know of- knows about my father and his connection to Freddy's. I couldn't imagine it being any of the guys or my aunt, or really even just some random person who somehow looked me up. It really does look like something he would've written…" Charlie's face fell and her brows furrowed. "Maybe."

"Maybe," Jessica agreed. Though hers was much less certain and she frowned with concern before handing the letter back. "Just… Be careful, okay? Maybe this really is from your father and someone's been holding onto it for all these years. It looks new but if its been sealed up in an evidence locker for all these years then it could've been preserved well. Or maybe it's someone pretending to be your father to try and get something out of you. You'll know if you get a second letter and they start asking for more."

"I suppose that could be. Someone playing on the fact that Dad's body was never found to try and toy with me…" Charlie knew this was a possibility. After seeing the state of the house she knew nobody had been actively living there and she doubted her aunt would hide that there was a chance he was still alive. "I'll be careful. It's enough to bring me here but it's not enough to let me put my guard down."

"Or open your wallet. Speaking of which, let me get this," Jessica offered, getting out her purse to pay. She still didn't seem entirely comfortable and slowly stopped halfway through, looking up at Charlie again. "Why don't you get a room at the motel for the night? It's not perfect but it has a double lock."

"Don't worry about me, Jess. The house is old but the locks still work, and you know I'm not going to let strangers inside in the middle of the night no matter what they say," Charlie declined. She tucked the letter back into her jacket pocket and that was the end of it for the moment. After they left she dropped Jessica off at the hotel.

Charlie had to return home alone.

The house had a much more somber look at dark. Something cold and depressing hung over the house, regardless of the lights now left on inside. The shreds of curiosity and discovery she felt earlier exploring this once familiar place were long gone. Keeping herself busy, she remade her bed and tried not to think too deeply about anything. Once it was over she was left with her thoughts again.

She really didn't want to throw herself back into schoolwork so soon, as she doubted she would able to retain information while here. There wasn't a television or computer in the house either.

Except it was then that Charlie realized that they technically hadn't checked every room in the house. She purposefully avoided the master bedroom, her father's workshop, and the office, having saved them for last but then deciding to switch gears and focus on cleaning. There was a very slim chance that Henry's computer was still here and still had internet, and if it did then she would be able to make her own distraction.

The master bedroom was first and it was both a disappointment and a relief when she found it empty. Other than the bed, stripped to its mattress, everything else had been taken from the room except for some clothes left in the closet. Charlie thumbed through the hung-up shirts slowly and tried to imagine her father wearing them. Then left them to go seek out Henry's office.

Her father's office was in a similar state to her room. Though she seldom saw it in the past, the majority of the furniture looked to be there; the desk, the chair, the bookshelf, and a file cabinet tucked to the side. Charlie curiously took in her surroundings and tried to take in what information she could. She approached the desk and looked at the things Henry had left behind.

There was a book setting to the side with a layer of dust collecting on it and a bookmark sticking out. A quickly look at the cover revealed it as 'Autobiography of a Yogi'. Charlie had never heard of the book and she opened it to the mark page only to become lost. Nothing was marked or stood out to her. Shrugging it off, she set the book aside and continued to look.

The next object she looked at was a photo album with the words 'Precious Memories' printed on the emerald and gold colored cover. It was an expensive looking book, save the dust, and someone had attached a numbered padlock to it to make sure nobody else uninvited could look inside. This only spurred Charlie on further. Tried her father and mothers' birthdays, nothing. Tried her and her brother's birthday, success.

Charlie got as far as opening the photo album and seeing half of a portrait of her family before she stopped. She stayed paused like that, holding the cover precariously there, and reconsidered whether she really wanted to see that picture. Solemnly, she decided that she wasn't ready, and simply shut the photo album again and left it be. "I'm not ready for that."

There was an old Freddy bobblehead on the corner of the desk. It still bobbled properly when she poked it while moving to the other side of the desk. She sat down before going through the desk and, much to her chagrin, she found many of the drawers empty. All except for one. The bottom right drawer was filled with newspaper pieces, a small stack of folders, and old cassette tapes shoved to the back of it.

What stood out the most was the folder on the top of the stack which had the name "Sammy" printed in black sharpie in the top left corner. Charlie took it out and vaguely noticed that it wasn't nearly as dusty as everything else in the house. She could only guess that this was because it had been shoved in a drawer for the last decade.

If she thought the photo album was going to be the hardest thing to look at, she was in for a rude awakening. Shoved in the pockets in the left side of the folder were multiple newspaper clips reporting on the disappearance of Sammy. Charlie hadn't seen any of these but she knew what they were going to say. Young boy disappears at a party and is never found again, parents are distraught, no witnesses.

…Except for her. Not that she had been capable of doing anything to help find her brother. She had been too young and fearful to do anything except whimper and allow herself to be carried back home.

She didn't shut the folder and walk away though, not like she had when confronted with the pizzeria, with Jessica's questions, and with the difficulties of her bedroom. This time she was determined to follow through and looked at the small group of papers in the right side of the folder. It turned out that it was a makeshift diary or investigations journal left behind by Henry. From the dates he had wrote down, he began his own investigation only a few days after Sammy's disappearance.

The first few entries were basic enough by listing places to look and people to ask questions. It wasn't until the back of the first page that Charlie found an entry that stood out.

"JR called me today and told me about something strange that occurred a week before Sammy's disappearance. He said that someone was parked in the woods near the bar with their lights on and left about thirty minutes later. While I find this unsettling, this was before Sammy went missing, so the chances of them being connected are slim. Just to be safe I'm going to tell Clay. May ask Will if he saw anyone shady drive by his house that night."

The context was lost on Charlie but the wording was disturbing. If she was right with dates then this would've happened before numerous children had gone missing at Freddy's. If someone was frequently visiting the woods for long periods of time… But again, it was before Sammy's disappearance. She kept the thought in mind but moved on to the next entries. The next one held just as much shock.

"Someone called in and said they spotted Sammy at a gas station up in Salt Lake City. I hope to God it's him. The police are pulling up the security footage now and Clay said he would call me in to identify whether it's Sammy or not… Please, God, let it be him." But Charlie knew not to get her hopes up. Sure enough, the next entry read, "After checking the footage, Clay is sure that it isn't Sammy. They're going to keep looking."

The entries continued on like this. Each one became more despondent as Henry continued to seek answers from the police to no avail and worked through his own investigation on the side. It was going nowhere and Charlie already knew how this story was going to end. The last entry with a date was only a few days before Henry's death and was the basic minimum. Another lead fell through, he had been questioned again, his house had been searched, and still nothing had been found. The tone he portrayed in his writing sounded hopeless.

Except that after this entry there was a single sentence printed underneath it, staged like an entry but left without a date. Unlike the pencil scratches of the hopeless writing before it, it was in clean ink and written with purpose. Though it had the same traits in style as the earlier entries had, showing that it was still Henry's handwriting. It spelled out a cryptic message:

"I found Sammy."

"What?" Charlie was stunned by the news. She couldn't believe it at first, especially without any details beyond a single sentence. "He found Sammy? He couldn't have. Someone would've told me, even if it was just his remains… Right?"

Honestly, she didn't know. Even friends she hadn't seen in years walked on eggshells around her, and Jen wasn't the kind to even tell her that her father left a letter. The wording stood out and reminded her of something else she read recently. "The letter said he and Sammy would be in a better place… Like he knew he was gone."

It was only then that Charlie came to a revelation. All at once it seemed to crash down on her. "This can't be a coincidence. First, Freddy's reopens, then I get the letter in the mail, now I find all this. Did Dad leave this behind on purpose?" A chill ran down her spine. "…If they never found dad's body… Did he find out who took Sammy and was murdered to cover it up before he could tell?"

Suddenly this wasn't a reunion with a painful past. It was something much bigger than that. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this. Dad knew something he wasn't supposed to and I'm going to find out what it was."

With that, Charlie was on a mission. Putting her thoughts aside she began to go through whatever paperwork she could find in Henry's office. Alas, the file cabinet was emptied out, but the folder was still a treasure trove of information. The newspaper articles gave her plenty of information such as the date and the approximate time of the kidnap, the mislead in Salt Lake City that Henry's note spoke of, and even one slip that had been an open eulogy for her brother, even if he hadn't been found.

But that wasn't all she found. There was a single article about a group of children who had gone missing at Freddy's after being led away by someone in a suit, which Fazbear Entertainment reportedly denied. While Charlie was aware that children went missing at Freddy's, the article gave her insight on something else.

"So, that's why the suits always moved so human-like and how they could get off the stages on their own. Someone was wearing them… Which means that rabbit that took Sammy wasn't an animatronic. It was just some guy in a suit, and chances are he's the same man who took these other children." Charlie's deduction sent a shiver down her back. "And these kids went missing at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza years after the diner closed! Maybe there's more too. Maybe I could find some archived newspapers at the library."

It was the best lead Charlie had, but unfortunately it looked too late for the library to be open. She would have to go in the morning. In the meantime, she pulled the tapes out of the drawers and placed them onto the desk and hoped there was a cassette player somewhere underneath them. Alas, there wasn't, which meant the tapes would be useless until she could get a replacement. Maybe Aunt Jen would have one.

After nearly another hour of searching, Charlie realized that the office had been exhausted of leads. Now all that was left was her father's workshop. She headed there without hesitation.

Henry's workshop was cold and empty. It tainted her memories of sitting there watching her father tinker at his table, ones that had felt so warm and amazing. To her, her father was creating magic, building animals that would talk and sing like humans could, but now she couldn't help but see the aftereffects. Thankfully, she was too set on her goal to dwell, and began to look around.

Nobody had taken care in cleaning out Henry's workshop. Parts of old endoskeletons and tools had just been shoved into the cabinets to hide them while showing the house. Some of the cabinets immediately spilled forth with a loud clattering the moment she dared to open them. There wasn't even enough to guess what many of the animatronics were.

What did strike her interest was a second, much smaller, single drawer file cabinet that was filled with blueprints of every animatronic that Henry had ever built. She sat on the floor beside the cabinet and began to flip through them, and she was in awe.

"I didn't realize he made this many versions of Freddy. All these different themes and designs. Was he planning on opening more restaurants before the diner closed, or did he make these afterwards?" Either way, they were well detailed in their planning. Charlie was impressed and studied them as she closely as she would a textbook. There was a part of her excited to see all the characters too and there were tons of them. Even if they hadn't all became working animatronics.

Towards the end of the stack she found a prototype design for a 'Rock n' Roll Freddy' that looked suspiciously like the one at the new pizzeria. Fazbear Entertainment must've gotten ahold of Henry's own design if he hadn't sold it to them himself or lost it when losing ownership of Freddy's. She wasn't sure what she felt about that, but she could guarantee- having just looked through Henry's designs- the animatronics at Freddy's would've been more simple but might've had more charm. Though she knew she could've been biased.

She put the blueprints back and searched a little longer. There were plenty of interesting things in her father's workshop, and it was the first time she had felt a warmth of familiarity when she was looking through his things, but nothing to help her cause. She stayed lost in it a while longer before she decided to stop for the night.

Charlie climbed into her childhood bed between freshly laundered sheets and breathed a sigh. She couldn't tell if it was relief or mental and physical exhaustion, but she knew she would be getting a long night's sleep. The hallway light was left on and poured through the crack in the door to semi-illuminate the room. Just in case she woke up and forgot where she was. She didn't want to stay in the darkness tonight.

Her swirl of thoughts slowed and faded as she drifted off to sleep.

Charlie opened her eyes and found herself staring at a ruby curtain. She stared at it blankly for a few moments before trying to turn her head to get a better look at where she was. Except her body was stuck in place and her head wouldn't turn. The only thing she could move was her eyes.

"I can't move…" She blinked and her heavy eyelids struggled to raise again. Her body was compressed in an uncomfortable warmth. She felt suffocated in it. She looked closer at the curtains and noticed a wooden floor in the darkness. "Is this a stage?... Am I back at Freddy's?"

The more Charlie rolled her eyes around the better she got a feel of the space she was in. It was a stage, perhaps even the small one that she had seen earlier, and from the darkness it seemed like the pizzeria was closed. Before she could question more she heard a strange noise from nearby. A creaking, clinking noise, a low groan, and the thumps of heavy footsteps. It sounded like it was echoing through the walls.

"What is that?" Paranoia began to creep up on Charlie and she struggled to move, but her body was pressed tight. "I've got to get out of here!"

But right as she was thrashing, she heard a new sound, a soft shushing right against her ear. She shivered with dread and continued trying to shake and free herself from the hold. Something was keeping her in place. Something firm began to dig into her back and neck, like metal pieces forcing themselves into her skin. Like loose springs coming out of a machine.

And then, just when they felt like they would pierce into her, the curtain was thrown back and Charlie was blinded by two white lights. White eyes staring out of the darkness before closing in.

Charlie awoke with a start, sweaty and tangled in her blankets. She was so disoriented that she briefly forgot where she was and panicked for a split second before remembering why she wasn't in her dorm. She pushed her hair back out of her face and sat there in bed with her head in her hands. What a disturbing dream; it had felt so real. It almost felt like a warning.

She checked her phone and after seeing that it wasn't even six in the morning yet she laid back down. She didn't feel comfortable enough to sleep, but she tried to, hoping to get a little more rest before her investigation would continue tomorrow. Because if the dream did anything, it was encouraging her that there was something left to find at Freddy's.

She was going to find what it was that her father warned her not to.