Monday, May 23, 1983
Elizabeth's death had been absolutely devastating, but William knew that he had to act quickly to not make this situation even worse for him and his family.
He comforted Evan as best he could and told him that his sister had died in a terrible accident. He told the boy that what he had witnessed had just been his imagination and made him promise never to tell anyone about it, telling him that he and his brother would be taken away if he ever did.
Next, William called 911 to report his daughter's death, claiming that she had snuck in to play with Circus Baby when no one was around, and that the heavy animatronic had fallen on top of her, resulting in her being crushed to death. He then quickly ushered all of the guests out of the restaurant under the pretense that there had been gas leaks in the building.
While he waited for the first responders, William called Clara, who was of course devastated by the news. She blamed him, of course. As did he.
Finally, William called the mayor. He may not have been that good of a businessman, but he knew he had some pull with the local government—after all, he and Henry had brought a lot of business to town and put the once humble city of Hurricane on the map. Much to William's relief, the mayor agreed to help keep things quiet provided that no actual crime had been committed.
Once the first responders arrived at the scene, along with a medical examiner, they concluded that William's story was indeed true. He wasn't sure if the mayor's influence had played some part in them making that conclusion, or if the circumstances were unusual enough for his story to seem to be the most reasonable one, but he was relieved by the outcome.
Between the mayor's help and the state of Utah's policy of restricting death certificates to immediate family members and legal representatives, the public was completely unaware of how Elizabeth Afton had died, with many assuming it was because of the reported gas leaks.
Wednesday, May 25, 1983
Despite all of the time, effort, and money he had sunk into Circus Baby's Pizza World, William couldn't bring himself to open the restaurant. For one, he was worried that Evan could meet the same fate as Elizabeth, but more than that, her death had permanently stained the place—it would always be a painful reminder of how he lost his only daughter to his hubris and neglect. As such, William canceled the grand opening of Pizza World and began making plans to sell the building and find another way to make money and further his research.
Understandably, it had been a rough couple of days for everyone else too.
After seeing what had happened to his sister, Evan was now absolutely terrified of animatronics and suffered from night terrors. As much as William didn't want to see him suffer, he knew that Evan's fear would help keep him away from any dangerous animatronics, and so he sought to… encourage this fear while also persuading him to keep quiet. William accomplished the former by taking Evan's beloved Fredbear plush while the boy was asleep and adding cameras, a speaker, and a microphone to it, allowing him to speak to his son through the toy when no one else was around. Pretending to be Fredbear, William would fan the flames of Evan's fears and comfort the boy when needed. And whenever William was alone with Evan in person, he would reassure him that his fears and the memory of his sister's death were all just the products of an overactive imagination.
Michael became withdrawn following the incident, though William would at times catch him glaring at him or even at Evan.
While Clara put on a facade while they were out and about or with their children, she showed nothing but resentment for William whenever they were in private. He understood, of course. After all, Elizabeth's death was entirely his fault.
The one silver lining to all of this was that Circus Baby appeared to have absorbed Elizabeth's Remnant, allowing her spirit to live on in the animatronic. William realized this after the first responders had left, when he finally got a chance to examine Circus Baby and noticed the tell-tale sign of a wildly fluctuating electromagnetic field. While he was still devastated by what had happened, it did bring William some comfort knowing that Elizabeth was still there.
It was around noon and William was transporting Ballora and Funtime Foxy home in his company van. Since he was getting ready to sell off his restaurant, he needed a place to store the Funtimes, and given that Circus Baby was already taking up a lot of space in his laboratory, he figured that he could put them in the barn.
As he was about to pull up into the driveway, William was more than a little surprised to see his wife's blue 1974 Mercury Marquis Colony Park station wagon sitting there with its trunk wide open and partially filled with all manner of luggage.
William furrowed his brow as he realized what was going on.
He parked his van next to the station wagon, then hastily exited the vehicle and rushed inside of the house.
"Clara!" William called out as he passed through the living room, looking around for any sign of her.
"William!?" Clara shouted back from upstairs, sounding as if she had been taken completely off-guard.
He quickly made his way to the second floor, where he found his wife in their bedroom, stuffing her clothes into a large suitcase that was sitting on top of their bed.
"What the hell are you doing!?" William demanded as he entered the bedroom.
"What does it look like I'm doing!?" Clara spat back at him as she continued to pack her bag.
"Clara, let's talk about this!"
"Talk!?" Clara turned to glare at him. "I tried talking sense into you countless times, only for you to dismiss or lash out at me, and now you want to talk!?"
William opened his mouth to respond, but he was at a loss for words as he realized just how right she was. He relented and said, "You're right, I haven't been paying as much attention to you as I should've, but you have to understand that what I'm working on is important!"
"And we aren't!?" Clara retorted. "For the past year, you've done nothing but hide inside your workshop or laboratory to work on your stupid machines, never spending any more time with us than you have to, and pushing us away whenever we try to engage with you! And because of that—because of you—Elizabeth is now dead!"
William wanted more than anything to tell Clara that their daughter was still alive, that he was working on a way to bring her back, but he knew that she wouldn't understand. How could she?
"I can't stand being around you anymore!" She continued as she closed the suitcase. "And I sure as hell don't trust you to keep the boys safe."
Upon hearing that, William's eyes went wide as his thoughts went a million miles an hour. First he lost Charlie, then Elizabeth, and now he was about to lose his sons as well!
"You can't take them!" William objected as he watched her carry her suitcase out of the room.
Clara turned to glare at him. "Watch me!"
"And where exactly are you going to go!?" He demanded.
"Anywhere but here!" Clara retorted as she trudged over towards the staircase.
William felt fear and anger grip him. He couldn't lose his sons as well! He couldn't!
He followed her to the staircase and forcefully grabbed her by the shoulder. "You're not taking them from me!"
"Let me go!" Clara growled as she struggled against his grip.
"You're not taking them!" He repeated.
"William, let go!"
He threw her down the stairs.
Clara let out a yelp as she tumbled down, her large suitcase hitting her on the way down. She smashed her head against the floor once she reached the bottom, but she nevertheless remained conscious.
William pushed all of his feelings aside. He knew what he had to do.
He slowly walked downstairs and knelt over Clara. She looked terrified.
He then wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed.
Clara desperately tried to fight back, but her arms were too short to reach him. Her struggles grew ever more lethargic until at last she was still.
As William let go of her neck, he let out a breath that he didn't even know he was holding.
"Forgive me, Clara," William whispered as he stared at her lifeless body. "But I'm not losing anyone else."
He scooped her up and carried her to his van. To Ballora.