Tuesday, August 11, 1987

Two weeks had passed since Evan snuck Mangle home with him, and during that time he had been studying hard under his father's tutelage. By now the boy knew enough to fully maintain Mangle on his own, and had even started to repair her. Though, he was still unable to undertake any major repairs, given how bent out of shape and warped Mangle's endoskeleton was, and how complex her voice boxes were.

Evan had also done his best to make Mangle feel at home. The two had decorated the walls of the barn with drawings as well as decals of butterflies and stars, some of which glowed in the dark to make it less scary when the lights were out. Evan had also moved all of his books and toys to the barn so that they could play together and so that he could read to her.

True to his word, Evan spent every moment he could spare with Mangle. They became inseparable and would do almost everything together. He even made an effort to teach her everything he knew about the world and how to read. And every night, he would sleep in the barn with Mangle curled up around him. Not only did it stave off the animatronic's loneliness, but Evan also found that he had less and less nightmares. And as much as Mangle disliked being alone, she had slowly but surely gotten used to having to spend some time by herself. Even so, as the end of summer break drew near, she grew increasingly more anxious as she wasn't particularly fond of the idea of having to be on her own for seven hours every weekday.

Evan woke up to the sound of his alarm clock, a sound that he had learned to dread. He rubbed his eyes and let out a yawn as he did. He then groggily reached towards the clock, only to find himself effectively pinned down by Mangle's big head, which was resting on his chest.

"Mangle, it's time to get up," Evan mumbled and tried to push her off of him.

However, Mangle wouldn't budge. Instead, she pretended to snore.

Evan rolled his eyes. "Cut it out, Mangle. I know you don't sleep."

"Fi-fi-fi-fi-fine…" She groaned before she finally raised her head, allowing the boy to shut off the alarm.

Evan gave her a rueful smile as he got out of bed. "Sorry, Mangle, but I have to get going so I can catch the bus."

Mangle let out a sigh. "Do you hav-hav-hav-hav-have to go?"

The boy frowned. "I wish I didn't, Mangle. I really do. But I have to."

Mangle lowered her ears and looked away.

Evan gave her a look of sympathy, then reached out and stroked her head. "I'll come hang out with you first thing after school, okay?"

"Okay…" Mangle replied, and then finally turned to look at him. "Have fun today at school."

Evan grimaced upon hearing that. "I… won't. Trust me," he said and then smiled at her. "But I'll definitely look forward to coming back home."

Although Mangle's face wasn't anywhere near as expressive as that of a human, her eyelids rose in a smile. "I'll mi-mi-mi-miss you."

The boy hugged her. "I'll miss you too, Mangle." Evan broke the hug and walked over to the barn doors. He put on his shoes, then turned around and waved at the animatronic. "Bye!"

Mangle waved back. "By-by-by-by-bye, Evan!"

With that, Evan made his exit and closed the door behind him, leaving Mangle all alone.

She let out a wistful sigh and then crawled over to the TV. She turned it on and changed the channel to her favorite morning show. While it wasn't all that fun to watch, Mangle still found it interesting and it helped her keep up with current events. Moreover, it could hold her attention for several hours.

When the show finally ended, Mangle switched off the TV and crawled over to one of the toy boxes Evan had moved to the barn. She opened it and pulled out several dolls, and then started playing with them. Mangle wasn't sure if it was Evan who had helped foster her imagination or if her mind had simply continued to develop, but she had learned to make her own fun simply by playing with toys. She'd come up with exciting, dramatic, or silly narratives on the spot and build upon them as she played.

Once she was tired of playing, Mangle returned the dolls to the toy box and then crawled over to a box full of comic books. She pulled out a comic and laid down on the floor to read it… or at least tried to. She still wasn't very good at reading, which was why she preferred comics when she was by herself, as the images helped provide some context as to what the characters were saying.

After reading some comics, Mangle decided to watch some more TV, even though it was mostly just reruns at this time of day.

Then, finally, she heard Evan's footsteps approaching the barn. She turned off the TV and proceeded to wait for him to enter, barely able to contain her excitement.

As the boy stepped through the door, Mangle practically pounced on him, pulling him into a hug.

"Evan! You-you-you-you-you're back!" She exclaimed.

The boy let out a snort and smiled at the animatronic. "Did you miss me, Mangle?"

"Of cou-cou-cou-cou-course I did!" Mangle replied. "How-ow-ow-ow was school? Did you have-ave-ave-ave-ave fun?"

Evan cringed and his smile was replaced with a gloomy expression. "Not really…"

"Huh?" Mangle broke the hug and regarded him with concerned eyes. "Why no-no-no-not?"

The boy let out a sigh. "It's… the other kids…"

Mangle tilted her head to the side. "What-at-at-at about them?"

Evan looked away. "They're mean to me… and they make fun of me…"

The animatronic was quite taken aback by this. "Have you to-to-to-to-told an adult? Maybe they ca-ca-ca-can—"

Evan shook his head. "That'll just make it worse…"

"Why?" Mangle asked, tilting her head to the side once more.

Evan put his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet. "Because all that'll happen is that they'll get told off, and then they'll just bully me more for being a tattletale…"

"Oh…" Mangle replied, lowering her ears. She gave him a look of sympathy and asked, "Is there any-ny-ny-ny-nything I can do?"

Evan thought about it for a minute and then wrapped his arms around Mangle. "You being here for me is enough." He sniffled, and his voice cracked as he added, "You mean the world to me, Mangle."

"You-you-you-you… You mean the world-orld-orld to me too," Mangle replied and returned the hug. "I wou-wou-wouldn't still be here if it was-as-asn't for you."

Evan didn't respond, but Mangle could hear him quietly sob and sniffle to himself, and so she maintained the hug in an effort to comfort him.

It was only when William called Evan on the buzzer that they finally broke the hug.

"Looks like it's time for my lessons," Evan noted and wiped away his tears. He sniffled and then smiled at Mangle. "I'll come see you again after dinner, okay?"

Although Mangle was sad to see him leave already, she knew by now that this was the way things had to be. She nodded and replied, "Okay. See you la-la-la-later, Evan."

And with that, Evan left the barn once again.

As Evan entered the basement, he found his father sitting at one of the desks and scribbling in a notebook. Once he finished whatever he was writing, he closed the book and set it aside before he turned towards the boy.

"Hello, sport! How was school?" William asked with a smile.

"Um…" Evan fidgeted with his hands. "It was okay, I guess…"

"Very well," William said and leaned forward in his chair. "Did you receive your math textbook?"

"Um, yeah," Evan replied with a nod.

"May I see it?" William asked and held out his hand.

"S-sure!" Evan replied as he took off his backpack, opened it, and pulled out the textbook. He then handed it to his father. "Here."

William took it and flipped through its pages with an amused, yet nostalgic look on his face. "Ah, excellent." He returned his gaze to the boy and smirked. "From now on, I want you to work on this at home and get through it as quickly as possible."

Evan frowned. "Do I have to? Math is so boring."

William raised an eyebrow at that. "Boring? Math is boring?" He then chuckled. "You know, there was a time when I felt much the same. But the thing is, sport, that mathematics is the very language of the universe itself."

Evan gave his father a very skeptical look.

"It's true! Mathematics is the foundation of practically every scientific discipline," William reassured him. "As such, your goal of building a new animatronic body for your friend, with all of the capabilities you want it to have, is reliant on your understanding of mathematics. And so, the sooner you complete your math courses, the sooner you'll be able to build it." William then gave the boy an inspired look. "And if you can master mathematics, there won't be anything that you cannot accomplish."

Evan blinked. "R-really?"

"Really," William replied with a smile. "The technology I invented was thought to be impossible. Something that would've only ever been feasible fifty years down the road. And yet I did it. By combining my knowledge of engineering and computer science, I accomplished the impossible. But when you boil it all down, my accomplishment was all due to mathematics."

Evan considered his father's words and then finally said, "Okay, I'll… I'll do it. It's just… There are so many math problems to get through."

"I realize that, sport, but look—" William showed the boy some pages from the textbook. "—the beginning of each section introduces a new concept that you have to apply to solve the problems of that section. Now, you don't have to solve all of the math problems. If you think you understand the concept and find the problems to be easy, then just jump ahead to the final and most difficult problems of that section. And if you can solve them, then you continue to the next section," he explained. He then went to the final pages of the textbook and added, "And hey, there's even an appendix here that you can check to see if you solved the problems correctly."

Evan let out a defeated sigh. "Okay, Father. I'll do my best."

"Attaboy!" William said with a grin as he reached out and ruffled Evan's hair, eliciting a smile from the boy. William then handed the textbook back to him. "Now, let's get the lesson started, shall we?"

It was almost 6:00 PM when Evan finally returned to the barn, and upon entering he found Mangle lying on the TV blanket, watching a sitcom. However, she was very quick to switch off the TV and come to greet him.

"Evan!" Mangle exclaimed as she crawled towards him. She gave him a brief hug and then asked, "How was di-di-di-di-dinner?"

"It was pretty good. We had spaghetti bolognese," Evan replied with a big smile on his face.

"Ooh! I wo-wo-wo-wonder what that tastes like-ike-ike," Mangle giggled as she tried to imagine it, which was a futile endeavor given that she had no idea what anything tasted like. Her attention was then drawn to Evan's face—she could tell that he was very excited about something. "How co-co-co-come you're smiling like that? Did you have-ave-ave-ave fun with your Father?"

"I guess? Kinda?" Evan replied with some uncertainty. He then huffed a laugh and said, "But that's not why I'm smiling. It's because I have some really good news, Mangle!"

"Oh? Wha-wha-wha-what news?" Mangle asked, tilting her head to the side.

Evan grinned at her. "I'm pretty sure I can finally fix your voice box!"

Mangle's eyes went wide. "Wa-wa-wa-wait… rea-rea-rea-rea-really?"

Evan gave her a confident nod. "Really!"

Mangle's voice boxes glitched out completely as she was overcome with excitement. FInally, she managed to ask, "Ca-ca-ca-ca-can we do it no-no-no-no-now?"

Evan couldn't help but to laugh. Mangle's excitement was just so infectious. "Of course!"

Mangle crawled over to the workshop area of the barn with great speed, all the while giggling like a maniac. Once Evan caught up with her, she looked at him expectantly and asked, "What-at-at-at-at do you nee-nee-nee-need me to do-do-do-do-do?"

"First off, lemme take off your jaw. After that, just tilt your head up so I can get to your voice box," Evan explained as he went and got a couple of tools from the toolbox.

"Okay!" Mangle replied. "Bu-bu-bu-but I have two voice box-ox-ox-oxes installed in me."

Evan shot her a questioning look. "You do?"

Mangle nodded. "Yeah. One's my origi-gi-gi-gi-ginal voice box, and the other wa-wa-wa-wa-was a prototype made for Chi-Chi-Chi-Chica before the technicians deci-ci-cided to give her a more high-pitched vo-vo-vo-voice."

"Okay. So do you want me to fix both of them for you, or do you want me to remove one of them?" Evan asked as he approached her.

"Could you remo-mo-move my original voice bo-bo-box?" Mangle asked.

Evan looked surprised. "Huh? Why your original one?"

"Becau-cau-cau-cause… Because that's the male-soundi-di-di-di-ding one," Mangle replied, her eyes briefly filled with pain. "And I wanna sou-sou-sou-sound like a girl."

Evan thought about it and then gave Mangle a sympathetic nod. "Got it." He then looked at her shell-less secondary head before returning his attention to her primary head. "Do you know which voice box is which?"

Mangle nodded. "My origi-gi-gi-ginal is in this head, and the pro-pro-pro-pro-prototype is in the other," she explained and pointed at her secondary head.

"Okay. Then let's do this," Evan said with a determined smile and knelt down in front of her.

Mangle let out another giggle as he reached out towards her primary head. Having had plenty of experience by now, Evan effortlessly removed her jaw. Once he had done so, Mangle tilted her head up so that he could access her voice box.

Although she kept still, Evan could tell that she could barely contain her excitement, and he couldn't help but to smile knowing that.

Using the skills his father had taught him, Evan carefully removed Mangle's original voice box and then tossed it aside. He then shifted his attention to her secondary head, which tilted its head up so that he could remove its voice box as well.

"There," Evan said as he finally removed the prototype voice box. "Now I just need to fix it up."

The boy stood up and went over to the workbench, and Mangle followed close behind. He set the voice box down and began to work on it, using a variety of tools to adjust and realign all of the delicate pieces of the component.

Every once in a while, Evan turned to look to the side to see Mangle patiently watching him, with her eyelids raised in a smile.

After about half an hour of work, Evan looked the voice box over one final time to make sure that it had been fully repaired.

With a smile, the boy turned to Mangle and said, "Okay, I think it's done now."

Mangle wiggled in excitement upon hearing that.

Evan chuckled. "Can you tilt your head up again so I can put it back in?"

Mangle nodded and then raised her head.

Evan carefully reinserted the voice box into Mangle and reattached all of the wires.

With a huge smile on his face, Evan stepped back and said, "Okay, Mangle, try to say something."

Mangle thought for a moment and then said, "I dunno what to say. I can't think of anything."

She let out a gasp upon hearing herself. Gone was her other, more masculine voice that had been with her ever since she was first activated. All that was left was a cute feminine voice, and it was no longer glitching!

Overjoyed, Mangle giggled and bounced around the barn. "I'm no longer glitching. I'm no longer glitching!" She cheered. She let out another giggle and said, "And my voice is so pretty now!"

Evan giggled as well, quite proud of himself for finally being able to make his friend feel this happy. "It's the prettiest," he agreed.

Mangle quickly crawled up to the boy and pulled him into a tight hug. "Thank you, Evan! Thank you so much for this! You're the bestest friend ever!"

Evan chuckled. "So are you, Mangle. So are you."