Chapter 6: Pain
The next morning, William woke up before Clara. He dragged himself out of the bed and walked to the kitchen to make some toast and coffee. It was not exactly early in the morning, yet it was not late enough to wake anyone else up. When William got to the kitchen, he noticed the sun had not risen in the Utah sky. When William started to pour coffee grounds into the coffee maker, CC walked into the kitchen.
"Daddy, what are you doing up," CC asked.
"I want to get back to work on Circus Baby. I have to get the eyes done today," William replied.
"Why, daddy," CC asked.
"Because if I don't Henry will be mad at me," William thought but he could not bring himself to admit it out loud.
"Because I do," was what William told his son.
"Ok," CC said as he sat down at the table and began to tap his foot.
"Stop that, CC," William said rather sharply.
"Sorry," CC apologized. He almost began to cry at the reprimand of his father.
William and CC ate some toast, and William drank his coffee in almost silence. After CC was done eating, he put the plate that he was using near the sink so that it could be washed. Then he went back to his bedroom without saying a word.
After William put on a purple jacket, he walked towards the garage. He thought he knew what he was going to find- 2 animatronic eyes inside of the giant Circus Baby.
When William opened the door to the shop, he immediately felt like something was off. He grabbed his blueprints off of one of the tables and looked over them.
"Blue. They should be blue," William said in a very confused tone of voice, "Circus Baby, you have blue eyes. Why are they green now?"
William's first thought was that something in the programming he had done the day before changed the animatronic's eye color. Yet, he knew that was not possible. Then, why had Circus Baby's eye color changed? William got closer to Circus Baby to get a better look. Yep, the eyes had definitely changed to green. In fact, they sort of looked like his daughter's eyes. William did not understand what could have caused the animatronic's eyes to change their color. Yet, the proof was right in front of him- they had.
Then William looked down at the ground.
"What is this," he asked himself as he kneeled down and looked at the ground. There was a spot on the ground.
'Did someone paint the floor,' William thought, 'No, the door was locked. No one could have gotten in here.'
William observed the stain on the ground a little more and realized it was rather crimson in color. With that observation he began to back up. In a panic William ran back into the house and quickly went to Elizabeth's bedroom. Hoping to find his daughter fast asleep in her bed, peaceful and carefree, he found exactly the opposite. She was not in the bed. In fact, after searching the house, calling Elizabeth's name and waking everyone in the family up (besides CC, who was already awake and working on a coloring page), William could not find his daughter anywhere.
"William, what is going on," Clara asked as she ran towards her husband.
"I can't find Elizabeth. She is not anywhere in the house," William said in a panic.
"Maybe she is just playing hide and seek again," Michael suggested.
"No, I know where she is. Clara, come with me. Michael, you stay here and watch over your brother," William said. With that William led Clara into the shop.
When they got in the shop William walked over to the computer and put in an order for Circus Baby to open her 'ice cream dispenser' stomach hatch. When the hatch opened Clara let out a loud wail and fell to the ground. Tears immediately began to stream down her face, and she cried harder than she had ever cried in her life.
Inside the stomach hatch was a broken and bloody body. The blue skirt and pink blouse were stained red with blood. There was no doubt in William's or Clara's mind. It was Elizabeth and she was dead, crushed by Circus Baby. William walked up to where his wife was knelt before the animatronic. Trying to comfort her, he did not know what to do. A thousand thoughts collided in his mind at one time.
"Why did you not listen to me," William said out loud, "I told you not to play near her." Clara was not able to say anything through the tears.
The next few days were some of the hardest ones of any of the Aftons' lives- so far. They had to plan Elizabeth's funeral, which put a rift between Clara and William. They both were grieving and did not know how to communicate that to one another. They had different ways to try to deal with the pain that Elizabeth's death caused. Clara nearly shut down. She found it hard to do anything while William threw himself into a new project for Afton Robotics. William did not talk about what that was, even when Clara asked him about it.
After the funeral, at the place where the Aftons decided to bury their daughter, Henry walked up to his grieving business partner and offered him a hug.
"If there is anything that Ava and I can do…" Henry started to whisper in William's ear. William pushed Henry away from him.
"There is nothing that you can do," William lashed.
"I know that, William, but I want to help you," Henry sighed. The smart man nearly began to cry as he told his friend that.
"You can't," bewailed William.
"William, he is trying to be your friend," Clara said after overhearing her husband and Henry talking.
"I don't want a friend," William said as he stormed off, walking towards the family's car.
Michael Afton leaned down and touched the gravestone. He did not want to let his emotions out, but he was sad, angry, and confused all at the same time. CC, who had been holding Clara's hand, walked up next to his brother and put his hand on Michael's shoulder.
"I am sad, too, Michael," CC told his brother through tears.
"I'm not sad," Michael lied, "Get away from me, CC!" With that CC got up and ran into his mother's side.
When all the Aftons went back to their house, everyone went their own way.
CC thought about talking with Michael, but he decided it would be better to go to his own room instead. CC grabbed his plush animals and began to talk with them.
"Everyone is so angry and confused, Freddy. Bonnie, I am so sad. Chica, I don't know what to do. Foxy, can you help me? You are all my friends- the only friends I have," CC said through a stream of constant tears. With that he threw the Foxy plush against the wall. As the plush left his hands, the head tore off.
"I hate you, Michael," CC shouted as he curled up into a ball and began to cry, "I hate you, Michael. I hate you." CC said that as if he was almost trying to convince himself it was true. He did not know where those words were coming from, and he also did not know who was standing outside of the bedroom door- Michael Afton.
Michael went back to his own bedroom without letting CC know that he had heard him.
"So, CC, you hate me? Well, I can make you hate me more," Michael said to himself as he sat down on his bed.