I Always Come Back

"Child..." the rabbit hissed. "I am the reason for their existence."

"What?" Annie whimpered, her courage feigning.

The rabbit began to explain everything to Annie.

"Many years ago, I was human, like you. A father taking care of himself and his kids, who tragically lost his youngest, and supposedly just got over it. But I didn't. I will never get over it.

"But the fact that he died wasn't the only reason. Michael...did it. It wasn't an accident. He keeps saying it was, but he's a liar. He couldn't settle with being a failure, and how I loved Evan so much more. He tormented Evan, and eventually...he killed him. He's done so much to hurt my soul in one day alone.

"But I didn't hurt Michael...I let him live...That was my mistake."

"Your mistake?" Annie repeated.

The rabbit continued, "I decided if I could not end Michael, then I would end other people. The children. They were just like Michael...they deserved it. I dressed up in this costume, took five of the worst children, and ended them. It felt good..."

"My God! But how did that bring them to life?"

"There was a paranormal being in the restaurant. The Marionette. I was responsible for its existence as well...Charlotte...

"The five children I thought I had ended...were reborn, inside the suits. I saw this happen, and I wanted to know more...Then, I made new robots, clowns. I wanted to make a new restaurant for them, but...my daughter, Elizabeth...no matter. She was weak anyway."

"But...how did you end up like this?"

"I returned to the defunct restaurant to extract the souls for my next experiments. I dismantled the suits, all of them, and removed their insides, melting them down into nothing. But then, they all came back. Every person I had ended appeared before me. Angry.

"I fled into the back, and climbed into this suit. But...I was too frantic in my movements, and then...I was ended. They bound me to this suit in some act of retribution. But they are all still stuck here, with me. This whole place is teeming with them. I will absorb them all inside of my being, and finally...I will live forever.

"Anyway, I believe I've told enough of my story to my next victim. Don't worry, when I slaughter you, I will make it quick and painless."

The rabbit began to move towards Annie, and she had to think of something.

"You were the man in the purple uniform that I saw?" she asked.

"Yes."

"I don't believe you. Show me."

The rabbit stopped. And Annie watched as his eyes rolled back into his head. "You don't believe me?" he rasped. "Then I will humor you one last time before your end."

Then the rabbit did something disturbing and unexpected. He grabbed the top part of his mask and began to lift up, exposing the rotting remains of a human skull underneath. And then, the most unsettling part. The mouth of the human skull began to move as the rabbit spoke again, in a much deeper voice.

"See, Annie? Children, people, everyone who has died here is mine! NOTHING WITHOUT ME! NOTHING MORE THAN A STEP ON MY PATH!"

Annie began to take a step back. How did he know her name?

But she then stood back up straight, a fearless look in her eyes.

"Go to Hell, you sick fuck!" Annie yelled. She flicked the lighter on and pressed it to the gasoline on the floor, then pulled away with Jason immediately as a wave of fire erupted across the floor.

The loud sound of the fire alarm blared as Annie walked backwards, watching the hallway light up in flames.

And then, two arms appeared out of the growing fire as Springtrap ran towards Annie. She backed up, half-paralyzed, unable to run.

But the rabbit only made it a few feet out of the fire, before something else emerged from the flames. Two long black arms wrapped around Springtrap, pulling him back into the fire, before disappearing into the engulfing flames.

Annie squinted her eyes, trying to see what it was. Just barely, she could see a smiling puppet-like face staring back at her from the flames as it slowly melted down, until finally disappearing.

Annie picked up the pace as much as she could while tugging Jason with her down the familiar hallways. She turned one more corner and saw the red glowing exit sign once again. The real exit. She prayed that the door would be unlocked, but then she noticed something standing by the door.

Something with two glowing eyes.

Freddy Fazbear.

"But that doesn't make any sense. How is it still here?"

The only exit was right in front of Annie, everything else was blocked by the fire.

Annie leaned against the wall, falling into a sitting position. She gave up.

But then, she heard a laughing sound from down the hallway by the exit, followed by the sound of a door opening. Looking up, Annie saw Freddy holding open the exit door, staring at her. He was helping her escape.

Annie jumped back up, grabbed Jason again, and quickly dragged him down towards the door. She made it to the door and stood face-to-face with the suit, as it looked down at her with its glowing eyes.

Annie dragged Jason out the door to safety, and behind her, she heard one more laugh, but this time, it was a human laugh, the laugh of a little girl. She turned around to get one last look inside, but as the door began to close, she saw that Freddy was gone. It was as though he wasn't even standing there.

Annie went back to Jason and continued dragging him, until she bumped into someone behind her. She turned to see a man dressed in a security outfit and hat. But his skin...it's different. It's purple. And his eyes were a deep lavender color. Annie took a few steps back, frightened by the man's appearance. But the man put his hands up in a non-threatening way.

"It's okay, I'm just a night watchman." he said. "I was just running late for my shift."

Annie cried to him about all the horrors she and Jason had experienced inside the building. She assumed that he thought she was crazy, but instead he responded with, "Don't worry, I know. I've gone through the same stuff in there."

____________________________________________________________________________________________

In the end, everything that was expected happened. The attraction burned down, the fire and police department arrived to the scene, Jason was rushed to the hospital, and the question of how much Annie should sue for was brought up, though they didn't know the story, and Annie kept it to herself as to not seem like a nut.

The security guard urged Annie to keep quiet about the fire, and made up a story about how it started, some kind of electrical failure with faulty wiring. Annie also made up a story about Jason's injury, that one of the pop-up dolls hit him in the face, to make it seem like the park's fault. It would be difficult for them to get the cops to believe that story, or anyone for that matter.

As for suing, Annie didn't know what Jason would do, but she had no reason to.

The whole experience has actually brought Annie peace, knowing that the spirits are free, the decades-old curse has been broken, and she's put a satisfying end to her lifelong obsession.

Everything has worked out just fine.