#does she

“What were you doing in there?”

“I was…” Gregory shifted his weight, tugging on the weird watch around his wrist. “You know what I was doing, Cassie.”

“Yeah? I wanna hear it in your words, Gregory. That whole place was shifty, and we agreed-”

“I know what we agreed, Cassie! I know that! Do I regret going in there? Maybe a little, but given the chance to do it again, I would.” His lip quivered slightly. “There’s just a few details I would change, that’s all.”

“What could possibly be worth going back for?” Cassie scoffed. “The animatronics were out to get you. The security guard was out to get you. That crazy lady in the rabbit costume was out to get you. Oh. And that rotting rabbit in the basement tried to manipulate both of us so it could recover from whatever was going on. So please. Share what was worth it in there, Greg. Because honestly, given the chance, I’d do everything I could to make it so you never stepped foot into that building.”

“...” Gregory muttered something under his breath.

“What?”

Gregory’s head shot up as he shouted, “Freddy!” Tears started falling from his eyes. “If I’d never gone in there, I never would’ve met him.”

“Freddy?” Cassie echoed. “The… bear?”

“Yeah.” Gregory swiped at his eyes. “The bear. He tried to protect me. He kept me safe.”

“Until when?”

“What do you mean?”

“When did he stop protecting you. Because obviously, in case you didn’t notice, I was the one who rescued you.”

“I don’t remember…” Gregory sniffled, rubbing at his eyes again. “But he wouldn’t abandon me, I know that much.”

“Are you sure?” Cassie pressed. Her encounter with the band leader had felt a bit off. Sure, the animatronic was missing half his casing, and maybe a bit of his endo as well, but when he’d asked about Gregory, there had been an undertone to his words. An undertone that convinced Cassie to lie and say she didn’t know what he was talking about. An undertone that made her leave him behind. An undertone that made her ignore his dispaired cry as the T.V. behind Cassie had flickered on, showing Gregory running away from something, begging for help.

“He wouldn’t abandon me. Not if he had a choice. What makes you sure he wouldn’t? Cassie, you didn’t see Freddy, so how would you know?” Gregory finally dropped to the cement lining the alleyway. Cassie winced at the way his knees cracked when they hit the pavement. “Unless, you did see him.” Gregory’s eyebrows furrowed. “Cassie, you didn’t…”

“I didn’t what?” Cassie stood up, glancing around. “Look, we should probably keep moving.”

“You didn’t do anything to Freddy, did you? You didn’t destroy him, right?”

Cassie hesitated. She didn’t know how to tell him that Freddy’s eyes had flickered purple for a moment, and she’d torn his casing free to get at the wiring in his head. She didn’t want to tell him that the light had completely gone from his eyes, and even the scratchy voice box went silent as the animatronic ceased movement. “I didn’t see Freddy.”

“You swear?” Gregory slowly got to his feet.

“Yeah, whatever. Gregory, we gotta go-” Cassie reached for his wrist.

Gregory jerked his hand away. “Give me your word.”

Cassie paused for a moment, frowning. She hated to lie. “I never found him. He was gone.” Her hand clenched into a fist, nails digging into her palm. “Ok?”

Gregory’s shoulders slumped, and his eyebrows creased. It was an agonized expression, and he didn’t respond right away. But when he eventually did respond, they were nearly four blocks away.

“Ok.” He sniffled again. “I just wish I never lost him. During the fire…” Gregory swallowed harshly. “During the fire, we got separated. The ceiling caved on us, and Freddy just told me to keep running. He promised to come find me.”

Cassie forced her shoulders to remain straight. “He never got the chance to keep his promise. So…”

“So what? He probably got ruined in the fire, Cassie. And it’s my fault!”

The words Cassie was about to say vanished from her tongue. “He wouldn’t have wanted you to blame yourself.”

“I know that!” Gregory’s voice echoed in the street.

“Shut up!” Cassie hissed, grabbing Gregory’s arm above his watch. “You want us to get caught? You want to lose me too?”

Gregory flinched. “Cassie…”

“Just walk. I’d forget about the bear too, if I were you. He’s not coming back.”

“You can’t know that,” Gregory retorted, falling into step beside her. “You never met him. He was…”

“What was he, Gregory?” Cassie sank her teeth down hard into her lower lip. “What was he to you?”

“Cassie, he was like… Forget it. I know you hate vulnerability.”

“You can talk to me.”

“He was the father I wish I’d had, okay? And I just left him there. Alone. To die.”

“Animatronics can’t die.”

“They abandoned the building. You saw the wreck. They didn’t even bother recovering the animatronics for scrap. Nobody’s going to help him.” Gregory was crying again.

Cassie elbowed him. “Well, rumor on the street says those animatronics are haunted. Maybe Freddy’s got a ghost to wake him up and keep him going.”

“You really think so?”

Cassie had seen the glowing purple eyes. She believed it more than anything. Those pieces of junk wouldn’t have come after them without a bossy ghost telling them what to do. “Yeah, sure. There’s apparently a guy who's been bit by one out there too.”

“By a ghost?” Gregory replied, wiping his face with a slight smirk.

“Yes, Gregory. Ghosts can definitely bite people.” Cassie rolled her eyes. “Wanna see if we can find the guy?”

“We’ve got nothing better to do,” Gregory said. “Might as well.”

Cassie relaxed slightly. Everything would be fine again. She’d retrieved her annoying friend, and after humoring him for a while, maybe he’d finally start listening to her suggestions. As he said, he didn’t really have anything better to do.