RUBATOSIS | William Afton x Reader

IV. AIR

(CONTENT WARNING: smoking, cursing, anxiety, trauma, panic attack, mention of violence)

You gripped the beaten leather steering wheel with one hand, the other held close to your mouth for you to anxiously chew on your nails. A dark mass of clouds hung low overhead, as they had been for the past few days. They seemed to drench the road stretched in front of you with their ominous shade, and it only added to the strong concoction of emotions brewing inside of you. You took your hand away from your teeth to tune up the radio that'd been quietly whispering to you. As you turned the volume dial to the right, you could feel the melody float around your car and embrace you with its comforting notes.

    You were on your way to see William, just as you'd promised him on Monday. It'd only been a few days since you'd seen him, but the memories of the interaction were still nagging at you. If you tried hard enough, you could even still smell him. Needless to say, you were eager to receive his attention once more, and the thought of being under his brutal silvery gaze again sent chills racing through your body. The way his words and actions were laced with threatening undertones excited you to no end, causing the most painful buildup of nerves within you as you waited for this day to approach. The day you would see him in his own territory.

    Sure, you were mostly there to learn, but what was the harm in indulging yourself with this little infatuation of yours? It's not like anything would actually come of it, you were sure you couldn't be his type. Someone of his age with such accomplishments was far out of your league and you knew it. No matter, you were simply going to let yourself enjoy this fantasy. Perhaps watching him work from his own turf could be a treat to you, and a wonderful distraction from the ruins of your life.

    Navigating through the familiar stop signs and traffic lights of Hurricane, you grew closer to the strip mall that William had said his business was by. The name of the establishment was a little foggy in your memory, though, as you'd been too overwhelmed by his -well... everything- to really memorize that detail. But, you did remember him saying that the place was new, so you figured it would be easy to spot alongside all of the age-old shops and restaurants in that area.

    You drove along the businesses, slowing to examine every sign for something that stood out. After a few buildings, you were finally able to spot an unfamiliar sign. Figuring that this was probably the spot, you carefully pulled into the closest parking space in front of the building entrance. Your eyes scanned the building, which wasn't new in itself. You could vaguely remember the dingy bricks housing an old Italian restaurant that had gone out of business long ago. Not much about the building had really changed from your memory of it. It was sort of disconnected from the other businesses in the plaza, residing closer to the town forest than anything else. The same forest where you'd first seen William, you recalled.

    Your eyes wandered up to a bright fluorescent sign that shone in the cloudy afternoon mist of the town. It was only then that you registered what the bold lettering actually said, and your stomach dropped.

    Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria

    ...oh my god.

    The name rang out in your ears, echoing through your brain. Your heart stopped and you felt like you were going to be sick. It was the same name you'd seen in the police reports over and over again. The place your mom had lost Cassidy.

How could you not have recognized that name when it left William's lips? Had you really been that distracted? Had he really fried your brain that much? You felt like your lungs were being crushed with the weight of the memories that were flooding into your system.

You could feel the blind, primal rage that clawed at your insides when you'd first received the phone call from your mom about Cassidy. You could feel the plastic of your dorm hall's landline in your hand as you gripped it forcefully, screaming into it. You could feel exactly how much you wanted to kill her in that moment.  She promised you that she would be better. She promised you that she would keep Cassidy safe. She promised you that everything would be okay. And it was all a fucking lie.