To Seek Answers (Mike Schmidt X Reader: Book 2)

Not Just Fairytales

The room was dark when you entered. And when you flicked the lightswitch no light shone. The bulb must have been busted. You took a cautious step into the room, and then another. Something warm and soft squelched under your foot, and warm liquid splashed up your leg. You froze, dread welling inside of you as a strong stench surrounded you.

     You took another step, something else squishing under your foot. You turned back to the door where Freddy and Bonnie stood. Freddy looked solemn and Bonnie slowly nodded his head. You turned back to face the darkness, raising your torch. Your thumb hovered over the button, and with a pounding heart, you flicked it on.

     A pale light filtered through the room, and a gasp rose in your throat. Children's bodies lay across the room, one propped up against the wall. Their eyes were wide and glazed, and their bodies were covered in blood. The smell was so strong that you felt bile rising in your throat. You trailed the torchlight around the room, gagging at the bloodstains that covered the walls. You directed the light down, and you let out a shout once noticing where your feet stood.

     You stumbled backward, pulling your feet out of the broken ribcage. A small propellor hat lay by the boy's torn throat. The same hat you'd seen in the missing children's poster in the paper. You tripped over a young girl's arm, collapsing to the ground. Your hand flew out in an attempt to catch yourself, but you let out a cry of horror as you ended up submerged to the elbow in a child's shredded stomach.

     The sight was so horrific. So brutal. So bloody. These kids weren't killed quickly. Their deaths were long, painful, and filled with suffering. It had to have been William. But you still found it hard to believe he was capable of such brutality.

     A bell sounded throughout the diner, signaling the end of your shift. People would arrive soon, wondering where you were. But you couldn't bring yourself to move. The sight was sickening, the smell made you gag, yet you were frozen.

     "How," you whispered, pulling your arm free of the corpse, "How could someone do this?"

     Freddy's deep voice rumbled from the doorway. "Unfortunately, monsters don't just exist in fairy tales."

     Your torchlight began to flicker, before finally turning off and hiding the mutilated bodies from your sight. You'd seen so much in your life. More than anyone ever should.

     A pair of hands gripped your upper arms, and Bonnie carefully pulled you out of the room, Freddy shutting the door after you. In the flickering light of the hallway, you noticed your clothes were stained with blood. Your heart pounded furiously, and your breathing grew heavy. "No," you mumbled, covering your eyes. "Not blood. Not again. No more blood."

     A metallic hand stroked your back, and Bonnie's glitchy voice whispered in your ear. "It's ok. It's ok." You were surprised by how empathetic these machines could be.

     "They've been here the whole time," you gasped, struggling for breath. "They've been right under our noses and we never even realised."

     The faint sounds of someone calling your name reached your ears. But you didn't move. You needed to find a way to calm yourself down before you had another panic attack. "It's because of this killer that we are how we are," Freddy hummed, lowering himself down next to you. Slowly you removed your hands, staring into his eyes.

     A whisper escaped you. "What do you mean?"

     You could hear guests beginning to arrive, and before Freddy could answer you had leapt to your feet. "No!" you cried, "We need to shut this place down! We can't have anyone coming here anymore!"

     You went to run but Bonnie's grip on your arm stopped you. "You can't just go running out there like a lunatic," he said. "You're covered in blood!"