»Of Godhuman Nature« [Five Nights At Freddy's]

Chapter XVI - Icosahedron

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            Darkness had soon completely devoured the streets of Hurricane, the pitch-black tapestry of night rolling across the tired landscapes of a usually sprightly city to swallow the colours of a new-born autumn. Golden treetops turned to black, & the high peaks of the mountains, though still faintly illuminated by the coy lights of distant stars, laid their eyes to rest. Before Lily there was darkness; darkness as far as the eye could see, smiling its barefaced smile at her from the other side of the panorama window at Afton's mansion.
The alluring scent of green tea flooded her nose as thick Gyokuro-flavoured fumes arose from the porcelain cup between her palms that she held in front of her chest like it was her weapon of self-defense, clinging to it.

           After her shift at Afton Robotics he had once again invited her into the sanctities of his home for yet some more tea & a conversation in which he'd promised to provide her with answers to all of her questions, no matter how personal... & as to be expected after several days filled with bizarre events & strange happenings, questions there were many. So many, she had no idea where to even start.

            Taking the cup in one hand she raised her left palm up to her eyes. Despite a quite feral washing that included an overdose of soap there still were dozens of oil stains scattered all over her palms, each finger decorated with small scratches & fissures caused by drilling & screwing; the result of hours of working on Springtrap up in Afton's private little workshop.
She couldn't believe that, after three years of neither touching an animatronic nor continuing to educate herself in the field of engineering, she had still managed to pull off a solid performance under the ever watchful eye of Mr. Afton & - as a result - leave a flattering first impression on him. There had been almost no verbal exchange between them during those working hours, not besides the occasional word of advice or compliment; he had observed her in complete yet respectful silence for the majority of the time & hardly moved, as though he'd been hypnotized by her working on his creation.

Lily took a sip from her tea & sighed, the distant sound of approaching footsteps now catching her attention. An ominous silence had befallen Afton's entire mansion since two of his butlers had left early, & Elizabeth was still at the local clinic with her caregiver, receiving her weekly medical treatment.

        'It takes several hours, sometimes even all day long, & it severely drains her physical energy, however it's the only way to keep her body from surrendering entirely...'

Recalling William Afton's words before he had left to take care of a few small personal matters in his office she felt a quick, sharp pain behind her ribs, the mental image of a joyfully smiling Elizabeth repeatedly flashing up before her inner eye like strobe lighting.
Why did fate always struck the ones that had little means to actively defend themselves the hardest? What was the point of choosing a fragile, innocent child whose life was yet to begin & curse it with a disease of such malicious nature that even in this modern day & age, there still existed no true cure for it?

               Was there a point to it at all?

A small warm tear abandoned her left eye to silently roll across her cheek, & she let it. To her, crying sometimes appeared to be the only reasonable way to rid herself of all the harmful & tormenting thoughts, the so called poison of the mind, in order to prevent her sanity from slipping away & dragging every remaining ounce of hope that she so vehemently nourished with it. Crying never came with constructive solutions, yet it allowed the mind to clean itself & leave room for their later arrival in the process. Although always frowned down upon by so many people, tears cleared one's vision & washed the dust of grief away, allowing one to see.