Ghosts in the Pizzaplex - FNaF

Chapter 93

[[TW: Mentions of Suicide, Physical Abuse]]

[[This chapter and the next one take place at the same time.]]

"Not hungry?" Toby asked, eating a fry from the small batch he'd gotten.

"Not really... Pretty sure my stomach got damaged so I don't wanna agitate it," Edward says.

"Hm... I usually can't eat, but the thing in my head has like... shut off I guess? And I have my appetite back which is nice I suppose," Toby says.

"How did it get in your head?" Edward asks. They'd had a brief conversation about this before but Toby hasn't really told anyone specifically anything about his life or death. He pauses, sets down the chip he was holding and looks a bit torn.

"It was sewn into my skin after I cheated on a game. I don't know by who or how... When I died it got better access to my body," Toby says. It wasn't the entire truth but was part of it. Edward nods and seems to accept this answer.

"I have a question. Don't feel obligated to have to answer though," Toby says after a moment of awkward silence.

"I did kill myself if that's what you're wondering. You've been acting weird around me so I figured you were gonna ask eventually," Edward says. He doesn't seem ashamed, more just upset. Toby looks at him for a moment and then nods. They sit there for a few moments.

"Why?" Toby asks after a moment before realizing that might be rude and backtracking, "Wait, shit no that's not something you ask, I'm so sorry-"

"It's fine! To be honest I was hoping to talk with someone about it. I never went to a therapist and I think that definitely could've changed how this ended for me," Edward says with a small chuckle. Toby relaxes a bit and nods.

"As for why... A few reasons. One being I was being chased by a cat animatronic that had my friends face," Edward says. Toby looks stunned.

"How-?" he asks after his brain seemed to reboot.

"I gave the wrong hair to Fazbear Ent. I was trying to get a Friendly Face of me and my friends cat named Faraday," Edward says slowly getting quieter. Toby tips his head and thinks.

"Ok... I think I have a vague memory of those... Did your cat pass?" Toby asks.

"Both him and my friend got hit by a truck right in front of me," Edward bursts out before breaking down into tears. Toby sometimes forgot that Edward was not as old as him and was still technically a kid. So was he, but he had his own issues with his family and had been forced to hide a lot of his emotions. He stood up and went around the table, sitting next to Edward. He didn't entirely know what to do in this situation and felt guilty for putting Sam in this type of situation, multiple times.

"I'm sorry," Toby says, unsure what to do.

"I know it wasn't my fault and everyone kept telling me that but that wasn't why I was upset I just wanted Jack back, he was the only person who gave me any time of day besides what was necessary for my survival," Edward sobbed. He was a mess. Because of him crying, he began to wheeze again and clutched his side. Toby hadn't heard anything break so he knew it was just because it probably was sore. He put a hand tentatively on Edward's back which caused the kid to latch onto Toby and continue sobbing. The rabbit ears were flat against Toby's hair as he carefully tried to soothe the kid, just doing what he remembers Sam doing.

"I didn't want to die, really, I swear... I just... it was after me and haunting me and making me have to relive it over and over and over and I couldn't take it," Edward continued.

"I know how that feels at least..." Toby says softly, gently hugging the crying kid. He sat with him for a few more minutes, letting Edward get everything out of his system. Once he had calmed down a bit he just blankly sat there. The silence was a bit uncomfortable, even with the passive music playing through the atrium. It was a miracle no one had passed through and freaked out. Edward wiped his face a few times before speaking.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

"Don't be... Sometimes it's good to not keep it in your head," Toby says. He kinda paused for a second before continuing his thought.

"No one else here knows this, at least not with an absolute certainty, but I killed myself," Toby said. Edward kinda looked at him for a moment.

"I thought you were killed by the rabbit thing," he says, rubbing his face slightly to get some more tears off.

"Technically that's also true but either way, with or without it I would've ended up dead," Toby admits.

"You don't seem sad about that," Edward points out.

"I'm not. Death to you was an escape from what was haunting you. Death for me was an escape from having to live in the state I was..." Toby says, fiddling with his sleeves.

"Utah?" he asks.

"No, like a mental state and who I was with and stuff like that," Toby snorts, "I did not have a good life."

"Oh... I thought those were from the rabbit," Edward says, finally putting two and two together. Toby nodded slightly, letting Edward fill in some blanks.

"How did you die?" he asked after a few moments.

"I impaled myself. I have the scars on my back from it. I can also see the stitches from the thing being sewn into me, but I don't think anyone else can and I don't really want to test it," Toby says.

"So... if it wasn't entirely the rabbits fault, there was something else going on. Like with me," Edward said.

"There was a lot going on. My brother hurt me a lot because he thought he was better than me... Some of my scars are from him actually. Dad was an alcoholic; thought we didn't know but he fell off after mom left him. I didn't have anyone. Except maybe Reggie but he was a pothead and legitimately called me Teeb's for almost a year because he genuinely thought that was my name," Toby explained. He wasn't going to cry about this in front of Edward but he did feel upset and sick while talking about his life.

"Wow... Did you tell your bird dad?" Edward asked. Edward had heard Reed and Devon beginning to refer to Sam as Toby's "bird dad" because they thought it was amusing.

"No! He'd freak out. Plus he already does way too much for me... Which makes me feel even worse. Not to mention I've gone through some rough episodes and he's had to basically baby me because I was intent on killing myself again. He doesn't need to also know that I was treated like that. It'd probably make him worry more," Toby explained.

"I'm surprised you have bird dad then, since you seem to have a lot of trauma stemming from men," Edward says in a not mean, but genuinely curious tone.

"You crave what you never had," Toby shrugs. He felt like he needed to throw up. Edward nodded, slightly agreeing.

"You're very different from Jack, but I don't really mind that," Edward admits. Toby figured he was a replacement for something from Edward's life, since he believed there was no way to keep anyone around him except because there was some other thing keeping them there. Devon would be the prime example of this. Reed is more just a mutual since he kinda just hangs out with everyone, and Gregory and Sarah are Devon's friends. He just smiles and nods. They sit together for a bit more and Edward told Toby about Faraday and how they'd found him, and what he was named after. He didn't cry again but he did get upset a few more times. Toby talked about Tabitha, and what the rabbit did, what it feeds off of and his brother only noticing something was wrong before he'd gone and screwed everything up.

"HEADLESS WOMAN HEADLESS WOMAN NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE!" Devon screamed, running out of Roxy Raceway with Gregory and Reed scrambling in front of him. Toby and Edward stopped their conversation and rushed over.

"What's wrong?" Toby asked, grabbing Devon to stop him while Gregory and Reed ran past.