behind the glass

Afton v. Afton

"Yes," Michael answered defiantly.

Vincent hesitated for a moment, abruptly stopping in the middle of the doorway.

"I didn't even get to ask the question yet-"

"You want to take down my father, don't you?" Michael crossed his arms, leaning against the wall of the security office. "I want to help."

"How- How did you know?"

"I heard you talking to that woman earlier," Michael answered, lowering his voice. "Does she know you're gay?"

"Of course she does." Vincent smirked, despite faltering as he continued. "Just look at me; It's not that hard to tell."

"She's flirting with you."

"She has a kid," Vincent sighed. "She probably has a husband, too. She's just being nice because I'm helping her."

"Whatever you say." Michael shrugged. "Do you want my help or not?"

"Of course I do." Vincent stepped farther into the office, dropping a yellow folder on top of the security camera controls and sitting down at the desk. "I saw Scott going through this earlier; it's got information about every single missing children's incident in the franchise's history."

Michael appeared at Vincent's side and began to read over his shoulder as he flipped through the first few pages.

"I never knew there was one that happened back in '87," Vincent continued. "I thought this was a more recent thing."

"You have no idea," Michael breathed as he reached forward to take a page out of the folder.

The page was cut from a newspaper, detailing the tragic disappearance of Elizabeth Afton before the grand opening of Circus Baby's Pizza World. It was a short lived attempt by William Afton to create a business that was all his own, with the ultimate goal of cutting ties with the restaurant that killed his youngest child. Of course, it didn't work; before he had even transported the new animatronics to the restaurant, he made the fatal mistake of leaving the door to his underground shop unlocked, allowing his curious daughter to wander inside. William sold the building that was intended to be Circus Baby's shortly after and rented out the animatronics instead, complete with a lengthy waiver that he supplied to all of his customers.

The machine that he had designed specifically to capture children had captured his own child.

The newspaper article framed the whole situation as a horrible accident. William had told the journalist that Elizabeth had simply run away, as children of busy parents are known to do. He claimed that he had searched everywhere, but it was no use, and eventually announced that she had passed. What came after was something that Michael never expected.

After Elizabeth's death, the public was sympathetic to the Aftons, despite the unfavorable reaction to Cassidy's death. Michael was ridiculed for his childish prank, with other kids mocking him, spitting on him, and threatening to give him a taste of his own medicine for months after the incident. After Elizabeth's death, however, strangers would offer their condolences when they saw William in the street. They would stop him to offer hugs and words of affirmation that William did nothing wrong, some sharing stories of their own children who wad endured near death experiences. Michael simply stood there and listened to strangers praising William for neglecting his own children to the point of death.

Vincent glanced over at the newspaper article in Michael's hand.

"What's Circus Baby's?"