The Murderer's Child

Mike (Night 4)

Once again, Shadow was laid on a table, listening to music. Her shift began, and once again, she didn't notice...

"Does she have a thing for tables and music?" Foxy joked, appearing from the corridor and heading towards the stage.

"Seems like it, sometimes... Hey, Shady!" Freddy yelled, startling her. Just like the other nights, she fell off the table. "Hey you really gotta stop laying on tables and listening to music, cause every time you do, you fall off!"

"Yeah, because of you!"

"She has a point!"

"Can it, Chicken!"

"Who you calling chicken?"

"Chica, he's calling you a chicken..."

"I'll show him Chicken!"

"Calm it! Geez, I'm off to go take that call!" She walked off towards the office out of a new formed routine. As per usual, the phone rang and she picked it up, holding it to her ear with her shoulder and playing with bits of paper.

"Hello? Hello? Hey! Night 4! Wow. I knew you could make it! Uh, hey, listen. I might not be around to send you a message tomorrow. It's It's been a bad night here, for me. Un, I-I'm kinda glad that I recorded my messages for you, um, when I, when I did." Through the recording, there were banging noises on the metal doors, "Uh, hey, do me a favour? Maybe sometime, uh, you could check inside those suits in the back room? I'm gonna try to hold out until someone checks. Maybe it wont be so bad? Uh, I-I-I-I always wondered what was in all those empty heads back there! You know... Oh no" He was cut off suddenly, and that was followed by static and a loud scream, then mechanical screeches.

"Well then..." She sighed, "Better go look."

Muffled noises echoed through the halls as she walked towards the spare room, which was on the other side of the pizzeria. Thoughts raced through her head. What they had found earlier and that phone call, no that recording, had caught the possible death of a former night-guard.

"What do you mean you let a kid be the night-guard?" A voice yelled from the front of the pizzeria, across the main room and down a few corridors.

"Chill. Its one of Afton's kids..."

"Its still a Kid!"

"She can take care of herself..."

"She will die. I don't care what she can or can't do! She's a freaking child."

"She. Is. His. Daughter."

"She. Will. Die."

"She can program or destroy the machines if she needs to."

"I don't give one. What's her name again?"

"Uh... Shadow I think... Being honest with you, I'm surprised she's still alive."

"You are useless."

"Excuse me?"

"Look, You employed a child to take the role as night-guard , in a pizzeria where there have been several murders. Not to mention the murders were by her father! You're useless, and after that I dont care if you fire me."

"I'm not gonna fire you, but the kid's fine. Shes almost an adult, and she practically lives by herself, save for her adopted mother who usually is away anyway..."

"I'm off to go look for her. Make sure she's 'fine'." and with that, one of the figures began moving towards the main room. She could hear the footsteps.

"Hey, Shadow! Where are you? Don't worry, I work the day shift. Come here."

"How do I know I should trust you?" She asked, stepping out of the shadows (A/N no pun intended, that just kinda happened) so that she could see the figure, and it could see her.

"I work here. Are you okay?"

"And how do I know you aren't secretly trying to gain my trust so you or Afton can kill me?" The strength in her voice surprised them both.

"Smart kid, eh? Look, I know what happened. I know your brother."

"My... Brother?" That caught her off guard. She looked at him for a second as he stepped closer. It was her cousin... Or so she thought. "Oh, Mike?"

"Yep. Thats me! In fact, I am your brother..." He said slowly, wondering how she would respond.

"But... You're my 'cousin'?"

"Uh... Not quite..."

"Do you... Do you know why he left?"

A brief moment of silence surrounded them, the only sound at all was a few light footsteps echoing through different halls.

"Shadow... If... If I tell you something... You need to promise not to do anything stupid, okay?"

She nodded a quick response, before motioning to head to the main room, to sit at a table and talk.

"Ok... I'm not sure how to explain this... You might not believe me, either. Here goes nothing..." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Okay, when your sister and brother died, I was upset. No, scratch that. I was traumatized. But when I found out that it was at the hands of your-our-father's machines, I could have killed him. I literally couldn't sleep for days. And then, one day, about two... maybe three months after, your mother was in a crash. Worst of all, I was on the bus back home and saw it when it happened. I called an ambulance but by the time they got there, mom was dead. After that, I ran away. I didn't want to leave you, you were a toddler... I didn't want to, but I had to. I'm so, so sorry. About a year after, There were reports of murders at the restaurant. I knew that he had committed them. I left for a while, But I couldn't stop thinking about it. Im sorry." A single tear fell down his cheek, but he quickly wiped it away with his sleeve.

"Mike?" Shad looked at him, her eyes meeting his. He smiled slightly, before Shad got up and walked to the other side of the table, before hugging him. It surprised Mike at first, but then he hugged back. "Mike, None of it was your fault. I'm sorry you had to live through that."

"I'm sorry I left you. I just wanted to tell you to stay safe. I heard that you were working here as the night-guard, so I thought now would be the best time to tell you, seen as I leave the country tomorrow."

"Huh? You leave tomorrow?"

"I'll be back in a few months, but I'm going traveling. I understand that you're living with a few friends and a new mother. Stay safe. And I know you probably dont remember me, but I remember the few years I had with you. See you soon, Shad." And with that, he walked through the corridor and exited the building, the boss following after him.

It was 5:50. She walked back to the office to see five very familiar people searching for something.

"Uh...What are you looking for?"

"Oh, us? We're looking for Shadow." Freddy answered, still looking under the chair.

"Well, she ain't gonna be under there, is she?"

"How can you be sure? You never know; this kids good at stuff like that...Good chance she's actually a witch, to be honest..."

"Excuse me! Rude! Well, I think I might have found her..." The group looked up to see her stood in the doorway.

"Oh my god where were you?!" Foxy yelled at her, diving for a hug as the others joined in.

"With a certain brother of mine."

"Wait... You found him?"

"He was the day security guard!"

"Who'd have thought?" Bonnie looked absolutely amazed, his face was priceless.

"Wait... Was the day security guard?" Chica seemed confused, "Did he get him?".

"What? No! No, he's going traveling for a few months and he leaves later this morning."

"But hey, we found your brother!" Gold yelled, he could tell that secretly, she was bursting with excitement inside.

"Well... He found me..." She smiled