Blurred Childhood

Epilogue

I had been sleeping when the alarm went off. The "employees I should've thought twice before hiring" alarm, I like to call it. I ignore it most of the time, because it's just some idiot wandering into the wrong room. Except...

I have no one on shift tonight!

I leapt out of bed and threw on a shirt, beginning a search through the house to see if some burglar had come in.

Nothing was broken, nothing was missing. I went to go check on the boys, just to make sure they're okay. Terry was still sleeping. Michael... his bed was empty. Where did he go? Was he the one in my office? He can't be! I never told him about it! Was it...

No. That's exactly it. His snitch of a sister. That's who.

I rushed out to the garage and down to the basement, which was still pitch black. Smart kid to not turn the lights on. I turned on the huge universal switch, and saw that Funtime Foxy and Funtime Freddy had fallen into a dogpile on the floor. Did Michael trick them? Just for protection in case they get up, I picked up a crowbar from the corner. Freddy and Foxy stayed where they were, even after a nudged them with the crowbar.

I heard talking from inside my office. It was Michael.

Very gently, I opened the door.

My blueprints were strewn across the floor, and Michael was sitting in front of my desk. Right in front of the box. Now I know he had seen too much. What I did next might've been slightly uncalled for.

I walked up to him and swung the crowbar against his head. He fell over, and a second later, the remnant of what he was rose out of the shell. I quickly grabbed a glass jar and waited for the soul to condense itself before I captured it.

I watched Michael dart around in the jar before giving up and resting at the bottom.

"Sorry," I whispered to him. "I never wanted you to see that." I hugged the jar to my chest. "You poor thing. What on earth am I going to tell your brother?"