You can only do so much research on google in 2000.

Fancy found herself nestled in between book shelves and local history archive drawers in the local library at Hurricane Utah. She squinted her eyes, pressed against the lens of the microfilm viewer, used to view old newspaper articles.

The first one she viewed in relation to her project had a headline that screamed to her in bold letters. "GRAND OPENING". There was a date under the heading, November 20th 1973. A picture to match, two men shaking hands in front of a modest building with a large sign with big letters spelling "FREDBEAR's FAMILY DINER" with a picture of a rabbit and a bear, arms around each other, and waving at the onlookers.

T hey waved at Fancy, their eyes beckoning her to follow. To follow the rabbit's trail. Fancy read the article. "Fredbear's Family Diner now open! Offering entertainment and fine food for guests of all ages! Come be a part of the fun! Owners William Afton and Henry Schmidt are proud to announce the grand opening of their latest achievement and showcase Afton Robotics' finest new inventions."

Schmidt? Schmidt? As in Michael? As in the sleepy and sloppy night guard? How much did he really have to do with this? What was he not telling her?

Fancy went through article after article about the restaurant being sold, bought, renamed, renewed. All were cash grabs, obviously, no relevance to the case. Until she landed on an article, the article.

"CHILDREN MISSING PARENT'S BLAME ROBOTICS PRODIGY AND RESTAURANT OWNER WILLIAM AFTON."

there was no picture with this article. Not one at the top at least, the author went right into it, discussing the events that had unfolded at that very pizzeria. "Five children reported missing at local dining and entertainment venue, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Police have searched the establishment five different times, each search coming up empty. No remains of the children have been found and no clues to their whereabouts have been unearthed either. Parents choose to blame franchise owner and robotics master, William Afton but no concrete evidence has been unearthed to charge him with anything. Police continue to investigate."

the article wasn't useful. She still had one and only one suspect. William Afton. But where was he now? Any newspaper articles about him after 1995 were obsolete. It was as if he practically vanished off the face of the earth.

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"It's you?" "uh yeah."

Mike seemed to shrug and stepped aside to let her inside of the old pizzeria.

"What? Didn't think I'd come back?" "Honestly, no I didn't." "You've got a lot to learn about me, Mike." She said as she followed him to his office.

"Now who's this person you promised me about?"

Mike didn't answer. She found him to be on a bit more of the quiet side. What was she expecting, though? For Michael Schmidt to be overly chatty about his past trauma and hunches about the shady job he had started working to keep his life afloat, barely, but afloat nonetheless.

The office was small, the size of a broom closet. Maybe that's what it was originally designed to be? Glowing monitors gave the room a hazy halo of light and there she was, sitting in the corner of the room on a fold out chair.

"This is-" "Officer Vanessa." Fancy finished for him. Vanessa quirked a brow at her.

"You're that new intern." She said as she looked at Fancy. "You know her?" Mike asked. "Only seen her in passing. She's not in my division." Vanessa explained. "She's with Hayden Hurst's group." "Who?" "The lead detective, Homicide division." Vanessa explained and Fancy nodded.

"How is he, by the way, Hayden?" "I haven't gotten to speak with him much yet." Fancy replied. "He was too busy today for me to come in for my orientation- you know, first day stuff, so I'm scheduled to do that tomorrow." She replied. "Careful with him." Vanessa warned. "He can be a bit of a jerk." "Noted."

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

"Mike tells me you've been asking some questions about the pizzeria." Vanessa began. "Yes," Fancy said, "I'd like to interview you but I'm not sure if that's allowed- interviewing an officer outside of the investigation division, so I'll play it safe and just take notes. I don't want to get you fired." Vanessa chuckled.

"Smart cookie." "The smartest." Fancy said as she took her notebook out of her bag and opened to a fresh sheet of paper.

"So tell me, what makes you an expert on this place?" "I used to come here all the time when I was little. I loved Freddy's. I had all the little plushes of the animatronics." "The what?" "The animatronics." Vanessa repeated. "You know, Foxy, Bonnie, Chica, and Freddy? Freddy's picture is even on the front of the building, on the glowing sign."

"Like Chuck E. Cheese?" "Better than Chuck E. Cheese." Vanessa snapped. "Chuck E. Cheese is a mass produced watered down version of what Freddy's is. Freddy's combined cutting edge entertainment technology with family fun. The animatronics could even walk around during the day. Nothing like Chuck E. Cheese." "Okay, okay, so It's like Chuck E. Cheese but better?" "Sure, you could say that." Vanessa agreed.

"Would you say it would have been easy to loose sight of someone at Freddy's? Back in the day?" Vanessa pondered on the question. She knew where this was heading. "I would say so, yes." Fancy jotted down a note in her notebook, clicking her pen a few times before looking back up at Vanessa.

"Do you remember the days the five children went missing?" "Who doesn't? It was big news. Word travels fast in a small town."

No one knew that better than Fancy. An old newspaper article flashed in her head, not one about Freddy's that she had been scouring over for hours at library but one unique to her. One from ages ago.

"BEAR FOREST SNATCHER STRIKES AGAIN."

The headline burned into her head. Seared like a branding on the side of a cow. Under the headline she could almost read it from her mind. "Local kidnapper strikes again, 12 year old Amanda Montgomery snatched right out of bed. Parents oblivious until the next morning they discovered Amanda's room empty and her window wide open. Authorities advise all residents with young children to remain indoors after seven pm and lock all doors and windows."

"Yes." Fancy said slowly. "Yes I know. Which is why I thought you might know something, you enjoyed Freddy's like no other. Surely you would have been listening for any kind of news regarding the place, especially after it closed down. You would have been expectant and hopeful for it to reopen, as any kid would be when their favorite place closes down. Your ears would have been tuned to any kind of new about the place. Anything." Vanessa shook her head.

"Sorry. I don't know much. Everything I can tell you, you probably already know." "try me." "The owner was blamed, but no evidence was ever found that he was liable. He was never charged and eventually he just vanished. No one knows where he is and no one has seen him since."