After school, I stopped by my house just to drop off my textbooks. I didn’t even bother to say hello to William; I went straight to our treehouse.
Well, it was behind Fritz’s house, but we built it together a few years ago. Before Evan’s death, before Elizabeth… Ah, Elizabeth. I miss her too. It wasn’t just Evan’s death that was bothering me; my mom, my sister… they both died before I turned twelve. Well, Elizabeth went missing, but it’s been three years. I don’t think she’s coming back.
I sighed and continued walking. I wasn’t even sure if Fritz was home yet, but since he told me to meet him at the treehouse, I decided to wait there. I sat on the floor and started to mindlessly draw in my sketchbook. I must’ve lost track of time, because when I looked back up, Fritz was sitting in front of me, smiling.
“Well, well, what do we have here?”
I put my sketchbook back in my backpack and shrugged.
“You wanted to show me something, didn’t you?”
“Oh, yeah, about that- I just wanted to get you out of there. I haven’t seen you in two weeks; you’re worrying me, y’know?”
I nodded. He wasn’t wrong. I’ve isolated myself completely, even William seemed worried sometimes.
“I just… can’t deal with it. It’s too much, and he just doesn’t get it. I have no idea how my dad can get over it so quickly.”
“If I’m honest, I’d say that losing so many people at this point just made him … numb. He’s been through his shit, you have to excuse him.”
I sighed; I didn’t want to think about that, I didn’t want to excuse him, I did not want to let it go. I felt so guilty; I couldn’t just let it go.
“Mikey, I…” he sat down beside me and leaned on my shoulder. “I’m sorry. When we were there, when I helped you lift him up, I thought about letting go. And maybe, if I said something, he’d still be alive and you’d be alright. I think about it all the time, too. I’m not saying I know how you feel, I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you. But… we can get through this together, I know we can, but please. Trust me.”
I don’t know why, but this surprised me. Fritz was never the crying type, and yet there he was, holding back tears. I hugged him; it was the first thing I could think of. I didn’t want to let him go this time. I never wanted to let him go, I never wanted to lose him. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like without him. I didn’t want to.
“It’s alright,” I said, hugging him tighter. “It’s gonna be alright. Trust me.”
We stayed like this for a while. I don’t remember if any of us actually cried or not. And yet, I’ve never felt better than in that moment. Not necessarily good, just… comfortable. I never felt like that around my family, around William. Fritz was right; my father was just numb, and he’s been ever since I can remember. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him cry.

…

Actually, I have.
He shared Fredbear’s with his best friend, Henry, but Circus Baby’s Pizza was his own creation. It was supposed to open back in 1980, but then a gas leak happened and in a week or two, there was nothing to open anymore. The place was for sale and William gave up on animatronics for quite a while. I remember walking around the building, looking at all the new stuff, when suddenly a scream echoed through the halls. It was undoubtedly William’s voice, no matter how many times he’s denied it. I followed it and before I could go any further, William found me and told me to get out. Probably the gas leak. Him, me and Evan found each other outside the building.
But not Elizabeth.
That night, I woke up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water. As I was walking down to the kitchen, I heard something in Eli’s room. Curious, I opened the door to the sight of my father sitting on the bed, hugging Eli’s plush toy, tears pouring down his face. Why was he crying? She’ll come back, right?
“Dad?”
He turned to me and stopped.
“M- Mikey, it’s late, you should go to bed.”
In that moment, I did the only thing I could think of, the thing that Fritz did whenever I was sad. I went up to him and hugged him. He hesitated for a moment, but hugged back nonetheless. I could feel him shaking. Looking back at that night, I know he was trying his best not to scream. He just lost his daughter, and yet, he acted tough for me and Evan.
Maybe he wasn’t that bad after all.