Henry sat slumped over on his old office chair. He'd spent most of his day working on fixing Springbonnies left arm which kept malfunctioning and going stiff during performances. Finally around two hours ago he'd figured out the problem and got it fixed.
Now Henry was working through the diners files and documents. He'd been so tired the night before that they'd been left in a state all over the desk and some files even worked their way down onto the floor. Completing them was extremely exhausting due to their thickness so Henry has locked himself in his office hoping he'd get at least some of them done.
The documents were always boring and they dragged on forever. That was why Henry had told Charlie to go and hang around her friends instead of gripping his leg so tightly and chatting constantly. He hadn't meant to be so rude to her, but he really needed to get these completed.
Thinking back on it now, Henry thought that it had been quite a while since he'd told Charlie to leave him be. He lifted his wrist to check the time but then realised that his watch had stopped almost three hours ago. Damn it, he cursed. Lifting himself from his seat with a short sigh he made his way out of the office in search of his daughter.
The first thing he noticed when walking into the main party area of the diner was that his Colleague and long time friend William Afton was nowhere to be seen. He'd swore that he had asked the man to stay around and watch over everything but it seems William had better things to do.
He walked around the room for a few minutes smiling and welcoming the odd guest and having a small chat with an employee or two. There really is no reason to rush, he kept telling himself. Charlie is alright, she's probably just wondered off with her little group of friends again.Although there was no reason to be, and everything was calm like usual at the Diner, Henry felt a small part of him urging him to move faster and look for the girl.
Slipping out of the party room and going down a long hall to the back rooms made Henry's anxiety spike more. There's no way she's gotten into parts and service, right? It's supposed to be locked and she knows that she's only allowed in their with me. Henry held back his fear as he wrapped his hand around the door handle.
It didn't budge and their was no click, it was still locked.
He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding and as he started his trek back down the hall to the main area again he heard quiet giggles come from a corner round the hall.
Slowly but steadily he went round the corner and found a group of young kids huddled together all whispering and laughing. There was three of them, all wearing the matching Fredbears Diner wrist bands. One wore pink, one blue and the other had on the orange band. He recognised them and was curious as to what they were talking about so he hid just around the corner and listened.
"I bet you she's out there crying for her daddy to come find her!" Light chuckles follow. "Ye, or she'll have given up and crawled into a ditch around. You know the amount of spots that have been dug up around here." Even more chuckles follow suit.
Henry was confused, who were they talking about and what had they done exactly?
"Hey, you know guys, maybe we should go out and let her back in?" A voice chipped in. "Wait what? Why would you want to do that? Charlie is so~ annoying and we really cannot deal with her today. Don't be a pussy and think that you'll be blamed or something."
Oh god. Thought Henry. They've locked Charlie out the building. As if on autopilot he went straight up to the children. They're eyes widened when they say Henry's distraught look and immediately realised they were in big trouble.
"Mr Emily- um hi? Are y-you ok-okay?" One of the kids spoke up, the orange band one it seemed. She spoke with a fast pace and stuttered about with her words. "What door?" Was all that Henry could muster. The kids all shared a knowing look but still refused to speak. "If one of you don't tell me what door you've left her at, then-"
"The back door! The back door with the security puppet! We shoved boxes over it so it couldn't stop us and then we threw her out! IM SO SORRY!" That came from the blue band kid. He ran up and grabbed ahold of Henry and sobbed loudly.
Henry had no idea what to say. If he would shove the child off and go to his daughter. Or if he would stay for a while and comfort him, explain how he should never give into peer pressure and at the same time give the other kids a right earful to not play pranks that were harmful like this and could result in an accident.
Henry didn't know at the time the scale of the "accident".
Henry went with the second option. Holding the boy close he tried his best to sooth him and calm him down (himself mentally as well).
"There, it's all right. I'm not mad." He looked down at the kid and cringed at the sight. The small boys face was bright red and tear stained, he was aggressively sniffing all while rubbing at his eyes trying to stop the tears from starting up again. His hair was bright red and seemed to be blocking his line of site. He was short but chubby and what Henry recognised about the boy was that he'd always hide under the tables to stay overnight.
Henry now looked over and faced the other two kids. They looked upset, but no remorse for their actions could be found showing on their face. "Do you have anything you'd like to say to me?" Henry asked. They both shared a look and-
CRASH
A large crash came from another part of the diner and Henry on instinct jumped up to go and find where it had came from. He'd only made it to the end of the hall before he realised that the little red head was following behind. He ignored the boy and continued walking.
His destination just so happened to be the back door. Henry glanced around and noticed that boxes were scattered across the floor and that the security puppet had (somehow) disappeared. Henry guessed that the boxes were what the kids had used to lock the Security Puppet in its box but then he realised that the door to the back alley was lying wide open and it was storming outside.
He moved, slowly, very slowly outside and made his way out the back.
At the end of the alley there was a heap of something on the ground.
Henry couldn't breath. His heart was beating to fast and he felt a lump grow in his throat.
He went closer and closer, until-
Charlotte. Not just her but the security puppet aswell.
Henry didn't care about that though. He knelt down and wrapped his arms around his daughter. She was covered in blood and gore. Contents from the gash on her neck we're still spilling onto her dress.
Henry didn't know what to do. He couldn't move. He couldn't do anything.
His daughter is dead in his OWN DINER'S back alley because he FAILED at looking after her.
He gently stroked the hair back from her head and stared into her cold grey lifeless eyes. Once a lively and warm blue that would light up the room.
He felt hollow inside. Henry had never once broke down but now he did. Thick tears streamed down his face. He sniffed and shivered in the freezing rain.
He needed to get up and call an ambulance, the police. ANYONE.
But he couldn't. He couldn't leave her outside while he went to the nearest phone.
He didn't know how long he sat there holding her and rocking her. His sweet, sweet daughter, dead in his arms.
Flashing lights of red and blue drove into the car park. An ambulance and two police cars.
He didn't remember calling 911, so how did they get here?
It took a long time but Charlie was finally ushered out of Henry's arms and into a body bag where they took her for her an autopsy.
They didn't question Henry that night. He was to overwhelmed and disturbed.
He sat in the back of an ambulance. Crying silently. He was aware of everyone of his surroundings, the police, the news reporters and the families that had gathered to find out about the commotion.
What he hadn't noticed was the small red head boy that had followed him into the alley way, watched, and then called the police from the inside phone after tearing his crying eyes away.