The Next Reminder

Chapter III || I love you, Charlotte.

*Henry's POV*

I pull into the parking lot of the old, abandoned mall. I take in a deep breath, preparing myself to go inside. Elizabeth already got out and was walking toward the building, so I hurry and get done preparing, running to catch up to her. The wind blows my hair and my loose clothes around. I tuck in my turtleneck, keeping my flannel untucked and unbuttoned. "This wind is just horrible..." I chuckle.

"It feels nice. You know, since we're in the Southwest and it's basically summer for more than half the year, I haven't really felt anything like this in quite a long time." Elizabeth says, her brunette hair blows in the wind, as well, and her grey cardigan blows, too, threatening to rip it off of her at any moment. Thankfully, her wardrobe is nothing like Robot Charlie's, it is basically the opposite. Elizabeth wears a flowy, black dress, long enough to make sure it won't blow up and flash anyone, but short enough to make her not look like a grandma. She paired that with a dark grey cardigan and dark grey stilettos with white jewels lining the heel. I wonder how she wears those all the time without her feet killing her.

When we get to the building, I watch Elizabeth jump the window, landing perfectly. I do, as well, making sure to bend my knees as I land. "Hopefully there aren't any squatters in here.." I worry, and Elizabeth scoffs.

"Anyone squatting in here are idiots. Why would they willingly squat in here as if there aren't abandoned homes to live in?" Elizabeth crosses her arms.

We come across the entrance to Freddy's, which is marked by Charlie writing, 'CARLTON SMELLS LIKE FEET' But with many spelling mistakes as well as a child's handwriting. Elizabeth, being as strong as she is, pushes the cabinet out of the way.

"Aw, fuck!" She exclaims, and I raise an eyebrow as I look at her. "The door is welded shut!" She groans, "How are we supposed to get in now?"

I smile, an idea coming to mind. "We use the vents." Elizabeth looks at me as if I'm crazy, but she nods and follows me. "If we're speaking technically, this is the right side of Freddy's, and I know there are vents leading into Freddy's somewhere nearby. It's how I escaped you and William." I smiled, proud of myself for escaping death once more.

"I always wondered how you escaped..." Elizabeth says as we approach a vent. Luckily for us, the screws are loose and I quickly pull it off. I haul myself into the vent, and the sharp metal almost cuts my fingers.

"You want to be careful, Elizabeth, especially because your legs are bare, this metal is sharp." I point out as I hold out a hand to help her up. She takes it, and I help her up, making sure none of the sharp metal tries to jump out at her. We crawl through the vents, and I want to complain about the tight space, but I swallow my words. After what seemed like hours of crawling, I finally kick a vent open into Freddy's. I jump out of it, and Elizabeth follows.

Looking at all of this makes me...sad. Everything me and William had built together, abandoned. I frown, glancing at all of the tables, set up with new cloth for the next party that never came. All I wanted was to make children happy, and I thought those were William's intentions, too. Clearly I thought wrong. Elizabeth walks around toward the tables, snatching a red party hat off the table and putting it on. "I miss this..." Elizabeth sighs, picking up one of the long-deflated balloons, the string on the end still in tact. Elizabeth picks up a green party hat, running over to me and putting it on for me. "Party time!" She chuckles, but there is a hint of sadness to it. I smile, not fiddling with the hat on my head.

"Do you remember when me and William used to run around here in skates serving the customers?" I ask Elizabeth, testing her memory.

"Oh, yeah! I do! How did you two not fall flat on your faces in front of everyone?" Elizabeth cocks her head to the side, asking me a genuine question. I shrug, walking past the tables and to the main stage. "I remember the day when the animatronics went completely berserk, and nobody could figure out why." Elizabeth says, recalling the memory. That day, I wasn't completely sure who or what had caused them to freak out that day, but now I know.

"William. He wanted to distract everybody so he could take another kid. His name was Micheal, he was a friend of Charlie's and the others." I sigh, "Let's run to my office really quick. I want to see something." Turning on my heel, I go back into my office. The hallways of this place are big, and it feels as if I am running a mile just to get back here. Elizabeth trails behind me, staying silent. I get a notification from my (totally modern) phone. "Clay's calling...don't tell him we're here, alright?" I stop in my tracks, looking at Elizabeth. She nods, and I pick up the phone.

"Hey, Henry. I was about to run to Freddy's really quick. Do you think you could come with us?" Clay asks, and I hear silence over his side of the phone to let me speak.
"I'm not too sure we'd make it in time, Clay. Elizabeth and I took a trip to St. George to get some food."
"That's a lie, isn't it? You said you hate going to St. George because it reminded you of your college days." He says, and I start stuttering on my words.
"We aren't anywhere near Utah Tech, and besides, I went to Berkeley..? You should know that, you have my file."
"No I don't, not since your 'kid' stole them."
"Don't talk about Elizabeth in that tone, Clay Burke!"
"She's not even your kid, she's an Afton! You know that as well as I do. Aftons are all trouble."

I hang up on him, "That's enough of that." I roll my eyes at the conversation I had, "Okay, we need time hurry it up, Clay cannot see us here or he is going to kick my ass." Elizabeth nodded.

*Elizabeth's POV*

I know Clay doesn't trust me, especially around Henry. "That man...he's so protective and for what?!" Henry groans, opening the door to his office. "Gosh...this place hasn't been touched in a while." Henry walks over to his desk, pulling out the second drawer. His attitude completely changes as he pulls out a stack of papers, covered in crayon. A memory comes to me, and I hold my head.

I look up at my dad, doing paperwork as usual. He looked stressed, but of course I never noticed that as a child. I looked down at my own papers, copying what he was doing. I wanted to be just like my daddy one day! I thought, he was so important to this town.

The memory flashes away, and Henry looks up from the papers at me. "Are you alright, Elizabeth?" He asks, and I nod.

"Yeah.. just had a weird daydream." Before he can pull his notepad out, I stop him. "No, you aren't going to document this, dad. You don't have to go crazy over something that never actually happened."

I lied, it did happen, but it didn't happen to me. It's weird...seeing things from three different points of views. I know these memories I have of Charlie are all false. I watched as Henry recorded them all with a camera. What a pathetic man he was back then. I watch as Henry digs up other old items from the 80s.

Henry looks at me for a moment, and then glance back down at the desk. "Oh good Lord..." He says, tears filling his eyes as he pulls out Theodore from one of the drawers. "What are you doing here, little fella?" He asks, but he knows he wont get an answer. "Charlie probably stuffed you in there while I wasn't looking, hm?" He says, still talking to the stuffed animal. Henry squeezes Theodore, and an audio plays. I love you, Charlotte. The stuffed animal says. To my memory, that was real Charlie's stuffed animal. Eventually, it got passed down to robot Charlie, and now it was here, stuffed in a drawer for ten years.

"Dad...you're about to cry. Let me take it." I hold out a hand, and he gives it to me hesitantly, as if he is not ready to let go of the past just yet. I hug him tight, and he does the same. "Dad...why was Clay talking about your college days? What happened in college?"

Henry lets me go, and he sighs, sitting down in the desk chair. "Sit down, it's going to be a long story." He says, gesturing to the chair on the other side. I sit, relieved that my feet finally get a break from the heels.