The Murderer's Child

An Explanation

She pulled her bike up the driveway and took it into the garage, before wandering into the kitchen. Shadow looked through the mirror and pulled her hair back and tied it up, before dropping her bag in the hall and locking the house again. Half an hour later, she walked into her homeroom and pulled a sketchbook out of her bag.

"Morning, killer." A familiar voice echoed around the classroom.

"What do you want, Maria?"

"To live? You wont kill me, will you?"

"Whatever."

Shadow returned to the drawing, waiting for the next insult. More people walked in, she ignored the comments towards her. A figure moved towards her and sat on the chair beside her.

"Hey, Shadow."

"Huh, Foxy?"

"That's me!"

She looked up at the figure and smiled slightly.

"You...okay?" He looked at Shadow with a slightly worried look.

"Yeah... I was just wondering... what happened last night? Like, why did Chica tell me to run and close the doors?"

"Good question... But I... We, would rather tell you... Uh, when we're not in a crowd... Or when we aren't in school... Chica wants to talk to you about it, mainly."

"Okay..."

"What ya' drawin'?"

"The group... Its the same drawing you were helping me with before, but I re-drew the outline when I was bored and I just continued with it..."

She pushed the pencils around the desk and moved the sketchbook slightly more towards Foxy. He smiled, picked up a pencil and helped her continue the sketch.

The bell sounded the beginning of the day as the group tutor walked in.

"Morning class, I see half of you are still asleep." He said, a few people lifting their heads from the desks. "Anyway, announcements for today: class changes have been cancelled and a few of you have a free period today. Uh, Shadow Afton and Flynn Fox, you have 3rd period free. I'll call attendance and then you can go about your day." He sat down and called names, then letting the class go.

"We can get the group and go for a walk at lunch if you want... They'll explain everything then and we have third period free anyway... Let's just hope they do..."

Foxy and Shadow parted ways and ran to their first class.

Shad had taken a health and safety course as one of her chosen classes this year. To her surprise, Chica was sat in the class waiting for her.

"Morning Shadow!"

"You're in a good mood this morning, Chica?"

"Actually, we need to talk...about last night."

"No kidding... Do you by some miracle have third period free?"

"Yes, Freddy, Gold and Bonnie do, too."

"Well, me and Foxy are gonna go straight to reception at break, wait for you and sign out until fourth period, seen as we have break, third period and lunch to talk then."

"That sounds good. Anyway, I wasn't expecting you to take health and safety class?"

"Huh, yeah..." Shad smiled, thinking about when she was given the option of this class, or double PE. "I'm pretty accident-prone..."

"Oh?"

"Surely you've seen me walk into doors and streetlights constantly?!"

"No, not really... I-" She was about to say something else when she was cut off by a teacher.

"Class, settle down!" A voice echoed around the large room. "So, today..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

First and second period went by as slowly as ever. Shad sat in reception, waiting for the others to come and join her and hopefully give her an explanation.

"You okay there, love?" The receptionist had noticed Shadow sat there, staring at nothing in particular and daydreaming.

"Huh, Oh, yes, thanks. I'm just waiting for a few friends..."

As if on cue, five students walked through the door.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Shad. I swear our teacher has something against us..." Foxy was complaining, as usual.

"Hey, miss! Mind if we sign out for our free period?"

"No problem." The receptionist smiled at them as they ran their lanyards through the scanner.

The group signed out and walked through the gates, instantly heading towards the park.

*

"So....Mind telling me what the heck happened last night?" Shadow looked at her five friends, who all stared at each other, then at the ground as they reached a small table.

"Shad, I'm...we're sorry." Foxy began.

"Let me explain..." Chica interrupted. "Okay, Shadow... You know we were...Stuffed, as we say... and after that, security guards were called in to protect the premises at night. We began to get bored, and scared. We had... Issues... You could say... with a few of them... A few were... killed." She was wildly gesturing and taking deep breaths, leaving long pauses at random intervals, "It became a normality. I mentioned before that we were only partially in control of the animatronics. That wasn't a joke... The other side of us came so accustomed to trying to scare or kill the nightguard that they did it for pleasure. We were kind of afraid when you signed up, but we said that we would try out best to control it... When we disappeared, that was when we lost it. We want to protect you. We really do. Its hard..." Chica looked down as if she was about to cry.

"Chica, I-"

"Shadow, we are your friends and we want to protect you, but the younger kid inside... the ones that were killed... They still seek revenge. If we tell you to do something, please, for your safety and benefit... Do it. We don't want to hurt you. I swear we don't...But its easy for us to snap at any given moment... I, personally, am probably the one who finds it the hardest not to lash out or break." Bonnie finished.

"Guys, I... I'm sorry." A tear rolled down her cheek, "I... I completely understand. I do. Its okay." Shad pulled Chica into a hug and ran her fingers through Chica's short, blonde hair. "Its okay."

"I'm sorry." Chica sobbed again.

"What's there to be sorry about?"

"I... I felt under pressure last night. I felt like I was under pressure to control myself, I was stressing out over it and that's when I broke..." Chica turned and hugged Shadow back, crying into her jacket.

"Hey, Its okay. You're okay. I'm okay. We're all fine." Shad continued.

"Th-Thank you, Shadow." She smiled and looked up, rubbing the tears from her eyes. "Shall we go get some food?"

"C'mon... I'm starving!" A voice yelled from across the table.

"Trust you, Bonnie!" Freddy laughed, standing up and pulling Gold from the swings.

"Oi! I was playing then!"

"Play in your own time, We're all starving!" Foxy yelled from the gate.

...

The day finished, Shadow walked back home got changed, organised her bag for later and left her keys, money and phone on the bedside table, along with her uniform.

'What have I got myself into?' she thought, before climbing into bed and instantly drifting off to sleep...