Possible trigger warning: Character death.

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The three of them sat in the lobby, anxiously waiting for news about their friend Kyle, who was severely injured from his encounter. They were thankful that help came in time, but they knew that they were still not safe.

Cody stood up, his eyes wide and filled with fear. "What the hell just happened back there?" He said, looking at Mike.

The teen lifted his head and looked back up at his friend, his face full of despair and exhaustion. "I don't know, Cody." He replied weakly, wiping tears from his eyes.

"This is seriously fucked up, dude." Cody ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. He then took a deep breath and slumped back down beside the two.

"We shouldn't have done that stupid prank..." Mike mumbled. "Evan and Kyle do not deserve any of this." He cleared his throat, fingers tapping against the leather of the sofa. His vision became hazy, the exhaustion pulling at his eyelids, but he jumped awake when an image of the nightmarish Foxy swinging its hook at him flashed behind his eyelids.

"We just can't sit here, we gotta do something." Justin said, clearly panicked. "We can't just let this thing that's haunting our dreams kill us!"

Mike turned his head to Justin. "How? With all the things happening right now, I..." He buried his face in his hands, his thoughts still trying to piece together the past events of the past couple of days. He felt confused, angry, depressed, and afraid. He sniffed, his fear getting the best of him, his breath hitching. "I... I don't know what's real or what's not anymore."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Am I really going crazy? Are we really going crazy?" Mike asked.

Cody and Justin remained speechless, not knowing what to think or what to say.

"Mike Afton?" A woman's voice asked, startling the three teens.

Mike looked up and saw that two people were looking down at him: a man and a woman. The woman was in her early twenties, and had bright green eyes that looked very intimidating, with long, red hair tied up in a ponytail, and she was wearing a pink blouse and black pants complete with black two inch heels. The man, who was behind her, looked to be almost the same age as her, with stubble growing on his face and short black hair, and intense blue eyes. He was in a white button-up shirt and black pants, and holding a pen and a notepad, ready to write down notes.

"Yes?" Mike replied firmly, ignoring how his hands were trembling.

"I'm Detective Beatrice Sinclair and he's Detective Austin King. We were assigned to investigate the incidents that've been happening lately, both what happened to your brother Evan and your friend Kyle." The woman said, the expression on her face hard to read.

The teen's heart sank upon hearing his brother's name. He slowly frowned, but tried to remain calm.

"I'm so sorry for bringing it up, Mr. Afton, but this case is rather odd."

Detective King flipped the page on his notepad, looking back on his previous notes. "You said that Kyle was 'thrown by an unseen force around the hall'?" He read out loud, looking intrigued.

"Yes." Mike replied, raising an eyebrow. "You don't think we made that up, do you?"

Detective King hummed, looking at the three curiously, taking in their exhausted appearances. "When was the last time you three- Kyle included- have gotten any sleep?"

Mike bit his bottom lip, unsure how to respond, his stomach twisting into knots. 

"Since before the accident, sir." Justin responded, raising an eyebrow, but it was obvious to Mike that he was a little nervous. "Why do you ask?"

"Because, a lack of sleep can cause a disconnection from reality that can present as hallucinations or, in most cases, delusional thinking. It can make you more disconnected from reality than you should be."

Mike's eyes widened in shock, and his voice grew indignant as he spoke. "Are you saying that we were hallucinating Kyle being tossed around like a fucking rag doll?" He didn't mean to sound rude, but he knew that they were all wide awake and in the right mind when they witnessed what happened to Kyle.

Weren't we?

"We're trying to put the pieces together, Mr. Afton." Sinclair said, fixing strands of her ginger hair behind her ear. "According to Officer Davis, you three and your friend Kyle were at the diner when your brother was injured, right? And you caused it in a 'prank gone wrong,' am I correct?"

Mike nodded, but then the realization sunk in. "Are you saying that we did it? That we tried to kill Kyle?!" He tried not to yell, but his face was burning with the rage that suddenly blazed within him.

"We are making a theory, Mr. Afton, and it so happens that Kyle was allegedly 'attacked'  by the 'unseen' force in the same place where the accident happened a few days ago."

"What we're saying is what we saw." Justin interrupted, his fists clenching on his knees. "We would never hurt Kyle, and we can reassure you that we were wide awake when we witnessed what happened."

"What happened to Evan was an accident, we didn't mean any of it." Cody cut in, looking as frustrated as his friends by the possible accusation. "We were wide awake, and we weren't under the influence of any alcohol or drugs, or whatever other freaking substances you're thinking we may have taken!"

In Mike's mind, he felt like he was gonna lose his sanity, torn between reality, unable to think straight, unable to do anything to fix all the mistakes they've made.

He was helpless.

"Look, we're not trying to be the bad guys here," Beatrice cleared her throat, "We're just trying to help."

"HELP?! HOW?! By accusing us?!" Mike snarled. He shot up from his seat when his head suddenly throbbed with pain, like something stabbed the back of his head. He felt dizzy, his vision suddenly dimming, and he collapsed back onto the sofa.

"Mike!" Cody and Justin exclaimed, catching their friend and helping him maintain his balance.

"I'm fine, I just need to rest." Mike murmured, slowly standing up again.

"Are you alright, Mr. Afton? I'm sorry for being too straightforward, I just needed some answers." Beatrice halfheartedly apologized, looking like she was beginning to regret hounding the three teenagers with her and her partner's questions.

Mike glared at the detectives, but took a deep breath to try and calm down. "We'll talk about this tomorrow. Right now, I gotta see my brother." He sighed, still rubbing his aching head with his hand.

The detective half smiled and nodded in agreement. They turned around and left the three teens, walking out of the lobby and out the main door to their cars.

"I'm gonna go and see Evan to see how he's doing." Mike rubbed his head. "I'll be back in a bit. Let me know when the doctors say that we can see Kyle." He stood up and slowly walked away from his friends, making small steps, feeling really tired.

"Mike!" Cody called.

He turned around to look at the two, seeing the fear in his friends' eyes.

"Don't fall asleep."

Then chills ran down his spine.

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The teen went through the hospital corridors with his head bowed down, only looking at the floor as he made his way to his brother's room. Mike knocked on the door, taking a deep breath and mustering courage to see his brother lying motionless on his bed, a sight that would always break his heart.

"Come in." He heard his father's voice call out from the other side.

He slowly pushed the door open, spotting his father first, who was lying down on the spare bed, but he didn't miss the red puffiness in his father's eyes, showing that he'd been crying probably not so long ago. Mike heard the beeping once again, the sound that would forever give him goosebumps. Then he saw his mother sitting on a chair beside the bed where his brother lay, looking like she had bruises under her eyes from her own lack of sleep.

Mike's eyes began to water, and it took all his strength not to break down and cry then and there, as he turned to his brother.

Evan was still in the same way since he last saw him, lying motionless and unresponsive.

"How is he?" Mike's voice cracked as he spoke, sniffing.

"The doctor's worried," his mother replied, her voice breaking, and then she began to weep again, "-he says that Evan's slowly letting go."

It felt like his world ended, his blood running cold.

"No... no... Please, God, no..." He whispered, and then he approached his brother's bedside opposite his mother and sat on a chair there, and then he held Evan's hand that was cold and stiff. "Evan, please don't let go," he wept, letting his tears flow down his cheeks. "Please don't leave me. I'm sorry... I'm sorry." He buried his face on the mattress and wailed.

He shut his eyes, praying that the worst would not happen.

Then images flashed in his head again, of blood and gore. The next thing he knew was that he was standing in a hallway, the same hallway he had in his previous dream. He heard screams and yells echoing around him, along with the gurgled laughs of Fredbear and Foxy.

"Help me! Somebody please help me!" He heard someone cry for help. It was a child's voice, a boy, in particular.

"EVAN?!" Mike yelled and began searching for the source of the sound, his heart leaping to his throat.

"Who's there?" The kid replied, his voice trembling. "M-Mike?"

"Evan, where are you?!" He said, unable to contain the joy of hearing his brother's voice once again, tears forming in his eyes. "I-I'm coming to get you! Where are you?"

"Right behind you." The reply turned into a deep and sinister voice.

Mike gasped and heard an ear-splitting noise from behind, sounding like metal being dragged against metal. He spun around on the spot and saw the nightmarish Foxy running its sharp hook against the wall.

"You shouldn't always believe what you hear, Mike." Foxy sneered, its orange eyes glowing with twisted amusement.

"LEAVE US ALONE!" The teen bellowed, his fists clenching by his sides, his nostrils flaring with anger.

"Leave you alone? Why, we're only getting started!" Foxy suddenly sprinted towards Mike, its hook grazing the wall and creating bright sparks while its heavy footsteps clanked against the floor.

Mike ran as fast as he could, his heart pumping rapidly trying to match his pace. He screamed, running into the darkness, trying his best not to stop as the rapid footsteps grew louder. Cold sweat ran down Mike's face, and he closed his eyes, screaming at the top of his lungs, hoping that he'd escape the clutches of the raging animatronic.

Foxy laughed as it gained on him, raising its hook to grab onto his shirt.

The teen dodged the slash, resulting in the creature to become disoriented and lose its pace. In this sudden turn of events, Mike pushed himself to go faster and, eventually, he outran it.

Foxy's yells of anger slowly faded as the distance grew farther, but Mike knew that it was far from over.

Mike stopped, catching his breath, exhausted, when a beam of light illuminated in the darkness, shining at him like a flashlight. He ran for it and realized that it was, indeed, a flashlight: it was shining through a small crack between a white door and the doorframe. He immediately recognized it.

Evan's room.

There's someone in there. Mike realized.

The flashlight then switched off, followed by footsteps running away from the door. He ran for it, and was able to catch a glimpse of the person inside.

It was his brother.

Evan sat on the edge of the bed, holding the flashlight, the beam of light shining on the ceiling. He looked fragile and afraid, a sight that made Mike feel even more guilt-ridden. 

He kept on running, but to his dismay, the door never grew closer; it felt like he was running in place.

"EVAN!" He screamed. The kid looked back through the crack of the door. "EVAN! IT'S MIKE!"

"Mike?" The kid replied, sounding relieved. "Help me! I'm trapped!"

"Don't worry, I'm here!" Tears began to trickle down both of their faces. However, no matter how hard he tried, Mike never moved.

"It's scary here, Mike." Evan trembled, sobbing softly.

The older brother cried, realizing that he could not get near him. But he kept forcing himself to run, and to his surprise, he was moving now, realizing that the door was growing bigger as he neared it. He was filled with excitement, reaching out a hand to grab the door. "I'm coming, Evan!"

He barged inside, but Evan was nowhere to be found. Instead, he saw Bonnie sitting on the ground playing with a small doll, laughing innocently like a child, while using its razor sharp fingers to tear through the stitches on the body of the doll, then ripping the stuffing out.

Mike's stomach dropped. The doll looked like Kyle.

Bonnie suddenly stopped and looked at Mike, its bright purple eyes blinking. "Kyle's fun to play with."

"NO!" Mike screamed, bolting awake from his sleep, ignoring his parents calling after him, and running outside, where he saw ensuing chaos in the halls.

The nurses and other doctors were running towards Kyle's room, all of them looking frantic and scared as they heard cries from inside Kyle's room.

"Oh God, NO!" Mike ran with the nurses and met his friends, who were rushing to the room as well. They stormed into Kyle's room, where they saw him thrashing on his bed as the stitches on his chest began bleeding heavily as they were torn open, staining his white hospital gown in crimson blood.

"HELP!" Kyle spouted blood from his mouth, flailing his arms, fighting an unseen foe. "SOMEONE PLEASE!" His thrashing sprayed blood on the walls, on the people, everywhere. 

The heart monitor that Kyle was connected to was beeping rapidly and loudly, signaling that his heartbeats were too fast and irregular. Kyle's parents were in the corner, both crying loudly, horrified by what was happening to their son.

"QUICK! WE'RE LOSING HIM!" One of the doctors exclaimed. They gathered around the struggling teen, trying to hold him down and prevent him from causing more damage to his wounds. Another doctor was hurriedly bringing a defibrillator into the room.

The three friends froze in shock, while the doctors were doing their best to revive their friend when he suddenly went still. 

The screams echoed through their ears, they were watching Kyle bleed out, and the doctors' attempts in saving him were proving futile, the unresponsive teenage boy's body jerking every time it was given a shock, attempting to return Kyle's heart rhythms to normal.

Then everything fell silent, except for the flatline coming from the heart monitor.

Kyle was dead.