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William could feel his lungs start to fill up with warm blood. It was getting harder to breathe, his vision was getting woozy. The spring locks had only snapped about half a second ago, but for William, it felt like an eternity. The spring locks had snapped deeply into his skin, breaking through the little amount of muscle he had and scratching at his bones. As he opened his mouth to scream, he could feel his cheeks peeling off, his eyes almost falling out of his head. The blood only made the spring locks tighter. The only thing he could do was twitch on the ground and desperately try to call out for help. He called out to the darkness, praying that someone would be there to take this hell suit off of him and rush him into the hospital. Yet nobody came. The whispers he'd swore he heard earlier started to fade out, his spine gave out, and he flopped onto the wet tile like a ragdoll. Blood filled up his lungs. He couldn’t move or speak anymore. He had to have died in that damn suit, but for some reason, he wasn’t in hell yet, he remained trapped inside his spring-coffin. With nobody there to drag his corpse away, he laid rotting. Unable to move, scream, or cry.
It had to be years until there was a soft 'tap tap tap" that echoed down the corridor outside the safe room. It wasn’t just another rat chewing on the wires in the ceiling or another leak in the corner of the room, it was footsteps, and they were getting louder. It took all of William’s strength to turn his body towards the door; he had tried to leave before, but the door was locked from the outside. William let out a groan. Blood leaked out of the corner of his mouth as the two pathetic strings withering in his throat desperately tried to make a noise.
The door opened, there stood a tall, broad man, darkness covered his face, the only light in the room was the bright flashlight from the man’s flashlight, but William could immediately tell who this guardian angel here to save him was, it was Henry. The two of them may have had their fights in the past, but William knew that one day Henry would come back to save him, the two of them were destined to live on together. William cracked a smile and looked up at his old friend.
Henry was quiet. He didn’t even seem bothered by the horrid rotting smell that haunted the safe room. He bent down and eyed William down from across the room. He tilted his head before standing back up straight again.
“I thought you’d be dead by now, Will.” Henry sounded cold and severe. This wasn’t the same Henry that William had known all those years ago.
William let out a cough as he attempted to demand help. All he could let out were squeaks and groans, but Henry knew him, he'd get the jist.
The two stared at each other for a little bit. Henry just sighed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. William tilted his head as the light drained from the safe room.
William hollered as he called out for his friend. He couldn't talk. Why couldn't he talk?? Something that was second nature to him not so long ago was suddenly lost on him. He roared and hollered for help, but nothing was audible. William let out a harsh cough after attempting to speak. He wasn’t in the mood to fuck around right now. He would kill to move freely again finally. Henry was always late to the punch, and it was in character for him to take his sweet time saving his dear partner from this nightmare.
Henry spoke softly behind the door. “Be quiet.”
William sat there, confused. This wasn’t how things were supposed to happen. This isn’t what he imagined. From the other side, Henry put up a flat block of wood, big enough to cover the door’s width. He propped it up against the door frame and started to bang a few nails into the wood. It took a few minutes before William finally caught wind of what Henry was doing, it infuriated him, it had to be a joke there’s no way this was the real Henry. Slowly, William raised his arm up and firmly placed it on the tile in front of him, he dragged himself and the suit on the cold tile and dried up blood. It was painful, but pure rage fueled him. After what felt like a painful amount of time, William was at the door. He got on his knees and started to fiddle with the doorknob. Once again, it was locked. That fucking snake.
William used his remaining strength to bang on the door. It’s all he could do at this point. He roared out again. Blood spit from his throat as he called out. The sudden movements allowed his nerves to scratch against the sharp rotting metal of the suit. At one time he reigned over Freddy's with an iron fist, but it looks like times had changed since he was gone. Henry wasn't the same coward he was before. Sad really, it used to be the fuel to the fire of their friendship.
Henry remained quiet. He quickly was able to put the first board up, just about three more to go. William’s cries echoed throughout the pizzeria and rang inside his head. There was an awful feeling in the bottom of his stomach, he didn’t know if it was the regret or the horrid smell in the air that was making him sick, but it didn’t matter, he made a promise, no amount of whining would stop him.
William was a mess on the other side of the door; all he could feel was a deep betrayal. How could someone who was once so kind be so… heartless to him. As far as William knew, the two of them remained friends, both of them weren’t bad guys, those missing children cases didn’t define them, they were a dream team, two souls destined for each other, two lonely men who stuck together. He continued to bark out for his companion.
Henry remained silent. There was nothing he could even say. He was at a total loss of words. He wished William was already dead, it would have made this a hell of a lot easier. But William made a promise too. He'd come back. He'd always come back.
Henry was forced to respond, he needed something, ANYTHING, to make that monster behind the door be quiet.
"Please William, don't make this harder than it has to be,” Henry mumbled out. After an eternity, the second board was done.
William tried desperately to say something to the other man. Call him a hypocrite, an asshole, or just double down and beg for forgiveness. But his screaming only hurt him more. As the springlocks suddenly jolted, digging deep into his muscle, he took heavy breaths.
With one last firm bang with his hammer, the third board was done, just one more to go.
All that could be heard was William’s sharp, pained breaths and Henry continuing to put up the boards. William sat there in awe, he couldn’t just take a pathetic defeat like this, an immortal rabbit zombie was about to be owned by a slag with a hammer and nails. William gave one firm punch to the door, the metal pieces inside him clicked in place.
“Leaving him here won’t fix your guilty conscience."
Henry jumped in surprise at the sudden voice ringing in his ears. It wasn't William's voice- it wasn't anyone's voice. Perhaps it was just the devil on his shoulder reminding him of his mistakes. He let those toddlers die, right under his nose. But without a time machine, all he could do was end this. End it all.
“I’m sorry, William, I wish things could turn out different too,” Henry said finally.
There was silence between the two of them finally, the last board was almost done, the safe room was practically secure. William sat there helplessly as any chance of freedom was slowly stripped away from him. He leaned against the door, listening for Henry’s exhausted breaths that were drowned out by the heavy hammer.
William struggled to move his jaw. Without lips or a working tongue it was almost impossible to speak. Almost impossible.
There was an emptiness that filled the pizzeria as it went quiet. Henry had stopped hammering, William had stopped screaming, and the deafening voices in the walls were silenced.
The name "Char…lotte" weakly left William's mouth.
Henry paused; just one word and it was enough to shot him through the heart. He dropped his hammer to the ground, it’s loud clunk echoed throughout the now quiet pizzeria. Henry’s eyebrows narrowed as he looked up and down at the door, he wished he could have been the one to kill Willaim himself, unfortunately, the God above, if there was one, had already done the job for him. Henry inhaled deeply then loud out a long, dragged out, exhale. He picked up his hammer and put the final nails into the wood, the boards were up, no one was ever getting in or out of here again, the safe room never existed.
“Don’t bring my daughter into this.” He stated plainly. “Don’t try to humanize yourself.”
Henry stuck the hammer and remaining nails in his suit pocket and walked off, he refused to take any of William’s bullshit anymore. He was unsure where he would even go from here, but what had to be done was done, and that’s all that was important.
William gasped as he heard Henry just casually walk away, that bastard acted like this was nothing, as if he was a pawn on a chessboard. All William could do was yell, he banging on the door with all his might but it wouldn’t budge. The familiar sensation of blood filling up his organs sloshed through his body. He flopped to the ground like an abandoned toy and coughed up the warm liquid. All light gone, he was left alone again. He would get revenge. One day Henry would see his darling Charlotte again. And it was going to be hell.