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Dreaming had taken up so much of Mike's life.
Every night, for countless years, he'd put on nature noises and look at that poster he'd pasted to his ceiling (and later his office wall at Freddy's) and return to the worst day of his entire life just on the off chance that he'd be able to find who kidnapped his brother.
Deep down, he always had a feeling he'd never actually be able to find the man. Hell, even if he did, what good would it do? He probably wouldn't be able to identify the guy. The most he could do was go to a sketch artist, but he doubted anyone would care to solve a decades-old kidnapping.
But then, almost by accident, he found the guy and, what's more, the guy caused his own demise. The situation was dealt with. Sure, he still never saw his brother again, but he knew who did it and he knew that guy's fate, which was all the closure he'd ever wanted.
On the other side of it, though, his nights felt empty. He no longer had this part of his nightly routine that he'd had for years, and he could no longer feel like he was being productive as he slept. He tried not to focus on that too much, though. After all, he had to take care of his sister, and his life was actually kinda good now. The biggest downside of getting that closure, though, was that, well...
Every night, he still found himself reliving that fateful day as a kid.
He figured that probably wasn't good, considering it was unprompted by his sounds and poster and there was also no point to it. Sure, now his mind filled in William Afton in place of the kidnapper, which was new and helped him feel like the picture was a bit more complete, but he still didn't want to actually see any of it anymore. That was the worst day of his life, after all.
He wondered if therapy would be a good idea, though he didn't have the money for a therapist just yet.
It's okay, he told himself. Get your life together a bit more and then maybe you can get a therapist. For now, just focus on the present. William Afton is dead, you solved the mystery, and you got to keep custody of Abby. It's okay. It's okay.
It's okay.