Chapter Text
7 years after the second movie's events, Abby leaves for college in another state, Vanessa, moves out of the city to find peace and start a new life, while Mike is left all by himself, with guilt, constantly blaming himself for everything that happened. The trauma regarding Garett is back, making him constantly repeat his old mistakes and behaviours over and over again. Mike, deciding that he's had enough of the loneliness and returning worries, he goes back to work as a security guard in his local shopping mall. Hoping to find something or someone that will help him start a new life after everything that happened.
[...]
The sun was shining through the window, mercilessly waking Mike up from his deep sleep, a bit earlier than he was hoping. Though due to his bad dreams, the instant wake-up seemed like a miracle. He sat down on the bed, arching his back and groaning quietly. He let out a small sigh, remembering that Abby is not here with him anymore, she left for college not so long ago, though for him, it seemed like ages. The man started massaging his temples, feeling the headache hit him the second he became concious. He reached out for his pills, quickly swallowing them without a second thought, as he stood up to get out of his room. Mike quickly ate a small breakfast, nothing special, just usual cold milk and cereal, as he rushed to the bathroom. The brunette man started brushing his teeth, while carelessly washing his face with nothing else but water. After that he put on his security guard uniform, carefully trying to recreate the way Abby would always tie his tie, despite failing two or three times, he finally did it, as he smiled lightly remembering Abby's words when she last helped him. "What would you do without me?" A great question, the answer is, nothing. Everytime he would think about his now not-so little sister, he'd feel his heart painfully twist like there's a sharp knife right inside. Mike closed his eyes for a second, trying to focus on getting ready once again, he looked at the clock, somwhow he only had an hour left, at that, he promised himself to walk to work everyday, to convince himself to any healthy behaviours, meaning he has barely any time left.
Mike quickly grabbed the keys and ran out of the house, hoping he won't be late for work again, it's only his third day, and it already happened twice to him, luckily for Mike, his boss haven't realized that yet, and hopefully, he won't. The brunette male put on his headphones, playing some random music like always, to make the walk more satisfying and enjoyable, his depressive episodes were eating him out, leaving him with little to no motivation to do anything actually good for his health. He tried to find positives of the misearble activity, looking around carefully to notice anything, that would even slighly brighten up his day. All he could notice, was the cruelty of the world he lives in, animals, like bugs, fighting to assert dominance, killing eachother without a second thought. Dogs fighting, cats chasing squirrells, flowers dying from dehydration, nothing seemed like it could make Mike's life better at that point, everything would just make him feel worse and worse everytime he'd look around. His steps felt heavy, with his heart even heavier, causing him to think that he's about to burst into tears. Finally after a long walk, he got to the front of the shopping centre. Mike took a deep breath as he entered through the rotating entrance of the building. He walked into his office, grabbing the equipment from his locker, and getting ready to patrol the hallways. There weren't many people inside yet, meaning he isn't in a big hurry. Mike yawned feeling his head hurt more and more every second. The man tried to ignore the burning feeling surrounding his entire forehead like a halo, going outside of the locker room and walking towards his favourite lunch place, despite everything, the job was pretty enjoyable, all he needed to do is look around and be careful of his surroundings, while doing pretty much anything he wants.
The male went up to the ordering counter, as he high-fived his old friend, Jackson.
-Same as always?
Asked the friendly man.
-Same as always.
Mike confirmed, with his voice sounding even more tired than he expected. Jackson wrote up his usual order and handed it to the crew as he looked at Mike.
-How's your new work going, Shmidt? I'm really hoping you'll stay this time.
He said jokingly.
-Yeah me too. So far so good, I haven't knocked down anyone yet.
His friend laughed, which quite surprised Mike, who knew that the last person that he was funny to, was Abby. And well, Vanessa. Though the guard did not want to remember about her. Her behaviour and all her secrets, caused him to make a hard decision and cut her off completely before she could make any more damage than she had already done.
The worker handed Mike his lunch, as he sat down heavily on a chair in a spot that gave him a good vision of the entire hall. More and more people began entering the shopping mall, which he did not really care about, he just kept looking around once a few minutes to make sure everyone is safe.
Despite the rotation of the same people coming to the store everyday, he noticed one new face he haven't seen yet in the previous days. Someone familiar, he couldn't get a grasp on who that person might be. The tall and slim man with messy brown hair looked his way, as for some reason Mike tried to look away in embarassment. Who was this strangely familiar man? Mike just knew, that he had met him before in some type of a weird situation. The tall male got closer, casually ordering his lunch. The security guard noticed one important thing, a gold badge attached to the man's purple shirt, as he squint his eyes the truth struck him. He worked for the renewed Freddy's restaurant, connecting the dots, Mike realized who it is. Michael Afton, the freak who tried to kill both him and Abby nearly 10 years ago. The security guard stood up rapidly, putting his hand on the gun attached to his belt, as he walked up to Michael.
-Long time no see.
Mike said with an tired and angry grin on his face, trying to catch the other man's attention. Michael looked at him up and down as he replied.
-Truely. I thought you and that little kid moved away with my sister, considering that I never saw you anywhere.
The security guard's face went from annoyed to surprised, did Mike really spend so much time alone, at home, that people thought he moved out?
-Well, like you can see, I stayed. There wasn't anything between me and your sister, ever. We were just friends and she left by herself.
He replied.
-Well, then, she betrayed you just like she did to me. It's nothing new for her.
Michael replied, mockingly repeating Mike's first word. Suddenly there was silence between the two, which was even more grounding and tough than all of Mike's thoughts. The taller man grabbed his lunch and sat down carelessly, as the other male did the same, following him.
-I see you work at Freddy's, still haven't moved on?
The shorter man asked half-seriously, considering Michael's reasons for trying to harm him and his sister, he wasn't sure how much of that was a joke.
-Someone has to take care of the business, while the rest of the family is either dead or away. And you? Still sticking to being a guard, despite everything you've been through in my place?
Mike took a deep breath, realising how heating the conversation is. He wasn't sure what it was, but the burning hatred between them two while talking, made him excited for the first time in a while, he felt the adrenaline that he needed. The guard swallowed as he clenched his fist, it was weird how enjoyable it was to talk to Michael, despite amount of passive aggresive tension through the whole conversation.