Note: there's a song suggestion along with the picture for this chapter.
It was early into the night, several minutes past 8 PM and the main working hours for most of those at Fazbender HQ. A similar case for the pizzerias of Freddy's out there across the states which typically close at 6 PM, unless special orders and or parties were arranged by a Phone Guy or customers. It was rare that customers do so, especially nowadays...
Scottie herself was the one out of the main five in management that didn't stay back for work at all that much since she her line of duty was just being a receptionist and the head of Communications. With that said, there wasn't really a need for her since all the locations were closed and the other staff could handle the simple calls.
"...Huhhh..." Scottie sighed as she stared at the monitor in front of her. She wasn't at reception desk like she usually was, but in the office behind it.
She was alone in there currently since all the other desk duty employees had gone home. It was already her time too, but she still had more to do.
"This whole list here is just a mess..."
The main entrance to the office opened. Scottie turned away from the screen that had had texts, names and numbers all over it to see who it was. It was the Number Two of Freddy's...
"Harry...?" she remarks, not expecting to see him at this moment, even though he has done this a couple of times in the past. Although, chances of that are rare since she doesn't have much of a reason to stay back to begin with.
"Hey, you're still here? It's already past your shift," he said, concern in his voice as he went over to her desk, "What's keeping you?"
"I'm fine, no need to worry..."
"You say that but you're the only one here. Do you need help or anything?"
"As much as I'd like that, I'm fine. I'll just do what I can for now and then start again tomorrow," and she went back to trying to get back to what she was doing, saying that.
"Oh alright then, I'll just be here..."
Though even if she said all that, she was glad that he felt that way towards her. That he cared for, and that he always did. She was the same towards him. Harry, after all, was the closest among the four she was with in management and is one she can safely say is her friend.
Heck, he was the closest among the good several Phone Guys she had worked over the years. That says a lot since many Phone Guys have gone and went.
"So, how are the others?" Scottie asks, looking away from her screen as her thoughts about other Phones and Nolan, came to mind.
"Abel's over at his office and Ethan's at his own, too. They're probably going to be staying back a while. Same for Nolan."
"Oh, so they're still around as well, huh..." Scottie went back now to her thoughts as she went back to staring at her screen.
Of how she her way of life came to be this way in Fazbender HQ...
She didn't know what exactly brought up these sudden feelings. Likely because of Harry... And the new weight they had on their shoulders now thanks to the FBI. It really made her think back on how much of a role she has in the company, even if it is somewhat minor compared to the other four, but still a crucial role.
It all started in the early 1980's when Scottie met her fate in a failure of a springlock suit like all Phone employees, of course. Her real name was Rebecca. She had to wonder...
...How she went from being a hair stylist to working at a Freddy's joint only to then die in a bear suit. She didn't know how it came to it, actually...
So as the procedure goes she was brought here to the Factory and turned into a Phone Gal. Unlike most Phone employees however, Scottie wasn't sent back to the location she had her accident at and was instead stationed at Fazbender HQ. To do what she does now as a receptionist, communications employee and even being on Warehouse duty.
This decision was made by the original management at the time. Though it was never said by anyone, it's likely because she was a woman that couldn't handle the job of being a Freddy Fazbender's manager. While she wouldn't exactly agree with that notion, she ended up liking her new job.
After all, she didn't have to work, or better yet, be a manager at a Freddy's location again. Understandable, given how chaotic a location can be. Her job of working behind the desk was much more suited to her, even if she was a hair stylist in her previous life. Chaos and stress didn't suit her, and while working at Fazbender HQ didn't remove it from her shoulders completely, at least it was somewhat more bearable.
And a second reason she keeps to herself, is that she got to meet Harry. It wasn't right away, however, as she only met him in 1983, and they went on friendly terms a while after. Harry is no doubt, the kindest soul she had met in his company of scandals, lies murder and crime...
Harry was even a Generation 1 model, a Phone Guy from the 1970's that was a part of the first reworked Phone Guy AI designed by none other than Abel himself. Being a Generation 1 model meant that a Phone Guy has very little, or no memory of their lives before the Phone-ification process. The current Generation can manage to remember their past lifes should something jog it back. Scottie and Ethan themselves, were examples of Phones with the Generation 2 AI.
So, that meant Harry had no memory of his life before, who or how was, what he did. But yet, despite all that he was a kind person, unlike most of other Generation 1 Phone Guys...
But then, a thought hit Scottie. Something she didn't think of until now...
How does Harry know that he himself is Harry? How does he know his own alive-name?
She could hazard a guess that the original managers told of his alive-name and such since they weren't programmed with the Generation 1 AI; their memories weren't wiped out unlike him as Harry was the last out of the five of them after all to be turned into a Phone Guy.
So, the previous managers likely told him of his past or the like. That was a fairly good conclusive thought to come to...
But even with that said, Scottie was curious. She never had brought up anything like this with him before. She wondered if he would even be okay with such a matter with him.
"..." Scottie brought herself back to the present and she focused back onto the monitor with her eyes that she lacked.
"Scottie? Hey, you okay?" Harry asks, standing near her desk, probably giving her a puzzled look.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine... I just have a lot on my mind, is all..."
"So, what is the issue you're having?"
"—..." Scottie had to stop herself. She almost had responded with what she was thinking of instead of the work she had laid out in front of her.
Now, isn't the time. Maybe later, after this done, I can bring it up.
"...So, uh, we managed to contact some of the Phone Guys out there, not all but some. Some didn't respond right away, some didn't at all. And for those that didn't, it's apparently because they're inactive or dead somehow.
"Yes..." Harry's own head dropped a little, "I see the ordeal here. Must be a pain to have deal with who or may not be active or not across our fifty locations."
"...It isn't easy at all," she turned to him to nod before facing the monitor again, "Which is why I've been trying to organize this as much as I can so that we can get more done by tomorrow..."
"You don't need to force yourself. You're not going to get paid overtime for staying back, you know?"
"I know. Like I'd expect that boss of ours to even do it. But this is partly my fault so I'm just going to do this for a bit then I'll be done."
"I see. Well, I'll just stick around for a bit, then. I don't mind."
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
* * *
"So, you're good now?" Harry asks Scottie as she finally turned off her computer. Only about several minutes had passed since then, but it actually felt like more.
"For now, yes... But tomorrow again we have face the same process again."
"...Except this time, the stakes being more higher than it has ever been..." Harry replies in a distant tone. He wasn't even facing Scottie but instead looking somewhere else in the back.
"...It is," agreed Scottie.
"...I felt like we had something like this coming given what the company had been going through since the early 80's, but to it all coming back at us like this is frightening," Harry faced her with his black phone-head, "That sounds weird given the experiences I've had over the years, doesn't it?"
"In a way, it does, but I get what you mean. Especially since the closure of Freddy's means that us Phone employees are likely to get scrapped..."
Scrapped as in put away. Deactivated. Or maybe even destroyed. Much like a TV, radio or car that just doesn't work anymore. The same would happen to dysfunctional Phone Guys, or Phone Guys that have their location closed. They were treated like machines, assets, tools. Not people.
It made sense, however, when you look at it. If Freddy's was to close its doors, what was needed of the Phone employees across the states? Nothing much. Of course, that doesn't help in making them accepting the fate any easier.
"...Yup. Getting scrapped. That fate. It's what I've been working hard to avoid. That, along with making sure Freddy's is great... And to see it go all away because of one more incident..." Harry placed his hand over his reciever and sighed heavily. He sat down on a nearby chair, keeping his head low likely staring at the ground, "To see all the hard work just go away like this... It's a very painful fate."
"I can imagine. You've been here since the beginning..."
"..." He didn't respond to her.
Scottie was at a lost on what to say. Actually, not only that, she was shocked at the sight at what Harry is right now. From the time she had known him, he was always well-kept, formal and even a bit stiff. Not once has he ever been not composed. This was the first she had ever seen him have some kind of breakdown. And he has dealt with all kinds of situation that would warrant this.
This whole deal with the FBI and closure is taking a toll on him.
"Harry..." Scottie calls out to him but turns distant as she tried to think of what she could say to possibly make him feel better, "...If you got anything you want to let out, you can tell me, you know. I'm a good listener."
"..." He turned his head to look up at her, "...That, you are, Scottie. It's no surprise why you have the job you have now. But if you really are fine with it, I have something, I'd like to get off my chest..."
"Sure, sug, what, is it?" Scottie got up from her own desk and sat on the other seat near him.
"...Let's say, this an exchange for you telling me about your past life. About how I guess...I came to kind of believe that I'm likely... the 'Harry' that the portrait out there says. Rather than having the 'Scott' schtick of our great company founder..."
"Oh...?" Scottie gasped lightly at what this meant, "...You mean, your past? You somehow remember it?"
"...No. Of course, I don't. I'm a Gen 1, after all. But you want to know who remembered? Who helped me know who I was?"
"...?" Scottie looked up the ceiling, pondering on what the answer could be. What exactly did he mean by that? She only sat on trying to think for a a couple of seconds before giving up, "Who was it?"
"Joe. It was Joe that remembered..."
Joe... Scottie knew Joe personally for the time that he was still around, before he was scrapped after the metal he had in his spine began to rust. He just couldn't work properly anymore and could be seen that he was suffering. The original Scott had this similar kind of fate...
So, Joe was often was with Harry and seemingly the closest one he was with out of the four other managers. He also swore more than one ever should on a daily basis which was very unfitting for a Phone Guy, but despite that, he still was a hard worker.
He also was the one that Abel seemed to dislike out of the group, and Joe felt the same, it was mutual. Of course, nobody liked Abel, and oh how it would carry on to this day with everyone who works with him.
"Joe? As in that Phone Guy you were close with?"
"...Yeah, that Joe. He told me all about my life before I became this. It may sound crazy, weird or even like a fantasy, but it's all true... At least according to what he told me."
Scottie nodded her head reassuringly, "I won't judge you that way, believe me. I'm all ears."
"...From what I've been told, is that long before I came here to work at Freddy's. Before I joined the original Fazbender Entertainment team... I fought in Vietnam. At a young age, too...during it and when I came back..."
"...You fought in the war?" Scottie was taken aback by this revelation.
"...Apparently. And it was when I got from surviving and battling through it was when I found out about Freddy Fazbender's and then met the founding crew that I'd be a part of...
"...From having gone through training that required routine and discipline, I was a perfect fit. Being a leader, working as a team, being composed. All this was all natural for me, so the founding managers took me in, thankfully, enough...
"...Because I had nothing much else after coming back from the war. My old family still didn't have much. So I needed a job. So that's why I was so thankful for being able to get a job here..."
His family...
That was the first she had ever heard a mention at all about his own all this time. She wanted to ask about it, but she figured she'd just let him go on as he was right now.
"I see... So, that's how it is. Your life beforehand, and how you came here..." said Scottie. She was still trying to completely process what Harry was explaining to her.
"...It honestly was all great too. Until, you know...the original Scott Cawthon...had his...accident—" Harry immediately paused at the last word of his sentences, struggling to continue, "...A-After..."
"What's wrong?"
"...Sorry, I...I can't talk about him, Scottie. Even until now, it's still too painful..." with his head looking down again, he said that.
"...It's okay, then, you don't need to," Scottie reassured.
Harry was of course referring to the true Scott Cawthon of Freddy's. She knew that he died and how, and there as probably more to it. But if Harry didn't want to speak of it, then she won't force it out of him. He already seemed out of it...
"...But as you know..." Harry continued, bringing his head up again to face her, "...After he passed away. It was when Abel took over as the company boss. Then...soon enough as time went by, I ended up having my own springlock accident...and then you know the rest."
"..." Scottie just nodded. She knew he didn't want to go into the details of his failure, even if he couldn't remember it.
Probably, no Phone Guy would ever want to go and think about such details.
"...Coming back as a Phone Guy, I remembered nothing and knew nothing much else other than what Abel wanted to me remember... Since he figured old memories about friends and families would just get in the way..." Harry trailed off again, becoming silent for a couple of seconds, "...That is the likely case as to why he made the Generation 1 AI the way it is..."
"..." Scottie just stared at him with pity.
She was frustrated. Frustrated with everything she had just heard from him. Not towards him, himself, but what happened to him. Serving in a war, surviving it only to die in a bear suit. And not to mention having the bastard boss Abel intentionally remove the memories that he had before?
Scottie knew about how Generation 1 Phones couldn't remember their past lives, but to hear the reason... She already didn't like him, but now Scottie may just begin to hate him from this moment forward...
Harry continued, "But even then... Even then if I didn't remember... Joe remembered. I had no idea he was but he had loads of memories with me. Conversations... All the times we worked together. He always felt bad for me. And I always felt bad that I couldn't remember him."
"You know, it's not your fault. It's Abel's own.."
"...I know. But he always mentioned how hurt I looked when he came back from the Factory as a Phone Guy, how I wouldn't let go of how hurt I was to see him, and how it pained him to see me in such a way. I just can't help but pity Joe..."
"...For a guy that had a sailor's mouth, he was a nice guy, wasn't he?" commented Scottie.
"...He really was. All that I've told you. I know it because told me. Because he remembered. And it wasn't just Joe himself that drove home the point that I was 'Harry'... It's something I remember very well. I don't think I can actually ever forget it..."
"What do you mean...?"
"..."
Harry remained silent for several seconds. Like he had to prepare himself to explain what he was going to say next...
* * *
It was about a week since Harry had his springlock failure and had gone through the phone-ification process, and had returned Location #14, the location where he had his failure...
It was before peak hours at the pizzeria. It wasn't as busy as it could be, but there still were a handful of customers around. Harry was standing in the Dining Area, observing the area, seeing if there any issues. If anyone needed help, if there any messes that needed to be cleaned. Typical dayshift jobs.
Everything's going swell today, Scott. Let's help keep this up...
"My, god, you're safe, you're actually here!" cried out some lady.
Harry turned over in the direction of the lady who said that. She had just came over from the entrance of the location. The lady was alone, and was heading in his direction for some reason.
"...?" Harry didn't speak, but he looked at his surroundings to see who she could be referring to.
"Harry, we've been worried sick about you! Take that dumb phone-hat off and come home!"
"...?" Harry stared at the lady, not saying anything. She was speaking to him...?
But why? Why was she doing this? Why did this woman know that name? The name that Joe said that him, he had it before?
"Harry, please, come home with us, already! Come on."
"Pardon me, Ma'am... But you are?"
"What? Harry, it's me, your mother. Quit playing around and come back to us already!" persisted the woman, "Your father and siblings are all waiting for you!"
"Um..." Harry looked around the dining area, wondering what to do with this lady that was calling him 'Harry'.
The name was somehow familiar, like when the other managers called him that, but that is far as it goes. There was nothing else. This lady, he recognized nothing about her. But the name she mentioned... But is that really him?
"Harry, come on, were you hit on the head by one of the robots or something? Why don't you know who I am? Come on!" The lady reached for Harry's wrist and tugged at him towards the entrance.
"Ma'am, please, you're going to have to stop..." he stood where he was, almost like an anchor but he didn't fully pull away from the woman that was apparently his mother.
Customers around were giving them looks. Even some of the other normal dayshift workers; probably were wondering if they should step in or not. The other managers weren't around right now, apart from his boss, Abel. Joe, Terrence and Everett were at other locations.
"Harry...how can you say such a thing like that to me? I think it's better that you stop working at this location, after all. It's not a safe environment."
"...Ma'am, I..."
He was at a lost at what to do. He wanted to ask her, and talk more about what she was going on about. Possibly even reassure her like she was his mother, but he literally knew nothing about her to do so. He couldn't feel or make himself to do so. But yet, this woman was doing all this, like she cared...
"Um, I-"
"What is going on here?" questioned a familiar voice that sounded exactly like Harry's own but yet still was notably distinct from his own. It was stern. Intimidating...
It was him... Abel.
Entering the Dining Area from over at the hall where the location's office was, he stood there, observing the scene with his older rotary candlestick phone-head. Afterward, he approached the scene.
"Oh, Mr. Cawthon, can you please tell my son here to take off this phone-hat off and let him come home with me to the family? We've been worried about him since he was missing since Monday...!"
"That's not going to happen. You can't do that."
"What? He's my son. I can do as I please..."
"Excuse me, ma'am, but I don't know what you're talking about at all. This manager here is just a product here of Fazbender Entertainment made to manage our locations. Just like any other Phone Guy you've seen at other locations," Abel explained, pointing and moving his arm around the air.
"No, that's not true...! I know that this is my son. I know that this is Harry!" The lady points at Harry.
"..." Harry just looked from the lady that claimed to be his mother and Abel as they argued about him. He'd add to it, but he just didn't know what to say.
"I know it's hard to think about how your soon has been missing for the past days, Ma'am, but projecting yourself, your own feelings onto my managerial employee won't help your case. You need to move on because you're making a scene in my restuarant."
"...No. I'm not leaving here until he leaves with me."
Abel made a short point at her with his arm and then pointed towards the entrance, "Leave my restuarant now. And if you will not comply I will have the police to escort you out. I will not have people like you harass my staff because you're having issues with loss about your son."
Harry stepped forward. He felt that even if he didn't know what was going on, he felt what he was doing was too much, "But, Sir—" he was cut off.
"Quiet," Abel quickly shot him down and then turned towards the lady, "Now, are you going to leave, or not?"
"...I won't."
"Very well. Suit yourself."
Soon, enough, Abel called the police and they arrived to take the lady off the property. And it was there that Abel made sure that she or her family was never allowed to ever come there again... Harry just watched all of it as happened.
* * *
"..." Harry remained silent as he finished telling the story.
"..."
And so did Scottie. She still was trying to completely process what he had revealed prior, now this was here.
"...From what that scene told me, that apparently was my mother."
"Did you ever see her or anyone else after?" asked Scottie.
"...I haven't. No one never came and I believe if they ever were, Abel would have them kicked out again.
...To just know that he had this suppressed within himself since 1973. This just all the more made Harry a tragic soul, and Abel more of a bastard of a boss. It really was a tearjerker since usually with the Gen
2 Phones, they're can remember their past lives, they themselves are the ones that go look out for their families...
For Harry...it was the opposite. They came to him. They were the ones that recognized him even with the ridiculous phone-head he had. But...of course, he didn't recognize them.
No... He couldn't recognize them.
But... How did Harry's mother recognize him?
Mother's intuition, likely... She probably just felt that it was him...
"...Well, that's that... That's how it came to be and all... I, uh, don't know what you're thinking about it, or me... Sorry for listening to me drabble for a while, Scottie..." Harry said that, his voice all understandably tensed up, "And thanks as well. It felt a bit good to share that."
"No... It's fine, Harry. Thanks for sharing that with me... I'm glad you opened up."
"Thank you for listening to me..."
Scottie wanted to mention more than what she said. About how she cares for him, how she's more than happy to just listen to him...
But...she felt that it wasn't the right time. All that was said and relayed was good. Besides, she and Harry as well were too emotional to say anymore. So, this would be a good point to stop.
"...D-Don't mention... Like I said, I'm happy to do so..."