if you care about william a lot, maybe take a sip of water before reading this😭
tw : suicide attempt, suicide mention, blood, self harm?
Willow's POV
"Hey Willow?" Henry tapped me on my shoulder.
"Hm?" I turned around.
"Before you finish locking up, could you check on William for me? Earlier he went into his office saying he'd come out in a few, and he never did. I would go check on him myself, but my wife needs me home urgently." Henry asked nicely.
"Of course Henry. You get home to your wife." I smiled at him.
"Thank you so much Willow. You're the dearest." He ruffled my hair and turned around, quickly leaving the building.
I sighed. He always needs to be checked up on. If nobody would check up on him, he might keep himself in there for a week without a word or glance at a single being. It's something I did in fact like about him, how he doesn't like socializing much even though you'd expect he would.
I stressfully threw the rag in the bucket as I finished cleaning the last table. Thank god Circus Baby's opens in a few, I can't wipe tables anymore. I might completely lose it.
I heavily pushed the kitchen doors open and dumped the bucket in the larger sink, leaving it in there for whoever would come in the next morning.
I sighed and placed a hand on my hip, checking the time on my watch. "Right. William."
I flicked the lights off on my way out of the kitchen, the doors swinging closed behind me as I made my way down the main hall to the big brits office.
Before I turned into the hallway, I stopped in my tracks and looked over at the three quiet animatronics on stage.
I find it hard to believe there's just dead kids in there, and nobody ever smells it when they walk by. Not even Henry. Possibly the terrible smell of the oily and cheesy pizza overpowers it and keeps the putrid smell right inside the animatronics. I mean, I don't ever really smell it either.
They're probably really angry with me that I'm siding with their murderer instead of them. But let's be honest, it's their fault.
I looked away from the animatronics and calmly walked down the main hall as my shoes clicked against the checkered tiles. I pulled my keys out of my pocket, ready to leave after I check on William.
I approach his door and knock twice. "William?"
Like most of the time that Henry asks me to check on him, no response. I knock again without calling his name, knocking a little harder.
Usually around the second time, he answers. But this time, he didn't. Was he even still here?
"William?" I call without knocking.
I furrow my eyebrows and quickly twist the knob, pushing the door open without his response from the other side. If he gets mad that I came in without him permission, then that's his problem, not mine.
The moment I opened the door, I was met by nothing but darkness. The blinds had been shut, allowing no light from the outside to enter. The only thing you could see, were the dust particles illuminated by the light from the hallway.
"The hell..?" I mutter, turning to the wall and flipping on the light.
I had expected to see William dead asleep on his desk, but he wasn't. He wasn't here.
I look behind the door just to make sure he really wasn't here, or he hadn't left anything behind.
I spoke too soon.
I dropped my keys at the sight of William's blood slowly pooling around him as he held a knife close to his chest. He was still alive.
He had been so silently, but so violently, sobbing on the floor. He was shaking so much, and along with the blood that was on the floor, there had been obvious drops of tears on the ground.
I quickly slapped my hand over my mouth and rushed over to him. What was with this guy and constantly bleeding?
"William what the fuck!" I kneeled down and turned him over.
The moment I turned him over, his crying became more obvious.
He had been choking on his own saliva from how much he had been sobbing there, for god knows how long. He couldn't breathe. His eyes had been puffy, hiding whatever was left of his eye bags. He was going to have a massive headache later.
Panicked, I looked over at his arm.
Starting from his wrist, all the way down to his elbow lateral, had been a long, deep gash that was oozing by the second. I looked over at the knife in his other hand.
He.. tried to kill himself.
I stood up and turned around, running my hands on my face trying to calm myself down before I could think on what to do.
Should I call an ambulance? Should I take care of this myself? Should I call Henry?
I'll call an ambulance. I don't think I have the mental stability to help him myself, knowing that if I hadn't come in here just then, he might have stayed here in the dark all night and bled out, all for me to find in the next morning.
I looked over at the man behind me who was trying to catch his breath.
As much as I want to know why the hell this happened, it's not my main concern right now.
I took a deep and shaky breath and fully turned back to him. "Alright, alright."
I stepped over his head and ripped the knife out of his hands, not allowing him to cause any more damage to himself than he already has. I placed the bloody knife on his desk.
My hands grabbed his underarms and dragged him closer to the wall. I couldn't prop him against the wall by myself.
"William, please just help me here." I was on the verge of tears. There had been a huge lump in my throat that I had been trying my hardest to swallow, yet it somehow kept finding its way up.
William, still sobbing, weakly picked himself up and pushed himself against the wall.
His blood streaked when his arm got dragged from the floor, leaving a fine line of the crimson against the ground.
I looked at the pained man before me, sobbing and bleeding against the wall. Choking on his own saliva, struggling to breathe, obviously crying for the entire day.
"He deserves it all." A child spoke to me.
"Just shut the fuck up! Shut up, shut up!" I angrily yelled, quickly taking my sweater off and crouching next to William.
"Why won't you just leave him here to die? In reality, he only has you and Henry. He has no purpose here."
I picked up William's drenched arm as he tried to look at me with a puzzled expression, clearly knowing what they're telling me but not being able to stop his cries. I harshly pressed the sweater against his gash and tied the sleeves around his arm tightly, enough to make it feel like his hand will burst.
I can't leave him here because he was my best friend. He was the only person I had. I was absolutely devastated when I never saw him again. I never knew what happened to him. I assumed he moved, switched schools, went to jail, or even died. I can't bring myself to hate him for what he did. I can't leave him here, because I now know that I feel something for him. I have feelings for him. And I'll most likely never know if he feels the same, but I can't leave him here to die. No matter how many kids he's killed, or even adults.
I can't leave him here because even though he only has Henry and I, he dreams of starting a family of his own. He'll never get that. He'll never be able to redeem himself, and be a better person for his own. He won't only have Henry and I. He'll have his wife, and as many kids as he likes.
I'd rather it be me who loses their life than him.
I tied the sleeves tighter around his arm as he cried in pain.
My breath quickened throughout the entire process. I got up and stepped away from him, sloppily yet blankly grabbing the telephone off of his desk, dialing the numbers as a tear finally rolled down my cheek. I held the phone up to my ear.
William began slowly shaking his head. "P-Please just l-leave me he-here.." He finally managed to speak in between coughs and sobs.
Just then, I felt like breaking down and sobbing against the wall myself. How could he ever say such a thing? I would never, in my entire life leave him. No matter how much he begged, cried, threatened to kill me or himself or someone I cared about, I could never bring myself to leave him. Especially in a physical and mental state like this.
"911 what's your emergency?" A kind lady on the other line picked up in a matter of seconds.
I stood silent before my voice cracked. "Freddy Fazbears Pizza, Hurricane. Quick, please." I stifled the urge to cry and kept myself calm as I spoke to the lady on the other line.
"Sending officers now. Could you explain the situation?" the lady was heard typing.
I looked at William who was looking at me with glossy eyes.
"Just-" My voice cracked again as the lump in my throat grew bigger the longer I looked at William. "Blood, lots of blood. P-Please, just hurry."
"Alright ma'am. Could you stay on the line with us?" She asked.
I took the phone away from my ear and ended the call. I couldn't be bothered to stay on the call, I had to make sure he would stay awake.
William buried his face into his hands and continued to let his tears fall. I've never seen him cry so much before. I wish I knew why he was crying in the first place. I wish he would come to me and tell me about these things before doing something like this. But it's William. He doesn't tell anybody anything.
I wiped the tear that fell on my face and I put the telephone back on the desk carelessly. I sat on the floor in front of him and looked at my sweater wrapped around his arm, that already showed the blood soaking through.
William had been pulling at his hairline and sobbing into his palms as his chokes turned into hiccups. I took both of his wrists and pulled them gently away from his face and hairline. He leaned his head against the wall and looked at me.
"I-I'm s-sorry.." William apologized in between sobs. It was one of those cries where it was hard to speak without breaking up in between words.
The tears in my eyes rapidly formed at his apology. I took him by the head and shoulder and pulled him into my chest, placing my palm at the back of his head. "I can't be mad at you."
At the same time, tears fell out of both of my eyes.
William weakly wrapped his arms around my waist as his head rested at my chest. I could tell he was growing tired and lethargic. I hope he can hold on just a little longer until they get here.
"H-He's fr-free." William tried to speak.
"Who is free?" I asked.
"T-They called me e-earlier and told me some b-bastard b-bailed him. W-Who would even do that!" William cried into my shirt.
I furrowed my eyebrows, confused. "William, who are you talking about?"
He sat quietly before shaking again as he silently sobbed into my shirt. He took a deep gasp of air before answering. "My f-fucking father!" He clenched onto the back of my shirt angrily.
My heart dropped a little.
All of this, because he can't face his father again. I knew his home life was terrible, but I didn't think it would leave him in this state a decade later.
I wanted to cry so much. I wanted to tell him that I can promise him he won't ever see his father, but that's something I can't promise. This is not my time to cry. It's his.
I held onto William tighter and pulled him in more. It was enough to let him know how sorry I was without words. Sometimes, silence is better than speaking. It was my turn to be silent, and for him to speak whatever he needed to.
"I told m-myself that I would never let h-him breath another oxygen m-molecule if I ever saw him a-again. But of course I f-fucking can't, I can't! I can't f-face him again!" William cried softer as his sentences went on.
"William, you-"
William interrupted me by slowly pulling away and leaning against the wall like once before. His crying slowed as he seemed to come to terms with something.
"W-Willow you need to call them back. Tell them n-not to come, and it was all just a joke or s-something. Just turn the lights off, and l-leave me here. I can't l-live knowing he's out there, most likely looking f-for me." William softly asked between hiccups and tears. He was getting really tired.
If he really wanted to take his life, why didn't he do it before I came in? Why didn't he finish the job before somebody found him?
I placed my hand on his cheek and looked at him, wiping his ongoing tears while mine dwelled. "You know I can't do that."
Williams cry suddenly stopped as he looked at me and squinted with what was left of his puffy eyes. "Why?" he rasped out. He didn't understand.
Or maybe he did.
I closed my eyes and shook my head slowly. "It's too much to tell you right now." I spoke quietly before opening my eyes again.
William stopped squinting at me and darted his eyes between mine, trying to read me. He sighed shakily and closed his eyes. "Okay."
I pulled my hand away from his soft wet cheek and sat next to him. The blood on the floor had begun drying. And I would have to be the one scrubbing it off in the morning. The blood had reached my keys too, but I wasn't concerned as much.
Eventually, I have to tell Henry. And I have to explain to Maggie why I'm home late. And when I'm finally in my room, I could finally sleep. Or cry.
But no matter what, I'm still grateful for that day Maggie came into my room and woke me up, begging to take her to Freddys.
"P-Please just leave me alone.." William buried his face into his hands.
"What?" I looked at him.
"They won't leave me alone.." William sighed distressfully in his palms.
I looked at him empathetically and placed my hand on his back, stroking it with my thumb.
I never thought I would side with a murderer. But those kids wonder why they got killed. They're so fucking annoying.
I noticed Williams head was slowly falling out of his hands and he was starting to lean to the side. I quickly grabbed his shoulder. "Hey, hey! You can't sleep!" I pushed him back against the wall. He needed to stay awake until the ambulance got here. He lost a tremendous amount of blood and was still losing through the sweater. My 'stitching' was no match for his gash. It was way too deep.
How did he not scream out in agony? It looked like he stabbed himself right at the center of his wrist and harshly cut up to his lateral like his skin was a knife sharpener.
"I'm so tired Willow.. please, just for a few minutes.." He looked at me with heavy eyes as he breathed through his mouth.
"No William, please you can't sleep right now. You know that." I told him.
"I'm so.. tired.." William had been struggling to keep his eyes open before they finally gave in. Before I knew it, he was out of it.
"Fuck! No!" I started shaking him. He wasn't dead, he was passed out. But he wouldn't be alive very long if he stayed passed out. "You fucking asshole!"
Just in time, I heard the ambulance sirens and police sirens.
I left William and ran outside of his office, immediately met by the flashing blue and red lights through the blinds of the main room and the night guard running out.
"What's going on?" He asked, scared.
"You'll see." I continued running out until I pushed the front doors open.
I ran a little out of the building and immediately pointed inside. "The back! The office!"
EMT's immediately ran inside along with an officer. I stayed outside as I couldn't bring myself to walk back into the bloody office.
I watched as the night guard stared at William as they brought him out of the office. His clothes were stained with his own blood. My sweater around his arm was done for, his arm itself would be fucked up for a while.
The night guard couldn't take his eyes off of William. He had been in the security room, most likely minding his own business, eating snacks, watching the animatronics, maybe even taking a nap. He had no idea any of this was going on, and he most likely wishes he never found out.
They took William outside of the building as a few EMT and the officer followed the other EMT's who had William. One of the EMT's approached me.
"What's his name?" They quickly asked.
"W-William Afton." I responded shakily, the lump in my throat returning.
"How long has he been passed out for?"
"Just now. A few minutes."
"Okay. Thank you. You did well on the sweater part, he would have lost a lot more blood. You managed to slow the bleeding. Well done." The EMT said to me, waving as they walked away and hopped in the back of the vehicle where William was. They shut the doors and drove off.
Just after, the police car drove off as well.
I was left in the dark and cold parking lot. My breath was seen fogging in the chilly air as I stood there, trying to process everything all at once.
I looked over inside the building, where the night guard had been standing in the dark and looking at the ground.
Besides Henry and I, the night guard was the only other employee William felt like being nice to. Especially since William was often here at night anyway, he must get bored and talk to him sometimes.
I know how the guard must feel.
-
was casually drinking my boba writing this
is everyone okay😭