The Stitchwraith

Leaning against the couch in front of his television, William sat back and decided to read through today's newspaper. Damn, I've barely had enough time to catch up with recent events. Last night I didn't even get to read the paper. All that work with Henry made me stay up late. But now, I can at least read it in peace, he thought.

Clara was sitting right beside him, her head leaning against his shoulder as she held the remote. She was busy watching some kind of gameshow on TV that Will wasn't paying attention to. Frankly, he was more focused on the paper. Neither of them really were in the mood for talking at the moment. They were too tired to keep up a conversation right now.

"You had a nice day, honey?" Clara asked.

"I guess you could say that. I mean, I had to take care of some little prick trying to harass our son, among other things, but yeah," he responded.

"Is it that Silas kid again?"

"B-b-bingo."

"I'm not surprised. Alex's friends have told me Silas is know for bullying a lot of the weaker kids at his school. I keep calling the principal asking to resolve the issue, but the only thing he tells me is that his parents will take of it. It's been three weeks since I made that phone call, and nothing has changed," Clara angrily told him.

"Just give it some time. We got some bigger things to worry about right now," William told her, too tired to keep up with it. He began reading through the paper again. Well, looks like they featured an article on the new Fredbear location here. Definitely looks promising for us, if it all works out fine.

Near the third page, there was an article title that immediately caught his eye: "Serial Killer Rampant, 5 Dead, Rochester". The word "Rochester" stood out to William first. Rochester? Man, it's been months since I've been back there. It's been getting harder and harder lately to visit Baby without having to look after my family and the business - wait, did it say serial killer??

The killer was described as a shrouded black-cloaked figure that had a noticeable lurch as it walked. The figure didn't seem to raise much interest in any bystanders unless they came into close contact with it. It usually was spotted hanging around alleyways, rummaging through garbage bins as well as abandoned buildings. As for the name, the press had called it, "The Stitchwraith." HA! Stitchwraith. What a stupid name.

The article filled in a lot of details about this recent discovery. From what the journalist made it out to be, there was some boogeyman-like psychopath lurking around the streets of Rochester. The information stated that it all started when a local teenager, Daniel Prescott, 18, an employee from a Dairy King restaurant nearby, was reported missing a few weeks back. His family organized a search party to go look for him, and no trace of him was found until a few days later, where a fisherman (who wished to remain anonymous) reported that he had found a body floating down a river. The body's flesh was distorted beyond recognition, and was only identified as the missing teen once an autopsy report was made. Due to the graphic nature of the body, the paper had withheld the image of the corpse, but they provided the description of it.

The strangest thing of all about this was that Daniel's eyes were missing when his body was found. Whoever, or whatever, murdered him must've removed his eyes before finishing the job. This was just one of four other disappearances that've been reported back in Rochester in the past few weeks. The other four were later found dead, three nearby street alleys, the fourth found cramped inside of the sewers. There didn't seem to be an aligning motive between the victims: in fact, the police concluded that the victims hardly knew each other at all. Further interviews with their families made it clear that this behavior matched that of a serial killer. However, no major leads could be identified yet.

Each victim had a similar pattern that stood out. All of their bodies were found withered, burnt even: their veins were visible, and an unidentified black liquid that was leaking from their mouths, ears and bled down the sides of the face. Each victim also had one distinctive feature removed: one was found without an ear, another without their fingers, etc.

Two of the victims showed a clear history of repeated criminal activity. Authorities came to the conclusion that they attempted to assault the figure and he killed them out of self-defense, but that theory was still a work in progress.

It was only two weeks ago when a security feed camera was able to get an actual photo of the supposed killer. Of course, many have passed it off as either a hoax or a stranger, but all it took was one look at the killer's face for William to tell that something was off. From under the hood of the figure's cloak was a bulky white face, not a human looking face, at that. More like a mask, actually. The figure's round mask had several disturbing features. Only one eye was visible while the other was blacked out, and it held a toothy grin with several teeth that were missing. It looked like there were blood stains surrounded over its mouth, like poorly applied lipstick. Definitely appeared as a mask that a serial killer would use.

That mask... and that eye... it can't be, right? That can't be Ennard, can it? Baby promised me they abandoned their plan to go AWOL, but that mask seems all too familiar. Besides, it's been months since I've checked in on them. Who knows what they could be planning. If this really is Ennard, are he and the Funtimes trying to revert back to their old plan and go into hiding? And why would they start killing people now? They haven't done anything like that in years, so why now? But I don't know anyone else with a mask like that...

William put down the newspaper and thought about what he should do. This could all just be paranoia and I'm over-reacting, or I'm right and the Funtimes are going rouge. And if they somehow do escape and get to the public eye... who knows what'll happen. If they get caught, I'd probably have a lot to explain to Henry about it. Plus Fazbear Entertainment wouldn't like that I let this secret slip after so long...

No. I'm not taking any chances. I'm not letting Baby get herself hurt, or Ennard. I'm not letting that happen. But what if this isn't Ennard? If it's not him, then who else could it be? And should we do anything about it if it's not? Or just let the authorities deal with it?

William thought about the situation for a few more moments. I've got it! Tomorrow, I'll tell Henry that I need to go down to Rochester to clear up some zoning issues with the old Circus Baby restaurant as a cover. In the meantime, I can go in there and check to see if Baby and Ennard are still down there. If they are, then that means this entire thing was pointless to worry about and I can sleep at night again. But if they aren't... if they're really trying to escape again... what I do then?

It's way too late to be thinking about all of this. I'll think of something in the morning when my brain's functional again. For now, though, I will make sure to pay my old friends a visit tomorrow. He put away the newspaper and cuddled close next to Clara, enjoying their time together watching the gameshow while their children slept safe and sound.