Schoolgirl with a Secret

Magdalena was only vaguely aware of the front door opening and closing, even as she tossed her soccer ball up and down into the air. The second week of summer vacation, and things were too quiet for her to bear. Most of her friends were on vacation until the end of the month, resulting in the couple remaining to decide to do things with their other friends, or simply other groups.

When she heard her name, though, she set the ball down, before heading to the top of the stairway to eavesdrop. Her mom never saw her in this angle when talking to people, so she could listen all she pleased before heading down.

“I-I didn’t realize you...bought a house...” A male voice. Definitely a stranger. Raspy, as if he hadn’t spoken for a long time. “But I suppose apartments wouldn’t really...work for you and a child...”

“Finished paying the mortgage on it a couple of years ago, after bagging a couple of tough cases and representing in court. You can imagine the babysitting fees.” That was her mom speaking, and Magdalena had to admit, she didn’t remember those times rather fondly. They were mostly lonely.

“Y-yes, I’m sure.” The male voice paused. “H-her name is Magdalena?”

“Yeah. You know. After Mary Magdalene. I thought it’d be nice, touch on my grandparents’ Catholicism while not making a commitment.”

“I’m sure my mother would appreciate it, if she were still here.”

“And...your father?”

“I’m not sure. I’m not too worried about it.”

“Fair point. Should I get her? I’m sure she’d want to meet her father after so long.”

Magdalena felt herself lean forward, attempting to look at the shadows the pair were casting. The stranger’s seemed to be much taller than her mother’s, but there was something off about it. He seemed to be too tall, and his head was shaped strangely. Even so, she rose to her feet and moved to the top of the stairs.

Her father. Her dad! She was going to see her dad at last! Sock-footed feet carefully tip-toed so as not to make a sound, even as she continued listening.

“M-maybe you should prepare her...”

“I don’t think that’d help anything, even if I tried to explain...even with the explanation you gave me, I...I find it hard to believe, too.” A pause, her mother’s voice seeming to lower, to where Magdalena had to lean over the stair railing to hear it. “What happened to you was...gruesome, and I...hardly believed it until...”

“It’s all right. Even s-so, there’s a lot to take in.” Magdalena could just picture her father, just a silhouette in her mind, placing his hands on her mother’s shoulders. “I don’t want her to be a-afraid.”

“She’ll know quickly that you won’t mean her harm—”

“Neither of us d-do, but it’s a matter of...this appearance. Us, in general.”

Magdalena frowned, even as she took a few steps down the stairs. “Us”? Who was this “us”? Was someone with her father? She only saw two shadows, and one of them was her mother’s...

“...right, your...uh, companion. Spring Bonnie, right?”

She froze. What the heck sort of name was that? It sounded...childish. Like a mascot for a TV show. “Mickey Mouse”, “Felix the Cat”, something like that.

“Ye-e-e-ep!” The same male voice, but in a strange, much cheerier tone. Much more shocking was the hushed “B-Bon!” that came next, before the original tone returned. “S-sorry, he...does that.”

“A-ah, no, I’m fine! He might want to, uh, tone down a little with Magdalena. She’s...she had an accident a few months ago, and was nearly attacked by a dog, so something sudden like that might...freak her out.”

Wild eyes staring into hers, her breath frozen in her throat, unable to scream, unable to do anything except stare before her classmate began yelling for help...

“Don’t worry! I’ll be slo-o-o-o-ow with h-her!” The cheery tone again, before the original again. “Y-yeah, we’ll have to give introductions...slowly. C-carefully.”

“All right.” Her mother’s voice then lifted. “Magdalena! Can you come downstairs?”

Quick plodding sounded Magdalena’s descent, before she slid around the end of the banister, then walked towards the kitchen. As she reached it, though, brown eyes blinked at the sight before her.

Her mother was still there, still dressed in her uniform. When Magdalena’s focus flicked over to her, her mother gave a slight smile, as if that would do anything to soothe the sight in the kitchen.

The other figure was a rabbit. No, not quite a rabbit, something like a robotic one, something you’d see in a Chuck-E-Cheese’s. The holes in its body, however, revealed what seemed to be veins, intestines, even bone hiding among the wires and fur.

What in the world had even happened to him? It? Whatever this thing was, that her mother claimed to be her father? Magdalena’s eyes trailed upwards, towards the face of the creature, a breath escaping her upon noticing its teeth.

Worn-down, square teeth. Like you’d expect from a rabbit. Not sharp, like the dog, like the monsters in her nightmares. Just rabbit’s teeth.

“Magdalena, this is...your father. Michael Afton.” Her mother’s tone was a bit stiff, as if sensing tension in the air. “But he’s...had a complicated situation.”

“Naomi, it’s all r-right. I can handle the explaining if you n-need me to.” Up close, the rabbit man’s voice rasped all the more, even grating a bit as if his throat were caught among steel. Turning his gaze to Magdalena, he continued, “You can c-call us Springtrap, if you need to. It makes things e-easier for us.”

“Us? You mean, uh, Spring Bonnie?” She could at least say she’d heard it from her room, but even so, she still felt her mother’s gaze on her. Oops.

Her father—Springtrap—didn’t seem to bat an eye at the fact. “Yes, he’s...here.” He tapped his head, right where a bit of his cranium was exposed, making a light tapping noise as he did so. “We s-share a body, in a sense, but t-that’s...a long story.”

The buzzing of her mother’s phone drew both Magdalena and Springtrap’s attention over to her, even as she scrambled to bring it out and read the text on it. “Shit. Michael, I have to head back to headquarters, so I really—”

“D-don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, Mom! Don’t worry about a thing!”

“Perfect. I’ll see you tonight, okay?” With that, her mother was off again, the door opening and closing, leaving girl and rabbit man behind.

The silence that followed was more awkward than anything else. Magdalena felt herself glancing aside towards Springtrap, but found that she had too many questions to just settle on one. Where could she even begin? The name, the suit, the shared body thing, there was just so much for her to even consider with her questions.

“W-well, there she go-o-o-oes!”

“Bon!” The sudden exchange prompted Magdalena to turn, spotting Springtrap clutching his head with one hand and muttering to himself. After a few moments of this, his hand lowered, even as he shook his head. “Sorry, Spring Bonnie is rather...b-boisterous.”

“Is he, uh...the suit?” Magdalena glanced over Springtrap again, squinting as she took in more of the details, trying to separate her father from the suit that seemed to hold him together. “But...how can he talk?”

“Another part of a long story, I-I’m afraid. He might be w-willing to explain that part later, I only have what he t-told me.” A pause, before he added, “I apologize f-for not being...what you might have expected. I’m sure you expected, s-say, a soldier, or—”

“Heeeey, don’t worry about that!” A pout streaked upon her features, before Magdalena took a couple of steps closer. Still a bit of distance, but that would at least show that she wasn’t going to just give up on this whole thing yet. “I actually didn’t expect much of anything, you know, except a grave, because my mom said you were more than likely dead. Uh, here, let’s...”

Magdalena glanced over at the game shelf in the kitchen, grinning as she spotted one of the tins and bolted over to pick it up. “Let’s play some dominoes and we can talk as we play, okay?”

“Dominoes?”

“Yeah! My grandma, mom’s mom, used to play it all the time. Before her, uh, Parkinson’s set in.” She strode to the table, sitting down as she opened the tin. “I’ll teach you how to play if you haven’t!”

“Sounds fun!” The lighter tone, which Magdalena was beginning to spot more easily, had burst in. “Mike, she’s a lot like you, you know!”

“Maybe before the springlocking.” The lower tone, her father, still appeared to have a chuckle despite the remark, even as Springtrap moved to sit at the opposite side of the table. “I haven’t...had a l-lot of time to play games, so I’d...love to learn.”

That set Magdalena grinning.