February 2023
Dysis lay in her bed staring at the ceiling.
How had she forgotten? It seemed impossible. Insane even. How was it even possible?
She honestly couldn’t believe she couldn’t recall any of her conversations with Ciaran in any real detail. She could recall bits and pieces - more what was talked about than any real substance - but there was a frustrating void when it came to the majority. All she could remember with any certainty was that there was an ARG - featuring FNAF and other fictional works - and her brother had invited her to participate. This was particularly frustrating as she recalled sitting and talking about what the future would bring in great depth, going month by month for over a year. As they had done so, they had discussed a number of releases linked to various IPs and, alongside them, specific signals and what she should do about them. She remembered feeling like her head was about to explode from all the details that had been given to her.
It was all insight that she now dearly wished she had written down but no. She distinctly recalled Ciaran strongly forbidding her to do so.
It’ll ruin the plan. We have to make it look real. Ciaran’s voice echoed in her head.
Dysis squeezed her eyes shut. It was a curious feeling to know that her brain likely contained all the information she needed, she just couldn’t retrieve it. However, she quickly decided to stop stressing about it and to carry on with her day. After all, at the end of the day, all of this was just a game. What did it matter if she couldn’t remember the details? It was all for fun and ultimately inconsequential. Whatever happened she would still have her life, her job and a wonderful partner in Ben.
She just hoped she wasn’t too late. By her calculation, approximately eight months had passed since her last briefing. That gave her only around six months until the next FNAF game, Ruin, was released. Would the ARG even still be running?
Despite feeling unnerved, Dysis felt a shiver of excitement. She was going to take part in a FNAF ARG! How exciting was that?
~*~
With the promise of an ARG to pursue, Dysis returned to FNAF theorizing with great gusto. With the release of a new game just a few months away, she delved back into Security Breach. She almost immediately wondered why she’d stopped studying it in the first place - the glitchy broken mess was endlessly amusing to her and, with so many of her favorite Youtubers covering it, she had ample Lets Plays to watch for research purposes.
Even throwing herself at her work, however, progress was agonizingly slow. It took many hours and sittings to get her thoughts together and juggling her passions with her job at the shopping centre made things trickier. It felt like time was in short supply.
She managed, somehow, to put out one good-humored research post - Gregory is sus, which did moderately well on tumblr. However, by the time she’d
finally got her thoughts together for a real theory, it was mid-March - a full two months since her first theory, which had built on Game Theory’s idea that Gregory was a robot.
For her second theory, Dysis decided to take a much broader approach, writing a different take on the plot of the Security Breach. Perhaps unsurprisingly but no less disappointingly, the theory released to practically no engagement. Yet, she felt blessed nonetheless as one kind commenter responded and they proceeded to write a sprawling comment thread together. So far, so good, Dysis thought.
Buoyed by the lack of negative response, Dysis went ahead and pumped out another broad theory on the direction of the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, positing that the series' new direction was becoming increasingly meta and focused on AI.
She also suggested that the series was on the way to making Fazbear Entertainment as a company the new villain of the series, headed by Mrs Afton.
This time, her theory launched to even less engagement. A tad put out but undeterred, she put out yet another theory. “Gregory is Balloon boy”.. The theory rooted from two things: The appearance of the Balloon World arcade cabinet in a hideout she (for the theory) presumed to be Gregory’s
and the appearance of a Balloon Boy garbed staff bot at the Afton family table scene in the post it note room.
She proposed that Mike’s missing entry in the Official Character Encyclopedia might hint that the headless bot (at that same table) represented him, leaving Gregory as the Balloon Boy. Perhaps, she posited, Mike had been disowned for going against the company or Fazbear were pretending he didn’t exist. In other words, she thought Michael had been omitted from the OCE for lore reasons, rather than being forgotten.
This time, the response was so negative that she immediately found her reddit post downvoted within an inch of its life. Every time she refreshed the page, her precious Karma score declined yet further. Even worse, her thread was flooded with negative comments, with people mocking her carefully put together post.
Despondent, Dysis responded by closing the thread. Ego bruised and heart battered, she glumly decided that that was enough theorizing for a bit.
Not long after the incident, Ben pushed his way into her makeshift office.
“I’m making dinner, do you-” he started, cutting himself off with one look at her face. “Feck, what happened? Your face looks like a slapped arse.”
Dysis frowned. The last thing she wanted to do was to admit what had happened to her boyfriend - given how little he liked FNAF. However, despite her better judgment, she decided to be honest anyway.
“Eh, nothing much. I just posted a FNAF theory and it went down like a lead balloon so that wasn’t very fun.”
“I don’t know why you waste so much time on that stupid series,” Ben said bluntly, “It’s awful.”
Dysis flinched. The put down reminded her of how her dad used to treat her passions and she found herself closing up. She knew he hated FNAF but why did he need to be so rude about it?
Ben strode out of the room, heading to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Dysis watched him go lamely, lost for what to say
I don’t love you anymore.
The memory of Ben’s words drifted back into her head, catching her totally unaware. She was immediately profoundly confused. When on earth had he said that?
Horrified and disconcerted, Dysis cast her mind back. She was surprised to recall a conversation with Ciaran and Ben where the latter had admitted to wanting to break up. The memory jarred so much with her experiences over the past few months, she wondered if she had dreamt it. As far as she knew, the two of them were both happy together and Ben had shown no sign of wanting to leave. He was as affectionate, attentive and personable as always.
Dysis shook her head rapidly to clear it. What was happening to her? Something had to be wrong with her head. Why was she forgetting key events? Or, if she was wrong about everything being real, making up false memories? Either way, it was all very concerning.
Briefly, Dysis considered raising the conversation with Ben but she ultimately decided against it. She and Ben had already butted heads over the ARG and FNAF, so she wasn’t sure randomly asking if he still loved her would go down very well. However, she made a note to herself to keep an eye on Ben to see if he showed any hint of dissatisfaction.
Why do I feel like he’s going to leave me? Dysis thought to herself, struck by a sinking feeling. I don’t know why but I feel like that was part of the plan.
~*~
Put off theorizing by her negative Reddit experiences, Dysis kept Five Nights at Freddy’s at arms length and continued living her life.
Days passed in a blur of the monotonous 9-5 daily work cycle, with time for little else. Still licking her wounds, it took over a week to return to her FNAF research.
This time, she pumped out two theories in quick succession. First came a post titled Everyone in Security Breach is a Robot, which proposed that Fazbear Entertainment were replacing human employees with humanoid robots. Shortly after, she then produced a mildly popular post on the Security Breach collectible locations and why they were important.
Satisfied with her recent theories, Dysis paused to reflect on where she had got to. She’d seen Security Breach through so many times, she could practically visualize it in her sleep. And yet, she felt no closer to solving it.
Deciding to start right from the beginning of FNAF, Dysis revisited the early games in release order for research purposes. The exercise raised more questions than answers.
She let it all wash over her. The game mechanics. The secret minigames. Phone guy calls. She took time to notice even the most minute detail.
Slowly, new theories began to develop in her mind. They morphed and shifted with every game she watched.
Dysis smiled. If this ARG wanted her to solve FNAF, she might just be able to manage it.
~*~
One day, Dysis and Ben were chatting away while Youtube videos autoplayed in the background.
Focused on the conversation, it was only a few minutes into the video that Dysis took note of what was happening.
In the documentary-style video, a YouTuber she’d never heard of before was talking about a 90’s Japanese reality show. In it, a Japanese man called Natsubi had been locked up in a small room and had no contact with the outside world for a year.
“Would you ever sign up for something like that?” Ben asked suddenly, “Would you agree to be covertly filmed for a year?”
Dysis blinked at the question.
“My first instinct was to say no,” she admitted, “I hate cameras after all. But I suppose I said I’d like to take part in The Circle so maybe that isn’t true.”
Ben looked at her for a second, a strange expression on his face.
“I would hope I would remember to keep my clothes on, though,” she quipped. “I can’t imagine forgetting there were cameras.”
“I can,” Ben said dryly, “If someone isn’t pointing out the cameras are there, you just acclimatise.”
The conversation lapsed into silence. However, Ben’s question continued to swirl around in her mind. Then, she inhaled as a thought drifted into her mind.
… Didn’t Ciaran say there was going to be cameras?
The question made her heart lurch in her chest. In the blink of an eye, her mind was racing as a flood of memories took her unaware.
Her mouth dried.
Ciaran hadn’t just told her there was an ARG, had he? He’d also told her she’d essentially be on a reality TV show filmed by her family (or a crew hired by them). She’d agreed to be on camera 24/7 just like Natsubi.
Completely blown away, she sat back in her chair. She felt as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of her lungs.
That can’t be true, can it?
Had she really agreed to take part in a covert tailored ARG-gameshow? And if so, how had she forgotten that?
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