It started with silence.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn2tTaZcZNW
Scooby-Doo had always been noisy—his bark, his laugh, his nonsensical words, his trembling whimpers when a ghoul was near. But when the gang split, life grew quiet. Velma took a job at the Smithsonian. Daphne pursued television journalism. Fred went solo with paranormal documentaries. And Shaggy—William—just faded into the background.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRuZ97UDwK
The dog stayed.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfVQMNSowlp
He was old by then, limping from years of chases, his brown fur grayed and his ears drooping lower each day. William didn’t notice the aging. Or refused to. In that crumbling apartment, surrounded by take-out boxes and old Mystery Inc. memorabilia, the dog was the last piece of something that used to be real.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1nngs8eVw
When Scooby stopped eating, William panicked.
When Scooby stopped walking, William cried.
When Scooby closed his eyes and didn’t open them again, William screamed.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKa74QuBis
Then, William stopped being William.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIaSiEBJFCl
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYaenPerT8w
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6dehe1u8R
They said it was grief. That’s what Daphne whispered when she got the call from the shelter saying he’d tried to adopt six Great Danes and insisted on naming them all Scooby. That’s what Velma muttered when she reviewed his strange Reddit posts about “making souls stay forever.” Fred, when he visited and found the apartment walls covered in wires, gears, and diagrams of animatronics, simply said: “He’s not our Shaggy anymore.”
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLbW4N54vs
And they were right.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD3jJ39XSZB
Because Shaggy was never real. Shaggy was a persona, a mask. William Afton was the man underneath, and that man was unraveling. Scooby’s death didn’t just break William—it peeled him open.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZfVr5KI7nr
And something darker was inside.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡngAwtJcYS5
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAY6EQeI0y
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWr4Ozh2g9m
It began with an invitation.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7ZprdiZbf
A letter in Daphne’s mailbox—unmarked, hand-written, smelling faintly of oil and rust. It was an invitation to a grand re-opening of a “family-themed mystery pizzeria.” The name wasn’t printed. Just a scrawled note:
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfGWti2cv6
“Let’s solve one more mystery… for old time’s sake. —W.A.”
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6EyhTE05d
Daphne rolled her eyes and tossed it aside. But something about it tugged at her. Maybe it was nostalgia. Maybe guilt. Maybe curiosity.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHX2YilKw3
She went.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ugYlQ0uBm
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWba34s2r9Z
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNQQaoYkiXp
The pizzeria was tucked in a forgotten corner of town. No cars in the lot. No lights on. Just a flickering neon sign in red:
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0gRFlVho3
Mystery Bytes
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0h5fSc01uV
She stepped inside.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdBf046he1Z
It smelled like rot and metal. The walls were lined with retro posters of animatronic animals dressed like Mystery Inc. characters—there was a robotic Fred with glowing blue eyes, a Velma with twitching glasses, a Daphne animatronic whose smile didn’t reach her dead, mechanical eyes.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZg9ftiEn7r
The worst was the Shaggy bot. It was hunched over, twitching sporadically, oil leaking from its mouth like drool. And beside it, at the center of the stage, sat a hulking animatronic Great Dane, covered in patchy fur and blinking eyes that seemed almost alive.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HiPf3nHJj
“Ruh-roh,” the thing croaked.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzasmA1zxcM
Daphne turned to run—but the doors had vanished.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKdncILvkuG
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ0cLuRJc0x
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu9bvFXsR0Z
Velma arrived next.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvs0JANOR9T
She received a voice message from a blocked number. The voice was warped, synthetic—distorted to sound like Scooby-Doo. It begged her to come help. “Reah, help us, Relma… danger…”
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnrkac2OWYE
Despite herself, she traced the number to an abandoned pizzeria. She didn’t expect to find Daphne there—trapped inside a glass tube, unconscious, wires feeding into her skull.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyrjRpIjw5
William greeted her in his purple security uniform, his beard overgrown, his smile wrong.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYGioaZ2RmG
“Welcome to the mystery, Velma. Want to find out what happens when the ones who chase monsters become them?”
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlXRoOvJUCg
She tried to run.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEMA2nleiGi
He let her.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZtcKfjy0b
For sport.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrf09T5mvC
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9MYTUhkEO
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcnCMSAsfHd
Fred was the last.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHFxxuPHHxY
He never got a message. He just woke up one day to find his RV missing and tire tracks leading to a warehouse outside town. He followed, heart pounding. When he arrived, he found a wall of televisions—all showing footage of his friends, screaming.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmOsMHftOJ2
He stormed inside.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUE8bCnUkU
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRB6H3R3Mw
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxacbDxYkA2
The reunion was not joyous.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqDiHhpgvTg
Daphne’s consciousness had been fragmented, uploaded piece by piece into a dancing animatronic that repeated her news reports in an endless loop. Velma was forced to answer unsolvable riddles, each failure resulting in electric shocks to her system as a twisted game of “Jeopardy: Genius Edition” played in the background. Fred faced a mirrored room where animatronic versions of himself reenacted their old adventures—but this time, he always died at the end.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEnuh6xfRX
William stood above it all.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx8U29DJkQY
“No more unmasking monsters,” he whispered into the microphone. “No more pulling off rubber masks and laughing in the van. You wanted answers? Well, guess what. The real monster was never under a costume.”
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF6RFLDQb7z
He pressed a button. On the main stage, the animatronic Scooby came to life—its eyes glowing red.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPW1OxDt4u
“I brought him back. You left him. I didn’t. He’s perfect now. He’ll never die again.”
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZfT1phIeC
But the creature lunged.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXoLBH8OJn6
Not at them.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXIqr4DNyA
At William.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaHQFqy6Lh
It didn’t speak. It didn’t need to. Its paws wrapped around him with mechanical strength and pulled him into the animatronic’s chest cavity. Screams echoed.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJzScKECsS
Then silence.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMclg3QXe3
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7haKbb0C7
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrcnh6s38oD
The power surged. Systems crashed. One by one, the animatronics slumped.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEcrYvG1ZlQ
When the police finally found the building—weeks later—they found no trace of William Afton. Just shattered machines, damaged recording tapes, and a journal soaked in oil and tears.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBJ7WS1zqD
On the last page, in jagged handwriting:
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJToZ518Qdz
“They said I was the coward. But I stayed. I stayed with him. I kept the mystery alive. I gave him a body so he’d never have to leave again. He was my only friend. My only family. And now he’s perfect. Now they’ll see.”
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlz7dcYy22s
Signed:
W.A. (Shaggy)
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3NIDYGEQK
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22hsCHP7BX
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZV4Byznhp
But even after that…
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmkeFotTkI
Some say they still hear a laugh in the darkness.
A whimper.
A mechanical bark.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVHpau3dKD
And somewhere, far below the ruins of Mystery Bytes, red eyes blink to life.
Waiting.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIh2GGldPP
The mystery… never ends.
