It started with silence.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRQTXEvjP4n
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.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXo7IJHecvc
The dog stayed.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0ZZU2rASQ
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.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqFO06Ud7U
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.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2KOOIHppZ
Then, William stopped being William.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnTcLClrMP
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYg9ESs8X5e
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡftjURtVJ1d
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.”
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBEizqXlAxg
And they were right.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaUY8yqQOZG
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.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBknHwo1Us9
And something darker was inside.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUwZY9UXHAQ
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhlZamfooAg
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUxTayxxxk
It began with an invitation.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkB2ZeLoht
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:
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIESTG42pPM
“Let’s solve one more mystery… for old time’s sake. —W.A.”
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6tzPWFqAn
Daphne rolled her eyes and tossed it aside. But something about it tugged at her. Maybe it was nostalgia. Maybe guilt. Maybe curiosity.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJSqFoIfOs
She went.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKGzMVYFnT
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwx2dWPpRh
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vvz4LZWtN
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:
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlyTjIqiTv
Mystery Bytes
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡar4XgGKkZE
She stepped inside.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNeWsfKTRMK
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.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbQsV4m1NK
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.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLqerDtWzv4
“Ruh-roh,” the thing croaked.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBnZB7klVc
Daphne turned to run—but the doors had vanished.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zGXVUa61B
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLgw21Pyr0
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrb6cuxg5RY
Velma arrived next.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJsO9dBxYb
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…”
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmKb9AA3pZ
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.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5uX8yeM0K
William greeted her in his purple security uniform, his beard overgrown, his smile wrong.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGymQblzoB
“Welcome to the mystery, Velma. Want to find out what happens when the ones who chase monsters become them?”
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJx14ZT5WJ2
She tried to run.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLCtkMTyUJ
He let her.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHycLakLEp
For sport.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYaioeSPVtB
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqlRw1qCc5j
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARMYB9AleF
Fred was the last.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKcFBPW1K3W
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.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuEnXTc6Pyd
He stormed inside.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7rjEcpwJq
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5L7ynvN7N3
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBIsoTHmDI
The reunion was not joyous.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhxTlBbz5FE
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.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD13XBEZgxM
William stood above it all.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbE84fXA3Lk
“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.”
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4AL3oljT1T
He pressed a button. On the main stage, the animatronic Scooby came to life—its eyes glowing red.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrzX4MJBKx
“I brought him back. You left him. I didn’t. He’s perfect now. He’ll never die again.”
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTlfhJGwPoZ
But the creature lunged.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2VdFqvvNqm
Not at them.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcd39ZkTi3W
At William.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4DTY68Xwpt
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.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyVcskrAUXI
Then silence.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6UodOPgI8
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfYgwg4Q8I
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRQ92gXEOm
The power surged. Systems crashed. One by one, the animatronics slumped.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSIQtb4ZWp
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.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2DvEOozQk
On the last page, in jagged handwriting:
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJCcYnY2hV
“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.”
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI6zmmLLaJs
Signed:
W.A. (Shaggy)
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQowIIG0li
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvvbCnspnh6
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9a7jIJbkms
But even after that…
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbJf1W8422
Some say they still hear a laugh in the darkness.
A whimper.
A mechanical bark.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv0uUnPDl7A
And somewhere, far below the ruins of Mystery Bytes, red eyes blink to life.
Waiting.
103Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1uwvFJvyVO
The mystery… never ends.
