It started with silence.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6z1PcpruI
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.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRQwKkRada
The dog stayed.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYlXtdKK0S
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.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPXv0JXXXu
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.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNumGxse0fy
Then, William stopped being William.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZs5jOtVoS
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKGlu2bnJb
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFra9PgnebX
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.”
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdUTQGgqSS
And they were right.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdc17F133R
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.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1E5dZLqAL
And something darker was inside.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCyVTwJdat
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsaBVfrkJU
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZL3jUgDc5
It began with an invitation.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZlaFhmkwjV
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:
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpWEk5BimSE
“Let’s solve one more mystery… for old time’s sake. —W.A.”
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOVi14gA18
Daphne rolled her eyes and tossed it aside. But something about it tugged at her. Maybe it was nostalgia. Maybe guilt. Maybe curiosity.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnMR6o0gWRD
She went.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLkTFM8wI5
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCjpk1rCcg
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybMxDlekaV
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:
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡju6Q5Knnz6
Mystery Bytes
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0V9rHPv3p2
She stepped inside.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvVjU9WiPOm
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.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmeIaag3bP
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.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjiGDWah94
“Ruh-roh,” the thing croaked.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLhlwIIcGZb
Daphne turned to run—but the doors had vanished.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbmhRMveG2l
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMqw2tc7hF
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkL0K8dO9iF
Velma arrived next.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyK3t0LlVz3
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…”
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbAZ7nt9Aqp
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.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFd3oaKwKx
William greeted her in his purple security uniform, his beard overgrown, his smile wrong.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4AXgUrBp7
“Welcome to the mystery, Velma. Want to find out what happens when the ones who chase monsters become them?”
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzk2pDTUnW
She tried to run.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7RViiFZs6
He let her.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJM9ncH4ge
For sport.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJN8ikkTic
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJRjcv0eFB6
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4G3eAs390y
Fred was the last.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0UY1f9f69J
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.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl1jh4pRu48
He stormed inside.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT7g0hEagJ9
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRpIGsIrTe
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ycKQKvRYV
The reunion was not joyous.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj45BcRhIts
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.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAi79H3pGeZ
William stood above it all.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFyiBXmOKr0
“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.”
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKZYdxVQqO
He pressed a button. On the main stage, the animatronic Scooby came to life—its eyes glowing red.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlehB5ra3T
“I brought him back. You left him. I didn’t. He’s perfect now. He’ll never die again.”
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVScFWptvu
But the creature lunged.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUFVA0RXWP
Not at them.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjRBt1NoK0
At William.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYfzYzsZyeT
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.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9WtTUHC401
Then silence.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLdbVZrCFu
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3dLp90jz0
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxx1c5qrwV
The power surged. Systems crashed. One by one, the animatronics slumped.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGB8yR3zeew
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.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIod3FraVk
On the last page, in jagged handwriting:
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH0L4f803gl
“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.”
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFS3UEC5k1
Signed:
W.A. (Shaggy)
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QYDSiarw0
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjPEmg6IQl
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhD7ux1Vct
But even after that…
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4b5Z4qtbh
Some say they still hear a laugh in the darkness.
A whimper.
A mechanical bark.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHsI3yhl9m
And somewhere, far below the ruins of Mystery Bytes, red eyes blink to life.
Waiting.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0WIqBm7BNo
The mystery… never ends.
