It started with silence.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZgqJQhica
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.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvX4UAgm8TO
The dog stayed.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2bmxG7JDb
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.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiVW8K7Kd00
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.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28YoQuXsLn
Then, William stopped being William.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgqjzWyRP3
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgGIfaEHuiZ
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4g3dtmuEU6
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.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfcU3gw2jO
And they were right.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvX6HLB39VB
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.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEp1wlc9XS1
And something darker was inside.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjyi7CgZGC
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO1l2mVpY7q
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvRXXme1CT
It began with an invitation.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpbK56g8QmL
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:
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJYBCjaW6Fz
“Let’s solve one more mystery… for old time’s sake. —W.A.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWf0WAInu2J
Daphne rolled her eyes and tossed it aside. But something about it tugged at her. Maybe it was nostalgia. Maybe guilt. Maybe curiosity.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnJQMblS7L
She went.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKdub07ZNL
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1PfHqseZa8
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOlC9rwSLV
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:
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADBcGsKpxl
Mystery Bytes
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXoEpD4Wjam
She stepped inside.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡytOIdZx50z
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.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJWcSw3Qz4
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.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtrabRE3Td6
“Ruh-roh,” the thing croaked.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpCZi4QgaZN
Daphne turned to run—but the doors had vanished.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhp3kttGfn
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4giGc4F63S
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZk1fagRRR
Velma arrived next.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsimwle4ol
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…”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡASuSztrHBw
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.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUjnL5pGxB
William greeted her in his purple security uniform, his beard overgrown, his smile wrong.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4miF5D2fSl
“Welcome to the mystery, Velma. Want to find out what happens when the ones who chase monsters become them?”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpvkWvSitC
She tried to run.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2aR9XDiX6i
He let her.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstzZXDpJBw
For sport.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6c8RdsnBX
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZJaxZolvL
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr75hwef3R8
Fred was the last.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVAsKy5Bi6o
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.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NsWPg4P4L
He stormed inside.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHrGRgYzjZ
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHh9mZV8XfT
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqXZfTL3Rb
The reunion was not joyous.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0VQpJYkHf
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.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjWpAydkZf
William stood above it all.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcccS2XwDyD
“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.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwv2bzeCuOb
He pressed a button. On the main stage, the animatronic Scooby came to life—its eyes glowing red.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdcKGQTIxIe
“I brought him back. You left him. I didn’t. He’s perfect now. He’ll never die again.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1wL4yuGBf
But the creature lunged.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aZeN2ZYBb
Not at them.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS68OZP6wpj
At William.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiNJ5fy19dx
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.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8D77jRyJeo
Then silence.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEO6Opx7Hle
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZO1P5P2nI
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5ijYlwbQ1
The power surged. Systems crashed. One by one, the animatronics slumped.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1Us7vdTnK
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.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPN5JOSKIp
On the last page, in jagged handwriting:
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLSqatHd72
“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.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ew16PEgeL
Signed:
W.A. (Shaggy)
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkB5UYppUl
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSqjqJiBeU
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN02e6Nv1P5
But even after that…
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ72z7E2gcOB
Some say they still hear a laugh in the darkness.
A whimper.
A mechanical bark.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK3zZ7ggSyB
And somewhere, far below the ruins of Mystery Bytes, red eyes blink to life.
Waiting.
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3kAto1CSs
The mystery… never ends.
