It started with silence.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fxu6EooZr
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.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9umHgZwsAX
The dog stayed.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh687CY1c2v
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.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJ1fcFGwOQ
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.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkPSajbjRP
Then, William stopped being William.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSn3U3Igky
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpWvGzI6QRk
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJe4Q6WPfsX
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.”
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5JDv7vWU72
And they were right.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdgXAIhjW1
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.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡia16GxF74r
And something darker was inside.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2lX5jQD5q
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgdprHCpaE
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBHDwOhcNM
It began with an invitation.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJR0h4hqwOS
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:
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WF4B5pYdH
“Let’s solve one more mystery… for old time’s sake. —W.A.”
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZRCAyHsCsn
Daphne rolled her eyes and tossed it aside. But something about it tugged at her. Maybe it was nostalgia. Maybe guilt. Maybe curiosity.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Ze8DQA5or
She went.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEasMMFC65
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFSgLjj7xs
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIxblXEuPD
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:
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnu5GpCcnbA
Mystery Bytes
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRqoGsqoayd
She stepped inside.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTvc8Ddbuy
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.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwOkoez7Sf
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.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43h45V0ixb
“Ruh-roh,” the thing croaked.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywRA8Zh5Xa
Daphne turned to run—but the doors had vanished.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTAIelNAhdD
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmi4Jvegjyd
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeaMI8KA4dM
Velma arrived next.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYge4cDSaDe
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…”
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmLDgdGFsH
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.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidhSDeltdp
William greeted her in his purple security uniform, his beard overgrown, his smile wrong.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgDaIyBRbx
“Welcome to the mystery, Velma. Want to find out what happens when the ones who chase monsters become them?”
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH78uXf7pNN
She tried to run.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8a3uVVCufK
He let her.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFvX5Jh4lw0
For sport.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4o27ei8LUm
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwVqgY6zit
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSK1LXoD28
Fred was the last.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4uUmTJu9k
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.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd5XCuwTvtT
He stormed inside.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEX27kkFRo
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkOKhIaAE1s
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW8W225Ubom
The reunion was not joyous.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfo1NhGxGKK
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.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvu8QnC8OM
William stood above it all.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Shqolyky5
“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.”
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn4fiSYuzUv
He pressed a button. On the main stage, the animatronic Scooby came to life—its eyes glowing red.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEdHE51Jkm
“I brought him back. You left him. I didn’t. He’s perfect now. He’ll never die again.”
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLOpkhBLzB7
But the creature lunged.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZj1OGDkusE
Not at them.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwKeBTiPl6
At William.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZvjK8qsllZ
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.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGMtsJP2pi
Then silence.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCKfNgYmBP
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZKY93pu33
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqedPmlkqF
The power surged. Systems crashed. One by one, the animatronics slumped.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJ2FR3AsEz
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.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHHd6ddyI98
On the last page, in jagged handwriting:
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0mqFLTnWF
“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.”
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXG616WoFPO
Signed:
W.A. (Shaggy)
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0PmpVkpC3
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXaZkP73cR
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRQ7PeAjJpN
But even after that…
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOCmPv1H9ZG
Some say they still hear a laugh in the darkness.
A whimper.
A mechanical bark.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMl8qObzXQE
And somewhere, far below the ruins of Mystery Bytes, red eyes blink to life.
Waiting.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKGtjlu5k5x
The mystery… never ends.
and then Add to home screen.