It was supposed to be a joke. Harmless. A playful jab with your best friend... Why did it end like this?

It haunted you. Relentlessly, like dead hands grabbing at your clothes as you walked... The darkest depths of your mind breathed, alive with memory you tried so desperately to be rid of.

It didn't matter.

You still remembered it vividly. When alone... When lost too far to your thoughts in the dark...

You were kids then. Stupid, oh so stupid, and unaware... It was supposed to just be a joke. You grabbed your masks, and the four of you hauled your best friend's little brother into that waiting, gaping maw... The boy always screamed and cried about that place, about that stupid golden bear...

"Give him a kiss"- It wasn't supposed to end like this.

You should've known better...

You'll never get it out of your head for as long as you're still drawing breath. The sickening sound of bones crushing under metal... The way that quiet, peaceful diner erupted into chaos. Screaming, pleading, begging... The image of blood pouring down, staining golden fur, as that small, limp body hit the ground...

You should've known.

The image lived inside you like a creeping poison, tainting every inch of your being. It didn't matter what you did. Where you went. Who dared to call you 'innocent'. Who dared to say it was 'just an accident'. You knew better...

It haunted your every waking breath; tore open your chest, and borrowed itself deep inside as far as it could go. As you got older- the medications didn't help. The drinking didn't help. It had stuck its course, and rotted you from within like a foul, black mold...

So, when you heard that old, untouched building was being bulldozed to the ground... That the company rebranded, that it was all going to be blown away like dust on the wind... Like it had never happened in the first place.

You knew you had to see- Just one more time. The restaurant had been closed from the incident, but you just..... Maybe, you could finally make peace with yourself if you faced it directly after all this time.

So, you made your way there; broke inside that stuffy, old rotten building. It was still frozen in time... Like a paused childhood memory turned something perverted. Old party decorations stood, balloons deflated, hats and plates caked in dust... Crime scene tape now littered the area, and there before it all.

Was him.

That golden bear with his unhinged jaw; caked in old, rotten blood that had run down his chest and splattered around his lifeless blue eyes.

It was like staring back into the eyes of a ghost you had tried to stop chasing...