The Fall of the Aftons

094: Michael Afton

A few months later, Henry hesitantly agreed to Michael's amputation. Many months passed and Michael could finally walk normally again. He could walk better than he expected to on the fake leg he built for himself since the prostetic that the doctors offered was extremely expensive. But he was perfectly fine with the leg he built--in fact, he couldn't be more proud of it. So long as he wore long socks or pants over it, it didn't even look like he was wearing a metal hunk in replace of the missing section of his leg. The only thing that wasn't right was the length. It was a tad longer than he needed, but at least the limp it gave him was barely noticeable.

Finally, summer came, and summer passed. The only significant thing that happened was that Elizabeth had learned how to walk and run, and now she was currently learning to talk.

Well, there was one more important thing.

Michael was going to a new school. He wasn't going to the high school in the Hurricane and New Harmony school district. He was going to a different school. A gifted school.

He was ecstatic. It was a school that would supposedly teach him new things. A school that wouldn't hold any of his bullies from his previous schools. His friend, Analex, went there, too. She had transferred there in sixth grade after her father was promoted from vice principal to principal. So he wouldn't be alone. And maybe the kids at his new school wouldn't have any intent of bullying him. Maybe he'd even make new friends. He definitely hoped so.

Suddely, a series of loud claps crashed Michael's excited train of thought.

"He's back!" Lavendar exclaimed, laughter filling his voice. "Are you ready to pay attention now?"

Michael looked around, trying to figure out where he was. As he examined his surroundings, he realized that he was at the mall as he remembered that he was new school year-shopping with Estella, Lavendar, and TJ.

TJ chuckled and grabbed Michael's wrist. "You two have fun with your make-up and skirts. Michael and I are gonna go look at stuff for us," he said as he walked away, dragging Michael behind him. "I heard that they have really cool designs on the sweatshirts they have. Wanna go look at those?"

"Sure, I guess," Michael mumbled, chuckling slightly.

Shortly, the boys arrived at the mens' clothing section of the store. TJ started to meander, looking at anything that caught his eye as Michael simply watched. He didn't have much money at the moment, so he couldn't buy much. He previously had about two hundred dollars saved up from working at Jack's, but he'd spent the majority of it to try to pay Henry back for his surgery. He didn't care if Henry said that he didn't have to pay him back--the surgery was a huge expense, so he was going to pay Henry back. So the only money he had right now, he was saving it for lunch later that afternoon since outside food and drink weren't allowed in the mall.

Suddenly, Michael heard voices a few feet away from him. He turned around, trying to see who was there, not surprised to see a couple of teens whispering and gossiping as they pointed at him.

"Look, it's the Bite of '83!" one of the boys whispered.

"Woah, that's him?" the other one whispered back.

"Yeah! You see the scar on his head?"

"Gnarly..."

Michael's face reddened as he looked away. Everyone in Hurricane was referring to the event at Fazbear's as "the Bite of '83." He couldn't go out in public anymore without somebody recognizing him, no matter if he had his hood up. It was humiliating. He wanted everyone to forget about that incident. He didn't want to constantly be recognized as the boy who was bitten by Foxy the Pirate at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. He just wanted to be a normal kid.