The Fall of the Aftons

117: Evan Afton

Evan sat on the living room floor, half of his attention on playing with his sister and the other half on the front door. They did that for a few minutes before Michael suddenly entered the house with a slam of the front door. Evan squealed, surprised by his brother's sudden arrival, and Beth giggled at the odd noise that had come from him.

Michael kicked his shoes off by the front door, threw the jacket hanging over his shoulder onto the coat rack, and then flopped onto the couch head-first with a pained grunt. He looked exhausted and in a lot of pain.

"A-Ah you okay, Mikey?" Evan asked, his voice quiet. He winced when the first word in his sentence came out wrong. "Are," he corrected.

"I'm fine," Michael answered. He moved his head so he could look at Evan. "My arm just hurts, that's all."

"Did the boys do it? Was it because you helped me on Sunday after Matt shoved me?" He started to gnaw on the pad of his index finger.

Michael chuckled. "First of all, his name is Mark. Not Matt. Secondly, no. It was Mark who did it--Simon and Frederick had nothing to do with it. And third, yes, it was punishment for helping you." His voice was almost dead silent as he spoke, sitting up slowly. He cradled his assumedly injured arm. "But it's not your fault. I'll be okay."

"I know it's not," Evan assured his brother. "It's not your fault, either. It was their fault because they're the ones who shoved me when I was right in front of the couch." He offered a sad smile, but Michael didn't return it. He frowned. "What did they do to you? If you don't mind me asking."

"It's nothing for you to worry about. I'll be fine. It just needs some time to heal, like all injuries do." Under his breath, he muttered, "A lot of time." He probably that Evan couldn't hear him.

But he could hear.

"'A lot of time?!' Michael, what did they do to you?" Evan urged, his eyes stinging with tears of fear.

Michael looked away, refusing to answer, only making Evan more worried.

"Michael, tell me!" he exclaimed desperately.

Michael sighed and stood up. "Come on," he mumbled as he headed over to the stairs.

Evan obeyed and stood up from the floor, grabbing Elizabeth and carrying her close to him. They went upstairs, Evan dropping Beth off with their father before they went further up to Michael's bedroom.

Once they stepped inside, Michael immediately closed the bedroom door. He went over to his bed, dug underneath it for a moment, pulled out a collapsible step stood, and folded it open. He carried it over to the attic hatch and stepped on it, then pulled the attic hatch's string. The hatch fell open with a soft thud and Michael stepped off of the stool.

"Stay here," he quietly demanded Evan.

Evan nodded his head in agreement, then watched as Michael went into the attic. A minute or two later, he came back down, wielding something in his hand. He closed the attic hatch and put the stool back, then sat on the edge of his bed.

"Come here, sit down," he said, patting the spot next to him.

Evan obeyed, stepping closer to his brother and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Michael held out his hand, showing Evan what he retrieved from the attic. "Do you know what this is?" he asked curiously.

Evan shook his head.

He chuckled. "I thought so. Figured I'd double-check, though." He twisted a tiny part of the gadget, flinching alongside Evan when two long, jagged legs split apart from each other. "This is called a springlock," he explained. "This specific type of springlock would rest close to your hip. Anyway, these can be very dangerous. When springlocks are cranked open--like this one is--a person could wear one of Henry's animatronic suits. But, when they're closed," he did something to the mechanism and it snapped shut with a sharp click, "they latch onto an animatronic endoskeleton. So if a person were inside a full-body suit, then the springlocks would kill them if they were to close."

Evan shuddered at the mere idea of being killed inside one of the animatronic suits. "But... But why does this matter? I thought you were telling me how you were injured," he said quietly.

"You've seen Father and Henry put on one of the costumes, haven't you?"

He nodded his head.

"So then you know how the costumes are in multiple parts. The head, torso, arms, legs, hands, and feet."

"Yeah. I know. I had tried to put on one of the gloves a couple of years ago, but both Daddy and Henry had shouted at me to take it off. They told me to never do that again."

"Mmhmm. That's because there are springlocks inside of the gloves. Not as many as, say, a torso piece. But they're still there." Suddenly, he shook his head as if he was shaking himself out of a trance. "You wanted to know what the boys did to me. Correct?"

Evan nodded his head.

"I'll show you," Michael promised. "But, if I do, you cannot tell anyone about this. Got it? Nobody can know."

"No one can know," Evan repeated. "I won't tell anyone. I promise."

Michael scrutinized Evan for a moment before he sighed long and hard. He carefully rolled up his sleeve, looking away as Evan looked.

His entire arm was wrapped in thick bandages. Evan squealed, surprised to see that they had many dark stains of blood. "Oh gosh," Evan mumbled sadly.

"Shit," Michael swore under his breath. "I'll have to get Henry to help me with the bandages again."

"I-I-I could help," Evan offered. "It's just wrapping bandages around your arm. Right?"

"Y-Yeah, I guess it is. But it's pretty brutal. I don't want to scare you."

Evan stared at him, dumbfounded. "Um, the Nightmares eat my brain every night like they're starving zombies. I'll be fine." He chuckled. "Besides, Henry's not here. He left to go pick up Charlie and bring her home."

Michael sighed again. "Fine." He sighed another time, then chuckled. "Thanks, Ev."