Lethean (William Afton X Reader)

彡[ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 38: ᴀɴᴀᴍɴᴇꜱɪꜱ]彡

"You can't come home...." those words left Michael's mouth like a snake's venom to my heart that I almost dropped the phone. His breathing wasn't too frantic but the kid was on edge. What did he mean by that? What was happening there?

I parted my lips to speak but before I could, I heard someone in the background, a woman. "Mike! What are you doing over there?"

"Just- Uh... Talking with a friend, mom
My mind went blank for a moment when I heard the kid address the person. Clara's back and was currently at their house? "Well hurry up dear! Your breakfast's getting cold!" she spoke, her British accent ever so familiar.

"S-Sorry (Y/N)... Gotta go- *beeeeep*" And with that, the call ended immediately while I was left standing in the office, conflicted and confused. I'm only gone for 6 hours and this is what happens? Due to exhaustion from the night shift, I decided to think about this later.

I met up with Neil outside of the pizzeria after locking the backdoor. "Whoa, you got paler, who was that anyway?" he raised his umbrella a little to let me take cover from the violent torrents. "Michael told me I can't go back. I don't know for how long but I'll figure something out..."

"What? Why?"

"Clara's back."

The color on Neil's face drained from the name. I'm not even sure what to feel right now, except I'm getting bashed in the head with a metaphorical hammer again so my hand's burying itself beneath my braided hair. "Let me guess, neither Mr. Afton nor Michael told her you were staying with them?"

"I guess so? I mean, the kid said he was "just" talking to a friend"

He ruffled his hair with a disappointed expression on his face, "Jesus Christ, they're keeping you a secret. Okay, you can crash by my place for now so you don't waste your money on hotels."

"Wait seriously? You're letting me?" I raised a brow.

"Yeah yeah, no need to thank me." he waved it off and tilted his head to the sidewalk. "Let's go before this rain gets worse" I nodded and opened the borrowed umbrella hanging on my wrist to follow. I didn't want to think about the ex-wife's return at the moment, surely there has to be some sort of explanation as to why I'm not allowed to go back.

I knew where to go obviously, I live there in my present time after all. It's a bit farther than Henry and William's house and takes around 45-ish minutes to get there. People barely got out of their homes today because of the weather, and I'm impressed by my immune system because I haven't gotten sick yet. It's suspicious honestly.

Neil's unit was on the second floor of the apartment complex. He twisted the knob with a silver key and pushed it open, unveiling a clean and almost empty light-blue interior. The lawson couch was covered in a sky-blue fabric with two pillows in its left corner, and in front of it was a wooden coffee table that had a... black laptop? Someone got lucky. The kitchen was luckily neat and big enough, it even had a small kitchen bar just by the living room. It has an identical layout to my own unit, no surprise there.

"I'm sure you want to change out of your clothes, but the ones I have might be a bit big for you," the man rubbed the back of his neck to which I answered, "Baggy clothes are awesome. They're comfy". On top of that, I'm not picky, I'm already glad I have a roof over my head right after being told to not go home.

He led me to his room and rummaged around the drawers for some clothes. "Pick anything that fits you, the bathroom's this one in case you want to take a shower or something. I'll be outside if you need anything," he gestured his thumb to another white door and left for my privacy. It's a breath of fresh air from the guy to be honest. I'm actually glad I didn't kill him just because of annoyance, and this was like a test of patience. Who knew the guy who grew to hate me since day one would be the one helping me with the most complicated things? The same can be said for Cassidy, she'd given me a little bit of info about what's keeping me alive even after killing me once, which is also the same kind of substance that William's after that grants everlasting life.