161: Michael Afton

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Michael hated it at the foster care center. The kids were greedy, the caretakers were mean, and no one got nearly enough food. He was used to not eating a lot, but Elizabeth wasn't. She was always complaining about being hungry, and how she hated that the other girls were mean to her. They were always teasing her about her "ginger" hair and how she liked to put lipstick on her cheeks to look more like Circus Baby. Even though they weren't supposed to, Michael started to let Beth sleep in his bed with him because she was scared of the girls in her room doing something to hurt her.

To get away from the cruelty of the care, he took Beth with him to work every day. She always had a blast. She loved to play the arcade games, and whenever Michael was on break, she'd make him sit and watch either Fredbear and Springbonnie or Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica's shows.

But one day, a few weeks after they'd started living at the foster care center, one of the caretakers took Beth away a few minutes after they'd returned from work. And when Beth returned, he was informed that, "a lovely couple was going to become her new family."

"Wait, what? No. No, no, you can't do that us. She can't go to a foster family! We're the only ones we have left!" Michael said to the caretaker, starting to panic. "Please, you can't take her away. We only have each other."

"I'm sorry," the caretaker apologized flatly. "You can go see your sister one more time if you'd like to. But if you want to see her after she's adjusted to being foster, you'll have to talk to her foster parents about it."

A few minutes later, Michael was helping his sister pack her bag when a short-haired woman came into the room. She had one of the visitor stickers, meaning she was most likely Beth's foster mother.

"Are you ready to go, Elizabeth?" the lady asked, resting her hands on her knees as she leaned forward, acting as if she was talking to a toddler.

Beth cowered behind Michael, clinging onto his leg.

"It's okay, Elizabeth, you don't need to his from me. Come here, come give me a hug," the lady said, kneeling down to hug her better.

"Ma'am, she doesn't like hugs," Michael told her, shifting his weight so she couldn't try to grab Elizabeth and force her into a hug. "If she wants a hug, she will ask for one, but she doesn't care for them."

"That's nonsense, all children like hugs," the lady claimed, giving Michael a quick glare before looking back to Beth. "Come here, sweetie, come give me a hug."

"No," Beth murmured, hugging Michael's leg, wanting protection. "I don't want to."

"So what, if you don't want to? I told you to, therefore you should listen. I'm your foster mother."

"Ma'am, she doesn't like hugs," Michael said firmly, narrowing his eyes at the lady as he took a step back, protecting his sister. "You need to accept that. She doesn't care for hugs, and you can't make her do something she doesn't like."

The lady just scoffed, saying that Elizabeth was just being overdramatic, but stopped pushing it, telling Beth to grab her things so they could leave.

Beth looked up at Michael, tears in her eyes. "What about my birthday at Baby's? You and Henry promised you guys would take the day off!"

"I don't know," he mumbled, kneeling down to her level as he brushed hair out of her eyes. "We'll see what happens, okay? I'll talk to your foster parents about it when the time comes," he assured her, offering a small smile.

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