HIDDEN IN THE FLAMES ; afton kids

chapter 11

The day of the party came around fast, despite the fact the build up left me paranoid, anxious and restless.

I never cared to remember who were invited and and how many that actually was, but about fifteen minutes in, it became clear only about six kids I knew had actually bothered showing up, and non of them cared enough to say more than, "happy birthday," to me. They just dumped whatever present they had been told to give to me in the corner and ran off to play with their real friends.

Well except Elizabeth, who had spent most her time here playing on an arcade game in the corner of the room.

It was a game Micheal had tought us how to play last year. There was nothing to special about it, yet both of my siblings had seemed to have gotten obsessed within minutes.

I didn't really feel comfortable nor actually felt like having a conversation with any of my so called 'friends', so I headed over to Elizabeth  instead.

For the last couple of hours I had been rethinking the plan. Looking back at it, it'd seemed stupid and irrational to go through with. Why couldn't I just let her grieve as she wanted too? It felt wrong to control how quick she moved on from her trauma.

"Hi," I said.

Elizabeth turned to see who it was, not that she wouldn't recognise me by my voice alone.

"Hi Evan! Happy birthday!" She said in a cheery voice that would almost make you forget she's running on a few hours of sleep at best. The only give away was that she'd already wished me a good day, but that was in character for her.

Even after all that time, my nerves about the robotic creatures my father had created scared me. I constantly feared that if I let my guard down for too long, something like what happened to Micheal would happen again, and it would be my fault.

I tried to push my thoughts about events like that ever happening again. I mean, what are the actual odds that an accident like that happened again? It had to be low. Surely.

"Want me to play too?" I asked Elizabeth. I might as well of tried to enjoy my time there, and she was probably the only person here I truely liked.

"Really?" She replied, her eyes having a shine of excitement in them I hadn't seen in ages.

"Yes, really," I confirmed. "Although, I would need some help.

Elizabeth jumped to the challenge and started helping me out as best she could, showing me her tricks and pulling my hands off of the controls whenever I was doing what she considered 'not good enough', which is what she considered most of my abilities.

Despite all that though, it was the most I had enjoyed any of the past month, and I think Elizabeth would've agreed.

A few minutes later, we were all called over to start eating. We all got told to circle around a table, normal party stuff. Elizabeth and I sat down next to eachother and all the other kids sat on the other side, whispering their secrets to each other.

For the first time in ages though, I didn't care. I was just happy that Elizabeth and I were getting closer again. We finally had a relationship that revolved around caring for eachother rather than blaming eachother again. It was all I needed.

By this point, I had fully gave up on the plan. I wasn't going to potentially hurt Elizabeth any more than I already had.

A enployee dressed up in a Fredbear costume came over to sing happy birthday, holding a very basic looking cake.

I blew out the candles, knowing exactly what I was going to wish for. I wished that no one else in my family got hurt; that we were all going to be happy again one day.