The Fall of the Aftons

124: Evan Afton

Evan's eyes fluttered open, stinging under the bright lights of the hospital. He drowsily looked around, unsurprised to see that he was in a hospital bed--Michael had freaked out so much, it wasn't surprising that he ended up here. But he was surprised to see his father, Henry, Charlie, and Elizabeth scattered around the small room with no Michael present.

"Oh! You're awake!" Henry exclaimed, standing up from his chair next to William's along the wall. He walked over to Evan's hospital bed, standing next to him. "How're you feeling?"

"Bubba!" Elizabeth squealed happily, running over to Henry and pulling on his pant leg to get him to carry her. "Bubba better?"

"Hey, how are you, buddy?" Daddy asked as he came up beside Henry.

"Where's Michael?" Evan asked, his voice raspy and weak.

Suddenly, both Daddy and Henry frowned. "Michael is in another room," Daddy explained softly.

"Why?"

He hesitated. "He's... He's malnourished again. Dangerously malnourished."

Tears sprang to Evan's eyes. "What? How? H-H-He was fine! Just a few weeks ago!"

"We don't know yet. Doctor Ingissroy hasn't said anything yet. She's waiting for Michael to wake up so she can ask him some stuff and start his treatment."

"If I had to guess," Henry butted in, "it's probably because he hasn't eaten for a few days."

"What?" Daddy asked Henry, confused. "He's been eating! He's gotten a lot better at eating since the last few hospital visits. He's been following his diet plans, based on what I've seen."

Henry and Daddy started conversing, Henry explaining to a confused Daddy how Michael got so bad again. As they chatted, Elizabeth and Charlie talked to each other and chased one another around the room.

But Evan wasn't paying any attention.

He felt like he was about to start crying--had he been one of the reasons why Michael had gotten so bad? Daddy was right. Michael had been following his diet plans and he'd been eating. But since Evan got sick, he was suddenly shoved into the busiest schedule Evan had ever seen. And it had only gotten worse when he had to deal with Elizabeth, and even worse when he was suddenly dropped with Charlie on top of that. Evan couldn't remember the last time he saw Michael eat something...

"Buddy, why are you crying?" Daddy asked worriedly, resting his hand on Evan's shoulder. "What's wrong? Is your breathing okay?"

"His breathing is fine," Henry explained, pointing to the machine keeping track of Evan's vitals before he looked at Evan. "It's about Michael. Isn't it?"

Evan nodded slightly and wiped his tears away with the hand that didn't have machines hooked up to it. "Y-Yeah..." he stuttered.

He frowned. "You feel bad that he's in the hospital again, don't you?"

"Yeah..."

He sighed softly, then opened his mouth to say something before Doctor Ingissroy appeared in the doorway.

"Hey, kiddo," she said kindly, a wide smile on her face as she leaned against the doorframe. "Glad to see that you're awake now. How are you feeling?"

"A little better. I'm still really dizzy, though," he admitted. "And it's still hard to breathe."

"Well, while those aren't good things to be experiencing, I'm glad that you're feeling better. How hard is it to breathe? Has it improved at all? You said earlier that it felt like a level nine or ten difficulty. Where is it now?"

"Like a... a seven. Something around there."

She smiled softly. "I'm glad. You're clearing up faster than we expected, then. That's good." She pushed herself off of the doorframe and came over to him, standing next to his hospital bed as she looked at his vitals. "Vitals are good. Blood-oxygen levels are still low, but not dangerously low like before. So that's good." She chuckled slightly before she looked back at him. "Is it okay if I run some tests real quick? I understand if you don't want to because you just woke up, but we need to get them done sooner rather than later."

"Now is okay," he mumbled, rubbing his drowsy eyes. "Not like I have anywhere to be."

She laughed softly, her voice tinted with sadness. "Yeah, I understand that. I won't be long."

And with that she quickly got to work, completing the few tests she needed to do. She didn't say anything to him as she worked unless she needed him to do something. And he did the same. Everyone else except for Charlie and Elizabeth were quiet, too. The room was full of dead air and it was so awkward.

"All done!" she exclaimed happily, clapping her hands a single time. "Now that those are done, I have a surprise for you."

Evan sat up slightly in his bed, intrigued. "Surprise?" he repeated.

"Mmhmm!" she hummed excitedly. "I'm not supposed to do this for disease transmission reasons and whatnot, but... would you like to see your brother?"

"Oh my gosh!" he exclaimed excitedly, smiling as tears sprang to his eyes again. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I wanna see him!"

She laughed. "Okay, then. I'll be right back, okay?" She reached over and ruffled his hair, then quickly left his room.