The walk home was quiet. A little too quiet. Charlie stopped and pulled out her Walkman and some headphones. Metallica was the only tape she had with her, but some metal sounded nice after the day she was having. She yawned before she hit play, some background noise and something to wake her up a bit would definitely do her some good.
Not that her dad would approve of her listening to metal, most likely, but he had no idea. There were a lot of things that he didn't know, and that was for the best.
Charlie had to admit, despite Michael having a deeply unlikeable personality, she appreciated his music taste and willingness to share music tapes he didn't listen to often.
Michael... an odd character. All three Afton siblings were, really. Michael was a jerk, that much was certain. Yet he had some sort of convoluted mental gymnastics to simultaneously convince himself that there was a reason and that he was doing it just to be a jerk.
There was Evan. Hopefully he had regained the ability to talk. Maybe she should tell Mr. Afton about the whole situation. Although, despite her knowing him very little, he didn't seem like the type who would care. He certainly hadn't passed on the gift of emotional intelligence to his kids.
Charlie turned up her music louder. As if she had anymore emotional intelligence than any of three.
Then there was Elizabeth. Elizabeth had almost seemed the worst off, yet with the least reasoning behind it all. Well, Michael wasn't exactly swimming in logic, but still. It was strange, Elizabeth had always been calm. Put together. Well behaved. The envy of many parents. Yet today something had snapped. Simply because, what? One bad grade?
Charlie tilted her head as she thought. It did make a little bit of sense. Elizabeth had always been a perfectionist, getting easily frustrated at any criticism or any indication of not being near the top.
Although, it was strange. A strange feeling to be the one having to be there for her friend. Elizabeth had always been the rock, Charlie the one who felt like she was held together by duct tape. Back when Charlie's mother had died, Elizabeth had been there for her. They were still their first year of middle school back then, but Charlie still remembered it. Elizabeth had used her allowance, brought her cupcakes from their favorite bakery, came to her house for a sleepover, and the two of them stayed up all night chatting about anything and everything.
Perhaps they needed to do something like that again. But Elizabeth tried to leave Evan and Michael alone as little as possible after that night. It made sense, Elizabeth had gone home with a smile on her face only to discover that her twin brother was in the hospital, courtesy of Michael and a springlock malfunction. Perhaps they could have a sleepover at Elizabeth's house, they hadn't outgrown the concept yet.
Charlie turned along the street, deciding to go to Fredbear's instead of back to the house. Her dad would more than likely be at Fredbear's anyway. He was always at Fredbear's. Not that she blamed him for it, he had to make sure everything was functional and continue updating the business. Curse of being a passionate genius and having an equally passionate genius as a business partner, right? Still, it would be nice if he would step away from his metal children a little more often.
Having the house to herself was so lonely. The echoing of memories, the cold and empty walls that had been stripped of their picture frames, the draft from the window that wouldn't shut all the way and that her dad had yet to fix. Charlie hated it. The idea of staying there until her dad stumbled in half-asleep after midnight sounded worse than usual. Not to mention she was still worried about all three siblings. Perhaps tonight would be a good night for a sleepover, it wasn't as though she couldn't ask both fathers at the diner.
