The Fall of the Aftons

132: William Afton

Finally, around ten in the morning, Michael arrived home, kicking his shoes off his feet by the door before going upstairs.

"Where were you?" William asked once Michael made it to the top, quickly apologizing when Michael screamed and whipped around.

"Oh... It's you," Michael said with a heavy sigh, dragging a hand down his face. "I was just at Noah's. His house is closer to the hospital, and it was raining by the time I left, so I went to his house to wait out the storm."

"Why didn't you come back to the aquarium?" he asked, glaring at Michael. "You left me to deal with your troublemaking siblings and Evan's obnoxious friend all on my own!"

"Father, the back of my head was split open and bleeding. I needed stitches. I was not—and still am not—in any shape to be caring for children," Michael replied, his face blank. "You are going to need to help me in caring for them for a couple of weeks. I can't take care of them alone, I will need the assistance."

"I don't care about that right now! You embarrassed me in front of numerous people at the aquarium with your little runaway stunt, and made me embarrass myself when I couldn't control your siblings!" he shouted.

"With all due respect, Father, the latter is not my doing. You have been an absent parent. You don't know how to care for your children because you've never cared for them before. That is why you embarrassed yourself. Not because I wasn't present."

"Okay, fine! Yes, I was a terrible parent, I get it! But you still should have been there to help. You should've been there to help me. Clearly, you'd know I'd struggle on my own, yet you left anyway!"

"I understand," Michael replied, sighing. "I apologize. I'll do better next time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to my room to sleep. I'm exhausted." And with that, he turned on his heel, starting to walk away.

Remembering something, William tried to stop him, grabbing his arm. "Wait, before you—"

"What do you want now?!" Michael snapped, yanking his arm out of William's grip.

William blinked, surprised by Michael's sudden behavior. He hadn't seen him act like that in such a long time. "Sorry. I just wanted to let you know that your brother is sleeping in your room. He didn't sleep well last night, so he moved there earlier this morning to 'get away from his nightmares,'" he mumbled, finger-quoting.

"I don't care. He does that all the time, I'm used to it," he muttered, then turned around and walked away.

William watched him leave, sighing heavily. What is going on with that kid? he wondered to himself. And that's when it hit him. He followed after Michael, keeping a distance so the boy wouldn't notice. But maybe, if he followed, he could see if Michael talked to Evan about what was bothering him. It was a long shot, but it was his best shot.

"Evan, buddy," Michael said quietly once he went into his room. Peeking through the door, William could see him gently nudging his brother's shoulder. "Evan... Time to wake up, Evie."

"Five more minutes?" Evan mumbled tiredly, not even opening his eyes.

Michael laughed softly, gently lifting the boy from his bed. "It's me, Ev, not William."

William watched as Evan's eyes shot open immediately, grinning. "Mikey!" he exclaimed happily, wrapping his arms around Michael's neck in a tight hug. "You're home!"

Michael smiled. "I am. What brought you into my room this time?" he asked as he set Evan back down on his bed.

He sighed. "I was trying to get away from Daddy... He kept trying to make me go to bed when the Nightmares were bothering me." He chuckled sadly. "He was hovering around me all day yesterday after we came home. Insisted that he didn't want me to cause any more trouble with my ignorance."

"'Any more trouble?' What are you talking about?"

Evan frowned. "Daddy doesn't know about Beth's sensory integration dysfunction, so she was screaming and crying a lot yesterday at the aquarium. But whenever I tried to explain to Daddy what was wrong and calm her down, he just kept getting mad at me. He didn't understand that Beth can't control the way her brain works."

Michael sighed. "Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. He doesn't seem to understand neurological stuff like that, huh?" He chuckled. "He doesn't understand your schizophrenia, he doesn't understand Beth's sensory integration dysfunction. What did he do to handle it? He didn't do anything, did he?"

"He just kept shouting at me," he mumbled. "Cassidy was really confused about how I could respond to the wrong name."

"Again? What did he call you this time?"

"He started with Evan Cristopher Whittaker Afton, then went to Evan Christopher Olger Afton."

Michael sighed, dragging a hand down his face. "I seriously don't know where he got the Christopher part from. Your middle name has always been Norman. But as long as he didn't try to hit you again—"

"Oh, he did try to hit me again," Evan interrupted, frowning. "I forgot about that."

"He didn't do it in front of Cassidy, did he?"

"He did..."