The Fall of the Aftons

170: Michael Afton

Months upon months passed since Elizabeth's death. Everything was going smoothly, with a few bumps regarding lawsuits for the children who went "missing" at Fazbear's. And before he knew it, his birthday neared around again. He couldn't believe he was turning nineteen soon. He constantly forgot he wasn't done growing up—he still had years until his body was physically an adult, but his mind had been way past that point for years.

He had no doubt that Noah had a birthday surprise for him. The Wrights loved celebrating people's birthdays, especially all of Noah's older siblings. Birthdays were a big deal at their house. But he frankly didn't want a surprise. He just wanted a normal day. He didn't care for his birthday very much. No one ever remembered it except for his siblings and Noah.

Michael stared out the car window, watching as the trees and flowers on the side of the road zoomed past. He and Noah were on the way home from an early breakfast at the diner where Noah worked. After a long night of working at Circus Baby's, Noah forced him to sleep; and once he woke up, they decided to go to the diner for breakfast, even though it was two in the morning.

"Noah?" Michael asked softly, trying to get his boyfriend's attention.

"Yes, ¿mi príncipe?" Noah replied, glancing at him in the corner of his eyes.

"Did... Did you ever apply to college?" he asked quietly, looking away from the window to look at Noah. "I remember you talking about what colleges you want to go to. But did you ever apply? I don't remember you ever getting any acceptance letters."

Noah inhaled a sharp breath. "I... I did not."

"Why not?" he asked, frowning. "You were so excited to go."

Noah sighed. "Growing up, I never knew what I wanted to be as an adult," he admitted quietly. "I told people that I wanted to be a nurse like my mom, but when I was... When I, um, discovered my phobia of blood, that plan fell through. After that, I never really knew what I wanted to be. I just knew what colleges I wanted to go to because of my siblings going there." He chuckled. "What about you? I don't recall you ever talking about what colleges you want to go to."

"I pretty much knew from the minute I was adopted that I'd be taking over William's business. Never bothered reading any of those weird informational letters or accepting any scholarships I received."

"You got scholarships?"

He nodded slightly. "Not a lot, but a little bit."

"How much?"

He shrugged. "Somewhere around fifteen thousand, if I remember correctly. Maybe twelve."

"Twelve thousand?! Mikey, that's awesome! What did you even get it for?"

"Cross country and science fair entries," he mumbled. "I didn't even think I was that good at cross country. I mean, I knew I was the best on our school's team, but I didn't think I was that good. I was one of the worst people on my team in middle school."

"You know your coach didn't give you all those compliments for no reason, right?" Noah asked, laughing softly. "He meant it when he said you were phenomenal. You're the reason our school won so many meets in the last two years."

"I guess so," he reluctantly admitted, chuckling. "Also, your favorite song is playing," he told him, motioning to the radio that was barely playing.

"Ooo! Thanks, I love this song!" he exclaimed happily, turning up the radio.

He laughed softly at Noah's reaction, then went back to staring out the window. He listened as Noah sang along to his favorite song, glancing at him every now and again.

A little bit later, he turned to face Noah to say something when he spotted something in the heavy fog.

There was an oncoming car in their lane, moving at an unpredictable speed.

"Noah, watch out!" he screamed.

The car slammed into them at a high speed. Michael's body went flying towards the door, his head slamming into the window before everything went black.