Afton Family Scenarios

Leaving

The next month seemed to go along just fine. Lea was taking her treatment as discussed and was feeling a lot better. Things seemed to be looking up like it would only get better from there. Some days were better than others though.

William's moods seemed to be less stable recently, which worried Lea. He seemed really upset about her diagnosis, but all previous emotions seemed to return back to his usual numbness. She figured it was his way of coping, but he had always been like that.

He had a troubling past, which seemed to become part of his character. Sometimes she worried he would turn into his mom, or maybe he would leave and support them from far away like his father. He never had a consistent emotion.

When they first met, he had his share of issues, but they were able to look past that and love each other. However, he got worse as time went on, picking up many bad habits. In recent months, he seemed to become more stable and tolerant, but all of that was thrown out the window.

As many times as she asked what was wrong, he would never tell her. She assumed it was because she was sick, but he would never confirm that. He could've simply gotten bored of her, but again, he would never say anything.

He was good at keeping his true feelings under wraps, which was why he was so good at manipulating people. She knew this better than anyone, which she supposed was why she couldn't leave him. Not only would she feel awful, but she also wouldn't have any source of income.

Lea thought maybe his sudden generosity was also a manipulative tactic, but she didn't really care. She had probably fallen for his tricks many times without knowing, mostly because of her overwhelming admiration.

William had other thoughts though. The emptiness had always been there, no matter what he did to fill it. He was overwhelmed the night she got diagnosed, and the crying wasn't due to any specific emotion. It was mostly filled with anxiety, not really a sadness.

Yeah, he was upset about the whole thing, but none of his emotions ever lasted very long. At some point he would end up moving on, he was good at repressing his feelings.

A part of him couldn't care less about her illness, but he would never tell her that. He had learned to become tolerant again, but he still wasn't able to fully appreciate her.

William woke up late one morning, Lea not in bed anymore. He looked at his phone, seeing it was almost noon. It had become more normal for him to wake up later since he never went to bed at a reasonable time. Despite not wanting to get up, he did anyway and went downstairs.

Lea was laying on the couch with an ice pack on her forehead. She didn't look well, but he knew that she was more susceptible to illnesses with the medicine she was taking.

"What's going on with you?"

"Not feeling well." He stared at her with a blank expression before sitting down at the end of her feet, "You might have to take me to the doctor."

"Why? It's probably just a cold."

"I called the doctor and he said to go, just to get it checked out." William sighed and stood up, sleep slightly clouding his mind.

"So you want to go now?"

"I think so. I've felt like this since yesterday."

"Why didn't you say anything?" She shrugged before slowly standing up, walking to the door and grabbing her coat.

He watched her with annoyance, though he knew that wasn't a reasonable reaction. Before they left, he told Michael to watch his siblings and to not do anything too risky.