The Fall of the Aftons

024: William Afton

The silence was painfully awkward. Henry cleared his throat, shattering it, but it quickly returned. After a while, William finally gathered the courage to speak. He stood up and shoved his freezing hands in his pockets, then cleared his throat and started to talk. "Michael and Noah, you two stay with me. Henry, can you take Mike's friend back inside?" he asked politely. Henry nodded his head and led the little brown-haired girl inside. William sat back down, not caring that the thin layer of snow soaked his thin pants. Michael stepped forward a little bit as Noah did the opposite. "I won't hurt you, Noah," he promised, giving the boy a sincere smile. When Noah didn't budge--in fact, he backed away more--William chuckled before he turned to Michael. "Michael, are you still at the Center? Or has someone adopted you already?"

Michael looked at him with a questioning expression, but he nodded his head. "I'm still at the Center."

"Would it be okay if I adopted you?"

Michael's eyes went wide with excitement as Noah had an odd look on his face--a look that shouted,  I don't know how this pertains to me.

"Really? You can do that?" Michael asked enthusiastically, bouncing on the balls of his feet. When William nodded his head in reply, he squealed happily.

"What does this have to do with me?" Noah asked nervously as he took yet another step away.

"Well, it's clear that you and Michael have become close friends. So I was thinking that once I've adopted him"--Michael did a little happy dance at the word adopted--"you can come over to play with him whenever you'd like. Do you live here in New Harmony or Hurricane?"

"Right on the border of Hurricane," Noah responded, quieter than before. "The west side."

"Perfect. That's close to where I live." He grinned and Noah smiled slightly in response. He stood up and brushed the snow off of his legs. "Come on, you two. We should go back inside. It's cold out here."