Eternally Afton

Surprise!

I have decided to void the voting thing for chapters. Instead, I'm going to go back and forth writing this book and my other. That means it should be a chapter every other week, but I also have a lot going on in my life right now, so it might not be very consistent.

Thank you to everyone who commented on the last update. Your ideas made it easier to let me know what I was going to do with the rest of the chapter.

Enjoy!

3rd POV

“Just let me explain.”

“Explain?! What kind of excuse could you make up for such a thing?” Oliver exclaims loudly. Emily, sitting next to him, jumps at his loud booming voice. It’s not hard to tell that the man next to her doesn’t really care about the children that they seem to be housing. On the inside, he is filled with joy. Finally! This is his excuse to have the business handed over to him. What kind of business would keep children there on their days off?

“I understand that you are confused, but this doesn’t give you an excuse to be yelling so loud Mr. Afton,” Michael states. He realizes that the situation is tense and uses his manners to try to calm down the situation. He realizes that Emily had just told him the day before that he could call her grandma, rather than being so formal, but he understands that now is not the time, and besides, Oliver had never offered the same thing as his wife.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I think it gives him every right,” Aimee replies courtly. She is much better at dealing with communicating than her father. “Child Labor is illegal. We should just shut this business down now.”

“It’s not-” Michael sighs and unstiffens luckily, he had already come up with an excuse beforehand. He knew that it was likely to happen. “When you came here, do you remember when you stated you didn’t have to do anything with the scandal revolving with the last name of Afton?” They nod. “Well, back when William had more ownership of this place, he hired someone named Dave Miller. This Dave Miller, well, he said he had problems with family, so William offered up the name ‘Afton’ to him. He took it, and with it he took our trust. I do not have the exact numbers on hand, but Miller, erm, murdered many people, mostly children. In the end, it turned out that he was running from the law, rather than family.

“It ruined our reputation. That’s why we only now have opened this new place, after so long. As for the children, they are from families who were ruined by the murders. Some were orphaned, while other parents couldn’t take care of them anymore. To show that our company has changed, and to just do a good thing really, we took them in. Gave them a home.”

Michael doesn’t know what else to say, all he can hope is that they will believe his lies.

“That all sounds fine, but there are a few things that you are failing to share,”  Aimee replies. “If the children are not here to work, why is their housing behind the stages of the animatronics? Wouldn’t it be easier to just add an addition to your house? Along with that, why are they not being watched? Any of these children could get into dangerous predicaments with all the equipment laying around and no true adult supervision.”

“The rooms are placed behind the stage with the idea of convenience in mind. We were already building the pizzeria, and it would’ve taken much more time to get the permits to build off of the house as well as what we were already building. Besides, some of the children prefer peace and privacy, which would be hard if we crammed everyone into the house. Some of them are very independent and know how to take care of themselves, such as Cassidy, the child you have met earlier.

“Many of them have also gone through large amounts of things already, even at their young age. If they ever need anything, they are free to come and talk to me or Henry. As for the few of them who are not able to take care of themselves, we provide for them and make sure that they are doing well. My mother usually even makes food for everyone and not just those of us living in the house. We have made sure that each of these children has what they need, and are perfectly safe.”