The Fall of the Aftons

073: Michael Afton

A few months passed since Michael was sent to the hospital. School started back up again. Michael was in fifth grade while Evan was in preschool.

Michael's bullies had started to get worse. They were merciless. One time, just before school ended for the weekend, the two worst boys locked him in his locker. He'd missed the bus home that day. Thankfully, though, the nighttime janitor heard his crying and shouts for help sometime around ten later that night and he was able to go home. He couldn't bear to think about what would've happened if the janitor hadn't heard him.

Michael's friends, Ella and TJ, had started to stand up for him, though. Whenever they were at recess and the kids started picking on him again, they'd either shout at them until they stopped as they protected Michael or would get a teacher to take them away. Noah had told him that he would help if he could, but since Michael was typically bleeding from whatever the bullies did, he couldn't. He said that he had a terrible phobia of blood--it was so bad that if he saw even the slightest bit of blood, he'd faint. He said that he didn't want Michael to have to deal with that and that his phobia was why he always hid in the library during recess. Since kids were always getting scraped up and hurt during recess, his dad didn't want to risk it and told his teachers to keep him inside during that time.

About a month after school started, Michael was in class when the PA system called for him to go to the school office. His teacher dismissed him to go, so he went to his locker and packed up his belongings. He could hear his classmates making cruel gossip about him, but he ignored it. He walked down the hallway that held the fifth, fourth, and third-grade classrooms and walked through the school until he came across the school office. When he opened the door to the large room, the lady at the front desk called him over to her.

"How has your day been, Michael?" the lady asked, offering a small smile.

"I'm fine, you?" Michael answered politely as he latched his hand onto his backpack strap.

"I'm doing pretty good, thank you. You're such a kind boy." She gave him a much more happy smile. "Your father called and said that his friend's wife is giving birth as we're speaking. Your father is giving you two options: you can either go to the hospital to stay with your father for the rest of the day, or you can go home with TJ and Lavender tonight until he can pick you up."

"Do I... Um... Do I need to choose now?" Michael asked. He hated having to choose between things on impulse.