The Fall of the Aftons

085: Michael Afton

"I need Fedbear," Evan whined sadly, pulling his blanket up to his chin.

"Evi, you left him at school. You'll have to sleep without him tonight," Michael told his brother disappointed, brushing a strand of hair out of the little boy's mismatched eyes. "I'm sorry, bud, but you have no choice."

"I need Fedbear!" he repeated. "He help with nigh-mares. I need him! I need Fedbear!"

"I know that he helps you with your nightmares." Michael sat down on the edge of his brother's bed. "You remind me every day. But you left him at school today. You can't sleep with him."

Evan started to shake as he pulled his blanket over his head, starting to cry. "Th-They're gonna kill m-me," he sobbed.

"Evan, nightmares can't kill you. They're dreams."

"N-No, don' unders-and!" he exclaimed as he brought his blanket back down to his chin. "Th-These ones, they're 'eal! They look animals Daddy's res-rans but des-royed!"

A sudden knock on the door made Evan scream and cower beneath his blanket, whimpering in fear. Michael looked to the doorway, not surprised to see William standing there.

"It's okay, Ev," Michael reassured his little brother. "It's just William."

"Yeah, it's just me, sweetie," William said softly, a slight chuckle in his voice. He turned his attention to Michael. "Could I talk to you please, Michael?"

"I guess," Michael mumbled as he stood up. He looked at his little brother, pulling the blanket away from the little boy's face. "If you can't sleep, you can come to sleep in my room, okay?"

Evan hesitantly nodded his head, offering a semi-happy smile.

Michael chuckled to himself, then left the room as he followed after William. William led him to his bedroom, so he sat at his desk, sitting backward in his desk chair as he watched William take a seat on the edge of his bed.

A few moments of silence later, William finally started to speak.

"Michael, you're not perfect."

Michael scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Because I haven't noticed that already."

"Nobody is perfect, Michael. You're a human being. No human being is perfect."

Michael stared at the floor as he awkwardly fidgeted with his Song necklace.

"What's going on, Michael?" William continued. "Your grades are slipping and you're rarely home anymore. Is it because of the arguments we've had lately?"

He hesitated. "That's... That's why I haven't been home very much," he replied quietly. "But that's not why my grades are dropping."

"Then what has been distracting you?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he mumbled as he rubbed his arms, which were sleeved by the hoodie he was wearing. And underneath the thin fabric of his hoodie, his arms were bruised, scraped, and cut up. It hurt to rub his arms, but he couldn't think of anything else to do with his hands.

A few moments of silence passed again before William stated, "They've been getting worse."

Reluctantly, Michael nodded his head.

"May I see?" he asked, motioning to Michael's arms.

Tentative, Michael carefully pulled up his sleeves and held out his arms. He looked away as William inspected and traced over the numerous wounds and injuries along his arms.

"Mon pauvre fils," William whispered sadly.

"You... You called me your son?" Michael asked, stunned.

William looked at Michael with a surprised expression. "You could tell what I said?"

He nervously nodded his head. "Y-Yeah, I did. I've been taking French lessons for the past couple of years. Don't you remember that? Helping me fill out my class elective forms?"

William shook his head. "No, I don't remember that. I'm sorry."

"Figures," he grumbled as he pulled his arms back and slipped the sleeves back down.

"I said that I'm sorry," William said sadly. He sighed and stood up. "Well, I'm going to head to bed. You should think of doing the same. Good night, Michael."

"Good night. Sleep well."

William started to walk out of the room, but when he made it to the doorway, he stopped and faced Michael. "Can I ask you something?"

Michael nodded his head.

"Are you just, like... Are you just constantly in pain? Because if you are, you're free to get some paracetamol or ibuprofen whenever you may need it--as long as you follow the instructions, of course."

"I am. But I'll be fine. I'm used to it. It's not as painful as it used to be when I was still in elementary school, so it doesn't matter to me anymore."

"If you say so." And he walked away, closing Michael's bedroom door behind him.

For a few minutes, Michael stood there in awe, trying to process what had just happened.

William had called him his son.

Maybe things really would get better.

~ ~ ~

Michael's neck was starting to hurt quite a lot. Out of pure boredom, he'd been watching Foxy's every movement for forty-seven minutes straight. He'd always been fascinated with Henry's animatronics, and since he had nothing better to do, he decided to watch his favorite animatronic function.

The functionality of the animatronic wasn't as good as it should've been, though.

Every time the animatronic started singing his shanty, he would get stuck on one of the beginning lines--and he wasn't singing it correctly, either. The shanty would consist of the same incorrect line until around the time when the song would've ended.

And that's exactly what was about to happen right now.

Foxy lifted his hook and opened his mouth a few times before he started to sing his shanty again.

"You can be a pirate, but first you'll have to lose an eye and a leg! Yarg! --first you'll have to lose an eye and a leg! Yarg! --first you'll have to lose an eye and a leg! Yarg!"

The stupid fox wouldn't get that line right. It was supposed to be, "--first you'll have to lose an eye and an arm!" But he continuously got stuck on the line, repeating the wrong thing.

"--first you'll have to lose an eye and a leg! Yarg!"

It was sort of unnerving. He only sang it wrong in Michael's presence. When Michael had first visited Foxy when he arrived an hour ago, the fox had sung the shanty wrong. But when he left to check on the Emily twins' screaming in one of the party rooms, he had heard Foxy sing it correctly after he left the animatronic's view.

"Michael! Michael, where are you?" Henry's voice called throughout the restaurant.

Michael turned around and looked among the people to find Henry. He quickly spotted the man and waved his arm, trying to get Henry's attention. "Over here!" he shouted.

Henry looked around the room and spotted him, smiling when the two made eye contact. But his kind smile was quickly replaced with an expression of fear and terror.

"Watch out!" he shouted frantically, pointing at something.

Michael turned around, trying to spot what Henry was pointing at.

The last thing that he saw was the inside of Foxy's mouth.