The Fall of the Aftons

086: Evan Afton

Michael had been gone for a month and a half now. Evan had no idea why. He was gone.

Out of nowhere--poof! He never came home. He seemed to just disappear without a trace.

Dad claimed that he was still alive and was somewhere safe. But that was it. He wouldn't take Evan to see Michael. He wouldn't say how Michael was doing. He wouldn't say anything about Michael, period.

Did Michael get hurt?

Is he dead and Dad was lying about his condition?

Did Dad kick him out and send him back to the Center?

Has he gone missing? No, that wouldn't make sense. He couldn't be missing if Dad knew where he was.

"Please! He gone for long," Evan whined desperately, wiping his eyes. "You know where is? You're Dad best friend, you gotta know where is!"

"Yes, your father and I are friends," Henry said calmly as he took a break from doing work to look at Evan. He had dark shadows under his puffy eyes. It looked like he hadn't slept well in ages. "And I do know where your brother is. But your father doesn't want you to see him right now--and, quite frankly, nor do I."

"Is he okay? Wha happened?"

"I shouldn't be the one who tells you that."

"But, Henry! He gone weeks!" Tears started to spill from his eyes and he quickly wiped them away. "Please! You got tell!"

"Evan, cut it out," Dad's voice demanded.

He turned around to see his father towering above him.

"You're not going to see Michael," Dad told him. "I know you want to, but you can't."

"I miss him," Evan mumbled, his head drooping. "He gone for long. Is he okay?"

Dad and Henry shared an unhappy, worried look.

"Something is wrong. Isn' there?" Evan asked quietly. "Wha happened? Will be okay?"

"D-Do you want to tell him, William?" Henry asked softly, anxiously fingering the collar of his shirt. "Or should I?"

Dad stepped over to his friend, dragging Henry out of his seat and wrapping the worried man in a tight hug. Henry just stood there, soaking up the comfort as he buried his face in Dad's shoulder.

"Um," Dad mumbled, trying to figure out how to explain what was wrong. "Your brother, he... He suffered a traumatic head injury about eight weeks ago. So he's been in the hospital, recuperating. Healing from his injury."

"Will bwing 'o see him? Please?" Evan begged.

"Do you think that you can handle it? He's not in a very good condition."

"I'm positive!"

~ ~ ~

Evan hurried into the hospital wing where Dad told him his brother was--some area called the "ICU." Evan didn't know what the acronym stood for, but he didn't care at the moment. He just wanted to see his big brother. He hadn't seen Michael in over a month! So as soon as he found the room with the number Dad had told him, he rushed inside.

Michael was laying on his hospital bed, halfway asleep. He had a bombardment of bandages wrapped around his head, spotted with blood stains. His body was deathly still and he was barely breathing. He looked exhausted and in excruciating pain. But when he saw Evan staring at him, his eyes grew wide with surprise.

Dad laughed as he walked into the room behind Evan. "Don't look so surprised," he said. "You know how he is. Did you really think that he wouldn't notice you were gone?"

Michael made some sort of garbled noise before he sighed and lifted his shaky hand to point at something behind Evan.

Evan turned around, stunned to see Henry pointing at himself in clarification if he was the one that surprised Michael. When Evan turned back around, he could see Michael nodding his head before he started to make weird hand movements.

"What is he doing?" Evan asked, looking to his father.

Dad laughed. "He's communicating. He's talking to Henry with a language called American Sign Language because he can't talk orally yet."

"Why can't he use his voice?"

"He's... Uh... His mind... He, um... Well..." He sighed. "I don't know how to explain this well, but I'll try. The, uh... The damage that his brain sustained from his injury, it... He's like your sister. He has to relearn how to do everything, just like how your sister has to learn how to do things that we can he. He has to learn how to do easy things, such as talking, to more challenging things, such as playing sports."

Suddenly, Henry burst out into a tiny fit of laughter, catching Evan and William's attention.

"What did he say?" William asked, chuckling.

An odd snort-laugh came from Henry. "He's making jokes about what happened," he answered, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand before he resumed his conversation with Michael.