The Fall of the Aftons

126: Michael Afton

A few weeks later, Michael and Evan were out of the hospital and enjoying life again. Evan was no longer sick and while Michael was still slowly recovering from his malnourishment, he was doing much better than he had been. At the moment, Michael was cooking breakfast for his siblings as Evan and Elizabeth played outside. Though the familiar sound of his siblings' bickering quickly filled the air, making him laugh. As annoying as their bickering could be, it was nice to hear again instead of hearing Beth's crying and Evan's coughing.

He turned off the stove and went outside to his siblings, peering his head out the back door. He reached his hands out and tapped the side of the house to get their attention. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked, a slight chuckle filling his words.

"She keeps trying to use my inhaler!" Evan exclaimed, coughing slightly as he tried to pull the inhaler out of Beth's hands.

"No!" She coughed hard, and finally let go of the inhaler. "Th-That one's"--she wheezed and coughed--"mine!"

Michael rushed over to her, kneeling beside her and resting his hand on her back. "Hey, hey, hey, deep breaths, okay?" he told her quietly. He turned to Evan. "What color is the cap painted?"

"It's r-red," he mumbled.

Michael held out his hand and Evan put the inhaler in his hand. He reminded Beth to take deep breaths as he went back inside, grabbing the inhaler's corresponding spacer and mask from the medication cabinet before he went back outside. He put the spacer on, then the mask on the spacer, before shaking the inhaler.

"Here, Beth," he said softly, handing the inhaler to her.

She nodded slightly as she gasped for air, taking the inhaler and putting the mask on her face. She pressed down the canister on the inhaler and inhaled slowly but deeply. As soon as she took the mask away from her face, Michael looked at his watch and turned on a single-minute timer.

"Mmnh, I hate waiting," she gasped, her voice whiny as she anxiously tapped her foot on the patio's floor.

"I know," Michael said softly as he glanced at his watch. When it beeped, he told her, "Okay, you take the last one."

She nodded slightly and put the mask back up to her face, taking the last puff of the dose she was allowed to have. She handed Michael the inhaler, which he took out of the spacer and put it in his pocket.

"Better?" he asked as she sat down next to him.

"A little," she mumbled, her voice wheezy.

He chuckled. "That's good. Give it a few minutes and you should feel better, okay?"

She nodded, her hand on her chest as she tried to take deep breaths.

"Are you okay, Beth?" William suddenly asked, peeking his head out from the back door. "You don't look so good."

"She had an asthma attack," Evan told him.

"Then why isn't she taking her inhaler?" he asked, confused.

"She already did," Michael and Evan said in unison. "She's just waiting for the medication to kick in. It takes a while for it to start working," Michael added.

William looked at the ground. "Oh."

"Yeah," Michael mumbled. He sighed, annoyed with his father's constant ignorance. Did he know nothing? "Is there a reason why you're not at work?"

William grinned. "Yup! I stayed home from work to spend the day with you three."

"Why? You couldn't have just waited for tomorrow, when you're off work automatically because it's Sunday?"

He hesitated. "I..." He sighed. "I guess I could've waited. I just wanted to spend time with you guys. I've been so busy with work that I've been neglecting you, and that's not okay."

"Can we go to the park, Mikey?" Beth asked, her voice no longer wheezy. "It's been ages since we've gone to the park!"

Michael laughed softly. "Not today, Elizabeth. It looks like William has somewhere that he wants to take us." He turned to William. "Am I correct?"

William chuckled. "Yes, you are correct. How does the aquarium sound?"