The Fall of the Aftons

125: William Afton

About ten minutes later, Doctor Ingissroy returned, wielding Michael in a wheelchair, a nurse trailing behind them with Michael's IV and oxygen tank. The second Michael laid eyes on his brother, tears were already streaming down his face.

Evan sat up worriedly, looking at Michael with concerned eyes. "Mikey, what's wrong?" he asked sadly, frowning.

Micahel wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. "I'm so sorry, Evan... I don't know how I didn't notice that anything was wrong. I'm so sorry," he said sadly, his voice shaking. "I should've paid better attention to you and how you were feeling, I shouldn't have just dismissed it and kept saying that you just had the flu."

The room was silent for a few moments, the air heavy and awkward. Until everyone except Michael started laughing.

"Michael, it's not your fault that he got so sick," William said, smiling sadly as he laughed. 

"B-But--" he started, but Evan cut him off.

"Mikey, no," Evan said, giggling. "You can't control my immune system. It's not your fault that I got sick. Besides, no one else noticed that anything was wrong--not even I did. So it's fine, okay?"

Michael swallowed hard, wiping his eyes. "Okay," he said softly.

William watched as his sons chatted with one another. It was a truly amazing sight to see--even though they were both sick and they both visibly felt terrible, they managed to find the energy to talk with one another. They were chatting and laughing and smiling, something that William had never seen any sick person do before. In the past, if he had tried to talk with any of his siblings when they were sick, they'd shout at him and tell him to leave them alone. They loved him, of course, but they didn't want to be around anyone if they were sick.

"It's a wonderful sight, isn't it?" Henry asked softly, nudging William with his elbow. "They're so nice to each other."

William chuckled. "They are. And I'm glad that they are. I thought that I used to have a good relationship with my siblings, but when I look at those two, theirs is ten times better than what I had."

He nodded in agreement. "Me, too. Before Sammy's death, at least. I haven't seen Laura since his funeral, and Jen's gotten distant..."

Oh, I wonder why, he thought sarcastically, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry that you have to go through that."

Henry sighed softly. "It's all right. Her-- His death had a huge impact on all of us."

"Yeah. I know."

"You seem kinda... out of it," he pointed out, his voice hushed. "You doing okay?"

William nodded. "Yeah, I'm... I'm okay. I just realized that I need to spend more time with my kids." He chuckled awkwardly. "I need to be a better dad."

But little did he know, that would be an empty promise.