Michael sat in the backseat, his fingers nervously running along the rough fabric of his jeans. He barely heard the hum of the car engine or felt the steady vibrations beneath him as the road stretched out ahead. It was quiet—too quiet. His father, sitting behind the wheel, hadn't said a word since picking him up. Not a single look, not a single question.
Not a single ounce of concern.
Michael glanced sideways at William Afton's profile, but his father's face was an unreadable mask, his eyes fixed on the road. Cold, detached, like nothing had changed. As if Michael hadn't just spent weeks in that sterile, too-bright hospital. As if his life hadn't shattered in the aftermath of the Bite.
The silence between them was suffocating, but it didn't surprise him. William wasn't the kind of man who asked questions or offered comfort. He never had been.
But Michael had hoped, foolishly, for something. A word, a look—anything that said he wasn't alone. But he was. His father's silence confirmed that.
The car slowed as they approached a familiar street corner, and Michael's stomach churned as the towering sign for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza came into view. It loomed over the horizon like a grotesque beacon, the cheerful, cartoonish face of Freddy smiling down at him.
Freddy's was open again.
Of course, it was.
Michael clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms, but he couldn't tear his gaze away from the building. How could it still be open? After everything that happened? After Charlie? After Evan?
It felt like a twisted joke. The place where his brother had been mangled—where Michael had made it happen—was still smiling, still singing, still luring in families like nothing had changed.
But he had changed. Michael Afton had become something else entirely. The hospital might've declared him "stable," might've handed him a release form and said he was ready to rejoin the world, but Michael knew better.
He was a monster.
His chest tightened at the thought, his breath catching in his throat. Monsters don't deserve to be happy. They don't get to move on like everyone else. They don't get second chances.
As they passed by Freddy's, Michael saw someone leaving the building—a tall man in a crisp suit, the new CEO. Karl Bossman. He recognized him from the news, from all the glossy headlines and business articles praising his "ambitious revival of Fazbear Entertainment." Bossman's wide smile gleamed in the afternoon sun as he waved to a group of children running out of the restaurant, their laughter trailing behind them.
Bossman was happy.
A deep pit formed in Michael's stomach, sinking lower and lower. Bossman was happy—he had taken over the company, brought Freddy's back from the brink, and hadn't looked back. Freddy's was thriving again, and it didn't matter who had been crushed beneath its gleaming façade. Evan's blood had dried up, his name forgotten.
But not for Michael. He felt that blood every second. It was on his hands. It always would be.
William drove past the restaurant without a glance. No reaction. No hesitation. As though the sign, the building, the memories meant nothing to him.
Nothing.
Michael's breath hitched. Why did it bother him so much? Why did his father's indifference hurt more than the memories of what happened? The other parents had been there. They had felt something. He had seen it in their eyes when his friends were picked up, one by one, outside the hospital's gates. Some of them had been angry, others devastated—shouting, crying, holding their children close, as if they could pull them back from the brink of everything that had gone wrong.
The first to leave was Jeremy. Michael watched as his mother, red-eyed and exhausted, hugged him fiercely. She didn't let go, not even when Tommy tried to pull away. She held him tight, whispering something Michael couldn't hear. Tommy had tried to put on a brave face, but the tears were there, just beneath the surface.
Next was Mark. His father's face was flushed with anger, his voice sharp and laced with disappointment. Mark barely looked up, his eyes fixed on the ground. Even as they walked to the car, Michael could hear the faint, clipped tones of Mark's father lecturing him, throwing blame with every step.
Then there was Sean. His parents were quiet, their expressions a mix of sorrow and confusion. They didn't shout, didn't cry. But there was an understanding there, a warmth in the way his mother gently cupped his face and told him, "It's okay, we'll get through this." Sean had nodded, but Michael had seen the doubt in his friend's eyes.
But when William had arrived to collect Michael, there had been none of that. No anger, no tears, no words. Just silence.
He had hoped, for just a moment, that maybe his father would say something. Maybe William would offer some kind of absolution, some acknowledgment that what happened to Evan wasn't entirely Michael's fault. But nothing came. Only that suffocating, detached silence that William always carried like armor.
And now they were driving past Freddy's, and it was like nothing had ever happened. The world had kept turning, and Michael had been left behind, trapped in his own guilt and grief. Even his friends, as broken as they were, still had their parents' emotions to anchor them to reality. Even Mark, with his father's sharp words, had someone who cared enough to be angry.
But Michael? All he had was this silence. And it was louder than any shouting could have been.
He couldn't stop staring at Bossman's smile. It was as if he had stepped into Michael's life, into the shadow of Freddy's, and taken all the light with him. Bossman would get to move on, to build something new from the ashes of the past, while Michael would always be stuck here, suffocating in the aftermath of the Bite.
Because monsters like him didn't deserve happiness. They didn't deserve forgiveness.
His father drove on, not a word spoken between them. And the pizzeria grew smaller and smaller in the distance, its garish sign still beaming down on the world, unchanged.
But Michael had changed. And there was no going back.
Reward: Michael Afton is back in Hurricane, The Afton Family has gained a new trait: ???