!! TW !!
- Hospital + Coma
- Trauma
- Parents fighting
- Alcohol + drunkness
- Religious theme/Religious trauma (and blasphemy)

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A white buzzing light provided light to a depressing white and blue room. The family was just sitting quietly, yet everything felt like complete chaos.

William's legs were obsessively shaking as he waited unpatiently for something to happen. He always turned his head around and get up whenever he heard a door opening, but alas whatever he was waiting for wasn't coming for him and his family yet.

Clara sat next to Michael, keeping his head on her shoulder while caressing his head, trying her best to comfort his son as he looked at the floor like a deer in headlights.

Even Elizabeth who was usually the wild and loud child of the family sat in silence, swaying her feet back and forth while looking downwards and remembering all the moments she played and had fun with Evan, like they were going to be the last.

It has continously been like this for hours, which felt like endless days.

And yet, it was late in the night outside. Everything was quiet and everyone was soundly sleeping, oblivious to the fact that a group of doctors were fighting to keep a child alive.

Finally, a man dressed in a long white coat left the surgery room and came up to the family. William stood up, looking desperately at the man, and the other members of the family also raised their head, ready to listen to the either bad or good news he was about to give, such simple words that could completely change the trajectory of their life.

"Mr. Afton, I'm afraid your son is in critical condition. So much in fact that he has fallen into a coma. But, considering the injury, you're lucky he's somehow still alive. Thanfully, we can closely monitor his brain activity now and see what we can do to save him. I'm warning you right this instant though, it's going to be expensive to—"

"Do whatever you can, please," the man pleaded as he cut him off. "Just... do whatever you need to do to save him, I beg of you."

The doctor looked at the man. He has seen an infinite amount people clinging to the tiniest chance of survival their loved ones had, just like him. And yet, it was always hard to see them like this.

"We'll do what we can, Mr. Afton. However, we do need you to sign some papers to do so. Follow me, if you please." He said at last, glancing at the rest of the family and slightly nodding his head to reassure them before turning around and walking away.

"Oh my god," Clara said as she tightly hugged Michael from the side, disturbed. "Do you think our son is going to be ok...?"

"... I hope so," William replied before leaving, following the doctor.

Once they were sent home by the doctors, who assured the family that Evan was in stable conditions for now due to the coma state he was in and that they could visit him tomorrow to check up on him, everyone quietly went to their room to rest their body which felt like empty shells.

Not William and Clara however, who sat at the table immediately as they got home.

The couple cried together as quiet as they could at first, dealing with the fact that they could lose their youngest son and trying to be strong for their other kids, but quickly enough the desperate cries began to be accompained by angry shouts.

Their marriage was already unstable, but this incident was like a rupture that officialy teared off the two pieces of paper that were tightly connected before, and yet, so easy to rip apart once there was enough pressure that pulled those two pieces away from each other.

All these new issues suddenly stacked on the family's shoulders, and that day that was supposed to be an happy core memory became a traumatizing one instead.

In just one evening they lost their source of income, their happiness, and they were close to losing their youngest son aswell.

"How are we going to afford this?! What if Evan dies?!" the woman would cry out, trying to find an answer from her husband that could keep her from becoming a piece of paper drifting away in a storm.

However, William didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to make things better. He already felt like a piece of paper in a storm since everything was spiraling out of his control, and his wife only made him panic even more.

Elizabeth swiftly got into Michael's room and crawled into his bed. Evan's incident was like a wake up call of how unstable her family was, she realized that now. Her scared state which made her search for comfort and stability made her realize how there was nothing like that here.

She was afraid.

Michael was afraid.

They were afraid.

Afraid of losing the sibling, afraid of what their future was going to look like, afraid of this being something they didn't have enough strenght to overcome. Afraid they were going to be two alone kids trying to deal with complex emotions and issues, without anyone to give them an hand. They were like a boat marooned in the middle of the ocean without a lighthouse to guide it. They only had each other.

Michael hugged Elizabeth and the two siblings remained in complete silence while hoping the scary situation wouldn't escalate until they heard a door slam, followed by a moment of silence and shortly after by the faint sounds of a woman weeping.

They were terrified.

"He is going to come back, right?" they thought.

The fact they even considered their father leaving them forever as a possibility only proved how dysfunctional the family was.

William knew what the only thing that could help him deal with the situation was, even if it was an unhealthy option: alcohol.

He walked alone to a convenience store while he still shed his tears and grabbed the cheapest but strongest bottle of booze he could get that would do the job, and left after paying it.

He chugged down half the bottle fairly quickly as he wandered around, with no destination in mind. He could barely walk straight after the drunkness hit him like a bus, and fell face down on the concrete side walk.

The drunk man looked up as he groaned, gazing at the building next to him: a church. For whatever reason, he made the decision of entering the building.

William's clumsy footsteps echoed in the empty patalial religious edifice, dimly lit by some candles and soft warm lights.

The man, who's state was constranstingly corrupted against that place that felt sacred and pure, looked up at a cross made of wood that was hanged up in the centre in all its might.

He felt judged by that piece of wood due to what it stood for, and drank more of that cheap alcohol before starting to speak to it like it was alive.

"Long time no see. Haven't gone to this shit hole in years now," William said as he looked around the familiar place, from it's columns to the various painting that ranged from depicting sweet motherly scenes to gruesome ones.

"I see what you're doing. Your stupid father guided me in here to tell me how you've done this, didn't he?" he asked that piece of wood, as if it could talk.

"I know why you did this. You're judging me for what I did to Charlie and now you're giving me a lesson. 'Hm, I'll let this low disgusting creature know how that other one of his own kind feels, not knowing if his child is going to be dead or not.' Look at you, so high and powerful up there in your stupid fucking clouds, watching and judging the human beings that are supposed to be your children like you're morally beyond every creature of this forsaken universe you also created. I bet you feel good about this. don't you?" he asked again, rhetorically, but obviously there was no response back.

"Well, you piece of shit, sorry to bring you bad news but you're not so different from me after all. I also know the outcome of Charlotte's life, I know that she's dead and I still won't tell that poor human being what happened to his daughter. I made an innocent child suffer yes, and I know you're judging me for it, but what are you doing right now? Letting another innocent kid suffer to the expenses of a sinner!" he let out an hollow laugh at the irony of the situation, "but at least I've only made one child suffer. You heard me plead, pray and cry for you to save me and watched me as I suffered like an helpless animals for YEARS, and watched as another infinite amount of children went through the same thing without doing ANYTHING even if you're literally powerful and have all the power of the universe in your stupid hands!" he walked around in circles like a desperate mad animal inflicted by rabies as tears ran down his face.

"But at least I CARE, you know?!" William yelled as his voice cracked. "I tried to do my very best to make my family happy, I tried to be a good person, I tried to keep going to the right direction even though everything was against me, I tried to better myself even if I had no idea how I was supposed to do that. You know EVERYTHING and supposedly embody goodness, purity, perfection and all that crap. Well, if this is what kindness is supposed to look like then maybe, just maybe, the only thing that differentiates us is the fact that, unlike you, I'm stuck in a lame mortal body. You're no better than me."

He coughed after letting out such a long monologue out since his throat was burning due to the cheap strong alcohol.

"I know you're testing me," he said in a lower threatning voice as he looked at that big piece of wood up again.

"I know you're going to kill Evan, take my son away from me just like I did to Charlie and Henry," he continued to threaten the symbolic shape as he slowly walked towards it, even if the drunk man could barely walk straight.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE MY SON AWAY FROM ME!" he loudly cried out while furiously smashing the almost empty glass bottle onto the ground, which shattered into pieces.

"I'll do ANYTHING to make that stupid shit money to keep my son alive! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO WIN THIS!" he lastly shouted while pointing at the symbol with his quivering hand , even if his voice was strangled by the tears.

His hollering echoed in the silent church, with no response back whatsoever.

And thus William turned around and left the building, even if he almost fell while doing so.

When he got back home he struggled to open the front door and immediately passed out on the couch once he entered. Meanwhile his wife was already in bed, sleeping with her face on a damp pillow.

The next day Michael didn't go to school, for obvious reasons. As he was slumbering, even if his sister completely took all the space in the bed up, he was unaware of how his friends were hanging out at Chrissy's house. They didn't go to school aswell, since they were mentally scarred.

That usual bubbly girl was hugging her pillow now, sitting on her pink bed in silence along her friends as they looked at the floor, remembering the horrible image that was now stamped on their mind even if they tried to escape it as much as they could. The situation was tense, and the group didn't know how to process everything that happened to them.

An asian woman entered the room, bringing some food. She spoke in a soft voice, she knew about the tragic incident that happened yesterday and how Evan was in a coma, since Clara informed her and the other parents of his son's friends that morning.

"My husband made you guys some breakfast. I know you're probably not hungry but make sure you eat, ok? Even just a tiny bit."

"Thank you mom," the daughter replied in a glum voice. "Uhm, can we ask you something...?"

"Of course dear, what is it?"

"We were wondering how we should handle the situation with Michael. It was his brother, after all. Should we call him or does he need some time alone with his family? I don't know what to do..." she asked unsurely as she tightly hugged the pillow.

"Hm... It is a pretty complex situation, I got to say," the mother replied, reflecting on what is the best thing to do in such cases. "I think it's ok to give him a call and check up on him. Everyone handles things differently and it doesn't hurt to ask directly, after all. Maybe you could ask him if you can visit his brother at the hospital and pass some time together if he feels like it. Even if he refuses it would show that his friends are trying to be there for him."

"Maybe you're right, Mrs. Donnelly" Rubén said as he sighed. "That's what my family also told me to do, and it's not that I don't want to be there for Michael, but I just don't think I would be able to handle it, you know? I wouldn't know what to say to cheer him up."

"Oh dear, there is nothing you can do to cheer him up right now, but that's ok. You can just let each other feel these horrible emotions together, just like you're doing right now. Sometimes you just need your friends to be there for you, not to try and fix everything up. Don't push yourself too hard though, alright? You witnessed a terrible thing. It's reasonable if you wish to be alone for a while."

"Thank you for your wisdom mother," Chrissy said jokingly, slightly smiling as she tried to cheer up the depressing mood.

Her mother chuckled as she caressed her daughter's cheek. "Don't thank me dear, your father and I are always there for you and your friends, you already know that. Thank me by eating your breakfast your dad put so much love in instead, alright?" she lastly added as she left the room and closed the door.

"I'll call Michael and ask him," Jeremy assertively announced while getting up.

"Seth!" Chrissy blurted out, but the boy already left the room.

"He's in love with him Chrissy, it's normal that he cares so much about him," Rubén explained while forcing himself to eat breakfast.

"I knoww..." Chris mumbled as she also ate breakfast. "You know how he is though, he cares too much about others and too little about himself!" she sighed, "I don't have the energy to take care of him right now though, to be honest. I'm having an hard time even taking care of myself, my mind feels like a complete tangled mess."

"Yeah... I relate to that," Rubén agreed.

Jeremy anxiously waited for an answer, until he heard a familiar but gloomy voice.

"Hello?"

"Hey Michael. It's me, Seth."

"Oh, I'm not going to school today, sorry."

"It's not about that. I just... no, we wanted to know if it was ok to come visit your brother today?"

"Uhm... Maybe not today. It's just," Michael sighed, thinking about the scary situation that happened yesterday, "my family is going through shit right now, the situation is pretty serious. My parents even had a fight yesterday, and I have the feeling my dad doesn't want me to see you guys anymore. Maybe we can hang out in the late afternoon instead? I really want to see you, I really don't want to stay at home today."

His voice sounded afraid, and desperate.

"Oh, sure. We'll meet at the diner then, like always?"

"Yep. I'm going to get ready to visit Evan now, I'll hang up."

"Alright I won't bother you anymore. See you later and take care of yourself, ok?"

Michael slightly smiled. "Yes, I promise I'll try my best."

After the phone call ended Jeremy returned back to Chrissy's room.

"We're going to meet Michael at the diner this late afternoon," he announced.

"What?!" Chrissy shouted, shocked. "Why did you plan things without asking if we were ok with it?!"

"Chrissy, we have to go. Michael's brother is in a coma! We need to be there for him, aren't you worried about him?"

"Well obviously we have to go now, cause it would be super awkward and fucked up to cancel the plans, but seriously Seth it was not ok for you to do that! Did you even listen to my mother?!" she yelled as her voice cracked. "You can't just do whatever you want and force people to tag along your way of handling things without taking their emotions and needs in consideration!" she shouted with tears in her eyes as she tightly hugged her pillow, upset at her friend.

Rubén sat closer to Chrissy, "I'm sorry but she's right, Seth. That wasn't ok. I also don't feel ready to handle the situation today. We just witnessed Evan's brain getting cracked open yesterday, for fuck's sake."

"I'm sorry, ok? I really am, but I just think we don't have another option right now. We're his friends afterall, we're the only people that make him feel safe and he said his family is—"

"I know his dad is toxic as shit, ok?!" Chrissy cut his friend off while tears ran down her face. "I know he has it worse, and I know you have the strenght to put all your emotions aside for other people, but I can't! I'm used to being that friend that makes everybody laugh, I'm not used to handle serious situations and I don't know what the right things to say are, and you know that! But you still put Michael before me and Rubén just because you have a stupid crush on him. Honestly, I'M FUCKING ANGRY AT YOU RIGHT NOW!!" she yelled as she got underneath the covers of her bed and sobbed.

Seth sighed and tried to get closer to her. "Chrissy I'm really sorry I—"

"Just leave her alone dude," Rubén demanded as he looked at Seth, disappointed by his behaviour. "You already got what you want. We'll see you and Michael at the diner even if we're feeling like compete shit just like you want, alright?"

Seth regretted what he did, and realized how wrong it was, but the damage was already done and there was nothing else he could do to fix the situation.

"Fine," he muttered as he stormed out of the house with tears forming in his eyes, giving up.

Meanwhile the Afton family drove to the hospital in complete silence. They knew they were struggling and didn't dare to speak about what happened yesterday. The situation was so fragile that even just a short phrase could've caused a disaster, at this point.

Although, nothing broke the family member's hearts more than seeing Evan in that hospital bed with a nasogastric tube up his nose, the intravenous catheter on his little arms and all types of scary looking medical equipments attached to his tiny body. The monitor screen also beeped, signaling that he was still alive but it was also anxiety inducing knowing that, at any given moment, it could alert that he was about to die.

It was really hard to see that sweet little boy in such state. Sure, he rarely spoke anyways, but he looked like a dead body lying down on that bed like that.

Clara was the first one to sit next to her son, carefully grab his small hand and talk to him. After warming up due to the shock of seeing him like this, the other family members joined the conversation aswell.

However, the conversation was awkward and forced since they didn't have nothing even remotely bittersweet to talk about. How could they tell that little boy who was fighting for his life that the family was in shambles? That they fought yesterday? There was nothing worth for Evan to be alive for? In contrast to his family, heaven was the best option.

Clara realized that. As much love as she felt for her little boy she also wished him the best, and this family wasn't that. "Would it be selfish to ask you to fight?" she thought.

"Can I have a private moment with him?" Michael then asked, out of the blue. Well, it seemed like it came out of nowhere to the other family members, but that boy has been thinking about it since this morning: he wanted to apologize for what he has done.

As he asked that, William's face was unreadable. He had mixed feelings for what Michael did: he knew it was an accident, and yet there was so much hatred he felt towards him. The irrational part of his brain wouldn't stop thinking of how Michael purposely ignored all his father's attempts to stray him to the right part, and how his impulsiveness led to an innocent boy paying the price, his innocent little boy. It made him furious.

Especially because, in his mind, he was just like him, and he was angry at himself more than anything.

"Sure honey," his mother Clara replied as she took Elizabeth's hand and left the room, and her husband followed.

Once the door was closed he looked at Evan and slowly sat next to him. He gently took his hand and tried to choke back the tears so he could properly speak to him.

"Can you hear me?" he asked.

"I don't know if you can hear me."

He stared at his little brother: even if he was in a coma, he looked like he was suffering.

"... I'm sorry," he said, after a moment of silence. He wasn't just apologizing for what he did at the party, but for every moment he wasn't a good brother and for all the times he didn't give him the comfort and love he deserved and needed aswell.

Now that he risked losing him he regretted all the moments he pushed him away instead of spending time with him just like he wished to. Those are precious moments of time he could never take back.

He caressed his brother's hand with his tumb as he looked at it.

"I'm sorry I lost myself. I was always envious of you yes, because I felt like my parent's attention were taken away and I didn't want to have any siblings, but I always used to protect you anyways. I didn't act like a douchebag. Remember when I used to fight off those bullies that always picked on you? Yeah, I don't know what happened to me, I've changed. You just felt alone, didn't you? But I pushed you away, just like our father did with us."

He tried to get the words out of his tight throat as he felt his cheeks getting wet. "I'm so sorry. I tried so hard to fix everything all at once that... I broke you. Forever. I never listen to anyone, I fucking suck."

He couldn't hide his emotions anymore: he sobbed after he said those words and tightly held his brother's little hand.

Eventually, after getting everything out, he started to read Evan his favourite book about astronomy he brought.

"You know, there's a belief that people who die become stars. If you don't make out of this alive I hope you will become one of the things you loved the most, at least." He looked Evan with sincerity and seriousness as he spoke, then let out a light-hearted chuckle, "you would probably correct me on this if you could and ruin the moment though, since you're such a smart ass."

He smiled at Evan and then looked down at the book, his eyelids drooping in sorrow.

"I wouldn't mind if you did that right now," he said with a mournful tone of voice.

As he tried to spend as much time as he could with his little brother, alone, a doctor entered the room and kindlly invited Michael to leave since the visiting hours were over.

He slowly let go of his brother's limp hand as he got up and left the room, and only closed the door after turning around to take one last look at him: every little second spent with Evan meant the world to him now, he didn't want to go.

However, he felt the comforting touch of a chubby hand touch his shoulder. Clara looked at her son with compassion:"I'm proud of you for doing that dear," she praised him sweetly.

As Michael thought he let all his tears out here he went again, with his lips quivering as he embraced his mother while sobbing onto her shoulder.

Clara comforted her son, caressing his longish hair and waiting for him to let all the strong emotions he usually keeps inside himself until they transformed themselves into resentment and anger out of his heart.

And that's when they came back home again, after another awkward and silent car ride.

It seemed like the parents were too hopeless and emotionally drained to even fight that day: they just comfortably snuggled on the chouch while they tried to distract their horrible thoughts with some television, not saying a single word to each other.

5:00 PM

Michael quietly opened the door and peeked into the living room: there he saw his father and mother who fell asleep while cuddling on the couch and some empty takeout food on the coffee table, same one they all ate for lunch. He stealthily passed through and slowly opened the front door, making sure it wouldn't make a creaking noise that could've woke his parents up. He then discreetly closed the door behind him.

It was raining lightly, but Michael didn't care enough to bring an umbrella. He just put the cap of his hoodie on and started walking, stomping on the puddles on the sidewalk and the orange leaves with his black boots. He arrived at the diner and entered, cleaned his dirty shoes on the doormat that had "Welcome!" written on it and, once he spotted his friends, sat with them.

"Hey," the boy said as he put the cap of his hoodie down. He obviously didn't sound happy.

"Hey," the others replied with compassion as they looked at him, followed by an awkward silence.

The same waitress from some time ago got closer to the group of friends, and asked: "Are you guys ready to order?"

They replied, giving out their orders, without the cheerfulness they had the last time they went here.

"What would you like, Mike?" Jeremy asked, looking at the boy.

He actually wasn't in the mood to eat anything, but obliged since Jeremy cared enough to ask.

"I'll have a strawberry milkshake as usual, I guess."

"Alright..." The waitress wrote down, weirded out by the awkward and sad mood. They have been regular customers for more than a year now, afterall. She knew something was off since they weren't their usual loud group of teenagers.

However, she had no right to pry into their buisness.

That's what she thought to herself before leaving, at least.

During another moment of uncomfortable silence, Chrissy tried to break the ice: "So... You saw Evan this morning, right? Is he doing any better?" she asked, unsure if she should've even asked such a thing. What was the best thing to say afterall? She had no idea.

"The doctors said it will take some time to see any type of changes," Michael replied, looking down on his hands as he fidgeted with his rings.

"Oh," Chrissy replied and then stayed silence, not knowing how to reply.

She looked at the others, signaling that they should try to make some small talk aswell and help her out, but they shrugged even if they felt guilty about it, not knowing what to say.

"Oh god, this was a mistake. I've made things worse," Jeremy thought.

After some minutes, which felt like hours, the waitress finally came back with the orders.

"Here you guys go!" she exclaimed as she tried to appear cheerful to light up the mood, since even just looking at them gave her second-hand embarassment, but they just thanked her and started to eat in silence.

"Well, I tried my best I guess," she thought as she went back to work.

After the friendgroup went through the agonizing process of finishing their food in silence, they left the diner.

"Well, I'm sorry that sucked," Michael said, kicking a pebble on the ground while putting the cap of his hoodie back on again.

Chrissy looked at the boy, realizing that he sounded way sadder than before. She sighed, deciding that she should—finally—be her usual honest self once again, since no else wanted to be that person.

"It's not your fault, Michael. Look, to be honest with you me and Rubén didn't feel like hanging out today. We put some effort in cause we really care about you, but I think forcing ourselves to hang out won't help the situation. Personally, I really need some time alone to unpack all this traumatizing shit, you feel me?"

Michael looked at Chrissy, then looked down at the rain drops hitting the side walk again, "Yeah... I thought hanging out with you guys would've made me feel better, like it usually did whenever I needed to escape that shit-hole of an house, but it didn't. It was selfish of me to think you guys would cheer me up, considering you also saw what happened. I'm sorry if I made you guys feel forced to hang out with me."

"It's ok, it isn't your fault," Chrissy said as she looked at Jeremy with the corner of her eye, then focused her gaze on Michael again. "I'm not saying we shouldn't hang out anymore, but I need to be alone for a while."

"I feel the same way aswell," Rubén added. "I'm sorry we can't do anything to cheer you up, dude."

Jeremy sighed, feeling responsible for the situation: "It's my fault. I forced them to hang out because I wanted to cheer you up, Mike. I should've taken everyone's feelings in consideration. Just because I think I can handle the situation, doesn't mean everybody can," he admitted and apologized.

"It's ok, really. I know it doesn't sound like it, but I really appreciate your guy's efforts. At least you tried to be there for me."

Chrissy looked at Michael while getting closer to him, feeling sorry for her friend.

"We should probably go now, the rain is starting to pick up," she said. "I hope everything gets better, Mike."

Michael looked at his friend. He wanted to at least give a small smile to her, but he couldn't force his muscles. Her words sounded reassuring, and yet he couldn't feel anything besides this horrible hollow sensation.

"Thank you, Chrissy."

That's the only thing he was able to get out of himself.

"We'll all hang out together when we'll be done processing all this shit, ok?" Rubén said as he gave his friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Yes, I hope so. Thank you aswell, Rubén."

Jeremy looked at their two friends as they walked away, then turned his head back to look at Michael who was waiting for his goodbyes.

"Huh... Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked instead.

"Actually yes, please, I didn't bring an umbrella with me. I'm an idiot," Michael said as he got closer to his friend to get under his umbrella.

As they walked, getting farther and farther away from each other, they turned back to look at one another one last time. They waved goodbye with their hands, with a bittersweet expression on their face, only to turn their head and walk away, each of them going their separate ways.