(TWO YEARS FOLLOWING THE EVENTS OF REVENGE OF THE PAST)
The sun shone through the curtains of Michael's bedroom window. Gently hitting his face. His eyes fluttered open and looked straight at the curtain gap. He blinked a few times before sighing slowly and sitting up to take a big stretch. He yawned as he did so.
As he threw his legs over the side of the bed, attempting to stand up, his head hurt a little. He immediately brushed it off. Knowing it was just those headaches he had been getting over the last year and a half. He had gone to the doctors about it and was immediately prescribed Tylenol.
After grabbing some Tylenol tablets from his bedside table, he headed for the kitchen to grab a glass of water.
"Good morning, Michael" Freddy spoke in a cheerful tone.
"Morning Freddy" Michael smiled, looking at him.
Once Michael was in the kitchen, he grabbed a glass from one of the cupboards and filled it up. After doing that, he took the Tylenol. He then went to go and wake up Sean and Gregory for school. Going to Gregory's room first.
"Time to get up, Gregory" Michael said, knocking on Gregory's poster-adorned door.
"I'm up!" Gregory called out in a tired tone. Michael then went to Sean's room, knocking on the door and also telling him to get up.
"I'm awake!" Sean called out, also in a tired tone. Michael then walked back to the kitchen and began making some coffee for himself and some breakfast for Gregory and Sean.
"Michael!" A voice suddenly whispered, making Michael flinch and turn around quickly to look around.
"Freddy was that you?" Michael asked, looking at the animatronic.
"I'm not sure what you mean by that, Michael" Freddy spoke in a confused tone.
"Someone said my name" Michael told him.
"Well, I can assure you, I did not speak" Freddy said to him. Michael gave a slow confused nod before eventually going back to making the breakfast and coffee. However, he didn't brush what just happened off. He heard someone say his name. He was sure of it.
"Morning Michael" Gregory yawned, entering the dining area. Michael turned his head and looked at Gregory with a smile.
"Morning superstar" Michael said with a smile. But the smile he showed wasn't an exactly happy smile. It was more of a forced happy smile to try and hide how spooked he was because of what just happened before. Gregory didn't think anything of it. But he did feel that Michael was a bit distracted judging by the tone in his voice.
"Morning Michael" Sean also said, entering the dining room.
"Good morning, Sean" Michael smiled, finishing the breakfast and bringing it over to the table on two plates. One for Gregory and the other for Sean. He then walked back to the kitchen counter and poured his ready coffee into a mug.
"So, you guys know what you've got on at school today?" Michael then asked the two, leaning against the counter and looking at them.
"We've got a big test today. And we've also got a guest speaker coming to the school to talk about a sports program that the school will be partaking in in a few weeks" Gregory answered, eating his breakfast.
"All of that's exciting" Michael smiled.
"The only thing I'm looking forward to is the talk about the sports program" Sean smiled, eating his breakfast. Michael nodded.
"What about you, Gregory? You looking forward to any of it?" Michael asked.
"Just the sports program thing" Gregory answered. Michael nodded again. A little bit of silence followed for a few seconds before anyone spoke again.
"Alright well, finish your breakfast guys and then go and get ready for school. We've gotta be out of the house before 8am" Michael said, looking down at his wristwatch. Sean and Gregory nodded. Both with a "Mmhm" as their reply.
After finishing his coffee, Michael went to his ensuite to have a shower. While he did that, Gregory and Sean sat at the table, both showing slightly confused looks on their faces.
"Is it just me or is he acting a little weird this morning?" Sean asked, looking at Gregory.
"No. It's not just you. He seems a little distracted. Not sure by what though" Gregory sighed a little, looking at Sean and then at Michael's closed bedroom door.
As Michael stood in the shower, letting the water hit his face, the same headache from before returned. But this time, it felt worse. So much worse. Like someone had just taken an icepick to his head and hammered it. He grabbed his head, groaning a little in pain. His ears started to ring a bit. However, after a few seconds, that pain went away.
"What the hell is going on?" Michael asked himself, now starting to feel more concerned about the headaches. He knew very well this wasn't normal. Especially for him. Something was wrong. He could feel it. He just didn't know what exactly was wrong.
After washing his hair and body, he climbed out of the shower; wrapped the towel around his waist, which covered his lower half, and walked over to the mirror. As he looked at himself in the mirror, about to grab the razor from the sink, his eyes flashed a bright glowing purple for a second. He immediately stood back from the mirror, clearly spooked by that.
"What the fuck!?" Michael said, just staring at himself in the mirror.
After a while of looking at himself in the mirror in shock, he dried himself off and then walked back into his bedroom and began getting changed.
After getting into his clothes; he quickly brushed his hair, put on some socks and shoes, grabbed his phone and car keys. He then left his bedroom, closing the door behind him.
"Ready guys?" Michael asked, noticing Sean and Gregory sitting on the couch with their bags next to them. They both nodded and stood up, heading for the front door.
"Keep an eye on the house please, Freddy" Michael told Freddy, who was sitting beside his charging station.
"I will, Michael" Freddy told him, looking at him and nodding. Michael and the boys then left the house with Michael closing and locking the door behind him. After they all got to the car and climbed in, Michael started it up and left the driveway, heading in the direction of the school.
"Everything ok, Michael?" Gregory asked, looking at him.
"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Michael asked, quickly looking at him and then back at the road.
"Well, you seemed a little distracted at home" Gregory answered.
"I've just got something on my mind at the moment. Nothing you boys need to worry about" Michael smiled. Gregory gave a short nod. He wasn't overly convinced by Michael's answer but he didn't want to ask further about it in case Michael didn't want to talk about it.
Once they arrived at the school, Sean and Gregory both said goodbye to Michael and then climbed out of the car.
"Have a good day at school guys!" Michael called out to them.
"We will" Sean smiled as Grace joined Gregory and him by the entrance walkway to the school. Michael smiled slightly before driving off.
As he drove into town; his phone, which was connected to the stereo via bluetooth, rang. The name on the cars stereo screen read "Mason City Counselling Office". He pressed answer.
"Hello?" Michael spoke.
"Hi Mr Afton. We're just calling to ask if you're still making today's appointment with Dr Miller?" A woman's voice asked through the car stereo speakers.
"Yeah. Yeah, sorry. I lost track of what I was planning to do today and I totally forgot about the counselling appointment" Michael answered, sighing slowly.
"That's ok. That's totally fine. We'll see you soon" The woman said in a happy tone.
"Thanks" Michael said, hanging up the phone. He then drove to his counselling appointment. Which was thirty minutes from where he currently was.
LATER
The indoor doorbell rang as Michael entered the reception area. He was greeted by the female receptionist and taken straight down to Dr Miller's office.
"Dr Miller. Michael's here to see you" The receptionist said, knocking on Dr Miller's office door.
"Send him in!" Dr Miller called out. Michael then opened the office door and walked in.
"Michael! It's good to see you! How have you been over the last few weeks?" Dr Miller asked as Michael walked over to the office sofa and sat down. Dr Miller walked over to the sofa on the opposite side of where Michael was sitting and sat down with a clipboard and a pen in hand.
"I've been better I guess" Michael said, sighing slightly.
"Anything bothering you?" Dr Miller asked, noticing the tone in Michael's voice.
"Just the headaches I've been getting. I thought they were just normal headaches you get. When you're stressed or you haven't drunk enough water. But, something really weird happened this morning that really spooked me. And not many things spook me. Not anymore at least" Michael explained.
"What spooked you?" Dr Miller asked, writing on his clipboard before looking back at Michael.
"After the shower I took this morning, my eyes flashed a glowing purple. Now, my eyes are normally purple as a result of what happened to me almost seven years ago but they've never glowed purple like that. Not at least with me in this current form" Michael answered.
"And the only other time where your eyes have glowed purple was after the incident at Circus Baby's?" Dr Miller asked. Michael nodded.
"And this is the first time it's happened?" Dr Miller asked. Michael nodded.
"Anything else weird that happened?" Dr Miller asked.
"While I was making some coffee and breakfast, I swore I heard someone say my name. When I asked Freddy about it, he said that he didn't say a word" Michael answered. Dr Miller nodded slowly, writing on his clipboard again.
"And how have you been sleeping?" Dr Miller asked.
"Not great. Every few nights I'm waking up in a cold sweat from a vivid dream" Michael answered.
"What kind of dreams are you having?" Dr Miller asked.
"Awful and painful ones. I keep seeing my father….killing me. And killing both Gregory and Sean. And I can't do anything to stop him" Michael told him, looking down at his hands. Which were twitching slightly. His brow furrowed a little, wondering why this was happening.
"How long has it been since your fathers final death?" Dr Miller asked, already aware of how many times William had come back to life. Michael looked back at Dr Miller.
"Almost seven years" Michael answered.
"You think his influence on you over the years and the trauma he put you through is what's causing those nightmares?" Dr Miller asked.
"I think so. I mean, I know that trauma can affect a person and I've been through some really traumatic shit but, a little part of me thinks that the trauma isn't the thing causing me to have nightmares of him. After what happened at the pizzaplex, I was fine for a while. It's only recently that I've been getting these dreams" Michael answered. Dr Miller's brow furrowed. He felt concerned.
"Ok, I'm prescribing some pills. They should help with your sleeping" Dr Miller told him, flipping a page over on his clipboard and then writing down on it. He then tore it from the clipboard and handed it to Michael.
"Take them only at nighttime right before you go to bed. They're extremely powerful so taking them during the day will knock you on your ass" Dr Miller told him before putting his clipboard down and standing up. Michael stood up as well.
"Thank you for seeing me today" Michael smiled slightly as he headed for the door.
"That's quite alright Michael. We'll catch up for another chat in about four weeks time. If that's ok with you" Dr Miller said to him.
"Yeah. That's totally fine" Michael said back.
"Ok, see you in a few weeks Mike" Dr Miller smiled as Michael opened the door and began walking out.
"See ya" Michael smiled back as he then walked down the hall towards the front.