THE NEXT DAY
Michael had been awake all night, trying to wrap his head around what happened with Gregory and Sean. Michael didn't have a clue as to why they were upset with him. But he was worried that during his blackout, he must've said or done something awful to them.
Eventually, the alarm he had set to wake him up went off. He turned onto his side to turn it off. He then climbed out of bed and left his room. Only to find Gregory and Sean still not awake yet. It was a little odd to him because they were usually awake before him.
He walked down the hall to Gregory and Sean's room and opened the door. Sean was asleep in his bed but Gregory's bed was empty. The indication was the messy unkept blankets on the bed. He closed the door and walked back down the hall. Eventually spotting Gregory sitting on the back porch, all rugged up with a jumper and beanie. Michael opened the sliding door and walked out. Gregory turned his head to look at who had walked outside. He turned his head back around a few seconds later.
"Hey Mike" Gregory sighed a little as Michael sat down next to him.
"Did you sleep at all?" Michael asked.
"Only a few hours" Gregory answered. Michael nodded before bowing his head slightly, preparing to speak again.
"Gregory, I don't know what came over me last night-" Michael spoke before being cut off by Gregory.
"You don't need to explain yourself" Gregory told him.
"Why can't I?" Michael asked.
"Because I could tell you weren't yourself" Gregory answered, eventually turning around in his seat to look at Michael. Before Michael could have his turn to speak, Gregory rolled up his sleeve slightly to reveal the bruise on his wrist where Michael had grabbed it the night before. Michael looked at it in shock.
"Whatever was…is going on with you, it caused you to lash out at me when I was leaving the table after I couldn't finish my food" Gregory told him, eventually pulling his sleeve back down and putting his hands back in his pockets.
"Gregory…I'm sorry" Michael stammered, horrified by the fact he had hurt Gregory. Gregory stood up from his chair and looked at Michael.
"You don't need to apologise Michael. Just…just get whatever this is checked out because it's worrying both me and Sean" Gregory told him before walking inside and closing the door behind him. Tears slowly welled up in Michael's eyes.
Michael ended up taking Gregory's advice. After making some breakfast for Sean and Gregory, Michael got dressed and headed to the doctors.
After arriving there and he had talked with the receptionist about the symptoms he had, he was referred straight to Dr White. One of the best doctors in Mason City according to the other patients at the doctors practice.
After waiting in the waiting room for about fifteen minutes, his name was finally called by Dr White and he immediately followed him into his office.
"So…Michael Afton….how have you been feeling over the past few days?" Dr White asked as he sat down at his desk while Michael sat next to the desk.
"Like crap. And I'm feeling light-headed and a bit lethargic" Michael answered.
"How long's that been going on for?" Dr White asked, looking at him before looking back at his computer to type down his notes.
"A few days. But the blackouts I've been having have been going on for a year and a half with no signs of stopping" Michael answered.
"Have you been to other doctors for the blackouts if they've been happening for that long?" Dr White asked with his brow furrowed.
"Yeah. But they don't exactly have a clue as to why it's happening. One doctor that I did see though, he suggested that maybe it was due to the headaches I've been getting" Michael answered.
"What kind of headaches are you getting?" Dr White asked, now turning his chair around to face Michael.
"Really painful ones. Like someone's taking an icepick to my head and just hammering it over and over again. And to make matters worse with that, there's a ringing in my ears" Michael answered. Dr White then grabbed an eye exam torch from his desk and told Michael to look directly at him while he shined the light in Michael's eyes to look closely at them. Michael did exactly that.
A shocked look appeared on Dr White's face after looking at Michael's eyes.
"Is everything ok?" Michael asked as Dr White put the torch away and then used an otoscope to look in Michael's ears.
"I've never seen anything like this. But, it appears you've got very faint black lines in your eyes. Which are showing signs of glowing purple" Dr White told him. Michael just looked at him, shocked. The only other time when his eyes were ever like this was when his body was inhabited by Ennard. This was not good.
"Has anything else weird happened other than what I've seen and what you've already told me?" Dr White then asked as he typed on his computer again, taking down more notes.
"Recently with the blackouts, I've been acting really off. Especially towards my boys. Like yesterday for instance….the last thing I remember was looking back at my reflection in the bathroom when my eyes suddenly glowed purple and the next thing I know, I'm holding one of my boys by the wrist. And it's clear I've said something bad because shortly after I let go of his hand, he and my other son walked off to their room. Clearly upset. And this morning, when the son I grabbed by the wrist….Gregory…talked to me, he showed me his wrist. Which was bruised. And….I've never hurt anyone like that. Especially my kids. I would never do that to anyone" Michael explained. Dr White gave a very concerned 'hmm'.
"From what you've now told me and what I've seen, it looks like you're coming down with something. I'm not sure what but….it's something bad. Really bad. If it's changing your mood, making you do things you wouldn't normally do and causing you all these blackouts and headaches. I'd say it's probably something to do with your brain" Dr White told him.
"What do I do about it?" Michael asked, sitting forwards slightly in his chair.
"I'm going to order an MRI for you. Hopefully it should be able to pick up something that should give you at least somewhat of answer to whatever it is you're going through" Dr White said as he typed on his computer again.
Once he had finished typing on his computer ten minutes later, he turned to face Michael again.
"Now, because I forgot to ask this before…have you been prescribed anything for the headaches?" Dr White asked. Michael nodded.
"Tylenol. Two tablets three times a day" Michael told him. Dr White nodded.
"Any other prescribed medications?" Dr White then asked. Michael shook his head.
"Ok, well I'm going to write you a script for a prescribed version of Meclizine" Dr White told him as he grabbed a pen and a pharmacy script document. He scribbled down on it and then handed it to Michael. Michael thanked him for it.
"After you've grabbed the medication from the pharmacy, head to Mason City General and go up to level five where Dr Parker will be waiting for you" Dr White told him as he stood up, prompting Michael to stand up as well.
"Thank you for seeing me. I'm sorry I just came in here without making an appointment" Michael apologised with a slow sigh.
"No need to apologise Michael" Dr White smiled as he opened the door. Michael smiled slightly before thanking him again and leaving.
Once Michael had left the doctors practice, he made his way to the pharmacy.
AT THE AFTON HOME
"How's your wrist?" Sean asked Gregory, who was sitting on the sofa with Freddy. Gregory looked at his wrist, which was still very much bruised.
"Bruised" Gregory sighed a little, looking back at the TV, which he and Freddy were watching a TV show on. After grabbing his portion of the breakfast that Michael had made, he walked over to the sofa. He noticed that Gregory didn't have a bowl with him. Which indicated that he hadn't grabbed himself some breakfast yet.
"Has Michael ever been like that when it was just you and him?" Sean asked, sitting down next to Gregory. Gregory shook his head.
"He's never acted like that at all towards me. But, he used to act a little like that when he was younger" Gregory told him. Sean looked at him, wanting Gregory to explain it further.
"After he lost his sister and mother, Michael became rather stand-offish. Especially towards his brother Chris. In fact, he became increasingly stand-offish towards him. That's eventually what led to his death" Gregory explained.
"And after his brothers death, he stopped being so stand-offish and mean?" Sean asked. Gregory nodded.
"Chris's death greatly affected him. And when he met me, he promised himself he would do everything he could to protect me. And he would never act the way he did towards his brother ever again" Gregory told him.
"Did he tell you all that?" Sean asked.
"Sort of. I was mostly shown memories while I was being possessed by William Afton" Gregory told him. Sean nodded.
"Do you think maybe this has something to do with William? The way he's acting? Considering the promise he made to himself" Sean asked.
"I'm not sure. Only because we defeated William seven years ago at the pizzaplex and we haven't heard from him since. Which is telling Michael and I for the moment that he's dead. For good" Gregory answered. Sean nodded slowly.
MASON CITY GENERAL
After arriving at the hospital, he took the elevator up to level five and asked to see Dr Parker, telling the nurse at the nurses desk that a referral had been sent by Dr White. The nurse directed him to the waiting area on that floor and told him that Dr Parker would be out to bring him to the MRI room in a few minutes.
And after a few minutes of waiting, Dr Parker came to collect him and take him to have the MRI scan.
"How're you feeling, Michael?" Dr Parker asked, looking at him as they both walked towards the MRI room.
"Next question" Michael chuckled a little as he wiped a little bit of sweat from his forehead that had formed due to feeling sick halfway between the pharmacy and the hospital.
"You don't look that well. Did Dr White find out what's wrong with you?" Dr Parker asked.
"Sort of I guess" Michael said, sighing a little.
"Well hopefully with the scan we'll be putting you through, hopefully we should be able to properly determine what it is you're going through" Dr Parker said as they both approached the door to the MRI room.
"Ok, there is a hospital gown on the MRI bed. You'll need to get into that and put your normal clothes in the next room" Dr Parker told him as he opened the door for Michael. Michael nodded and walked in. Dr Parker then closed the door behind Michael.
Michael walked over to the bed and grabbed the gown. He then began getting undressed. After putting the hospital gown on, he folded up his clothes and put them in the next room. Along with his phone, watch, necklace, bracelets and piercings. Once he had done that, he opened the door and told Dr Parker he was ready. Dr Parker then led him over to the bed and told him to lie down on it.
As Michael did, Dr Parker noticed that Michael looked a little nervous. And a bit pale.
"You ok?" Dr Parker asked. Michael looked at him. His breathing a little shaky due to him feeling nervous.
"I'm just worried about what we might find" Michael told him.
"Hopefully it's nothing too concerning" Dr Parker said, putting his hand on Michael's shoulder, trying to comfort him. Michael smiled slightly. Dr Parker then went over the things Michael had to follow while having the scan. After that, he put a frame around Michael's head so the scan would directly target his brain and pick up anything unusual and abnormal. He then walked into the next room and sat down at the computers. Where two other doctors had just sat down at after walking into the room not that long after Michael had gotten into the hospital gown.
"Throughout the scan Michael…do your best not to move ok" Dr Parker said through the rooms speakers. Michael stuck his arm up with a thumbs up. He then lowered his arm back onto the bed.
"Now don't alarmed by the noises you hear from the machine, ok?" Dr Parker said as the machine started up. The bed moved into the MRI machine and the clanking noises of the machine started. Which kinda made Michael feel a little nervous. Mostly because to him, they sounded like animatronic noises. And ever since he was a kid, he had never been an overly huge fan on the animatronics his father made. Whenever he would get asked about the old animatronics, he'd tell people They're all apart of my childhood trauma.
Then without warning, that light-headedness he had been feeling, hit him like a freight train. And it was so bad that he ended up passing out.
From the doctors point of view, they didn't know he was unconscious. But eventually, they noticed something wrong when he started twitching violently. He was having a seizure.
"Shit!" One doctor exclaimed, quickly getting up from his seat. Dr Parker stopped the MRI scan using the emergency stop button and then rushed into the MRI room with the two other doctors that were with him.
Once the MRI bed had moved back out, Dr Parker quickly took the frame off and pulled Michael onto his side. Then one of the doctors, rushed out of the room and came back a few minutes later and injected some benzodiazepine into his thigh. Which eventually stopped the seizure.
"Did we get the scan?" One of the doctors then asked.
"Yeah. Yeah we did. Thankfully" Dr Parker answered, sighing a little.
A LITTLE LATER
Michael woke up to Dr Parker and the other doctors standing by the MRI bed. Relieved to see him awake.
"What happened?" Michael asked, eventually sitting up and slowly grabbing his head, which still felt a little dizzy.
"You suffered from a seizure" One of the doctors answered. A look of shock appeared on Michael's face.
"What about the scan?" Michael asked.
"Luckily the scan had completed just in time before the seizure occurred. There's an abnormality in your brain. And from what we can see on the scan, its quite serious. But we're also not sure what exactly it is because we've never seen anything like it" Dr Parker answered.
"So what am I supposed to do if we don't know what it is then?" Michael asked, sighing a little, looking back at the doctors.
"We're not really sure" Dr Parker replied. Michael felt a little disappointed. He wanted to know what was going on with him and everyone saying they didn't know what was going on with him, was really starting to get to him. Even him not knowing exactly what it was was annoying him.
LATER, AFTON HOME
Gregory sat at the dining room table, working on some homework that was due in a few days. Sean was also sitting at the table, working on something on his laptop. Freddy was busy charging in his charging station.
"You want anything to drink?" Gregory asked, looking at Sean.
"No I'm all good. But thanks" Sean smiled, looking at Gregory. Gregory nodded as he stood up and began making his way to the kitchen. As he did, the front door clicked and opened. Sean and Gregory looked and watched as Michael walked in. And he looked awful. More awful than he looked earlier. Or any other day for that matter.
"Hey Mike" Gregory smiled slightly.
"Hey" Michael spoke weakly, shutting the door behind him and throwing the keys down into the key bowl.
"You ok?" Sean asked as his brow furrowed.
"I'm not feeling so well. I'm going to head to bed for a bit. You guys ok with organising dinner for yourselves tonight?" Michael asked as he neared his bedroom.
"Yeah" Sean nodded, looking at Gregory who also nodded.
"Ok. Well, a friend of mine is stopping by later. Just so you guys are aware" Michael told them.
"Ok. We'll keep an ear out" Sean said to him. Michael nodded before entering his room and closing the door behind him.
"He looks absolutely terrible. Like he's been hit by a truck" Sean said, looking at Gregory. Who looked as concerned as he was.
"Yeah. Whatever it is….it's starting to scare me a bit" Gregory said, looking back at him.
"Yeah. Me too" Sean added.
Michael took off his jacket and shirt, feeling overheated quite quickly. As soon as he neared his bed, he collapsed down onto it.