Chapter 3: Midnight Motorist
William looked down at the knife that he was holding in his hand. He could not help but to grin when he thought of what he had just done. Now, surely, Henry would understand the depths of grief that he had caused the Afton family after Evan was murdered by the animatronic that Henry made. The dead body in front of William Afton was evidence that Henry would not get a last laugh. With that thought William let out a small and nearly inaudible chuckle. Then William heard a noise that made him stop laughing immediately. The doors to the family diner opened.
"Charlie! Are you out here," William heard his business partner's voice cut through the rain. William was sure that he would be seen, and he probably would have, too, had it not been for the fact that Henry went to his car. One thought entered into William's mind: Run. He knew that he had to get out of there as quickly as he could.
William hopped into his purple luxury car and began to drive as quickly as he could. When he finally checked his speedometer, he noticed that the speed got up to 200 miles per hour. William was aware that this could bring unwanted attention to him but at that time he did not care. He weaved in and out of oncoming traffic and nearly hit a white car. When Henry finally slowed down to avoid the collision the driver of the other car made an obscene gesture in William's direction. William did not let that go unnoticed.
"I probably deserved that one," William said out loud. Those were the first words he spoke since killing Charlie Emily. William then got to the exit that he lived off of.
"I need a drink," he thought to himself. The local bar, Jr's, was between where he was and his house. Stopping there for a beer or two seemed like a good idea. He knew that the last time he was in the bar there was a little bit of unpleasantness that left his nose bloodied but that was in the past now. He slowed his car down even more and turned on his turn signal. Taking a right turn he drove into the bar's parking lot and parked his car behind a blue car.
When William walked up to the front door his heart skipped a beat. One of the bartenders was on break and standing outside of the entrance. This particular bartender and William were actively a part of the fight that happened the last time William was in the bar. The bartender and William made awkward eye contact and then the bartender spoke up.
"Afton, come on, man you know you can't be here. Don't make this more difficult than it has to be."
"I am just here for a drink," William replied.
"I can't let you in. You know why," was the only response. Seeing he was being turned away, William turned back to walk back to his car. He got in the car and said a few choice words about the bartender as he drove off.
William pondered where he should go next. He had a choice to make. He considered driving north to see where Clara and he had chosen to bury Evan. It was an unmarked grave that did not seem all that great to William. He wanted Evan to have a great tombstone but Clara, his wife, insisted that he did not need anything like that. One night after William had had a few too many drinks at the bar he let Clara know exactly what he thought about that. He could not remember if he turned violent towards his wife or not that night. In the end William decided it was not worth it to see Evan's gravesite. He knew how unimpressive it was. No, William would just continue to drive towards his house.
William hated being at his house. At least, he hated being in the upper part of his house. All around him were reminders of his deceased child. One of those reminders was his older son, Michael. Michael had played a very active role in Evan's death and William felt a lot of pain whenever he saw his son. It seemed to William that Michael and Henry shared credit for killing Evan. It was like they were a team that plotted to destroy William and that led to the death of Evan.
William parked the car in the house's driveway, which was a surprisingly far distant from the house. He got out and realized that the rain had not let up at all. It also had not increased in intensity but that did not provide William with any comfort as he walked into the house.
William noticed that Clara was sitting and watching a TV show. He assumed that Elizabeth was playing in her room. He did not care where Michael was until he saw that Clara was looking in his eyes.
"William, you are home. Where have you been," Clara asked with a concerned tone in her voice.
"It is none of your business. Where is Michael," William asked in response.
"Please, leave him alone tonight. He had a rough day," was Clara's reply.
"So he is in his room then," William deduced and he walked down the hallway without saying anything else to his wife.
William walked up to Michael's bedroom door and pounded on the door.
"Michael, I told you not to close your door," William shouted as he began to walk away. Then he stopped in the middle of the hallway and thought to himself 'Wait! This is my house. He can't ignore me like that.' He quickly returned to the door and hit it even harder. William was not sure, but it almost seemed like a piece of wood flew off of the door.
"OPEN THE DOOR!" William screamed. His voice cracked as he did so. He tried the doorknob and realized that the door was locked.
"I'll find a way in from outside," William told Clara as he ran out of the house.
"William, are you all right," Clara asked but William either did not hear the question or consciously chose to ignore it. William slowly walked through the rain towards the window that showed Michael outside. When he got to the window, he saw two sets of footprints. One was much larger than the other. In fact, the first set of footprints hardly looked human. Maybe they weren't.
"Ran off to that place again. He will be sorry when he gets back," William said under his breath as he returned to the house.