In the dim Afton parlor, silence pulsed with bitterness as William faced his fractured family. Michael’s sneer cut through the tension: “Another sick game, William?” Clara’s icy retreat deepened the wound. The household spiraled in dysfunction—Michael raged elsewhere, Elizabeth played alone, Evan whispered to nightmares, and Ms. Afton drowned sorrows in wine. Gabriel, Jeremy, and Susie ate pizza, indifferent. Fritz fixated on a Cutlass, Cassidy plotted eternal revenge, and Charlie slept, untouched by the chaos. Once again, the Aftons' gathered not in unity, but in fractured silence, bound by trauma, resentment, and the haunting legacy of William’s failures. Love had long since vanished—only shadows remained.