“If you don’t care then what does it matter
if I stay or not Nick? Why didn’t you want me to leave?” Aaron was spouting off
to his brother, “Huh? Answer me!”
Nick
narrowed his eyes, “I don’t know. I don’t know why I do anything I do anymore.”
“Admit
it Nick, you want help,” Aaron said, “You want help out of this. See you were
lying before when you said you didn’t want anything.”
Nick
slumped down on his pillows, “I’m cold. Can I get another blanket?”
“You
can get a bowl a soup Nick,” BJ said firmly, “That’s the only thing that will
warm you up, not a blanket, but food.”
Nick
shook his head, and wrapped his arms around his bony body and shivered.
“Damn
it...” Aaron rubbed his eyes to push away his tears. How do you help someone
who won’t help himself?
“Something’s
going on down there,” AJ said in a hushed tone, “I hear Brian and Kevin... and
Bob arguing, and some other voices, and that ain’t Howie. I’m gonna go and
check it out.” He opened the door and slipped out, closing it behind him.
He went to the stair railing to lean over and look down into the living
room. The voices were louder and he could hear the strain in his friend’s
voices. They were...begging? Pleading with Bob and whoever else was down there
to go away. That Aaron said he would leave willingly, just don’t crash
upstairs.
“What
the hell...?”
“You
can’t tell me where to go when my children are involved..”
“Including
the one you disowned?” Brian’s voice rose.
“Just
let me through,” Bob said. There was more yelling and thundering footsteps
clambering up the stairs. AJ blinked as he watched in a daze Bob running up
the stairs pursued by Brian, Kevin and Howie. That old man runs fast...
Oh! AJ threw himself at the top of the stairway blocking Bob’s path.
“I
knew there was one missing!” Bob yelled as he fought AJ to get past, but AJ and
Kevin, Brian, and Howie catching him from behind was enough to keep him in
place.
AJ
looked past the confrontation to see two police officers coming up the stairs,
“You will have to step aside sir, “ one said to AJ.
“On
what grounds did you get permission to come into my house. What did he pay
you?” Kevin was demanding.
“Step
aside,” the officer instructed. They pushed through the barricade the Boys had
created. Bob passed through them and walked down the hall calling the
names of his children.
“Shit...”
Aaron muttered.
“Aaron
your mouth is the most vile thing...” BJ began, but quieted as she heard what
Aaron did, “Dad.”
“Shit,”
Aaron said again, rolling his eyes, “I’m going out there. I’m gonna stop him
from getting in here.” Aaron stood up and stalked to the door hoping to
slip out before Bob rounded the corner to see what door he had come from.
He shot a look at his two older siblings who sat on the bed, BJ had
pulled Nick into her arms trying to calm his shivers.
Aaron
opened the door and slid out only to run into his father, “Oof! Damn! Hi Dad,
I’ve got my stuff and I am ready to go. I know I was wrong for what I
did, and I am prepared for whatever lecture and punishment you have prepared.
Lets go.”
Aaron
took Bob’s arm and tugged but found that his father wasn’t quite so easily
moved. “Come on Dad, before Kevin’s veins pop out of his neck. Did you go
see Mom and Leslie?”
“Are
Nick and BJ in there Aaron?”’ Bob asked calmly staring at the door Aaron stood
in front of.
“No,”
Aaron said, “That was the room Kevin gave me.” He looked behind his father to
see the guys standing behind the police looking angry, but helpless.
“Move
Aaron,” Bob grabbed Aaron around the waist and lifted his slight weight away
from the door. “DAD NO! Please! They don’t wanna see you! Nick doesn’t wanna
see you! I don’t know what he’ll do!” Bob put Aaron behind him, and
ignored any warning that he had given. He opened the door and
stepped inside the room, unprepared for the sight that was there to greet him.
BJ
and Nick huddled together on a bed. BJ, his first little girl, his
princess, was glaring at him like he was the devil himself. He could feel
the hate radiating from her body. He shuddered... and the sight of his
oldest nearly brought him to tears, the look in his eyes. He looked so
afraid, afraid of who? Me? Bob quickly regained his composure, “Your mother and
I have come to an understanding. You two are get your things together now, and
we’ll be on our way. No charges will be pressed on your friends and
things will run smoothly. Nick...” Bob approached the bed slowly, grimacing as
Nick flinched away from him and held onto BJ tighter. “Nick, your mother
and I spoke to your doctor, Dr. Sears, and he knows of a place where you can go
to get....”
“DAMN
IT DAD! Don’t you get it?!” Aaron had trailed Bob, “He doesn’t need a doctor he
never needed a doctor, he needed you. He needed you and Mom, but Mom was
too busy writing him off to doctors... and you were too busy stuffing your head
up your ass, and your tongue down Vivian’s...”
“Aaron!”
Bob was enraged, “I don’t know where you learned to talk this way...”
“You
better watch it Aaron, he’ll disown you too,” Nick muttered.
Both
Aaron and Bob looked at him, “Nick, I never disowned you, I was only angry.
Angry with myself and the situa...”
“You
told me I wasn’t human... I wasn’t normal.. Was a traitor. A mistake,”
Nick continued not listening to Bob, “A mistake that no one will let me
correct.”
“Nick
you’re not a mistake. I...”
“Then
why’d you say it Dad. You’ve been mad before and you never told me I was a
mistake.”
“Nick
I...”
“The
sex was good wasn’t it Dad. You sold me out, you sold everyone out for
sex,” Nick was shaking his head, “I mean, hell, I don’t blame you. I’d do it
now too... but you know what makes it even better? You now what makes the
sex wild...” He had let go of BJ, he was standing or rather balancing
himself with one hand on the wall, “A little coke, it’s great. Some
people think its marijuana, but I think...”
“Nickolas,
do you do drugs? You do drugs!” Bob was enraged, he stared at his oldest child
in shock, “Why the hell would you do something so stupid so careless?! I
didn’t raise a junkie, an idiot, a fool! What did you think you were doing! And
the example that you set... Is this why Aaron talks to me with no respect, why
he hates me? Why Leslie won’t make eye contact with me? Why BJ won’t...”
“SHUT
UP!” BJ screamed at her father, she made her way to Nick cautiously, trying to
reach out and touch him. His face was dangerously pale and his body practically
vibrated, his teeth chattered, his knees knocked together. His chest
heaved in and out loudly and he clutched the wall, the table, a chair, anything
he could get his hands on to keep him upright, “Look at him Dad, LOOK AT HIM!”
“I
am looking at him, and what I see makes me sick. Come on, come Aaron, BJ, Nick
get your things. You’re going to the Center right away Nick. As soon as we
get home and buy you what you need you’re getting on a plane to Canada,” Bob
charged forward towards Nick and Nick shrank back, his breathing becoming more
desperate. He clutched his chest as he gasped in and out fighting for a breath,
“Leave me alone... I’m not going to see anybody else.. I don’t want anyone to
see me... Oh God, I can’t breathe...” He swooned and collapsed right into
Bob’s open arms.
Bob,
Aaron, and BJ let out a startled cry. “Oh no,” BJ breathed. She knelt
beside her father and her older brother, “Nicky? Nicky can you hear me?”
“What
have I done what have I done... Nicky, baby... Daddy’s sorry, he’s so sorry.
Honey, wake up please... Please... Oh God what have I done?” He
hugged Nick’s limp body to his chest.
“I’m
gonna go call an ambulance,” BJ said in a quiet voice,, she jumped up and ran
from the room leaving Bob alone with Aaron, and Nick.
“You
bastard, what were you thinking? I thought you said you wanted to help? Nick
hates himself, and a lot of that self hatred comes directly from the cruel
words you said to him months ago. You turned him to this... you and Mom,
and stress, and God everything. Everything Dad. You messed everything up for
us. You... and then you come in here to make things right... claiming that you
want to make things right, and then you do this. Oh Dad, he tears himself
down enough, he didn’t need your help,” tears coursed down Aaron’s face,
“You’re smothering him, lie him flat!” Aaron snapped bumping Bob’s arms as he
cradled Nick like a small child.
“I’m
so sorry.... I just want him to...”
“Dad,
he said he couldn’t breathe, lie him down!” Aaron barked.
Bob
blinked, then gently lie Nick on the floor, tenderly brushing his blond hair
behind his ears with his fingers, “I don’t know what came over me. I just got
so scared, so angry that he would pollute his body in that way.”
“It
all started with prescription drugs from the very same psychiatrist you guys
want to send him back too. Dr. Sears just wants the money Dad, he doesn’t give
a damn about Nick. And when you try to send him away, Nick feels that you don’t
give a damn.”
Bob
was trying to calm himself down, he sat stroking Nick’s hair and talking to him
lovingly. Brian, Kevin, Howie, and AJ came into the room, “BJ’s calling
an ambulance in the hall. What the hell happened?”
“Nick!”
Brian tried to push Bob out of the way, “Nicky?”
Bob
shoved Brian back causing a very violent reaction from Brian who abruptly
pulled back and punched Bob square in the jaw, “Son of a bitch! You get
out of here! This is all your doing! It’s all your fault!”
Bob
lunged at Brian with a snarl trying to land a fist but was restrained by the
other Boys and the police.
“Watch
Nicky! Watch out for Nicky!” Howie was yelling. He dropped beside Nick trying
to shield him from any stray limbs flailing that could strike him. Kevin
pulled out of the fight, shaking himself and gazing down at Howie and Nick.
He took Nick from Howie, lifting him up and carrying him out the
door. AJ pulled out of the fight just in time to see Aaron, Howie, and
Kevin leaving with Nick. He gripped Brian’s collar and dragged him after
the others. Bob and the police also followed.
“What
happened up there Aaron?” Kevin demanded.
“Bob
started yelling and calling him names,” Aaron said in a angry voice, “He got
really upset and started hyperventilating.”
“Well,
are you happy now Bob, huh?” Brian asked from Nick’s side. He was lying on the
couch. Brian held his limp hand and coaxed him to wake up. Bob stood with
his head in his hands, “No I’m not happy. What’s wrong with him, he
weighs what? Twelve pounds? What has he done to himself... besides the drugs?”
AJ
simply rolled his eyes, “Where’s the ambulance.”
“It’s
on its way,” BJ said coming down the stairs.
“Why
don’t you ride with him Beej,” Kevin suggested, “He’ll be glad to see you when
he wakes up.”
BJ
nodded, “Yeah.”
“Are
you ignoring me?!” Bob shrieked.
All
eyes peeled towards him, “Yeah, we are. We have nothing to say to you,” Howie
simply said, “Perhaps someone should call Jane and Leslie to let them know the
situation.”
“I’ll
call,” Bob said. He immediately pulled out his phone and began dialing.
Sirens
could be heard coming from outside, “Here it comes.”
The
next few minutes were a blur as paramedics rushed in and took Nick’s pulse and
started an IV, “He’s dehydrated...” one commented, “Temperature of 101.”
Nick was loaded on a stretcher and put into the ambulance. BJ climbed in
after him. After the ambulance whizzed away, Kevin ran back into his
house to grab his keys, “Come on lets go.”
“Aaron
where are you going?” Bob called after his son who was running to Kevin’s garage
along with the Boys.
“To
see my brother,” Aaron said flatly.
“Ride
with me I’m going to the same place,” Bob said feeling rather shaky he needed
the company. If he could be with one of his sons and feel that he was ok...
“Oh
Dad, I would ride with you... But the thought of it makes me wanna hurl. And I
know how well you treasure your appearances in public, and I wouldn’t wanna
tarnish that with my regurgitated insides. Sorry, I’ll see you there,” Aaron
smiled sweetly and waved to his stricken father. He ran to catch up with
the guys leaving Bob Carter to remain staring after him.
“Lets
go Mr. Carter, we’ll take you to the hospital,” a police officer offered
kindly.
Bob
nodded blinking back a tear, “Thank you. I appreciate it.”