The Chaotic Interim (boyxboy)

Chapter 16

Four more days passed and it was Sunday again. Except for Tuesday when the boys slept in, they’d gone to see Ayden almost every day. They got there at eight-thirty in the morning but only stayed until Lanai’s lunch break when she picked them up and made them go back to the house.

They slept at Josiah’s parents’ house each night, but Carson’s parents actually came over for dinner every night. It was a massive oddity to the brunet, but he got used to it after the second night. And he actually kind of liked it. He enjoyed seeing how his family got along so well with Josiah’s. Even Walt and Keri stopped by one night.

Since they spent so much time at the hospital, Carson had his check-up one day while they were there. The doctor who saw him told both the boys that Carson looked one-hundred percent fine by then. There were no signs of a returning concussion and he could go back to reading and school work whenever he wanted. But he should still be careful when it came to physical activities that could injure his head. Other than that, he had nothing to worry about; he could go back to normal.

The preliminary hearing was on Friday afternoon. Carson had been an absolute wreck. Josiah thought he had never seen him that bad, not even during the last two weeks had he seemed so unsure of himself and unhappy. Josiah tried not to melt into a puddle of worry and, admittedly, secondhand embarrassment as Carson stuttered and stumbled all over himself while he testified against his attackers.

What was the hardest for Josiah was to just be sat in the same room as Gabriel and Jeremiah. He wanted to kill them for their actions. The intense desire to make them feel as awful as they had made Carson feel actually scared the sage-eyed boy. So in order to cope with his anger, Josiah focused all of his attention on Carson and making sure he didn’t even look at the defendants’ table.

When Carson was finally able to leave the stand to go back and sit with his parents, Josiah didn’t hesitate to latch onto the trembling boy’s hand. All Josiah could think about was that they were one step closer to having things taken care of.

Even Carson kept trying to tell himself that things were going well. He told the truth and told them everything that happened; told them everything he could remember before he had passed out that night. It took everything in his power not to throw up or break down in a trembling fit of tears when he made eye contact with Gabriel for the first time that day.

And as much as he tried to stop himself, he couldn’t help but glance at Gabriel over and over again while he was testifying. The older boy looked like a mess. But he still looked menacing even if all he was doing was staring at Carson in disgust. The brunet wasn’t even sure if there was any malice behind his glare, but it was enough to scare him. It would always be enough as long as Carson had the images and memories ingrained in his mind.

What made being there even slightly worth it was the satisfaction that both Jeremiah and Gabriel were indicted for their crimes. And on Monday they would have to go to their arraignment. Carson was glad that his presence wasn’t required at that. Seeing the people who were responsible for all of his turmoil the last couple weeks just one time was more than enough for the blue-eyed boy. He never wanted to see either of them again.

The night following the hearing, Josiah noticed that even though Carson had spent much of the afternoon freaking out, he seemed to be feeling much better. He smiled and joked with the black-haired boy. And he cuddled and wrestled with Milfred and played fetch with him out in the backyard with Josiah at his side.

A lot of that had to do with talking to Nicole Mcnally. She was an awfully nice woman who really seemed to care about what Carson was going through. And as far as everyone was concerned she was good at her job. She assured them before they left the courtroom that things would more than likely work out to their highest benefit. That had been enough to lift Carson’s spirits for days.