Olympus Drive Book 1: Everything is Fine

Chapter 8

The CPS workers finally get the kids outside and to the cars. The kids refuse to go in separate cars. Then they say that they don't want to go to hospitals as they're leaving the house and maybe going to die can't they go to a mall? Or a casino? Or the botanical gardens? Or a cemetery? Or better yet a YMCA? In this process I learn their knowledge of the outside world comes from two sitcoms and exactly (1) well loved copy of Castlevania for the PS2.

Eventually Basil negotiates himself into the front seat of an SUV and his siblings in the back. Two glasses of wine in the boy is very lucid and good at negotiating. He's prepared. The others are sullen and scared, but him? He knew this could happen. I think Rhea coached him on it. I think he trained him. I just want to know what he told him to do next.

Once the kids are in the SUV the police and I escort them to the hospital. Reynolds catches up with me there. I stay outside while the others usher the kids in.

I have a phone call to make. One I have been waiting to make for twelve years.

"Mrs. Merryweather?" I say, even though I know this is her number.

"What is it? Did you find something?" I can hear the noise of the other kids in the background. She's covering the phone with her hand.

"Are you sitting down?" I ask.

"Tell me what the fuck you found."

"He's okay---I found him he's okay," I say, feeling myself smile as I say it.

By the general crash and screaming she was not sitting down which I did recommend.

"He's okay—he's okay he's alive," I say, actually laughing, as she sobs on the other end of the line, "He's alive and we have him at the hospital now but he's fine." I don't know if he's fine though. Physically he appears fine.

"Where---where is he?? Where was he??"

"Someone had him in a house out here in the woods. He hasn't been locked up or anything he just couldn't get home. It's complicated but the point of it is he's okay," I say, leaning against the roof of my car. I've waited too long to say those words. "Your boy's coming home."

"Thank you," she whispers, she's still sobbing.

"We're at the Winfell Memorial hospital, you can come start talking to CPS they have to interview him and all that, it'll be a couple of hours, probably I don't know," I say.

"Where is my baby?" fierce again, still sobs in her voice though.

"He's in the hospital, they're checking him over. CPS needs to do their interviews. They may recommend in-patient psychiatric assessments," Also he's drunk that kid had better not have been underestimating how much he'd had. He was sober last night so overall it doesn't concern me. He is sixteen sneaking some wine is hardly that odd a thing. However. CPS will so not think that.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming what—does he need anything? Has he eaten? What did he—"

"He's been eating fine, he looks healthy, he's wearing fine clothes though he didn't take much from the place," I say "Just come, it may be a wait though."

"Okay, okay, my mom can come over. I'll be there."

"I'll meet you outside. He was being held with other kids, kind of taking care of them. I've got to call their parents now," I say.

"Okay---thank you," she says.

"Want me to do some?" Reynolds asks, setting a laptop on top of the car.

"Yeah um---call Luke Mazzo's parents, I have them in the file, we know it's him. We'll have to wait for DNA on the others," I sigh, looking at the polaroids in the plastic bag. We're missing two. We're missing two. But we found the four. They're okay.