Nothing Like Us (Squeal to ALAYLM)

Part 26

"You love somebody who hurts your kids?" Alex shouts back at her. I run over and stand in front of him and place a hand on his chest.

"Alex stop," I say trying to calm him down, now, usually this works but right now it wasn't any help.

"He has never laid a hand on those kids!" she says back. Alex points at her and begins to get more upset.

"Bullshit! Kara is terrified of everyone because of him. They told me the other night what he does, so don't stand there and tell me he doesn't!" he shouts.

"Tim loves those girls!" his mother says back with tears in her eyes.

"He loves them so much he leave bruises on them? You tell me how that is fair, how those girls are being punished for something they didn't do. They are confused and scared and you do nothing about it. Maybe if you stopped doing drugs and focused on what was going on in your family, you would have noticed. Maybe you would actually make a difference in their life. All that money I got was to pay for this house and food for your family, and all you do is use it to let the one problem we had back out," Alex says slamming his fist on the table next to us. I jump a little but don't move out of his way.

"He is my life....I'm sorry but I love him," was all she said before walking out of the house. Alex didn't follow, he just stood there and took some deep breaths.

"I need to see my dad," He says walking out of the house and to my truck. I follow him, the keys were in the truck still. He got in the drivers seat and waited for me to get in, so I did. He pulled out of the drive way super fast and sped off toward the city.

"Alex, why didn't you tell me about your mom?" I whisper. Was I upset about him lying, yes, but I also knew why he would lie about that.

"Because your family already hated me enough, I didn't need to give them another reason to hate me," he says as we pull into the hospital parking lot. It was the one my mother worked at, so I knew it well and everyone knew me. Since I used to work in the children area in the summers.

"Why are we here?" I ask as I get out and follow him into the hospital.

"Mr. Bowman, welcome back we haven't seen you in awhile," a nurse says. When she see's me she looks a little surprised. "Faith, what brings you here?" she says.

"Thanks Masie," Alex says pulling me behind him as we walk to the stairs. Once we get to the third floor we walk down some halls. This was the coma end of the hospital.

"Alex?" I say confused. He didn't say anything, but we did come to a door and he paused for a moment before opening it. He lets go of my hand and walks over to a bed, where an older man was laying hooked to at least five different things. I looked around, it looked like he'd been in here awhile due to all the cards and flowers and other things.

"I come here to talk," Alex finally says standing by the mans bed. I slowly walk over and stand by him.

"Is this?" I say trying to keep emotions back again.
"My dad, yeah.... A year ago he was in a race, something the older racers do. James dad was in the same race, they were friends. So them being friends, James and I used to be good friends too, until that last race," he says looking at his dad.

"What happened?" I say clearly wanting to know how his dad ended up on a coma.

"They were almost to the finish line, both of them and one other guy. Something went wrong with my dads car and it lost control. It hit James dad car and they both went spinning out of control, my dad's car slammed into the wall by the fence and he was pinned in it. James dad car rolled and slammed twice as hard into the safety wall in the median. My dad got out with a coma, still a heart beat somewhere, but James dad was dead on impact," he says focused on his father.

"Is that why James hates you so much?" I whisper.

"Ever since that day he blames my dad for what happened, we have had problems ever since then," He says.

"But no one can control what happens out on the track," I say in disbelief.

"It wasn't an accident, someone messed with something on his car before the race. We had someone check it out, someone cut a line and that is what caused it," he said looking back at me.

"Some part of me knows he can hear me talking all the time when I am here, but then another part of me thinks he is gone and not coming back. But I still sit here and pay the bills to keep the machines hooked on him, to keep his heart going. Now I have no money and I need to win that race," he says.

"Alex, racing isn't going to solve everything..... I can help you, you can pay me back later on down the road," I say making him get upset.

"I don't want you to pay for it, you shouldn't have to." Alex says calming down and looking at his dad. "I'm going to check his thing with the nurse, I'll be right back," he says walking out, leaving me there. From what my mother has told me, people in a coma are still able to hear sometimes.

"Hi Alex's dad, I can't say mister anything because Alex has a different last name then you clearly... Anyways, you have a pretty amazing boy here. He's got that tough guy look and attitude, but really he is a big sweetheart. I really am glad I met him, he's changed my life in just a few weeks. He got me to join dance, which I am terrified off. I'm scared about the big race though, I just know something is coming, I have a gut feeling... But I want you to know, I will take care of him as long as we are together, and if we break up, I will still look over him. I've never had these feelings before, but Alex just breaks my walls down. I wish you were awake and could see how happy he is, or how much he is hurting at the same time with what is happening right now. I just wish the best for him," I say as Alex walks back in.

"Alright, are you ready to go?" he says looking at me. I nod and follow him, but look back at his dad one more time before we walk out the door. It was Friday already, we didn't have school this week if you were wondering, just that one day and it was a half day and we didn't go. That small race is tomorrow, and I didn't want Alex to race in it....