The Boy In The Box (Newtmas au)

Chapter 23

Thomas' POV

"Is this Thomas Greene?" an unfamiliar voice says through the speaker of my phone.

"Yes. Who is this?" 

"My name is Jessie", the lady says. "I work in the hospital. I'm calling to tell you that your cousins, I believe, Teresa and Brenda are here and we need to talk to you."

What the shuck? Teresa and Brenda? In the hospital? 

"What happened?" I ask, already starting to panic. The woman stays calm though: "I will explain it to you when you get here. Please hurry, if that is possible, Mr. Greene."

I thank her for calling me and put the phone down. Newt turns towards me from his spot on the couch where we were watching a film.

"What was that about?"

"It's my cousins", I pant heavily. "They are in the hospital, I don't know why. I need to get to them right now." I frantically wave my arms around, but Newt holds them down.

"Calm, Tommy. Calm down. They'll be alright. Do you want me to drive you?" Newt asks in a calm voice. I nod. We quickly leave the building and Newt drives us to the hospital.

"Where can I find Brenda and Teresa Agnes?" I ask the man by the front desk. He gives me a few directions and after searching for some minutes, Newt and I find the room where my girls are supposed to be. A woman just walks out of the room when we arrive. 

"You must be Thomas Greene", she says looking at me. That must be Jessie. I shake her outstretched hand while nodding. She shakes Newt's hand too. The serious look on her face tells me her news won't be very good.

"Please sit down, sir." Newt and I do as we're told and sit down on the chairs in the hallway. 

"What happened to my cousins?"

"Well... Something happened in their house earlier this evening. The girls were just in the living room, when two men broke in their house. The girls didn't know what was happening and they were scared. Apparently the men were saying something about revenge, but your cousins didn't know what was actually going on. The men kept shouting things at them and accusing them of stuff, until one of them grabbed a knife from his pocket. They cornered the girls and started beating them. Brenda Agnes was hit so hard and so many times, that she has three fractured ribs and quite some trouble breathing. Teresa Agnes wasn't hit that many times, but she was stabbed in the shoulder with the earlier called knife. The neighbors must have heard their screams because they called the police and us. We found them unconscious on their living room floor."

Holy shit. I'm getting dizzy. My head is spinning around and around. This can't be happening. This is not happening. Someone hurt my little girls. And it's my fault. Everything is my fault. I dragged them into this mess that is my life. I hurt them, even though I don't know who actually hurt them.

"Bloody klunked up hell", Newt mutters. "Tommy, are you alright?" I look up at him, too fast, because dizziness takes over my senses once again.

I don't answer him. Instead I ask: "Are they awake?" Jessie nods and opens the door for me. I walk in, Newt following right behind me. 

The sight in front of me is almost unbearable. Two hospital beds are occupied by my family members. Brenda's upper body is wrapped in bandages and Teresa's shoulder is also covered in white cotton. Their skin is pale, paler than usual and their hollow, tired eyes set the mood in the entire room: it feels like someone just died. 

Then it hits me: not someone, but something died, and it's their self-confidence and pride. They lost it in the traumatizing event they just had to live through. They went through hell, and it killed them. It extinguished the fire in them. Their pride is mortified, and something tells me that they will never be completely the same again.

"Oh my god" I run in between their two beds.

"Hey", Teresa says quietly. Brenda just smiles at me, obviously in pain. I hold their hands. I don't feel like talking right now. I need to let all this information sink in too, and I don't think my girls are ready to talk about it either. 

Newt and I stay in the room for some time while T and Bren go back to sleep. They need to rest and make their injuries heal. After a while, Jessie walks back into the room and sits down on a remaining chair.

"Mr. Greene. The police is investigating the case and searching the intruders. They would like to have a conversation with you. Maybe you can help them by giving information about the girls and about their past. That might make it easier to find the suspects and their motives."

I am not on very good terms with the local police, but for my cousins, I will do this in a heartbeat. I am going to find the person who did this to them and I am going to make sure they pay for it. I promise you they won't feel good after I am done with those slintheads.

"Okay. I'll talk to them."

When she leaves the room again, Newt takes my hand.

"I actually can't believe this. Who  would do something like this?" I declare resentful. Newt sighs.

"I don't know. Let's just hope they find those shuckfaces soon. Who knows what else they're capable of." He hugs me tight while I look at the two poor girls in the beds beside me. I'm going to murder whoever did this to them.

***

Short chapter because I wanted to write but I don't have much time to right because of school. I still hope you like it though.

Yesterday I came home from school and I had 23 new votes on my story. What the actual fuck?! THANK YOU SO MUCH THAT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME

I'm just going to rant on a bit ok. So basically everyone knows what happened on the 13th in Paris, but now one of the terrorist there has made his way to my country and in my city the danger level is 3, which is pretty high (in Brussels it's 4, that's the highest rate. wouldn't want to go there now), but my school has already taken some safety measures to makes sure that everyone's safe. But it's kinda scary to know that this is actually serious. There is a high danger rate and that makes it all even more scary.

Alright, that's about it, I guess. I hope you like this chapter :)