My parents’ reaction was worse than I expected. They were so angry. I feel like that doesn’t even begin to explain the way everything kicked off at my house last night.
To give you a little bit of insight, mum has gone a bit insane. We are now all on house lockdown. This is her attempt to keep everyone’s whereabouts in check and make sure I don’t try to escape. Plus, I am grounded and not allowed to see Louis ‘until further notice’. Seriously, mum was starting to sound like our Priminister.
And this isn’t even the worst of it.
Flashback to yesterday evening.
It was Keign who happened to be the one to open the door for us.
“Rye, why would you bring him here?” he grunted.
“Hello to you too, Keign.”
Keign scowled Louis and Louis scowled at him back.
“We are here to tell mum and dad.”
Keign’s face softened and he opened the door wider for us. “Oh.”
“Good luck, they’re in the kitchen.”
We walked in and I instantly regretted my decision. Mum and dad were cooking dinner together. Mum was chopping vegetables and making a salad, while dad stirred, what smelt like chicken, in the pot.
I gulped, cleared my throat then spoke. “Mum, Dad.”
They paused and turned to face me and Louis.
“This is Louis.”
“Hi.” He said, timidly.
“Oh, This must be the young man you have been sneaking off to see all summer.” Mum smiled and walked over to sit at the table.
“Nice to meet you.” Dad said, shaking his hand before sitting next to mum.
I sat in one of the seats across the table from them and Louis sat beside me. “We need to talk to you both.”
“Okay.” Dad said, looking between us, warily.
“I'm........” The house was tensely quiet. Keign, mum and dad, all their eyes were glued on me while they waited for me to share the news. I still couldn’t decide if it was good or bad news, but I guess I’d find out after this.
“Come on, spit it out.” Mum said.
Louis sat calmly beside me and rubbed my thigh softly under the table.
“I’m pregnant.” I whispered.
“YOU’RE WHAT?!” Dad yelled, shooting up from his seat. His eyes were wide and shocked.
“Sit down honey, its obviously some sort of joke.”
“Well, no it’s not.” Louis said Politely.
“She is pregnant and I’m the father.”
If looks could kill, oh my gosh! we would have been dead right there and then.
“When Rye?” Mum was still calm, but I could feel that she was gradually getting close to the point where she was going to lose it.
“Um....I think it was.....”
“WHEN. RYE?!” Mum raised her voice, making us both jump.
Dad was pacing back and forth between the kitchen and the table, taking deep breaths, his eyes burning with rage.
“Lilah’s party!” I yelled in a panic.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” mum said infuriated, leaving the table.
Louis was just sitting there next to me in complete silence, bouncing his leg frantically under the table.
At this point, dad went ballistic.
“At THAT party! The one that you promised you’d stay out of trouble in!”
“And don’t think you have nothing to do with this young man!” Dad pointed a shaky finger directly at Keign, who was sat observing from the sofa.
“Me?!” Keign said.
“YOU were meant to watch her.”
“Where were you all night?”
“I.....I.” Keign stuttered.
“WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THIS BOY IMPREGNATED YOUR FUCKING SISTER?” Dad boomed, grabbing Keign by the front of his grey jumper.
“I was in the pool!” Keign looked absolutely terrified.
I didn’t know what to do. Should I go over there and help him? Or should I sit and stay quiet? I was terrified and I think Louis was too, even though he seemed to be keeping a straight face. We were both still gripping each other’s , now clammy, hands. My heart was racing rapidly in my chest. Dad had never acted like this before. In the mist of panic, I just blurted out. “LET GO OF HIM, DAD!”
Dad shot a cold glare at me from across the room . “You better shut your goddamn mouth young lady!”
Louis let go of my hand, clenching his hand in a tight fist. I looked up at him and noticed his eyes had turned dark. I’d hadn’t seen this side of him before. Louis jumped up and out of his seat in rage. “Don’t talk to her like that!” He yelled.
Dad slowly released his grip on Keign and turned directly to Louis. Keign took the chance he had and stepped as far away from dad as possible, while dad glared daggers at Louis. The house fell eerily quiet, it felt like if anyone moved it would instantly collapse. Mum was stood, frozen by the fridge and even she didn’t say a word.
“What did you say to me?” Dad growled. His voice low and serious.
“I said.” Louis stalked up to my dad. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
“Louis, no!” I grunted in a hushed tone, reaching out to grab his wrist. But I missed. He was too far away.
“You better watch your tongue young man.” Dad sized himself up to Louis. He was 5 foot 10 and buff making Louis, being 5 foot 7 and slim, look small beside him.
“YOU, better watch how you speak to my girlfriend.” Louis’ hands were still tightly clenched in a fist. You could see his veins pulsing in his neck and his knuckles were turning bright pink.
Dad looked down and smirked at Louis. Like a tiger ready to pounce on its prey.
“Say another word and you will never step foot near her ever again.” Dad whispered poking his finger forcefully in his chest.
“I’m not scared of you and you can NOT stop me from seeing Rye or my children.”
That was it. Dad swung back his fist, thumping Louis straight in the mouth. He pounded him hard. We all heard it as his fist connected with Louis' face , I bet the neighbours could have heard it.
Louis fell to the ground, clutching his jaw in agony, blood seeping out from his mouth. But he wasn’t finished. He picked himself back up and punched him back. Just as hard, leaving dad with a bloody nose.
Before we could stop them, there was a full blown wrestling match in my living room. They were tumbling over furniture and blood was splattering all over the place. Keign was yelling gripping dad's shoulders, trying to get him off Louis, but dad just shoved him out of the way.
“Tom stop!!” Mum shrieked, running over to him.
Dad was much stronger. Louis was now curled up on the ground, groaning in pain, while dad repeatedly booted him in the stomach.
“DAD STOP, PLEASE!!” I screamed, tears rolling down my cheeks.
I ran over to Louis to try to help him, but I couldn’t. Dad wouldn’t stop.
Louis wasn’t moving much now, and blood was gradually bleeding through his jumper.
We couldn’t stop them, so my last thought was to call the police. I stumbled over to the house phone on the window sill and dialled 999. No one even noticed, since they were still trying to calm dad down.
“Please, my dad, he won’t stop! He’s hurting my boyfriend, he’s bleeding on the ground, please help...”
And that’s when I blacked out again. The doctors said the extreme stress caused me to collapse.
I woke up on the sofa after that, with a blazing headache. As I opened my eyes, I saw police putting dad in hand cuffs and Louis being carried out in a stretcher into an ambulance.
A paramedic was sitting next to me, checking my pulse and blood pressure.
Keign was sat crossed legs on the carpet, in front of the sofa, watching me intently.
“Is Louis ok?” I asked, panicked.
“He’s in the ambulance, Rye.” Keign said, grabbing my hand.
“I need to see him!, I need to know that he's ok!” I yelled, sitting up and tearing off the blood pressure strap.
“Rye, you need to calm down or you will hurt the baby.” The paramedic said, his name tag read Liam. I frowned, but slowly relaxed back down on the sofa. How did he know that?
“Babies.” I corrected him.
“There’s more than one?!” Keign asked.
“Yes, there twins.” I said casually, but Keign was still staring at me like I had grown a third eye.
“In that case, you are going to need to come to the hospital, so we can make sure you and babies are ok.” Paramedic Liam said.
“You can travel with the young man in the ambulance right now.”
“Ok.” I sat back up, stood and walked steadily with Liam to the front door.
“Can I come with? I’m her twin brother.” Keign asked, standing up abruptly.
“Only if Rye agrees.”
“Yeah. I guess he can come.”
Outside, there were 2 police cars and one ambulance. Our neighbours were watching intently from their windows, one of them being Keign’s friend, Kyle. Keign nodded subtly at him before climbing into the ambulance. Mum stood in her dressing gown, talking to the police women and dad was sitting in the back of a police car, staring at his lap.
As soon as she saw me, she ran up and gave me a hug.
“Oh, Rye!” She sounded like she had been crying.
“I’m sorry mum.” I burst into tears, laying my head on her shoulder.
“I’m really sorry, I just wanted it all to stop. He wouldn’t stop.”
“I know hon.” She said, squeezing me a bit tighter. “We’ll sort this out.”
“Ms Parker, we must go.” Liam said from behind me.
“Bye mum.”
“Bye honey.” She kissed my forehead and sniffled, wiping the tears falling from her eyes. I smiled sadly, as I got in the ambulance.
She looked up and waved as the doors began to shut. Her eyes were puffy and raw pink. I waved back.
Once the doors were locked shut, I was strapped into a bed safely next to Louis’ bed and they drove off to the hospital.
Louis looked terrible. He had an oxygen mask on, a bruised eye and a small gash on his forehead. He also had another paramedic holding a bloody towel on his abdomen in an attempt to stop the bleeding. He was shirtless, so I think they must have cut his jumper off.
“Oh Louis.” I gasped, my throat catching as tears streamed down my cheeks.
I reached over and held his hand. His knuckles were bruised too.
I lifted it up to kiss it and he squeezed back, just barely.
“Louis?” I called.
“Louis, are you awake?”
“Rye?” he said, in a hoarse voice.
“Louis!, Louis I’m so sorry this happened.”
He turned around slowly to look at me.
“Rye, its not your fault, you don’t need to be sorry.” He said quietly, still holding my hand. He smiled slightly but then winced.
“Are you and the babies ok?” Louis asked.
His eye lids were heavy. He didn’t look like he was fully awake yet.
“I don’t know, we are going to get checked out now.”
“Ok.” He said. His grip on my hand slowly loosened. I knew he was falling back out of consciousness.
Keign was silent the whole ride there. He just sat in the seat beside me, staring at the ground. He didn’t say a word until we were in my hospital room.
“Rye.” He said, while the nurse strapped me up to the baby monitor.
“Yeah.” I said, not bothering to look at him.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what, Keign?” I said, irritably.
“For not being there for you and for getting angry when I found out you were pregnant.”
“It’s fine, Keign. Mum and dad’s reaction was worse.”
We both flinched at the mention of dad.
“Yeah, but I still feel bad for my reaction. I guess, I just was finding it hard to accept that my twin is carrying a baby.”
“Two babies!”
“Wow! my twin is carrying twins.”
“I know, its crazy.” I snorted. it still hasn’t sunk in for me either.” I said.
“You are gonna have two little humans running around.” He got up and sat on the bottom of the bed.
“Yeah.” I said, rubbing my hardly noticeable bump. It was still very small, no one could really tell I was pregnant since I already had a bit of belly fat, but it looked different to me.
“Ms Parker, we are just going to have a look at the babies, ok?” The nurse said.
I nodded.
She rubbed the gel on my belly with the ultrasound and the babies popped up on the screen.
“Look, Keign.” I pointed. “There’s your little nieces or nephews. Or niece and nephew.”
“Oh, yeah! I’m gonna be an uncle.” Keign said enthusiastically. “They look like little kidney beans tho.” He chuckled.
“Well Rye, Luckily they are completely fine and healthy.”
“As for you, you just need to rest and avoid being stressed as much as possible.”
“I’ll try.” I sighed.
“Look after your twin, ok young man?”
“Yes, I’ll do my best.” Keign said.
“Good, you are discharged, so you can leave when you’re ready.”
“Thank you nurse.” I said, as she left.
“I’ll call a cab.” Keign quickly grabbed his phone and began ordering an Uber.
“Wait.” I placed my hand on his knee.
“Can we go and check on Louis first?”
“I don’t know if we are allowed, Rye.”
“He's only two doors down and it will just be for a second.” I pleaded.
“Fine, but let’s be quick.”
So we got up and walked down the corridor to Louis' room. Well, it wasn’t really a room, it was just an area with a bed closed off with blue curtains. I slightly pulled open the curtain to check that there weren’t any doctors in there, but it was just Louis laying on his own, so the coast was clear.
“I’ll be on lookout.” Keign said standing outside.
“Ok.”
I snuck in and tip-toed past the bed, in case he was sleeping, but as I got to a chair, Louis opened his good eye and giggled.
“You’re adorable, you know that right?” He sounded much more like normal Louis now, but his voice was still a bit raspy.
“Oh, your awake.” I laughed.
“How’s the babies?” He tapped the space beside him for me to sit down.
“They are perfectly healthy.”
“That’s great.”
“And how are you?” He said sitting up slightly. He breathed in sharply as he hurt chest a bit too much. I frowned sadly.
“Don’t worry about me, how are you?” I rubbed his leg gently.
“Um, just a sore eye and a headache.”
“My stomach is the worst of it. It was an open wound and a bit deep, so I got a few stitches.”
‘I can’t believe my dad did that. I’ll never forgive him.’ I thought to myself, still angry. Louis noticed the anger on my face and laid his slightly bruised hand on top of mine.
“The doctors said all my organs are fine though. I have to stay here for a few nights, just to make sure.”
I nodded, locking my eyes with his. I sat up on my knees and lightly stroked his floppy brown hair out of his face.
“I was so worried about you, Lou.”
“You were?” he whispered.
“Yeah, I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you.” Tears welled up in my eyes.
“I’m here Rye, I’m not going anywhere.” He brought his thumb to my cheek and softly stroked it, wiping away my tears.
He brought my face closer and kissed me lightly on the lips. “I love you so much, Rye.”
I sighed, resting my head gently on his. “I love you too.”
“You’re gonna be the best dad.” I kissed his forehead where the butterfly strips were.
“Rye, a nurse is coming.” Keign whispered peeking his head in through the gap in curtains.
He saw me laying half way on top of Louis and made a ‘gagging face’.
“Wrap it up love birds.”
“So.... I guess.. I gotta go now.” I began to slowly climb off him, making sure I didn’t hurt him. But he pulled me back and kissed me again, his lips lingering on mine. Neither of us wanting to let go.
“Lou.” I chuckled. “I have to go.”
I climbed off and pulled down my shirt that was half way up over my belly. Louis grabbed my waist and gently pulled me closer. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he just smirked a little then kissed my small bump.
“Love you little ones.” He said.
I smiled. “I’ll message you when I get home.”
Louis nodded.
Keign stormed in glaring at me. “Come ON!, Rye.” He whispered loudly.
“Hey, you good man?” Keign said to Louis.
“Yeah, thanks for your help back there, it took some guts to step up to your dad.” Louis said.
“Yeah, Its all good.”
“Anyway, bye.” Keign said tugging me out.
I smiled and rolled my eyes. “Bye Lou.”
Keign called a Cab back home and it came so fast. Before we knew it, we were 5 minutes away from home.
“Rye, when we get back home, mum is most likely still not going to be happy, but hopefully she’s calmed down by now.”
“Yeah, hopefully.” I sat gazing out the window watching as the cars zoomed by. A police car sped past with its sirens on full blast. It made me jump, bringing back a vivid image of dad in the police car earlier and all the other terrifying moments flashed through my mind after that. Today didn’t really feel real yet. Keign placed his hand on my hand and gave me a sad smile. I wondered if he saw me jump or whether he could read my mind, but then I looked down at my hands and realised they had been in a tight fist for the last few minutes.
“You know Rye...” Keign began “Even though we are basically the same age..."
“We are the same age.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“I’m 10 minutes older!”
“Pfff! Like that makes a difference. We are still twins born on the same day.” I argued.
“Just....let me finish.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I was going to say that even though we’re twins, I still feel obligated to be the ‘older brother’ so I got your back. The nurse said I have to look after you, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Thanks, Keign.” I gave him a side hug.
“But if we’re going to be technical then I’m still the older brother.”
“Don’t ruin the moment.” I sighed.
We let go and moved back into our own seats. Me and Keign were never really the affectionate type, so the aftermath of times like these were always awkward. The car began to slow down as it turned into Emmett drive -our road-.
“So... because you’re looking after me, does that mean I can eat your candy floss?” I asked eagerly.
“That, happens to be where you cross the line.”
“Oh, fine.” I said, nudging Keign’s hip playfully.
At home, mum was in the kitchen occupied with making dinner.
I felt weird going back into my own house. It was like a crime scene from NCIS. There were traces of blood on the grey sofa and the coffee table. Mum had washed the white rug from the living room and hung it over the banister, to try and get rid of the blood, but you could clearly see little spots of red and one huge splatter in the middle. It was just slightly faded.
Keign and I took a deep breath then walked in and sat at the kitchen table.
“Hi mum.” Keign and I said in unison.
Mum said nothing, but turned around and began walking towards us slowly, her face blank and her eyes still a little red. At first, I thought she was still mad, but then stopped in front of us and opened her arms for a hug.
We both stood up hesitantly and hugged her back. Mum gave us one of her -squeeze-the-life-out-of-you hugs which ironically helped me relax.
“Today has been a rough day.” Mum said. She slowly let us go and took a seat at the table. “But we do need to have a chat.” We nodded and sat down opposite her.
“First of all, I am so very sorry that both of you had to witness that. Especially you Rye, your father should not have reacted in such an aggressive manner towards Louis.” I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, not wanting to even think about it. I could already feel the tears rushing back.
“If I may say, in our defence, your pregnancy announcement did shock us quite a bit, but that does not excuse our actions.”
Keign and I just sat there and listened. Our house was quiet. The only sound we could hear other than mum talking, was the boiling water, bubbling in the pot on the stove and the low hum of the TV.
“Keign, did you know about this earlier?” Mum asked.
“I found out a couple days ago, on accident.”
“On accident?” Mum asked, slightly confused.
“Yeah, Keign walked in on me in the bathroom after I had thrown up. He heard me talking to my bump and figured it out.”
“Yeah, what she said.”
“Ok.” Mum sighed deeply, massaging her temples.
“So, explain to me how all this started.” Mum said.
I told the truth. About Lilah's party and the first doctors appointment, when I found out that all the throwing up, prior to that, was because I was pregnant. How, I fainted in the bathroom after taking the test and ended up in hospital.
I told her how earlier today I went to my first scan appointment with Louis and found out I was having twins, then that’s when we came to tell them.
“Honey, you shouldn’t have had to go through all this in secret.” Mum said reaching over the table to lay her hand on mine.
“I wish I could have been there with you when you found out, then maybe this could have ended differently.”
“Me too, Rye.” Keign said, putting his hand on my shoulder.
“We need to sort this out as a family.”
“That is why I have made the decision to put us ALL on house lockdown.”
Way to ruin the moment. I felt the urge to argue and say ‘that’s not fair!’ but I knew once mum had made her mind up, there was no changing it.
“Keign, you go to college and you come straight back home.”
“You have no excuse to go outside Rye, unless its in the garden or for a walk.”
“I’ve called Jordan and he is making his way down for a 6 week holiday off work, so he will be taking over the business while he is back in town.”
“Fine.” This day had been hard enough, I wasn’t about to make it worse by arguing with mum. Plus I was exhausted.
“Fine.” Keign said, looking very pissed off.
“And, no hanging out with anyone outside this house. No friends, outside family and definitely no boyfriends.” The last part was quite obviously directed at me.
“But, what if I have to go to baby appointments? Louis will have to be there with me.” I asked.
“That is the only exception.” With that, mum stood up and made her way to kitchen.
“Wait mum, is Jordan following these rules as well and how long is this lockdown?” Keign asked.
“Jordan is exempt and the lockdown is until further notice.”
“But mum...! Keign argued.
“End of discussion, let's eat.” Mum layed out our plates of rice and chicken and we tucked in.