Yes, after a long time, here is the next chapter.
Introducing Chapter 20!
I'm not sure how many chapters are left for this story.
The Pic is of Travis
The Video link is 'Hey Brother' by Avicii
ENJOOOOOOY!
Comment, vote, like, etc
~Landon~
"He doesn't want to see you, Landon." Evelyn said putting her hand on my chest to stop me from walking further.
"I know but I need to see him." I begged. "Please, I'll even look from the window."
"He'd kill you if he knew we were talking right now." She let go of me and glanced in the direction of Travis' room.
"I am well aware of that. I just wat him to know that I'm sorry." I took a deep breath. "I just never got to tell him. I'll never forgive myself if I go through life knowing that I didn't at least try to tell him."
"Tell him what?" She asked.
I looked from the blank white wall to Evelyn. "That I love him."
"I'm sure he knows."
"Even if he does, he never heard it from me so it doesn't count." I ran my fingers through my hair. "He needs to hear it from my mouth. I know him well enough. He hates me now and that's because I'm a complete fuck up."
"Landon." Evelyn whispered.
"Don't try to deny it." I shook my head at her. "Whether it's to make me feel better or whatever. I'm sick and tired of people feeling sorry for me. I don't even understand how you of all people could stand here and talk to me after everything I put you through."
"You didn't do it. I made a mistake." Her voice trembled.
"I made you think that I did." I said raising my voice a little. "You should be hating me more than anyone else."
"But I don." She said firmly. "Listen, we've all been through a lot of shit this year and somehow we got over it. Things happened, people got hurt, but it's all in the past now. Don't beat yourself up over it, Landon."
"You're something else." He chuckled.
"Hey, I've been called worse." She shrugged.
i leaned against the wall and sagged a bit. The hospital was rather quiet. No one around holding up conversations, no patients in dire need of help ad no one running up and down. All around the waiting room there were posters pinned up; self-help, first-aid and whatnot- but I couldn't focus on them. I knew they were there but my vision was blurred. Nothing seemed clear anymore.
I looked down at my hands and saw that hey too were blurry. I felt a drop land on my hand and rubbed it between my fingers. Tears, I was crying.
I heard Evelyn shuffle closer to me. "Landon, are you okay?"
"I-I don't know." I laughed as more tears poured out of my eyes.
"Evelyn?" A nurse said popping her head in by the door. "Your brother's asking for you."
"I'll be right there." Evelyn acknowledged. "I'm going to go. Will you be fine on your own?"
"I'm going to go home, I think." I said standing up straighter. "I've been here long enough."
"Are you sure?"
I nodded. "He doesn't want to see me. Call me where he falls asleep."
I turned around, not waiting for her to answer. There was no point anyway. I knew that I would be the first person she'd call.
After last night's events I hadn'r gotten a wink of sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I saw Travis' bruised face which soon turned to that look of pure disgust. I tried to shake the image from my head so many times but ti was difficult. I was torn between wanting to be by his side every second of the day and him vowing to kill me if I ever got near him again. There was no use saying that 'he needed time'. Time would not make him forget, time would not diminish my love for him.
The house was fairly quiet when I got home. I called out to my parents and my sister but no one answered. I frowned and walked into the lounge.
"Freddy." I called out.
"Yes?" Said a voice behind me.
"You have got to stop doing that." I said with my hand against my chest. "Do you have any idea where everyone is?"
"Your father was called away for an important conferene. Your mother decided she needed a vacation so she went with him. They said they'll be gone between two weeks and a month." He said standing straight. "Your sister is at the mall. She mentioned something about a new movie and shoes."
I furrowed my brows then rolled my eyes. "I guess we're having a not-so-festive Christmas again this year."
"They wanted to be here." Freddy said softly.
"They don't but thanks for trying to make me feel better." I gave him a weak smle and started for my room.
I took the stairs two at a time to get to my room quicker. I was angry of ourse, but more than that I was exhausted. Between the work for the company and Travis' situation, I had a lot on my plate.
When I got to my room, I collapsed on my bed. My parents always did this. They would 'take care' of us and be there for every other day of the year except the day that probably counted the most. Who on earth decided to have a conference so close to Christmas? I let out a deep breath . It was now up to me to make this day suck a lot less for Claire, because it just so happened to be her favorite holiday.
I closed my eyes for a few minutes and sure enough, Travis' face reappeared. The cuts on his cheek, the blue-ish eye turning purple and that sick expression permanently forged into his face. I sighed and reopened my eyes. If this was how I had to live, then so be it. I had my sister to think about.
I was about to get up and head over to the mall so that I would be there whenever Claire was ready to go home when my phone started ringing.
"Hello?" I asked. It was a private number so I wasn't sure who it was.
"Landon, it's your mother." My mom's voice rang loud and clear.
"Hi mom, is everything okay?" I started pacing my room.
"Yes, everything's perfect." I could hear the grin in her voice. "We might not make it home for Christmas though. New Year's for the latest"
"Tell me something I didn't know." I muttered.
"I don't need your attitude right now, Landon." She admonished.
I made a disgruntled noise and went to go sit on my bed again.
"There's about five grand in the safe. Think of it as your end of your allowance." My eyes widened. "Use it wisely."
I was too shocked to say anything and before I knew it, I heard the beeping noise in my ear. I put the phone down on the nightstand. If we were going to spend Christmas alone, we might as ell do it with class. I leaned back against my headboard with a smirk on my lips. This may not be the worst Christmas ever.
***
~Travis~
I opened my eyes to basically nothing. The room was as white as can be and the curtains were still closed. I looked around a bit mine and attempted to sit up. I felt something pull at my arm adn saw that I had an IV attached to it. I frowned and searched for someone, anyone that could tell me what the hell I was doing here.
I pressed a button on an item that looked similar to a remote. A nurse came into the room a few seconds later and began to check the monitors.
"Travis, you're awke." She smiled at me.
"How long have I been out?" I asked. My voice was a bit rough.
"You passed out as soon as you were settled on the bed." She looked down at her watch. "So about, fifteen hours."
"Okay." I nodded. I winced as a dull paid shot through my head. "Is-is my sister here? Evelyn?"
"She's right outside. I'll go get her for you." I waited for a few minutes and saw the nurse walk by my room without any sign on Evelyn.
She ame waltzing in about twenty minutes later. "Travis, I'm glad you're up again."
"For someone who was 'right outside' it sure took you a long time to get here." I scowled.
"I was talking to...someone." She said looking away.
"Who?" I asked and followed her movement to the windows. She proceeded to open the curtains and flinched at eh bright light.
"A friend from school. Rumors travel fast." She answered.
"Why am I here, Evelyn?" I pulled on the cords. "Who brought me?"
"Landon." I growled at the sound of his name. "And you neede to come here or risk permanent injuries."
"We don't have the money, Evelyn!" I raised my voice at her. "And I've had plenty of injuries before. This is no different."
"Three broken ribs, several other internal injuries and a concussion to name a few." She turned around to face me. "Nevermind the permanent emotional scarring."
"I don't care about that." I argued.
"But I do." She stepped forward. Her features were hard and it made me want to reteat a bit. "All our battle you've fought, standing up for us; to you it's caring but to us it's torture.We see you get beat up everyday and there's not a think we can do about it. We're sick and tired of this and it's time it ended."
"Ended? What do you mean?" I leaned forward in interest. She remained silent and averted her gaze. "Evelyn, what the hell do you mean?"
"A woman was here earlier while you were sleeping." She said soflty. I started shaking my head.
"Please don't say what I think you're going to say." My voice started cracking.
"She said she could help us. We could have a better life." She came up to me and took my hand in hers.
"No, please." I brought her closer to me.
"She's going to be here in a few minutes with the others." Evelyn's voice sounded empty. Void of all emotion.
She pulled back and I looked in her eyes. She refused to look at me directly but I could see some pain hidden in them.
"Do you want this?" I asked.
"It's for the best." She whispered.
"Travi!" Nik yelled running into the room.
"Hey buddy, I missed you." I let him jump up on the bed.
The others joined soon after him and Eleanor held Mark while Evelyn remained by my side. We didn't chat long, barely said anything to each other at all. I felt a wave of sadness overcome me when I remembered that we didn't actually have any time at all.
"Mr. Dawn?" A female's voice said from the door. A woman dressed in a grey pant suit stepped into the room. "I'm Beverly Norman. I'm a social worker. I thought we could have a little chat." Evelyn ushered the others out from the room before she returned.
"You want to seperate my family." I glared at her. "Why would I want to talk to you?"
"Travis, just hear her out." Evelyn said .
"When the police were called and they found out that minors were involved they immediately called my offices ." She started. "The first option was to send you all to foster home but it is highly unlikely that all five of you would be placed together."
"I preferred to get beat up." I mumbled.
"I did some further digging and I found another relative of yours." My head snapped up towards her.
"What? I have no other relatives." I stated.
"It turns out that your mother was adopted and we found her biological sister." Ms. Norman smiled.
"So? Who's to say that she'll accept us?" I folded my arms across my chest.
"I've called her already adn she agreed to meet with you and take responsibility. She's been looking for your mom for a very long time and was ecstatic to find out about you." She pulled out a photo of a woman that looked a lot like my mom but a few years younger. Long brown hair and blue eyes- unlike my mom's brown ones- with a smile that matched Evelyn's.
"You do know that our mother walked out on us, yes?" She nodded. "Your aunt agreed to let us monitot her for a year to see if she can take full custody of you."
"I turn eighteen soon." I gritted my teeth. "What if she doesn't want me?"
"She said she'd give it a try."
"You must know that if I go, there's no way I'm leaving my brothers and sister with a stranger." I said.
"As a legal adult, according to the law you can apply for custody granted that you have a job and a suitable living space then it's fine." She said.
I nodded but held onto the piture a bit longer before giving it back to Ms.Norman.
"You can hold onto that one." She said waving me off.
"What about my dad? Where is he?" I asked before she could get up.
"He was admitted into a home." Ms. Norman sighed. "He's too weak to go anywhere and the doctors recommended that he stay."
"Oh, okay then." I said.
She got up from her seat and gestured for Evelyn to go over to her.
"We need to get going now, it's a long drive." She said.
"Where are you going?" I rushed to sit up, ignoring the pain in my side.
"Your aunt lives a few towns over." She replied. "I know that it's far but her place is in a better condition."
"What about the house?"
"The bank is holding on to it till you turn eighteen. You can decide what to do with it then." I nodded.
"And- and Harold?" My voice squeaked a bit.
"Jail." She answered. "There were countless witnesses so he'll be getting 25 to life."
"Thank you." I smiled.
"I'm only doing my job." She walked out and Evelyn came over to give me a hug.
"Things will get better soon, Travis. It's not the end of the world."I nodded in agreement. "I love you."
"I know." I laughed. She smiled and walked away.
"Evelyn." She looked back at me. "I love you too."
"I know." She said before following the social worker out of the room.
***
A/N: Sooooo? What did you guys think? I felt like I was being too mean so I gave the kids a shot at being happy. How awesome am I?
Thanks for reading.
Much Love...
Carrie♥♥