The sound of joyous laughing confuses Sevyn as she walks into Corey's new hospital room the next morning. They changed his location from the comatose floor and onto a floor dealing with inuries. Her brothers, Shaun and Monica came along with her to see him for the first time since he woke up yesterday. When she peels back the curtain, she finds a little girl sitting beside Corey swiping her fingers across a tablet screen. A woman is sitting in the corner of the room reading a magazine.
Corey looks up and smiles, "Hey guys,"
They slowly walk into the room, aware of the other two pairs of eyes on them. "Hi," Ty says slowly glancing between the little girl and the woman.
"This is my mom and little sister, Ariana." He introduces. Ariana beams and his mom lifts her head, looking over the unfamiliar faces. "These are my friends, Sevyn, Ty, Malcolm, Shaun and Monica."
"Nice to meet you all." His mother says, closing her magazine. She stands up and they all stare at her, marveling at how much Corey resembles her. Even the amber eyes are the same. Sevyn never saw a photograph of Corey's mother but there is no denying this is her.
"And I'm Ariana!" His little sister exclaims, throwing her hands in the air. Her eyes bounce from person to person, taking in these new people.
"Hello," Sevyn answers for all of them. Ariana cheeses even wider and bounces in her seat.
Corey's mom sets the magazine down on the chair. "Um, let's take a walk to the gift shop Ari. I'm sure Corey wants to have a moment with his friends." She says holding out her hands to Ariana. She climbs down from the bed and takes her mothers hand.
"I never get to be in all the fun." She pouts, walking towards the door. His mother slides the curtain back and they listen to the door open and close.
Once she's gone, Sevyn runs over to Corey and wraps her arms around him in a warm hug. He smile and squeezes her as much as he can without hurting him self. He winces a little bit, "Broken ribs Sev."
"Oh shit, I'm sorry!" She blurts, jerking back and releasing her grip on him. She looks over his face that's slowly healing. "I'm so happy you're up."
Shaun adds on sits down in the chair that previously held Corey's mom. "You scared the hell out of us when we found out you were in a coma."
"Sevyn had a panic attack and almost passed out." Ty comments, causing Sevyn to blush from the memory.
Corey smiles, "I'm glad yall care so much. I never dreamed something like this would happen."
"What exactly happened anyway?" Malcolm asks, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "And don't even try to sugar coat it because we know your dad did this."
"Who told you?" Corey snaps, surprise sparking in his eyes.
"The hospital, our mom acted as your guardian while you were in a coma since they couldnt get a hold of your mom or dad. They called her yesterday at work, that's how we knew you woke up." Malcolm explains, watching Corey avert his eyes and look at the sheets.
Sevyn tilts her head to the side and gazes at him. "We're your friends Corey. Tell us the truth."
After a moment of just sitting there, Corey finally looks around at all his friends faces and feels hisself physically giving into their intense staring. "Alright fine," He leans his head back and closes his eyes to begin his tale. "The beatings started soon after my mom left. He took up drinking and just started getting violent towards me. I was convinced he hated me, he beat me and left me to fend for myself. I was practically raising myself by age eleven." His friends stare at him with furrowed browns and sympathetic eyes. He keeps his eyes shut though, not wanting to see the looks on their faces. He already knows his story sounds pitiful and depressing, and he already knows what they're going to say to him when he's done. This is the first time he's ever told anyone his story, besides Rachel. It feels good to talk about it, but his face is hot from embarrassment. He doesn't wish this on anyone, but why did he have to go through all this. Why couldn't he just live a normal life.
When he's done, he takes a moment for his words to rest in the air until the silence kills him. He opens his eyes and looks around at his friends. Sevyn is staring at him, Malcolm is at a lost for words, Monica is shaking her head, Shaun is pulling at his hoodie strings lost in thought and Ty looks like he wants to kill someone. "Why didn't you ever tell us any of this? Or at least tell me?" Malcolm questions.
Corey knew this would be the first question and he just shrugs his shoulder. "I thought if I didn't tell anyone about it then I could convince myself it wasnt really happening. I was embrassed that the person who gave me life was the one ruining it. I thought the bruises and scratches would make me look weak so I hid them from you." He rubs his hands over his hot face. "I didn't want to look like a charity case."
"Charity case!? Corey you're our friend, we all have issues. How many times has Sevyn cried to you, how many times have you had to fixed Shaun and Ty's dumb arguments? Malcolm is your best friend and you're like my older brother. The last thing we see you as is a charity case."
Monica's eyes blaze like a wild fire. "That day I saw your black eye...you lied about those boys jumping you?" Corey nods his head sheepishly and she shakes her head. "How could you keep us in the dark like this?"
Corey shrugs his shoulders feeling like a bug under a microscope. "I didnt think it would ever come to this point." He admits, tapping the pulse monitor on his finger. "None of you know what's is like to have a parent abandon you, while your other parent looks at you like you disgust him. I didnt think you would understand so I never spoke up. And if I did, you would all just tell me to call the cops on him."
"Because that's the smart thing to do instead of being beaten by grown men." Malcolm says.
Corey furrows his eyebrows, "So DCF could be all in my face? So they could take me away from my father? He's the only parent I had, he wasn't the best but at least he was there. If I called the cops I would be thrown into some state house, living with kids who are going through almost the same shit as me. I didnt want that. I wanted to keep my life as normal as possible and if getting beat everyday meant I could live in my own home with my own father without DCF dropping by every week, so be it. Like I said before, you all have your parents. I only had my dad and I wasn't going to loose him."
Once again it falls silent as everyone thinks about this. The heaviness of the situation makes every uncomfortable but at least now they know what's truly been going on. Corey feels relieved that his friends now know what he's been hiding from them and why. But he knows they'll never be able to connect with him on an emotional level.
He looks at Sevyn who's staring at the floor, her arms crossed over her chest. She's been really quiet since hearing his story and hasn't moved an inch. Corey nudges her with his knee, "You ok?"
She looks up at him wither her mouth is turned down in a frown. "You broke your promise." She says softly and Corey scrunches his eyebrows in confusion. "You promised you you would tell me if things got out of control but you didn't."
The guilt eats away at him again, he knows how serious Sevyn is about promises and he broke the one he made to her anyway. "Sevyn--
"And you fabricated the truth. You told me his friends did all this to you, not your father." She feels like hitting him but he's already in enough pain. "I thought we were closer than that Corey."
He stares at her not sure what to say. A part of him is angry at his self for even telling her pieces of what's been going on in the beginning. The other part of him is angry with Sevyn for not understanding where he's coming from. She of all people should know how it feels like to shut down when you have so many problems crammed into your life.
"Sevyn you knew about this?" Malcolm questions.
She nods without looking at him, knowing he's pissed that she kept this to herself. Corey quickly jumps in before Malcolm can go off. "Don't be mad at her, I made her promise not to tell." Sevyn looks down at the floor and Corey pulls on her arm. "Remember when you started pushing everyone away after your incident with Keenan? Well that's how you handled your problem. You pushed everyone away and pretended like you were fine. Same for me. I ignored my problems and went about my life to avoid having to face reality."
"But you said---" she begins.
"I know what I said." Corey interrupts. "But I never lied to you, I just didn't give you the entire story. I told you I would come to you guys if things got out of control and truth is everything happened too quickly for me to react in time. I could have done a lot to avoid being in this situation right now but that's on me. I'm just thankful that I have y'all around to hold me up."
Sevyn looks back and forth between his eyes, knowing she can't stay mad at him. Seeing him laid up in the hospital like this already makes her feel bad for him, so being angry with him isn't going to make things better.
"So what now?" Monica asks plopping down Shaun's lap and folding her arms. He grins, usually she would never do this but she got tired of standing and he took the only available chair.
Corey lets out an exasperated breath, "Now that the police are involved I'm about to be in a whirlwind of legal shit. Court dates, testifying, DCF probably. Especially since I'm not 18 for a few more months, the government is going to be all over this case. I was already forced to give a statement to the police about what happened the night I slipped into a coma."
"What does your mom have to say about all this?" Malcolm asks.
"Why is she even here?" Ty makes no effort to hide the distaste in his voice.
"The police contacted her and she finally flew out here a few days ago." Corey says. "I was so shocked to see her I thought I was having a dream while in a coma or something."
Sevyn bobs her eyebrows. "Is it awkward seeing her after all this time?"
Corey nods. "Hell yeah, I can barely look her in the eye. And that's another thing, apparently my dad used to hit her sometimes too."
"Well damn, he's just all messed up." Shaun remarks.
Corey feels a little offended. "He's just heartbroken. My mom only stayed with my dad because they had me, things went downhill when she left us." Even though his dad is the reason he's in the hospital, he's still his dad regardless. He had a funny way of showing it but Corey knows that deep down his dad truly loves him.
Monica tousles her hair, "Ay dios mio, too much stuff has been happening lately. I'm surprised a meteor hasn't hit earth yet." She says glancing out the window at the blue sky. They laugh a little, feeling the exact same way.
"How bad are your injuries?" Sevyn asks, scanning him slowly.
"Some broken ribs, a gash in the back of the head and of course head trauma." Corey says calmly. "I'm gonna be here for another two weeks so they can monitor me."
"Well that sucks, hospital food is the worst." Shaun makes a face, glancing at the bowl and crackers on the trey beside the bed.
"I guess y'all will just have to cater to me then. You can't deny an injured boy can you?" Corey says, folding his hands behind his head and laying his head on the pillows with a smile.
"Ha, don't flatter yourself." Sevyn smirks and rolls her eyes.
Corey flashes a smile, "So what did I miss while I was out?"
Ty shoots a look at his brother, "Malcolm and his new boo."
Malcolm's eyes roll up towards the ceiling. A shy smile creeps onto his face. "Here we go..."
About two hours later Corey's friends leave with promises to come back tomorrow after school. His mother and sister return with bags of chips and some juice. Ariana hands him the small bag of Doritos and a Lipton iced tea. She crawls onto the bed beside him.
"Where are your friends?" She asks.
"They left, they'll be back tomorrow." Corey tells her, opening the chips.
His mother sits on the edge of the bed eating pretzels. "I've been thinking about your situation Corey. Now that your dad confessed and you gave a statement, there's going to be alot of legal things to work out."
"Yeah I know, I'm dreading it." Corey frowns, munching on chips.
"Well what if I told you there's a way to avoid the hassle?" His moms eyes spark with an idea.
He quirks an eyebrow, "I'm listening."
A smile spread across her glowing face. "Let me be your legal guardian. We can go through all the paper work and sign off on it, then you can move down to Atlanta with me."
His hand is hovering halfway inside the bag of Doritos, his mouth slightly parted in awe. Ariana gasp and throws her arms in the air, "Yay! You can live in my house Corey, won't that be fun!?" She exclaims.
Corey's eyes are glued to his mother. After all the stuff that's happened, the offer sounds tempting. But is he really ready to take such a big leap of faith already?
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