You Better Be Home Soon
Chapter Four
“We can’t make Levi go, if we do he’s going to resent all of us as well,” Jimmy spoke, taking a sip of his beer. “We all knew this day would come, where Levi would find out what happened,”
“I guess we all just hoped he’s stay young and innocent forever. Speaking of innocent, who dropped the f-bomb around him?” Brian questioned, still unable to believe his nephew was capable of saying that word. As far as Brian was concerned he was still the little Levi that was scared of the monster under his own bed, he couldn’t possibly be growing up already.
After hours of discussion the decided all they could do was let Levi calm down, let him think about things without them breathing down his neck. The only issue they found with this was that Matthew would be waiting for his son to turn up for visiting hours, if he didn’t Matthew wasn’t going to be applying for good behaviour release. Everyone wanted Matthew home before his full sentence was up, they couldn’t face ten more years without him; Levi wouldn’t be able to function in future years without his father.
Gena let Levi sleep in the next day, it was a school day but he’d had a late night, there was no sense in sending a tired and cranky Levi to school – it wasn’t worth it. With a small sigh she closed his door, allowing him to sleep in further, downstairs Zack was sipping his coffee while staring off into space. Everyone was pretty emotional and up in the air about everything, it wasn’t a simple situation they were in and they all knew they were to blame partially. It was a guilt they’d always live with.
Sitting down on the chair next to her husband Gena put her hand on his, he turned to her and smiled softly, kissing her lips gently. “Are we doing the right thing?” She nodded, turning her head when she heard soft footsteps near them. Levi looked at them with dull eyes, like he didn’t know who they were, he didn’t know who they had all become. He didn’t understand why they were trying to make him see his father, it was his choice.
“Do you want some breakfast, Levi?” Without a word he turned around, going back up the stairs not returning for hours until he felt his stomach growling for food in which case he snuck down stairs as quietly as he could, not wanting to speak to any of the mean adults unless it was Uncle Jimmy, in which case he would. Levi looked around the large kitchen trying to find food in his reach; the cupboards were too high, the fridge would make a loud sound when he opened it. He decided his best bet was so climb up onto the benches.
Quickly he stepped up onto the garbage bin, boosting himself up to pull his small frame into the bench. He stood up on the granite top bench, from there he could see Gena, Zacky, Brian and Michelle talking in the backyard; the cloud of smoke around them meant he wasn’t allowed out there anyway, with his fragile lungs he wasn’t allowed near cigarette smoke. The five year old suddenly got into Batman mode, he imagined that The Joker was after him – quickly he was jumping around and put his foot right into a puddle of water; sending him falling to the ground with a thud.
“Did you hear that?” Brian’s eyes shot straight towards the house, no one rushed to stand up until they heard and saw Ichabod barking loudly and running around trying to get inside. Brian threw his cigarette to the grass and launched himself in the direction of the house. Inside he heard nothing, no movement, no talking; but inside the kitchen he saw his biggest nightmare. Levi lay on the ground not moving, his head surrounded by a puddle of blood and his arm on a strange angle. “Call a fucking ambulance!” He yelled, louder than he’d ever yelled before.
Gena stood out the front waiting to wave down the ambulance while Brian had pulled his shirt off, holding pressure onto the wound on Levi’s head trying to slow the blood flow down. All Michelle and Zacky could do was watch with their hearts in their throat; what had Levi been doing? Then it hit Zacky, they’d upset Levi so much that he didn’t feel he could even ask them for basic help. He’d let Matthew and Valery down.
“... through here..” Gena pointed to the kitchen where quickly two paramedics took Brian’s position of holding pressure to his head. To Brian it felt like hours of standing there watching the paramedics work on Levi’s small body; eventually they were all huddled in the small hospital corridor waiting for the Doctor to emerge.
The prison warden was a nice man, he was a federal police officer however upon the birth of his fourth chid he had to come work a smaller job. His son was born with severe mental retardation, unable to perform basic tasks meant that Alexander Jones, once a top cop, had now become a warden who by night was required to tend to his son. He didn’t mind, his son meant the world to him. It was because of this love for his son, that Alexander found himself running down the prison corridor, ignoring various insults being thrown his way by other inmates.
Matthew had always been polite to him, they had a mutual respect for each other that meant they made each others lives easier. Upon stepping into the exercise quarters Alexander walked towards Matthew who had himself situated ensuring the younger man didn’t drop the heavy weight on himself. Looking to his left Matthew saw Alexander and smiled politely, asking how Alexanders son was doing.
“He’s fine, thank you... Matthew, we just got a phone call from Huntington General. Levi is in hospital, I don’t know the details but you’ve been granted permission to visit him.” Matthew felt like it was a blur, he was being allowed to leave the prison in casual clothes, while under the close supervision of the security guards, but he felt somewhat liberated. That was until reality hit him, his life came crashing down upon hearing from the Doctor that Levi was in an induced coma.
“I guess we all just hoped he’s stay young and innocent forever. Speaking of innocent, who dropped the f-bomb around him?” Brian questioned, still unable to believe his nephew was capable of saying that word. As far as Brian was concerned he was still the little Levi that was scared of the monster under his own bed, he couldn’t possibly be growing up already.
After hours of discussion the decided all they could do was let Levi calm down, let him think about things without them breathing down his neck. The only issue they found with this was that Matthew would be waiting for his son to turn up for visiting hours, if he didn’t Matthew wasn’t going to be applying for good behaviour release. Everyone wanted Matthew home before his full sentence was up, they couldn’t face ten more years without him; Levi wouldn’t be able to function in future years without his father.
Gena let Levi sleep in the next day, it was a school day but he’d had a late night, there was no sense in sending a tired and cranky Levi to school – it wasn’t worth it. With a small sigh she closed his door, allowing him to sleep in further, downstairs Zack was sipping his coffee while staring off into space. Everyone was pretty emotional and up in the air about everything, it wasn’t a simple situation they were in and they all knew they were to blame partially. It was a guilt they’d always live with.
Sitting down on the chair next to her husband Gena put her hand on his, he turned to her and smiled softly, kissing her lips gently. “Are we doing the right thing?” She nodded, turning her head when she heard soft footsteps near them. Levi looked at them with dull eyes, like he didn’t know who they were, he didn’t know who they had all become. He didn’t understand why they were trying to make him see his father, it was his choice.
“Do you want some breakfast, Levi?” Without a word he turned around, going back up the stairs not returning for hours until he felt his stomach growling for food in which case he snuck down stairs as quietly as he could, not wanting to speak to any of the mean adults unless it was Uncle Jimmy, in which case he would. Levi looked around the large kitchen trying to find food in his reach; the cupboards were too high, the fridge would make a loud sound when he opened it. He decided his best bet was so climb up onto the benches.
Quickly he stepped up onto the garbage bin, boosting himself up to pull his small frame into the bench. He stood up on the granite top bench, from there he could see Gena, Zacky, Brian and Michelle talking in the backyard; the cloud of smoke around them meant he wasn’t allowed out there anyway, with his fragile lungs he wasn’t allowed near cigarette smoke. The five year old suddenly got into Batman mode, he imagined that The Joker was after him – quickly he was jumping around and put his foot right into a puddle of water; sending him falling to the ground with a thud.
“Did you hear that?” Brian’s eyes shot straight towards the house, no one rushed to stand up until they heard and saw Ichabod barking loudly and running around trying to get inside. Brian threw his cigarette to the grass and launched himself in the direction of the house. Inside he heard nothing, no movement, no talking; but inside the kitchen he saw his biggest nightmare. Levi lay on the ground not moving, his head surrounded by a puddle of blood and his arm on a strange angle. “Call a fucking ambulance!” He yelled, louder than he’d ever yelled before.
Gena stood out the front waiting to wave down the ambulance while Brian had pulled his shirt off, holding pressure onto the wound on Levi’s head trying to slow the blood flow down. All Michelle and Zacky could do was watch with their hearts in their throat; what had Levi been doing? Then it hit Zacky, they’d upset Levi so much that he didn’t feel he could even ask them for basic help. He’d let Matthew and Valery down.
“... through here..” Gena pointed to the kitchen where quickly two paramedics took Brian’s position of holding pressure to his head. To Brian it felt like hours of standing there watching the paramedics work on Levi’s small body; eventually they were all huddled in the small hospital corridor waiting for the Doctor to emerge.
The prison warden was a nice man, he was a federal police officer however upon the birth of his fourth chid he had to come work a smaller job. His son was born with severe mental retardation, unable to perform basic tasks meant that Alexander Jones, once a top cop, had now become a warden who by night was required to tend to his son. He didn’t mind, his son meant the world to him. It was because of this love for his son, that Alexander found himself running down the prison corridor, ignoring various insults being thrown his way by other inmates.
Matthew had always been polite to him, they had a mutual respect for each other that meant they made each others lives easier. Upon stepping into the exercise quarters Alexander walked towards Matthew who had himself situated ensuring the younger man didn’t drop the heavy weight on himself. Looking to his left Matthew saw Alexander and smiled politely, asking how Alexanders son was doing.
“He’s fine, thank you... Matthew, we just got a phone call from Huntington General. Levi is in hospital, I don’t know the details but you’ve been granted permission to visit him.” Matthew felt like it was a blur, he was being allowed to leave the prison in casual clothes, while under the close supervision of the security guards, but he felt somewhat liberated. That was until reality hit him, his life came crashing down upon hearing from the Doctor that Levi was in an induced coma.