Give 'Em Hell, Kid

Sleep didn’t come easy that night. My room was too hot, unbearably so it felt, and my dreams were all centred on Alexia, but none of them were good; in each and every one of them I somehow lost her in one way or another. In some, it was a result of her father dragging her away to some unknown place I couldn’t reach, no matter how much I tried to get there, no matter how hard I fought, or what lengths I went to, I just couldn’t find her. In others, I was trapped in a room, which was black and silent with no way out. I could hear Alexia outside the room, crying and screaming in fear and pain, and I was left to imagine the worst things possible while I tried to find a way out of the darkness to save her from whatever it was that was making her scream in unimaginable agony. That one had me waking up with tears streaming down my face and desperation still clinging to my fragile mind. I reached for my phone with every intention of ringing Alexia, just to hear her voice so I could go back to sleep knowing she was okay. I stopped when I saw the time, knowing that three thirty am wasn’t the appropriate time to call her unless it was a life or death emergency. Alexia loved her sleep, and if she was fortunate enough to find some, I wasn’t going to take it away from her.

I eventually had enough of the broken sleep at eight in the morning, so I forced my feet to drag my ass downstairs, to where my mother was up and making breakfast for my father. It was a strange sight to see him sitting at the table, reading a paper as though it was a normal thing for him to do. He acknowledged my entrance with a short, curt nod. My mother frowned when she saw the bags under my eyes. I was surprised when she didn’t say anything. She handed me a cup of coffee, which was freshly brewed from the coffee maker. She shot my father a pointed look, but I couldn’t find it within myself to care about it. It was too early, I was too tired, and frankly I was just too fucking cranky to think about much else other than Alexia, and Frank who was still stuck in hospital.

“How are you feeling this morning?” my dad asked, clearing his throat.

I guessed that explained my mother’s look. I really wished I could sigh and just ask him to drop it. I wasn’t in the mood to talk this early in normal circumstances, add a sleepless night and an aching body, and I was in a positively shitty mood. I just knew it was going to be a bad day. I could feel it in my bones; it was something in the air that put me on edge, something made me anticipate it being a day were nothing would go right. I was wound up, agitated and all I wanted was to crawl back into bed, preferably with Alexia in my arms, where I knew she would be safe. After the previous night’s events, I didn’t want her to be around her dad any more than she had to. He was an ill-tempered man, and whoever was on the wrong end of it was going to suffer the wrath. I didn’t want that to be Alexia. I wanted her here, with me. She was always happy here, with me and Mikey and my mother. I couldn’t explain all that to dad, though. He wouldn’t understand how I felt, he never did. I knew the answer he wanted to hear, so I was going to give it to him.

“I’m okay. Bit sore, is all” I muttered, staring at the eggs and bacon my mother had just put in front of me. The eggs were over easy, just how I liked them. She even cut my toast into little soldiers, making me feel like I was five years old. Towering over her small height and the ability to grow facial hair wasn’t enough to convince her that I was too old for my toast to be cut like a child’s. I would never say it to her; I could just see the look on her face if I ever reminded her that I was almost an adult. She liked taking care of me and Mikey when she could, and it was something I would never deny her.

“Are you going to visit Frank today?” my mother asked, her tone filled with sadness.

“Yup”.

I took a bite of toast, which I’d dipped into egg yolk, hoping to avoid further questioning. It worked, and I was left to eat my breakfast in silence. It was hard to swallow the food; my throat was dry and it seemed to work against me. I really wanted to go back to my room, where I could just be alone for a little while. I felt like so much shit was happening lately, and I had no time to really process any of it. I just wanted a break from all the madness, confusion and doubt that had infested itself in every part of my life. I managed to get most of the food into me before I excused myself from the table, ignoring the concerned glance that my mother threw in my direction. I didn’t bother to get dressed yet when I finally made it back to my sanctuary. I just sat at my desk with my mug of coffee and my pencil, drawing anything that came to mind that I could put on paper. I lost myself in that for a couple of hours; the next time I looked at the time it was after eleven. I decided to text Alexia; I hadn’t talked to her since the night before, which made me worry more than I’d like to admit. I sent the message with anticipation, waiting for a reply that would hopefully put me out of my misery. I got dressed in the mean time, and picked out a few comics for Frank to keep him occupied in the hospital. An hour went past with no word from Alexia, and the panic started to creep into my mind. I picked my phone up again to call her. One, two, five rings before the phone clicked.

“Hello” Alexia’s voice was raspy, and I immediately felt guilty for waking her.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“I’ve been better.”

It wasn’t the reassuring answer that I had wanted, but at least I knew she was okay.

“I was going to visit Frank, shall I pick you up?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t even know if I’m grounded or not. It might be best to lay low for a while.”

I wanted to tell her that I loved her, that I didn’t care if her dad was pissed. I held it in, though; none of it would make things better in the moment.

“I miss you” I told her instead, wishing she knew what I was really trying to say.

“I miss you too. Tell Frankie I’m sorry I can’t be there.”

We said our goodbyes, and I hung up, feeling less anxious than before.

I made it to the hospital before one, with Mikey in tow. Frank looked far better than he had the day before, he even had the semblance of a smile on his face when I handed him the comics.

“I’m out of here today, I think. I get the next week off school, though” he grinned, pleased with the prospect of avoiding school legitimately.

“Kind of an extreme way to get time off” I teased, earning a chuckle from Frank.

Mikey eventually offered to grab us coffee, leaving an awkward silence in his place. I wanted to thank Frank for what he’d done the previous day, that I hoped he was truly okay with the idea of Alexia and I together, but it was hard to find the words.

“Dude, don’t say it. As long as you don’t hurt her, we’re cool” He stated.

“Okay.”

Mikey came back far too quickly, so the conversation was left at that. Ray came by later with a shit load of sweets, which only emphasised Lexi’s absence. His mother came around at five with the doctor, and by six he was discharged. His mother insisted that we all came over for dinner, since ‘poor little Frankie’ would be stuck inside for the next few days while he healed. It was fucking funny as hell to see his mother fuss so much.She reminded me of my own mother whenever one of us was sick. She made his favourite dinner, catered to his every whim, and practically waited on him hand and foot the whole time we were there. Of course we ripped the shit out of him the second she was gone. It should have been the perfect distraction, but the only thing on my mind was Alexia, and how much I missed her when she wasn’t around. I texted her the entire evening, not giving a shit when the guys made fun of me for it. I flipped them off and ignored them. She was the most important thing in my world, and I wasn’t afraid if the whole world knew it.