Chapter 19: 911Ryan Rolland Boaz. A number of years in and out of therapy definitely did a lot to soften up the 6’3. When he was younger, he was a fucking hothead. He still is to be honest, he just finds his way around it. Just walk out of the room, keep quiet and just don’t engage, the sun’s getting real low big guy. You know, that type of shit. He wasn’t always that way though. You see, no one’s ever born with a mental or an emotional problem. No disrespect to anyone. I’m not a doctor or anything, I’m just saying more often than not, certain mental and emotional issues are products of the environment you grow up in, not the genes you were born with. What made Ryan really need therapy, wasn’t all accrued to the pain he felt with the whole Vanessa situation. What really hurt him, what he kept bottled up all this time, the one memory that actually made this maniac tick, happened sixteen years ago. About four days from today would be the anniversary. The day dad left. Never came back
Chapter 20: Cold Enough to Chill My BonesMrs. Boaz never really envisioned her life like this. And no, not being rushed into the hospital seconds from death. Nobody envisioned their life like that. I mean, she just never really saw herself going to college, falling in love, having kids. Handsome boys at that too, at least that was the way she saw them. Looked way better than her when she was their age as far as she was concerned. You know how high schools have the ‘most likely to succeed’, ‘class clown’, all that shit. Hers, though nobody actually cared enough to literally give her an actual alias, was ‘screw up’. Most likely to be a screw up. No literally. That was it. Freckles, pimples, basically all the ‘les’, and that includes Les. Back then though, wasn’t as easy to outrightly say it like it is now. So… she suppressed it and suppressed it and suppressed it, till she just became this quiet, quirky, nerdy ‘loser’. Yeah that was the only Alias people who gave enough fucks called h
Chapter 21: Acrimony“Come on. Don’t keep quiet now, answer” he said, pestering Marcus. “Come on—”“Don’t push me man…okay? You know how that ended last time” he said, not in the mood. “I don’t hate you.”Ryan stopped pushing, but still had the same pestering mindset. “Stop lying” he looked away from Marcus but didn’t look towards anything in particular. “If you got a problem with me, at least say it, don’t start lying to my face” he said.Uncomfortable silence once again wrapped its arms around the brothers, till Ryan piped up. “It was the first day I left, wasn’t it?”“Huh?”“The first time? First time I left home in the series of visits to Rehab, right?”“Why would you think it was that?”“Because I remember that day” he looked back at his brother. “Very vividly.”THREE YEARS AND THREE MONTHS AGO“Get the fuck up off me mom. Don’t act like you weren’t the one who sent me there. Like ‘why don’t you tell me how you’re feeling Ryan’” He mocked, shouting as soon as he came out of the c
Chapter 22: Christopher“…and the day after that. And the one after that, and the one after that. You kept coming back and mom kept believing in you. Believing you could change. Believing you had changed. Kept on giving you more than enough attention. Everything you wanted, she got you. Just so you could feel like you again. Feel loved. Feel complete. But nothing was ever enough for you, was it Ryan?” he said, undaunted in his glare at his older brother. The day you left, I lost a brother, and I was completely fine with that. Not like I hadn’t been pulling my weight around pretty well anyway. But the day you came back, I lost my mother. And that hurt like hell. And then you kept leaving and coming back and leaving and coming back. And I kept losing over and over and over. Until I just grew numb to that shit. It didn’t surprise me anymore. Don’t think I have any fucks left to give” he paused for a second then continued. “The only reason I’m here… is ‘cause I don’t want my last words wi
Chapter 23: Nurse Pamela There really was no better way to put it. He had to swallow his pride and get over the fact that she ‘used’ him just a couple days ago. If there was anybody who could conjure such an amount, it was her parents. And if there was anyone who could talk to her parents, it was her. “It’s for mom. It’s for mom. It’s for mom” he kept repeating, just to convince himself to actually dial up her number. After almost backing out a number of times, he hit the call button and her phone started ringing. He hoped she wouldn’t pick. At least then he would have an even bigger reason to fuel his beef with her. And if mom recovered in time, carry out his masterplan. But she picked up the phone in a thrice. “Hello? Who Is this?” she asked, sounding a little busy and tired herself. “Did she delete my number?” he thought to himself. “No, focus—” “Hellllooooooo. Who’s this?” “Um. Hi Vanessa. It’s… It’s Marcus.” “Marcus? Marcus, Marcus?” “Yeah. Yeah Marcus, Marcus.” “Why are
Chapter 24: Gist MeEver watched five feet apart? If you haven't, watch it. It's actually a really good movie. One of the best I've watched. This is a little spoiler though for those who haven't watched it. There was this scene where, towards the end of the movie, Stella was getting surgery, and at the reception, Will, her mom, dad, and a couple friends were all huddled in the reception area. Comforting each other, hoping for the best possible news. Reminiscing on that, what was going on in “The Aftermath Hospital” kind of resembled that exact scene. 1:30 in the morning, the surgery had been going on for a number of hours now. Marcus was fast asleep, his head resting on his brother's shoulder. Ryan himself was dozing off. but he was way too concerned to completely fall asleep. He felt dinner gradually disappear from his stomach and he was beginning to be plagued by fatigue and anxiety. Hunger was just a couple minutes away. Right now though, that was the least of his worries. He'd
Chapter 25: Golden JubileeYou’d think they were going to meet the new puppy they’d asked for all Christmas with the way they crept as patiently and steadily as they could to room seventeen. Felt kind of nervous as both brothers approached the door, riddled with anxiety. Couldn’t blame them though, things could’ve ended up very differently. But enough with the chit-chat.Ryan carefully opened the door and it creaked open as loudly as it could. So much for being subtle and gentle. It was like she’d been waiting for them, the way her eyes almost with magnetic-like effect were drawn to the door. Ryan felt like chickening out almost immediately.“Sorry we’ll come back later. Get some rest now.” He tried turning back, but it seemed he’d forgotten he didn’t walk up to the room alone as he accidentally stepped on Marcus’s foot. “Don’t tell me you didn’t see me coming.”“Of course I saw you coming pussyboy.” “Next time, watch where you wa—”“So you boys still haven’t stopped fighting even a
Chapter 26: Everybody Go CollectThursday, 10:30pm. After approximately forty-eight hours of ‘surveillance’ from the hospital, and Ryan and Marcus’s in and out of the hospital almost every hour, she was finally free to go. Compared to the look of fatigue she had on just a couple days before, you’d think she’d become Morbius overnight the way she was just ‘on point’. “Are you sure you cannot afford to just leave her in the hospital for a few more hours? It’s pretty dark outside, you know?”“Haven’t you people eaten enough money from our pockets in the last couple hours?” Ryan joked, signing some documents.“Come on sir” the doctor replied with a smile. “It is pretty dark outside. That’s the only reason I’m conc—”“Well. Thanks for your concern doc—” he dropped the documents in doctor’s hand, paying little to no attention to the professional in white at this point, “And thanks for saving my mom. Really appreciate it, but we’ll take it from here.”“Come on Mom. Let’s go.” Marcus careful