GAVIN’S LEGS WERE MADE of ten pounds of steel. He was motionless. Deaf. All he could hear was the faint echo of Ethan’s name on Alejandro’s scarred lips.
Sydney’s eyes were like the moon as she ran behind Gavin, nearly knocking him off.
” Ethan, are you okay? Jesus Christ what if it touched you.” Sydney’s arms were around Ethan’s body, shaking. He was still screaming. He couldn’t stop screaming.
The bullet managed to pass through the space between the outline of his cheek and shoulder, making its way into the glass wall.
By the time Gavin regained his ability to move, Christopher had poured out of the house, his eyes wide in matching shock. Mathilda was hiding behind a wall in case there’d be another gunshot.
Christopher looked between the wall and Gavin. ” Holy shit, how did this happen?”
” Someone please call the police and an ambulance. He isn’t moving.” Sydney screamed.
Gavin was stumbling as he walked to Ethan. He pulled Sydney gently away from him and grabbed Ethan’s raised shoulder. Shake it. It was like he’s been paralyzed with shock.
” Ethan, stop screaming and talk to me. ” Gavin breathed. Trembling. His mind was a maze.
Ethan’s gaze was fixated on one place as he kept on screaming. Gavin’s head snapped in that direction.
He saw someone on the rooftop of a building adjacent to the Smart House holding a gun. Next to him was another man, bathed in tattoos. Alejandro lips curved upwards, and he placed a finger to his lips. Then he raised five fingers then retreated.
Gavin was cold. He listened to the sound of the sirens approaching. The indistinct chatters of people gathering to take a look at what happened. The police telling them to back off. Ethan screaming. Emily crying. Sydney begging Ethan to move and stop screaming.
A hand dropped on Gavin’s shoulder drawing him back to reality. ” The police would investigate what happened, and whoever did this would be punished. Cheer up, son.”
Gavin thought otherwise. Everyone feared the Mafias including the police. Every police sector had a spy from the Mafia working under them. They wouldn’t hesitate to bomb the whole police station if they found out the police were investigating a matter related to the Mafia. One phone call from Alejandro and the case would be withdrawn.
Gavin dropped Emily off at Sofia’s and drove to the hospital where they had taken Ethan.
Sydney sat on the hospital chair next to Ethan’s ward crying. Gavin went to her, wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her to him.
” I don’t understand what’s going on, who is after our lives?” She cried on his chest. Her arms wrapped around his neck tightly. She forgot he was still healing from the bullet injury.
He didn’t tell her to stop. He deserved the pain. He deserved far worse. He blamed himself for the mess they were in.
His father was right, he thought. He used his hand to ruin something good he possessed.
Alejandro would come back for Ethan. Alejandro won’t stop. He will never stop. There was no way to stop him; the Mafia had the upper hand around the nation, and they were the second most powerful after the government. Even the government feared them, they had grown so powerful over the years Gavin couldn’t place how.
His hand patted her back. ” I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ve failed as a man. I’ve failed as a father.”
He closed his eyes and let everything that had happened replay in his mind. The worst is coming and he wouldn’t be there to stop it.
____________
” Don’t worry, your son is fine; he had just a slightly severe cataplexy due to shock from what happened. He can move now, and he’d stopped screaming.” Doctor Kent reassured after almost four hours in the ward.
Sydney’s eyes were still wide with anticipation from when he’d come out of the ward.
” Can I go see him? I have to see my son; he needs his mommy next to him; I’m his mommy. He needs me. He must still be scared. I need to hug him and read him a story. I need to tell him it will be fine. I need to-”
” Mrs. Reed, I understand. When the Nurse steps out, you can see him. ” The Doctor turned to Gavin. His temples were creased. ” May I have a word with you? ”
Gavin nodded too quickly and followed the Doctor. His legs were too weak with anxiety, he nearly collapsed before reaching the Doctor’s office. Doctor Kent asked him if he needed any medical attention. Gavin brushed him off and took a seat nearly falling over.
” Are you sure I shouldn’t call a nurse? You don’t look fine. ”
Gavin ran a hand through his face. ” Cut to the chase. ”
Doctor Kent released a sigh. He brought out a file, searched through the documents in it, took one, and then slid it to Gavin.
Gavin didn’t know what he was supposed to be looking at. He didn’t know if the papers were alternating blue, red, and orange on their own. His head hurt as he tried to make meaning of the verbose writing in front of him.
” That’s your son’s medical report. I had to run a test on him so I wouldn’t make any mistakes.”
Gavin rubbed his chin and held the handle of the chair with a free hand. ” You said he had a severe cataplexy.”
” Yes, he does; that’s the reason he was stiff and screaming. I also got to realize he is suffering from depression and anxiety issues.” Doctor Kent noticed Gavin was following and continued. ” It’s taking a huge percentage of his brain. His dopamine receptors are overwhelmed by it and have begun to dysfunction.” He leaned into the chair. ” I suggest he undergoes therapy before it escalates. I didn’t want to tell your wi- Sorry, his mother because I don’t think she’d be able to handle it.”
Gavin was falling into a black hole. The world was coming down on him, seeking to crush him. He died twice and came back to life as the Doctor spoke those words.
The Doctor slid another paper in front of him. It had numbers and letters on it. ” Here are good therapists I recommend. Also, you should make sure he doesn’t see or hear anything that triggers him. He’s just ten.”
At the Doctor’s last word, Gavin’s phone notification bell dinged. His phone was shaking in his hand. He was too afraid to look at it. He was still trying to comprehend what the Doctor had said.
His son is suffering from depression.
Ding.
His son is suffering because of him.
Ding.
His son was almost shot.
Ding
Ethan is just ten years old.
Ding, Ding, Ding…
Gavin was close to bursting until the door opened and a female voice came through.
” There is a new patient that needs urgent medical attention, Doctor.”
” All right, I’m coming- Mr. Reed, I have to leave my office.”
Gavin walked to Ethan’s ward, he held the wall for support. His phone was vibrating in his pocket. He was seeing webs of white.
His head was hanging on his shoulder as he walked into Ethan’s ward.
He stood still the moment he saw Alejandro sitting next to Ethan and holding his shaking hands while Sydney sat on the hospital chair.
Alejandro heard Gavin’s loud breathing and looked at him. A wide smile spread across his face, making his silver teeth visible.
” Friend, I heard what happened and I had to be here. Thank God the bullet didn’t touch his body.” Thank me. Alejandro mouthed.
Gavin began to swell with anger. He stared at their hands. Ethan shouldn’t be touching the devil. Ethan shouldn’t be near the devil. ” Let go of my son’s hand. Let go of him!”
Sydney furrowed a brow at him. ” Why are you shouting at him, Gavin?” From what Gavin had told her, Alejandro was his very good friend.
Gavin was fidgeting. He ran a hand through his hair. Gripped his hair in utter confusion and anger. ” Get out of this place. Get lost. You told me five, why are you doing this?! Stop touching my son goddamn it!”
Alejandro laughed and said something to Sydney before getting up and walking to Gavin. He stopped when he was beside him and whispered.
” Check your messages, and next time you raise your voice at me, I’ll make sure the bullet passes through a part of his body.”
Alejandro was gone. Gavin ran to Ethan and grabbed his son’s cold indifferent face.
He’s only ten. Only ten. Only ten, Gavin recited. Kids his age should be smiling. Giddy. Happier than a smiling sun.
Gavin pulled him to his body and let all his vulnerability drop. He was crying. Kissing his head. Running a hand through his blonde hair. Reciting I love you, I’m sorry, you’ll be fine.
They stayed like that till Ethan fell asleep in his arms. Gavin stared into nothing. He felt like nothing.
Sydney woke up, took Ethan from his arms, and placed him on the bed. She traced her hand through the outline of Ethan’s face and stared at Gavin.
It had affected him more than she expected. He’d gone to the extent of shouting at Alejandro because of it. Sydney wanted to go to him and pull him in her arms. She wanted to tell him Ethan was fine and it was just a minor shock. God, she wanted to say and do a lot of things.
Sydney stood next to Gavin. She raised her hand to touch his face but something stopped her. She battled in her head but eventually ran a hand through his hair.
She breathed. Touching him was magic. Her hand shook as she held the back of his head and turned his face to look at hers. She sat in the small space next to him.
” Ethan will be fine.” She said almost inaudibly.
Gavin looked at her and said nothing. Her heart was racing, she didn’t know if he liked it when she touched him.
What was she doing, what was she doing?
She took her hand away from his head and he quickly grabbed it before it was out of his reach.
Pull. Shift. Drag.
They were still on the bed. He was behind her, his body touching hers, and his arms around her belly. His face was buried in her neck as he cried.
Sydney felt New Year fireworks going off in her stomach, making her immobile.
” Don’t move, please. Let me hold you for some time or else I’ll go crazy.”
She didn’t intend on moving. She couldn’t even feel her bones.
Fifteen minutes flew by. Sydney thought he was asleep and tried to turn to check but his grip on her tightened. She held a gasp.
” I need to take him out of here, let go of me.”
Gavin’s voice came like a sedative. ” Stay with me. I can rent a hotel room tonight, and we’ll all stay together. Tomorrow, I’ll get a better place for us to stay. You guys aren’t safe.”
Oh, sweet impossible dreams.
Sydney pushed away from him. ” I’m not moving in with you, you won’t compel me.”
He looked at the floor tiles that had begun to spiral. ” I don’t want to risk another one of you being shot.”
” We will be fine, in case you haven’t noticed, both attacks happened when I was with you. Staying around you is causing all these problems.”
Gavin died and was resurrected a million times.
His voice hung for some seconds before he regained his speaking ability.
” At least let me drop you off.”