“Nolan!!!”
She looked around herself and sobbed into the pillow as she found herself back in her bed. The scene came back strongly and she wished that it would go away. She wanted to refuse that it ever happened but it did…
“Tes, it’s your fault. You know it is.” That voice. It made her cower into her sheets. Katie was back. “Kudos to you on not squealing about his death. You’re much tougher than I thought you were.”
“He’s not dead!” Tesla screamed. She threw her only pillow at Katie and she merely dodged it while laughing. “I’m telling you that he’s not dead!! He’s probably at the hospital!”
“More like the morgue. Haha!” Katie laughed as she walked out of the room. Tesla sobbed into her sheets, regretting throwing her only pillow out the door. She had a feeling that if she gave in, then she can get out of here.. But she didn’t want to betray her family. She drifted off to sleep again…
Mr. Macavoy came running through the ER doors. He rubbed his forehead nervously and looked down at the piece of paper clutched in his left fist. It had some sloppy handwriting on it saying, “Come to the hospital. Help.” He recognized the writing, she thought of him as the dad she should have had. Before the little girl’s parents fell to alcohol and drugs, they deemed him as Godfather.
Tesla was sitting in the waiting room. The man walked over and sat next to her. She looked exhausted as she clutched her backpack close to her chest. “Tesla…” She looked up at him as she caught the fatherly tone in it. “He’s fine. It was a long bike ride but I made it… Thanks for the wagon attachment from my birthday..”
“Tesla, it’s time that you go home. I’ll stay here while Cherie takes you back. You need to sleep.” As he said this, Tesla slumped in her seat, her eyes shutting. As she drifted off, she heard him ask, “Where did you get that bruise?”
She woke up with tears in her eyes. It was nighttime. She could smell the spaghetti from here. While she laid there, she remembered having a pair of crutches tucked away in the closet. She slowly got up, slid the door open and grabbed them. She was finally mobile. At least until her sister might decide to hurt her arms too. She limped to the kitchen. It was small and dingy. There was some kind of rancid smell that never left. After that first night, she learned to just grab her share and eat in her room. Margie quickly got up from the table and helped her carry the plate and glass of water back.
“Tesla… You need to get your head checked,” she said.
“I’m fine. Just leave me alone.”
“No. Not after what Katie did to you.”
“Fine… But don’t talk to me.”
Tesla silently ate her meal. The noodles were rubbery and the sauce tasted funny. She stared at the glass of water, which had some little particles floating in it and didn’t drink it. When she was done, she laid down again, Margie had placed the pillow back on the bed. She stared at the bottom of the upper bed for a while thinking about how everything seemed to have turned upside down in just a few days. The lump in her right leg throbbed painfully until she finally said to Margie, “Ask Mrs. Mclarden if she can get me some Tylenol for me please.” She shut her eyes as she heard her feet move out of the room.
After what seemed to take forever, she heard a pair of heavier feet. A pair of gentle, aged hands touched her leg and her head. She opened her eyes and found the wrinkled face of Mrs. Mclarden. “Ah, you’re finally awake. I’ve been checking up on you, you know.” She handed her a couple of children’s Tylenol and a glass of more dirty water. Tesla hesitated and decided to give in to the pain so she took the medicine and drank all the water in one gulp, tasting the strong iron in it.
“We’ve found a nice family that will take care of you once you tell us why you’re hurt. We got a call from one of your neighbors that heard some domestic disturbances in your home. We want to know who hurt you and why. We were going to just let you tell us but it seems like we have to tell you why we have to know.”
Tesla sat up and glared at her. “I already know why. You just want to take me away from my baby brother! I haven’t seen him for three days and I want to see him.”
The aged woman looked down at the little girl and sighed. She didn’t know what to say to her. She was too young to know what happened to the boy. But she also looked like she was old enough to detect a lie. She sat down awkwardly on the bed, as she was too tall for it. She stared at the stubborn girl. She thought about how to say this as kindly as possible. She’s had to deal with this kind of case many times before but it was always hard on the little ones.
“Tesla, if I tell you what happened to your brother, will you be able to tell me what happened that night? Once we know, we can press charges on whoever hurt you and your brother. I promise that you will be protected.”
She stared up at the woman for a few minutes. Finally, she nodded.
“Your brother… Nolan… He was found with his face beaten up and he wasn’t breathing. That’s what our files say. The reason why you haven’t seen him is because he was beaten to de-“
“No-He’s not dead! He’s still alive!” whimpered Tesla. “H-He was still awake when I took him to the hospit-“
“It’s ok. It’s not your fault… You tried! You really did! Most girls your age probably would have hid in their room if they saw violence. You’re a very brave young lady!” said Mclarden as she held Tesla in her arms. The girl sobbed into her sweater. She slowly rocked her back and forth as the tears streamed down her dirt-covered face, her childhood ended. She didn’t want to hear that Nolan was gone. But he was. His giggles are never going to be heard again. He was only four years old… And now he’s gone. Katie’s words kept on repeating themselves over and over in her head when she got back from the ER and her sister was holding the phone. “He’s dead, Tesla! He’s dead! Nolan is dead!”
As the tears slowed to sniffles, she said in a broken voice, “Fine.. I’ll tell you… I don’t really want to but I will…”
Tesla stared down at the floor as she began, “I heard Nolan crying. So I went in there. Mom forgot to buy another case of beer so dad went berserk. Katie was yelling about how she needs to see some concert. Some stuff was thrown at Nolan. All I think that happened before I got in there was that everybody got sick of hearing him cry. He doesn’t like it when everybody has a big conversation. I ran out of there and wrote a note for my godfather and went over to his house. He wasn’t going to be home for awhile so I just placed the note on his front door, got out my bike, attached my new wagon to it and waited until everybody was asleep or at least distracted. I grabbed Nolan and put him in the wagon and took him to the hospital as fast as I could.”
Mrs. Mclarden was in shock to all this as she listened. She found her voice and quietly asked, “And your leg?”
“When I got back, Katie told me that Nolan was dead. She didn’t mean to hurt me. She kicked me a few times and just left me bleeding.” She lifted her shirt up and showed her stomach, the scratches were starting to heal. “Then we got another phone call the next morning. My mom got it. Then she threw one of those glass mugs at me because I told my best friend what happens to me. Katie caught wind of it and knocked me off my feet and bent my leg until I heard a small pop. That’s how the lump appeared. My dad was too drunk to do anything, he was sleeping on the couch at the time.”
Tesla’s voice cracked at the end of the last sentence and cried into Mrs. Mclarden some more. The truth was finally out. She betrayed her family. Nolan was gone. She had a feeling that she was never going to be around that neighborhood again.
“Thank you, Tesla. Everything will be ok. Sounds like your parents only threaten you most of the time and your sister is the one that hurts you. We can fix all that.” Tesla continued to sob loudly while the aged woman continued to quietly soothe her.
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