You Can Still Be Free – 2/2 – Duochanfan

Reading Time: 104 Minutes

Title: You Can Still Be Free
Series: Affirmation
Series Order: 1
Author: Duochanfan
Fandom: 9-1-1
Genre: Angst, Crime Drama, Drama, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Relationship(s): Gen
Content Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Hate Crimes, Hate Speech, Violence-Graphic, Violence-Domestic, Violence-Against Children/Child Abuse. Bigotry, Canon Natural Disasters, Canon Typical Violence, Character Bashing, Dark Themes, Death Minor Character, Discussion Death of Children, Gun Violence, Homophobia, Injury, Kidnapping of a Minor, Attempted Murder, Attempted Murder of a Minor, Murder, Stalking.
Author Note: I was inspired while writing this fic a lot by Savage Garden’s Affirmation Album. Six songs stood out and with the titles you can guess which ones they are.
Beta: HarleyJQuin. Thank you so much for the editing you’ve done, and all the Damns you’ve taken from me too!
Alpha: HarleyJQuin. Once again, thank you for all the help with everything, and to BytheBry for your help with the romance side of things!
Word Count: 51,869
Summary: Evan Buckley knew that he wouldn’t see his next birthday if he stayed in the Buckley home. With help from his friend, Eric, he finds a place that he can call his own. That one action has more consequences that Evan ever thought possible.
Artist: Tpena19
Artist Appreciation: It was amazing working with you. The art is awesome and I still squeal over it all!

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Chapter Thirteen

Evan walked into his parent’s home and glanced around. It was still the same as it always was. Pictures of Maddie on the wall, along with his parents. But there was nothing to show that he even existed once in this house. Margaret stood in the doorway to the living room, glaring at him as he came to stand in front of her.

“I want you out of this damn house,” she growled at him, “I don’t need you around at all.”

“I don’t want to be here either, but your daughter is making things difficult, and I’m done having to put up with shit from you and her,” he stated, glaring right back. “I know you can’t stand me. I know you hate me, don’t love me, and no doubt wish I was dead. Unfortunately, Maddie has it in her head that I can’t do shit on my own. Which is fucking ridiculous since I basically raised myself. You certainly didn’t. You’re a shit mother, and an even worse human being in my eyes.”

“What would you know about being a parent? Or even a person? You’re nothing but a parasite that I should have gotten rid of years ago,” she hissed back at him.

“I know for a fact that you failed at both. What parent would leave their ten-year-old child home alone for two days? Without anything to eat?” he asked her, “Nothing but failures, that’s you and Dad, failures at being actual parents, and being decent human beings to me. I had no love or care in this house, I know Maddie only looked after me because you two forced her. As soon as she had choices she was out that door as fast as she damn well could, not that I blame her.”

“You-” she began.

“Margaret, I thought you were going out?” Phillip said as he began to walk down the stairs and then saw Evan standing there. “Ah, Evan, go into the living room, Maddie is there with Doug,” he told his son. “Margaret, please, head out and have some fun. I’ll sort things out so you don’t have to worry.”

“Of course,” Margaret said as she glared one last time at her youngest son, and then at her husband. She smiled at him, it was tight and Phillip could see the stress lines around her eyes as she then walked off.

“Did you really have to say anything to her?” Phillip asked his son.

“Well, when she comes to me and demands that I fuck off and wishes I would never darken her door again. Then I’m going to tell her that I’m trying but her daughter is making it so fucking hard to do so,” Evan replied with a snarl. “I’m trying to stay away, but she’s making it awkward. She’s going out of her way to get me in trouble as part of her harassment campaign. I’m waiting for the moment the cops come and try to take me back.”

“They can’t,” Phillip said, “While normally we won’t have a child living without parents. I’ve done it in such a way that it’s all legal. You can live alone, you have people coming in to check on you and rent and food as well as health insurance is paid for. You can legally live away from home, with permission.”

“Good to know,” Evan said, “I looked at it myself, but it’s not exactly fully clear. I can live alone, but I have to be competent to do so,” he added, frowning.

“You’re right, it’s a bit of a gray area,” Phillip told him, “I’ve done what I can to make sure that you’ll be fine if anyone starts sniffing around you. But… be careful.”

“I will,” Evan said, but then frowned at the words that his father had just said to him. “Yeah,” he muttered, “Let’s get this over with, and did Doug have to come?”

“Your sister loves her husband, even if we don’t like him,” Phillip sighed, his lips pressed tightly together in disapproval of the man that his daughter had married.

“I don’t trust him, there’s just something about him that I really don’t like. I don’t think I ever will. Just… keep an eye on her and him,” Evan muttered under his breath as they walked into the living room.

“Where’s Mom?” Maddie asked as she noticed that she wasn’t with them.

“This will go better if she’s not here,” Phillip said, “You know her feelings on having Evan in the house. She’s against it, and so am I. I need to make sure Margaret is fine, and she isn’t with Evan here.”

Maddie frowned, “Really Dad, you’re going to lie,” she rolled her eyes. “Mom and you love Evan, and I don’t know why you’re catering to his idiotic delusions in the fact that neither of you likes him, and don’t want him living here.”

“That’s because we don’t want him living here, Maddie,” Phillip told her as he walked over to the couch and sat down.

Evan walked over to one of the lone chairs and sat down on it, glaring at his sister. She had been causing too many problems for him over the last month since she had found out, and he was going to have his exams in two weeks. He wanted peace and quiet so he could study and prepare for them.

Maddie stared right back at him, a little smirk playing on her lips as though she was sure that he would be living back with Margaret and Phillip by the end of the day.

“Right,” Phillip said, “Maddie,” he turned to his daughter, “I’ve just told you that he won’t be moving back here. We have him set up fully to live independently from us, and it’s not going to change.”

“But dad,” Maddie protested, “you know he isn’t smart enough to live independently. I know all about the tests that were done on him when he was a kid, to see if they would be holding him back a year.” Her tone was smug as she mentioned testing.

“Testing? What testing?” Phillip was puzzled over that, “I don’t know of any tests that Evan has had to do, especially not ones that would mean he would be held back a year.”

“Mom talked about them, she told me that she was denying him leaving his class because he just wasn’t smart enough, but she wanted him to be normal and not anything else. She kept him in his year, even though it would have been better to be held back if they were testing him for that,” she said with a wave of her hand.

“Maddie, there was no testing to see if he was being held back at all,” Phillip told her.

“I think she means the tests that I went to, to see if I had ADHD,” Evan told him, “Which I do,” he added, wincing slightly, “But it’s manageable. It was also testing to see if I would do better in a higher grade, since I found the schoolwork boring and not challenging enough to keep me focused.”

“I don’t believe you,” Maddie snapped at him, “You’re not smart, though I could easily believe the ADHD, you’re just the type for it,” she said with a little sneer, “See, Dad, that means he shouldn’t be left alone. He’s not capable of doing anything for himself. He’s a damn child and always getting into trouble. Come on Dad, how many times did you have to get him from the hospital? And he almost died recently as well,” she told him.

“Maddie, my ADHD has nothing to do with whether or not I can live on my own. I know how it works and the things that work best for me,” he told her, scowling as she brought it up to throw it in his face. Evan didn’t even know that she had known about the testing that he had done when he was young. The school had fought hard to be able to test him for ADHD since his mother had been adamant that there was nothing wrong with Evan other than being too stupid to do anything; a belief that it seems her daughter echoed.

“It has everything to do with it. You won’t be able to concentrate on anything, which means no doubt you’ll need the fire service to come and rescue you from your own damn attempts at cooking. I wonder which place you’re getting take out from. And then there is school work, are you really doing anything for that? I don’t think so, you even pretended that you were doing college work while you were in the hospital in January. I don’t even know why I believed you at first, I know you’re not smart enough for that,” she snapped at him, “Stop playing pretend before you get hurt again. Mom and Dad aren’t going to keep rescuing you when you do,” she said as she looked at Evan. “Look, Evan, we all love you, but what you’re doing is going to cause problems for everyone in the end. If you come back home, then it will get a lot better.”

“No it won’t,” Evan said through gritted teeth.

“I remember those tests, and there was a second test given that day?” Phillip asked, frowning as he tried to remember.

“Yeah, if I should be skipped ahead,” Evan said, reminding his father of what they were about.

“Yes, that’s right, you had that one twice more after that. The first two times, Margaret decided that you weren’t going to be skipped ahead,” Phillip said, looking at Evan.

“Yeah, because she hates me and wanted to see me suffer in a year that was so slow and uninteresting. Hell, why do you think I’m not medicated for my ADHD, since that was suggested way back then?” Evan couldn’t help but ask them both. Ignoring the look that Doug was giving him, as he wrapped a possessive arm around Maddie’s waist.

“Because you didn’t need it,” Maddie said.

Phillip shook his head, “Because your mother decided that you weren’t to have it, even though th-”

“The doctor said it would help me,” Evan finished for him as the man started to go silent. “You see Maddie, Mother doesn’t like me, doesn’t want me around, nothing. She wants to make my life as miserable as she can, and she has been. It’s why I made sure to leave, to move out. So maybe I could actually have a life worth living, instead of thinking that I was going to die before my next birthday, just to get a scrap of attention from two people that wish I didn’t exist.”

“That’s not true,” Maddie said, looking at her dad, “Tell him, Dad, it’s not true at all.”

“Maddie, your mother is delicate, and having Evan around isn’t good for her. You know this, I don’t know why you keep denying it. Your mother can’t have Evan around. It’s bad for them both. Evan needs to be away to be able to live, and he can’t do that in this house, and with Margaret the way she is, she can’t have him around. He is-”

“A constant reminder,” Evan said quietly, “Of not being what she wanted? Of being a mistake she made in keeping me,” he shrugged as both Maddie and Phillip paled at the words, “It doesn’t matter what I’m a reminder of. It’s bad enough that she hates my very existence, she wants me gone from her life and I’m fine with that. But you’re coming around harassing me and trying to make me go back to a home that doesn’t exist for me. I’m happy where I am, I’m doing fine. I work, I do my school and college work well enough that I’m set to graduate by December if things keep going the way they are. I’ll be seventeen and graduated from High school with me also doing one last year at college to finish off the courses that I’m doing.”

“He’s happy where he is, Maddie, and I’m not going to have him coming back to a place that’s going to hurt two people. Evan is doing just fine where he is, his education is going well, he’s not stupid at all, he’s a year ahead and yes, he is doing college courses. I signed off on them when Evan presented the papers to me,” he said, he knew there was no way he could really defend his wife from what she had done when it came to Evan. She had put him down so much that their daughter believed that Evan couldn’t do anything for himself. “As for him almost dying, he had an allergic reaction,” he said, as he remembered what else she had said, “He’s had one hospital visit since leaving. Not the three dozen he had in the six months before leaving.”

“It’s just…” Maddie began again, trying to push her world view on the two people before her.

“Maddie, enough,” Phillip snapped, “Evan is going to remain where he is. I know where he is living and I approve of the place, and he has money. He can do everything he needs to take care of himself, he has been doing so since you left for college, and even before that,” his words were gentle, “Now stop what you’ve been doing.”

Maddie huffed but nodded.

Evan got up, “I need to go, I have work in about half an hour,” he said as he then left, hurrying from the home as Maddie and Phillip began to talk a little more. He didn’t want to stick around to learn how little his sister thought of him.

Chapter Fourteen

Evan was grinning as he looked at his results. The last two months had been quiet when it came to the Buckley side of things. Maddie had backed off a lot. Not fully, she still harassed him, but it wasn’t nearly every single day. It was once a week, sometimes every two. It was a lot better, but she still didn’t think he could do anything himself. She was doing her best to get the address of where he lived from him, but he hadn’t said a word. Neither had Phillip. His father had told him what Maddie was doing and warned him that he had done his best to make sure everything to do with his address or even the general area where he lived was safe.

Margaret didn’t know, which was a good thing. The two had bumped into each other when Evan had been shopping, getting a few things in for himself. The woman had hissed and berated him for a number of things. Trying to get him in trouble with the shop he was in. Thankfully, CCTV had shown that it had been her that had instigated several things and she had been tossed out. Phillip had called him that day and asked what the hell had happened.

“Hey!” Eric called out as he rushed over, “So, how did you do?” he asked.

“I passed everything. Got the highest grade in my class for them all,” he told him, “I’m doing really well, and I’m all set to graduate by the end of the year,” he added, laughing, “I can’t believe it. I’m almost done.”

“What’s the plan for after you graduate though, you’ll be seventeen, so what are you going to do?” Eric asked, eager to know the plan.

“I’ve got college still to do, and I’m going to be taking on another small class that I can do to get more credits. I’m looking into what I want to do with my life, and what career path I want to take. I just don’t know yet, so I’m keeping my options open. I’m thinking about leaving Hershey though, as soon as I can. I don’t know where I’ll be going, but I just know that I won’t want to be hanging around here for much longer. Margaret has been trying to get me in trouble. I’ve seen her following me a few times,”Evan answered him, a little frown appearing on his face as he thought of the woman that birthed him.

“What the fuck? Why the hell is she following you?” Eric asked as they walked side by side out of the building.

“I don’t think she’s happy with the fact that I’m… happy,” he shrugged. “She’s been like this all the time. Any time I showed a little bit of happiness around her, she would snatch it away. I think that’s why she’s been getting Maddie on side with her. She doesn’t want me back in the house, but she doesn’t want me living alone, since Margaret thinks I’m too happy like that. So Maddie is her mouthpiece at the moment. I think… she wants me to go into a home or something, a children’s home, or hell I think juvie would be something she’d want to inflict on me. Since she took to trying to get me in trouble with a store. Thank fuck that I got them to check CCTV before they did anything.”

“Okay, you haven’t told me this? When was this and what the hell happened?” Eric asked as they brushed past other students getting their results.

“Right,” Evan said as he began to tell him. “So I’m in this damn store, getting some groceries in. It’s not one that Margaret goes to, so I’m thinking I’m safe. This is the reason why I think she is following me, because it’s not the usual one,” he told him as he continued, “So I’m there, and she comes over to me, a basket in her hand and she tosses it up in the air and yells out like I’d just hit her one. She’s making a scene and demanding that the manager do something about me as I’d just hurt her, that the cops should be called and everything. She’s crying and sitting on the floor,” he rolled his eyes and huffed.

“What the fuck, man,” he said, eyes going wide, “Did she seriously think she would get away with such a fucking thing?” he asked.

Evan laughed, “No idea, but when the manager came out and saw this well-to-do woman sitting on the floor, yelling in pain and acting like she had been assaulted, well, I think she deserves an Oscar because he fell for it for all of two seconds before asking what happened. I told them that they should check the CCTV while Margaret started yelling about me hitting her and sending her groceries flying. Now, please remember, I’ve been going to the store since I moved. They know me, and they check and find out what’s going on. They are thinking of getting the police for Margaret, but I called Dad, told him to come and get his wife and play on her mental health. I do think she has something wrong with her, to act like she does. So not really a fucking play in my eyes. But he came and got her.”

“Good, that woman is fucking crazy,” Eric laughed, “What did Phillip say when he got there?”

“He did what I told him to and got her out of there. He called me asking me what the hell happened fully that night. I told him what I told you. He was not happy, but he couldn’t blame me for what went on, the only one to blame was Margaret. I told him that I thought she was… stalking me,” he said, frowning slightly, “and I do think she is. She’s appeared twice more at places that I know she has never been to before,” he finished.

Eric shook his head, “That’s crazy, damn crazy. You doing okay though… about what she’s been doing?” he asked him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. This is just the same as always,” he shrugged, dismissing what was going on.

“Look, man, seriously, you need to be careful. If she’s trying something like this, then she needs serious help. She could be dangerous,” he warned his best friend, reaching out and putting a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it, “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Evan sighed, “I’ll talk to Dad about it, maybe he’ll be able to make sure she doesn’t do anything. She… doesn’t know where I live at the moment, I’m hoping to keep that contained. No doubt if Maddie knew, she’d be at the apartment all the time demanding that I go home or be somewhere where there are adults to supervise me.” Evan paused for a moment and then smirked.

“What’s that smirk for?” Eric frowned, looking wary at his friend.

“Just thinking, if they carry on, I’ll just tell them that the place I’ll be staying at would be yours. Since I know Maddie and Margaret don’t like Coco,” he grinned as he looked at Eric.

“Mom doesn’t like them either,” Eric snorted, “She’d be up for annoying them both, so count her in without even asking.”

Evan laughed, “Yeah, I know. Well, let’s get going, your dad said he has plans for us both today,” he added.

Eric nodded, “Yeah,” smiling, the two of them hurried to Eric’s home.

XxXxX

Coco looked at the house before her. She hated going there, but she was determined to get her way again. She had done it before, a number of times over the years, and now she needed some paperwork to be signed again. Then she could finally do what she wanted. Her sister invited them to LA for three weeks during the holidays. She had saved up some time as well with work, Darren had done the same. Now, there was one last member that she wanted to bring along. She knocked on the door.

The door opened and Phillip Buckley stood there. “Mrs Baxter,” he greeted.

“May I come in, Mr Buckley?” she asked.

Phillip nodded and let her inside, “Margaret isn’t here at the moment,” he told her.

“I know, I made sure she was gone before I came. I know that she is very… against Evan doing anything that might be fun. Why do you think that I only come here when she’s gone?” she snorted, rolling her eyes.

Phillip didn’t look happy but nodded. Even he had to admit that his wife had an unhealthy obsession with making Evan miserable. “That’s… fine,” he said as he led the way to his office, “What do you need from me?”

“I need paperwork stating that I can act on Evan’s behalf and take him out of state. My sister and her family are hosting a get-together in LA, and I would like for Evan to come with us,” she told him, as she sat down when he gestured for her to do so.

“And your sister is happy to have someone that isn’t family there?” he asked, a little frown appearing on his face as he looked at the woman.

“My sister considers Evan family, the same as I do. You and her might not like or even care about Evan, but some people do and want him to have a nice and happy life. Why the hell do you think I tried several times to get custody of him? He was miserable and suicidal with you. You might not have seen the signs, but I’m a damn doctor, I saw them. The injuries? Trying to get your attention, any attention. The child was crying out for just a little bit of love. You’re lucky that it was Eric who befriended him, and he came to us. There are people out there who would’ve taken advantage of such a child,” Coco told him, her voice stern and her gaze piercing.

Phillip remained silent for a few moments. “I know,” he finally said, “Let me get the paperwork done. I’ve got it already for you. I knew that you would want to take him away again, especially after Christmas and you taking him to see your mother in Cincinnati.”

Coco snorted, “I would say do better by him, but you’re not capable of it, and I know I’m being rude as hell.”

“You are,” Phillip said, “But… not without cause.”

“Oh, and you need to rein in Margaret. She’s been following Evan. He’s noticed her a few times while he’s out. She’s already caused one scene.”

“I know, I’ve told her not to, but she is a force all on her own. I can’t control what she wishes to do with her time away from the house,” he sighed, “Thank you. For taking care of him. I wish I had given you custody of him back then, but I couldn’t. He’s alright in the apartment, it’s not in a bad place. Though if he needs anything, just tell me,” he said as he looked up from the letter and paperwork that he was working on to give to her.

Coco remained silent for the rest of the meeting. She got up as soon as she had the paperwork that she needed. Phillip got up and started to escort her out. “You need to be careful, your wife is one step away from getting sectioned, I would say. Her behavior, past and present doesn’t paint a picture of a mentally stable woman. Get her help, and get it soon before things blow up in your face. I’m already working on getting Evan some help with his own issues.”

Phillip said nothing and just nodded at her words as he led Coco out of the house. “Goodbye, and I hope you have a lovely time visiting family.”

“I shall,” she nodded at him and sighed as she left. There was something more going on with that family and she had a bad feeling about what was to come if something wasn’t done about Margaret. She was a danger in Coco’s eyes, and mainly, a danger to Evan. She would be doing what she could to protect the teenager that she thought of as a second son.

Chapter Fifteen

Evan looked at the building in front of him. This was the address. He looked at the paper in his hand. He was still unsure if he was doing the right thing. He was in LA, in the last week of the vacation that he was taking with Eric and his family. Eric’s aunt Alisha was brilliant, welcoming him with warm arms and a bright smile. Her husband and three kids had been the same. Now, he was finally going to meet Eddie face to face. The man was home on leave, though Evan would only have the next three days left in LA, and one of those was taken up with a day trip with the Baxter and Lewis families.

“Are you going to stand there forever?” a smooth voice that Evan had only heard over the phone called out.

Evan looked up from the paper he was holding and then tilted his head, “Eddie?” he guessed.

The man nodded, “And you’re Evan, taller than I thought you would be.” He grinned at him, heading over, “So, you’re going to come in?”

“I had a growth spurt, just hit six foot. I tower over so many of the others at school,” Evan grinned, proud of the extra height he now had. He was even with Eddie.

“Same as me, then,” the man said. “Well, it’s great to finally meet you,” he told him. “Come on, Abuela and Abuelo are inside. Both want to meet you as well. Abuela said she wanted to teach you a couple of recipes before you head back.”

“Yeah,” Evan nodded as he followed Eddie into the house.

“He’s finally here,” Eddie called out, “Abuela,” he smiled as a short woman came out and greeted Evan with a warm smile.

“Evanito,” she smiled, “So good to finally meet you,” she said as she enveloped him in a warm hug. “I spoke with Coco, and she’ll be coming by later. We’re going to all have dinner together.”

“She said,” Evan murmured, smiling as he added, “it’s so nice to finally meet you as well, Mrs Diaz.”

“It’s Abuela, to you,” she told him, letting him go and tapping him on the nose. “We’re family now.”

Evan smiled brightly as he then spotted a man standing a little behind her. “Mr Di-”

“Abuelo,” he interrupted, “If mi sol has decided you are familia, to us, then you are,” he nodded, “Eddie has said that you’ve become a good friend through your letters, and of course, my darling Bella wants to take you under her wing and make sure you’re getting what you need.”

“Good food is always needed,” she huffed, “come,” she said, taking his hand and gently pulling him into the house as the two men behind her laughed lightly.

Evan smiled as he followed her. Isabel was talking rapidly as she told him of the things she wished to teach him before he went back to the other side of the country.

XxXxX

Eddie was sitting in the garden, a smile on his face as Evan walked out of the house and joined him. “Hey,” he smiled as the teenager sat down.

“Hey, so, we’ve barely been able to talk. Your family is so great,” Evan said as he settled beside his friend.

“They are, I love them to bits,” Eddie nodded. “I spent a lot of summers here growing up. My parents are…” he shrugged, “Not always the best. They have a certain image in mind when it comes to their only son. I don’t fit what they wanted. Other things happened as well, that I don’t… want to talk about. Abuela and Abuelo helped me a lot when I was growing up. Getting me away from them. They were the ones that… helped me find what I wanted to do. To be out from under what my parents expected of me. I enjoy being in the army, this is what I want to do and my parents hate it,” he snorted, “Then again, they hate nearly everything that I’ve done.”

“Not much you can do about that. I’m… mostly cut off from my mother. She’s… never happy with me, hates it when I’m happy. If she knew I was out here, she’d flip her lid,” he snorted. “My father… he caters to everything my mother wants. If she wants me gone, I’m gone. He’s doing what he can to keep the peace at the moment, which is trying to keep my mother away from me. She has stalker tendencies. She tried getting me in trouble when I was doing some shopping,” he added, before having to explain what she had done at the grocery store almost a month ago.

“Damn, crazy,” Eddie said, eyes wide. He shook his head, “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with parents sometimes. I don’t think I’ll even understand them.”

“At least, not until we’re parents?” Evan suggested.

Eddie snorted, “Not even then. I can’t imagine doing what they’ve done to a child of my own. To want to control everything that their child will do, right down to who they marry and my mom even has a list of names that would be acceptable for me to call a child of mine. She has the same for Adriana and Sophia as well. And a list of those she would deem acceptable to marry all three of us. I’m not going to do that at all. I don’t think my sisters will either. The list of people are all from my parent’s church and I know Sophia has a bit of a beef with at least three people on the list,” he told him.

“Seems silly to do that,” Evan shrugged, before shaking his head.

“It is, but that’s what they want, and they aren’t going to get it. I’m… kinda seeing Shannon at the moment. She was someone I dated in high school, as you know. She still lives in El Paso, but her mom moved up here a while ago. She’s in San Bernardino, so she visits here when she can. We’re… more friends with benefits when I’m in town, than partners,” he told him, “If my parents found out about Shannon, they’d hit the roof. They don’t like her, they made that well known when we were dating.”

“Damn, but then again, I don’t like my sister’s husband. There’s just something about him that sets me off. She won’t listen to anyone when it comes to him. He comes across as very controlling and has to be anywhere where she is. Like, a family meeting between me, Maddie, and my father. He had to be there as well, even though he was told he wasn’t needed. I really wish that I could get her away from him, but… in the end-” he cut himself off, pulling a face.

“It’s her choice,” Eddie finished, getting a nod.

“Yeah, don’t have to like it, just have to put up with it. Then again, I’m not getting along with anyone in my family much these days,” he snorted.

“Considering you’re sixteen, not even seventeen yet, and you’ve got your own place, I’m not surprised,” Eddie chuckled.

Evan laughed, “Yeah, suppose you’re right on that. My parents hate me, they do. My mother wishes I was dead, no doubt. My father just… doesn’t seem to care about anyone other than my mother and Maddie. I’m an afterthought at the best of times. I moved out because… I was going to end up dead if I stayed there. I was doing whatever I could to get their attention. Which included doing stupid things that got me hurt. Because it was only then that I got a little attention from them. I ended up in hospital again, and this time. They didn’t come, they left me there alone. Dad showed up to pay the bill and told me that was all he was going to be doing from now on.”

“Sounds like you were a bit suicidal to me, if you think you were going to end up dead,” Eddie said.

Evan paused before he said, “I… might have been. I didn’t think anyone but the Baxters would care if something happened to me. Maddie is too wrapped up in Doug and her marriage and job. Mom and Dad hate me and don’t want me. Coco and Darren are like the parents I wish I had. And Eric… Well, he’s my best friend. He’s been my friend since we were in kindergarten together,” he smiled.

“I don’t really have friends like that. Most have moved away, gone off and done other things. I think the only ones I talk to are Shannon, and the people she lives with; two of them were at high school with us. I’ve just… grown up in a way they didn’t.”

“You’re in a damn war zone, of course, you grew up in a way they didn’t,” he snorted, shaking his head.

“Yeah,” Eddie agreed, “But it felt odd, that the way they were talking about things, just… didn’t feel important to me. Like I was past that all,” he shook his head, “It’s hard to explain. I felt out of place, that’s for sure. So I don’t really talk to them that much.”

“You talk to me just fine though,” Evan pointed out to him.

Eddie thought for a moment, “You’re… different. You understand that the world isn’t so black and white. That there are shity people out in the world doing fucked up shit. They… don’t.”

Evan nodded, “Yeah, okay, I can see that.”

“Evan,” Coco called out as she stepped outside, “We need to go,” she said gently.

“Yeah, okay,” Evan nodded as he glanced up at her, “Right. Tomorrow? You said you’re going to introduce me to Shannon and take me to see a few things around here,” he reminded his friend.

Eddie grinned, “I will be,” he agreed, “I know the last day you’re doing something with your family, and I know Shannon is going to be seeing her mom then as well. Janet’s a good woman, she lost her husband a few months ago which is why she moved up here.”

“Damn,” Evan said with a nod as he got up.

“Yeah, not a good time for them, but they’re doing okay now,” Eddie said as he got up as well. “Thank you for allowing Evan to come and visit. Abuela had fun teaching him a few things,” he grinned.

“We worked well together, I think,” Evan smiled at Eddie.

Eddie laughed, “I’ve never been much of a cook thanks to my parents. But Abuela has been teaching me each time I come here.”

“So, secretly you’re a good cook, but only they and we know?” Evan questioned him.

“Exactly,” Eddie laughed as he began to show the two out.

Evan, Coco, and her family left the Diaz’s home and headed back to Alisha’s house. They had what felt like their weight in leftovers from the cooking that Evan, Eddie, and Isabel did with Edmundo occasionally helping and getting chased out by Isabel when he got underfoot too much.

“Your friend and his family are very nice,” Coco said, “I’m glad you got the chance to meet him today.”

“Same,” Evan smiled, “He wants to meet again tomorrow. He’s going to introduce me to his friend Shannon. They went to high school together, her mom just moved up here. But Shannon still lives down in El Paso. It’ll only be for a couple of hours, so I can still go to dinner tomorrow night,” he added quickly.

“That’s fine, as long as I know where you’re going, you can go,” Coco told him.

Darren nodded, “Just keep in touch and give us updates. LA is a crazy place.”

“Like Florida,” Coco laughed, “Alisha said that sometimes, things get even more crazy than they do down there.”

“I don’t know if I can believe that,” Darren laughed, shaking his head as he drove them back to Alisha’s home.

Eric looked at Evan, “Some of the stories Nana tells us are amazing, from when she had lived there. And I can’t believe some of them are real. But she always has the proof right there for me to see.”

Evan joined in the laughter, “I remember when she showed us some of the photos when we were down there during the holidays,” he said as Coco then started to tell him some of the stories about the crazy things LA could throw at you, according to her sister.

Chapter Sixteen

Evan sighed, he hated being back in Hershey after going to LA. The city was such a great place, and there was so much there that he still wanted to see. Meeting Shannon had gone well; she had a quick wit, and roasted Eddie on the regular. Evan had laughed so much when Eddie would retort with just as sharp wit and leave them all cackling. He had just finished another call with Eddie, Shannon was there as well, in the background. But she would be heading back to El Paso soon since she wanted to get ready for college. She was picking up some extra classes so she could advance in her job, ones that Darren had recommended that she take..

Evan put the last item on the shelf, since he was back at work. School would be starting up again in a week, and college the week after. He had a list of the classes that he would be attending and when already, along with some books he needed. He would be getting them over the next couple of days. He was looking forward to going back, while he enjoyed his time away, he also enjoyed the work.

Maddie has tried to corner him once since he had arrived back two days ago. When he had been leaving his other job. She was still trying to get him to admit that his ADHD was screwing him over and that he wasn’t able to live alone and really he was having someone come in and take care of him. She had no idea how things worked for him, or how he had learned to cope with his ADHD. She had been adamant that he would be able to cope at all. Even after he had told her of the things he did to mitigate some of what goes on in his head. To help him focus and do what was needed. Like having Eric on the phone with him while he was doing certain tasks. To Maddie, it didn’t matter, he was too dumb to do the things that he was doing in her eyes.

“Evan,” came a voice from behind him. One that he hoped he wouldn’t have to hear again.

Evan stood up and turned. “Mother,” he said, giving a stiff nod as he looked at her, “Why are you here? You were told to leave me alone. I thought you didn’t want anything else to do with me, after all.”

“And let you go about being a… a… waste of space and time for people. You’re nothing, you should be dead, you’re the one who needs to crawl in a hole and die. I’d hoped that you’d do that eventually. The only reason why I went to the hospital to see you, or into your damn room was to see if you were dead yet. Always a disappointment that you carried on living,” she snapped at him.

Evan stared at her. “Wow, so you’re not hiding it anymore. You really do hate me and wish me dead. Well, news for you, it’s not going to happen. One day I’m going to leave here and make something more of my life than what you want. I’m going to be happy and have a family of my own. And you’re going to have to wallow in the fact that I’m going to be so damn happy. Neither you, Dad, or Maddie will end up as part of my life.”

“I won’t let it happen. I won’t. I refuse!” she yelled out, taking a step toward him and aiming to hit him.

“I would stop if I were you. You want the neighbors to talk about your actions,” he said, fighting a smirk as the woman paused for a moment.

“I will get you, brat,” she said as she turned and stormed out.

Evan watched her go before letting out a breath and sighing.

“You okay?” one of the patrons asked as she moved over to him, having seen the confrontation.

“Yeah, I’m okay, just a little shocked she came here again,” he sighed, “I just need to call someone to get this sorted out.”

“Alright, you should go and talk to your manager. If you need to find that woman and have her warned off by the cops, you call me. I’ll give you my details. I live locally. I don’t think I’ve seen her around here before,” she said in a rush.

“It’s fine, Ma’am, but thank you,” Evan said, giving her a reassuring smile.

“If you’re sure. I’ll be here again in a few days,” she told him, reaching out to pat him on the arm, “If you need me at all, you ask for Gladys,” she finished.

“Thank you,” he smiled, wanting to laugh a little as she headed off.

Evan walked to the back, going to see his manager. “Hey, Lisa,” he said as he spotted the woman doing a little paperwork.

“Oh, Evan, are you about ready to leave?” she asked, looking up.

“My mother just came in, I need a copy of the CCTV of the confrontation. I need to bring it to my father and make sure that he knows what she’s up to,” he said, leaning against the door jam.

Lisa frowned as she got up and went over to the computer, “Okay, not something I thought you would say.”

Evan sighed, “So… you know that I live alone, in an apartment, with permission from my father. This is to get me away from my mother who is invested in making my life as miserable as she can. She can’t stand it when I’m happy. As long as I’m out of sight, I’m out of mind. Until the last few months. She’s taken to following me and this is now the second time she’s confronted me. One was when I was doing some shopping, and the other was just. I’m… getting worried that she might try something more.” He finished rubbing at his face just done with the antics of his mother.

“Alright, I’ll get that to you. Let me just burn it onto a disc,” she told him as she got a disc and put it in the computer, putting the footage on there and burning it. “Here,” she said, handing it over before continuing with, “I’m going to have her picture put up here and state that she’s banned from the store.”

“Thanks,” Evan said as he took the case. “I’m going to give my father a call and tell him to meet me at my apartment, but to make sure that mother isn’t around to follow him. I no longer trust that she’ll stay away if given the chance.”

“You keep in touch, and make sure you message me that you got home safe. Make sure you keep your doors locked tight, check the peep hole when someone knocks” she worried for the safety of her staff member.

“I will, I’ll be calling a friend as well, to tell them what’s going on. I’m not taking any chances,” he promised her with a firm nod before leaving the office and heading to the back room to gather his things.

Evan stepped outside and headed to his bike. His phone was by his ear as he glanced around, making sure that his mother wasn’t hanging around outside of the store. He couldn’t see her at all, and sighed when the call he was making connected. “Dad,” he said.

“Evan,” came the stern reply, “I nee-”

“Dad, mother was at my workplace. She was about to attack me, and if you don’t want to believe me then you can come to my apartment later on tonight and I’ll show you the CCTV. By the way, she’ll be having her picture up on the banned list for the grocers. It’ll get around. I told you ,Dad, she needs help and you best get it for her soon,” he rushed out before the man could hang up.

“I see. I’ll be coming to yours. Your mother is having a hard time at the moment,” he said, his words a little softer as he spoke of his wife.

“My mother is unhinged and is a danger to me,” Evan snapped, “Instead of pandering to her, get her some damn help. Force the issue if you have to, before it’s forced on her.”

“Evan, you have no idea what you’re talking about,” he snapped back, “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Then fucking tell me why my own mother hates me so damn much that she would see me miserable for the rest of my life or dead!” he yelled back. He hung up, not wishing to speak to him anymore at the moment. He could feel frustrated tears running down his face. He needed to know what was so wrong with him that they hated him so much, that his own sister didn’t even believe he was capable of doing anything for himself. She had barely spent time around him after he turned six and she had gotten her first boyfriend. He rubbed at his face, shouldering his backpack, and got on his bike to head home.

XxXxX

Evan was cleaning his apartment when there was a solid knock on his door. Eric had been on the phone with him while he had worked for a bit, but the other teenager had been called for dinner and had to go. He dropped the cleaning cloth he was using and washed his hands quickly before heading over to it. He looked through the peephole, seeing only his father standing there. He sighed as he unlocked the locks, and moved the deadbolt that was near the top. He was starting to tower over his dad now, he had a good two inches on the man as he walked into the apartment. It would be the first time seeing each other since the day at the house when they confronted Maddie. That was almost two months ago.

“You’ve grown,” Phillip said as he noticed the height.

“It’s what happens to those of us who are still growing,” he stated, rolling his eyes and he closed the door behind him, “So, you want to see what your precious wife is doing when you’re not around to stop her?” he asked as he headed over to his laptop and put the disc in. He pressed play as soon as his father stepped over to him.

Phillip watched as the two were talking at first. There was no sound, but he could easily see the angry look on Margaret’s face as she began to raise her fist. “What did you say to get her to stop?” he asked.

“I told her that people would gossip about her if she hit me in public. She didn’t like that and stormed off. She wants to make my life miserable, she wants me dead. She needs fucking help.”

“There isn’t anything I can do, I can-” Phillip began, looking frustrated.

“Then be prepared to have it forced on her if she keeps escalating,” Evan cut him off. “You’ve always given in to her and I have to wonder if her parents did the same damn thing because she constantly gets away with shit. And you let her, you let her get away with treating me like crap ever since I can remember. Do you know what she said there?” he asked him.

“Nothing good,” he huffed. rolling his eyes.

“You’re right on that, nothing good at all,” he told him, “The only reason why she checked up on me in the hospital or my room after I got hurt was to see if I was dead yet. To her, it was a major disappointment that I wasn’t. Who the fuck wishes a child dead?” he demanded to know.

Phillip said nothing. “I’ll try again to keep her away. I’m taking her away at the start of next month,” he told him.

“Good, get her away, and get her mind away from me. I want nothing to do with her. Next time she comes near me, I’m not going to get rid of her, I’m just going to call the cops. I’m done, Dad. I’m done letting her wish I was dead. She’ll either get help or a damn prison sentence with the way she’s going.”

“Evan, she’s your mother-” he began to remind him.

“No, she isn’t any mother to me,” he snapped back, “She never has been, and never will be. Neither of you has ever truly been parents to me. One wishes I was dead and kept hoping for it. The other ignored the emotional and verbal abuse their youngest child suffered at the hands of their wife, just to keep her happy. This is the last warning that I’m giving you, do something about her, before I do.”

Phillip was silent for a while before nodding. “I’ll do my best.”

“We’ll see,” he said as he showed Phillip out of the apartment. He closed and locked the door behind the man and sunk down against it, closing his eyes and wishing once more that he had parents who actually cared about him.

Chapter Seventeen

Evan’s seventeenth birthday was spent with the Baxter family, enjoying a meal out and the fact that he could drive a car alone. He has another six months before he could have a full license, instead of the junior license he currently had. But he was looking forward to that day. He was already saving up to get himself a cheap car. Putting aside money each week, even though he could afford something now, he didn’t want to dip into his savings at all.

“Congratulations on living until you’re seventeen,” Eric said later that night as the two of them were at Evan’s apartment alone after Coco and Darren had dropped them off.

“Yeah, I… didn’t think I would manage it. Not with how things were going back at the Buckleys,” he said, a soft look on his face. “Three more months and I’m done with school. College is going well. I’ve been doing online courses alongside it as well. Since it worked best for me,” he added.

“You’re doing so much, how the hell do you sleep?” Eric said, shaking his head in amazement.

“Eric, I can barely sleep. I have way too much energy. Hell, even when I’m studying sometimes I’m just walking around the apartment with the book in my hand and dictating the things that I need to put down for the essays and coursework. I’ve got enough credits that I should be able to get my associates in psychology by the time I leave. And associates in science and applied science. Too much time on my hands has left me with little else to do. Especially when the insomnia hits,” Evan said with a shrug.

“Wish I had the time,” he snorted, getting up, “come on, let’s order that pizza,” he grinned.

“Already done,” Evan grinned back, “And while being able to do it is nice. It’s left me up in the air about what I want to do for a career at the moment. I may have a lot of ‘education’ but nothing that I can really use at the moment. I don’t know what bachelor’s I might want to go for, or even in what state,” he snorted, “I just know I wanna get away from here as soon as I can.”

Eric huffed, “Wish it won’t be for a while. But I can understand. How’s things going with the parental units?” he asked.

“Out on a holiday until the end of September, so… another two weeks away for them,” he shrugged. “I can do without either of them around. Prefer it. Especially with the way that Margaret has been. She’s… starting to scare me.”

“Phillip not doing anything?” Eric asked him.

“I doubt that’s going to happen. He’s taken her on a cruise to get her away from me. I just wish they would up and move somewhere else. Take Maddie with them as well. I love my sister, I do, but she is really beginning to annoy me with the way she tries to get me to think that I’m a damn baby that doesn’t even know how to chew food,” he told him, shrugging when he saw the look Eric was giving him.

“Seriously, Maddie?” he asked.

“Yeah, she’s always thought that, but it’s really come out now because I’ve moved out and she doesn’t like it. I don’t know why the hell she’s turned against me like she has, but she has and it fucking hurts to know that really she’s always thought that, but didn’t say anything,” Evan hissed, rubbing at his chest, “I hate this,” he muttered.

Eric looked at his friend, “I wish there was a magic wand to wave.”

“Think we all do at times,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Fuck these morose thoughts. Come on, let’s put a film on and have some fun,” he muttered.

Eric laughed and nodded, as the door was knocked. “Looks like the pizza is here,” he jumped up and headed to the door.

Evan smiled as it was the pizza delivery. They settled down with soda, pizza, and an action movie to round out Evan’s seventeenth birthday.

XxXxX

Evan sighed as he walked out of school. “What do you want, Maddie?” he asked as he saw his sister.

“Can’t I see you for your birthday?” she huffed as she went over and tried to hug him.

Evan dodged the hug and stated, “That was almost two weeks ago,” he reminded her, shaking his head, “And I had a great time with my friends.” It was mainly just Eric and his family, a call from Isabel, and another from Shannon. A small package had been waiting for him two days after, that had come from Eddie. He had his Abuelo post it for him, but it had arrived a little late. It was a novel from an author that Eddie enjoyed reading.

“So, I’ve been busy,” she rolled her eyes, “Why are you being such a pain?” she asked, though Evan didn’t think she would want an actual answer.

Evan just stared at her before he finally said something. “Oh, you actually want an answer. I’m a pain in your fucking ass because you don’t want to listen to what the people around you are saying. They’re telling you to butt out of my life and what I do with it, but you’ve done nothing but irritate me. You missed my birthday… again. This isn’t the first time, hell, it won’t be the last either. Since as soon as I can I’m leaving Hershey and never want to step foot in this fucked up place again.”

“What do you mean, you’re leaving?” Maddie demanded to know.

“Exactly that, do you really think I’m going to stick around this fucking place longer than I have to. As soon as I can, I’m gone. I’m already looking at places outside of Hershey for university, or colleges where I can get a degree. I’m thinking about what I want to do with my future, and it isn’t going to be stuck around here for any longer than I have to be,” he told her, shaking his head

Maddie looked horrified at the thought, “But you should stay around here. We’re your family, Evan, we don’t want you to leave.”

“Some family,” he snorted and rolled his eyes. “What family would wish me dead?” he asked, looking at her, “Mother certainly wishes I was dead. Hell, she’s basically said that to my face. So again, why would I stay? You’re barely in my life enough for me to stay. You left me alone in a house where I was mentally and verbally abused by our own mother, and you never cared when I asked for help in getting away. When Coco and Darren asked if I could live with them, you fought against them, and made it so I had no choice but to remain.”

“You wanted us just to let you go, you’re ours, not theirs. Why the hell would I let someone else try and raise you,” she snapped, “You’re my brother, not their son. Mom and Dad would be hurt that you’d leave like that.”

“Cut the fucking crap, Maddie, you know they wouldn’t. You’re all the fucking same, wanting me to just suffer. Well, congratulations, you make me suffer enough that I want nothing to do with any of you,” he said, “Now, get lost so I can head home. I’ve got work soon.”

Maddie tried once more to follow him, but Evan quickly got on his bike and headed home, before heading to the grocers that he worked at.

XxXxX

Evan looked at the box on his table. It had a beautiful little binder, full of pages of handwritten notes. “Wow,” he said as he looked at recipes that had been handwritten out for him, with notes and even some personal notes from Eddie’s aunt and his grandmother written on them. He then saw a letter sitting at the bottom of the box.

Dear Evan

I wanted to get you this for your birthday, but I was busy writing as many of them out as I could. They are recipes that I’ve come across over the years, from friends, family, and those I found by chance. When you were here and we cooked together, I could see a love of food and of cooking. I wish to make sure you have as many new recipes as you can. Even my dear Pepa added some she has come across. We all hope you had a wonderful birthday. I know my Edmundo sent you Eddie’s gift already.

Take care, and I look forward to our monthly call.

Isabel

Evan was smiling as he put the letter aside and began to look through the recipe box. He sat there reading through them for a while before someone knocked on his door. He sighed and wondered who it was. There was only Eric and his family that knew where he lived, and Phillip. He went to the door and saw that Phillip was standing there. He sighed and let the man inside.

“Evan,” Phillip said as he walked into the apartment.

“Dad,” he said, frowning as he wondered why the man was suddenly there. He knew they had gone on vacation before his birthday, and would have come back about a week ago, near the end of September.

“Sorry, for calling today. I would have messaged you but unfortunately, my phone ended up going overboard during the day cruise we went on. I had to replace it, but couldn’t get all my numbers back,” Phillip apologized.

“It’s fine. I’ll give you my number, so you have it. Why didn’t you come and see me when you first got back,” he shrugged as he closed the door and asked, “Want a drink? I do have some coffee, not the stuff you have, that’s way too expensive.”

“It’s fine, Evan, I’m only here to gift you something. I did the same when Maddie turned seventeen,” he stated as he pulled something out of the bag he had carried with him.

“What?” he frowned.

“A car, for you to use. All yours, it’s in your name, and the insurance will be paid for until you turn twenty-one. I did the same for Maddie, and I will do the same for you. The money will automatically go out of my account. Even if I never speak to you again as soon as you leave Hershey,” he said, “Maddie left as well, and she barely spoke to us,” he reminded him before Evan could say anything.

“Dad,” he began to protest.

“Evan, please. I know I’m not a father to you, I never have been, and I know you don’t want that now and maybe never. I understand, but I’m still your father. I did this for Maddie and I…” he trailed off, taking a breath, “Now, this is all the paperwork, for everything, the logbook. The car is new, it’s not flashy, as I don’t think you’re the type. It has a breakdown cover, just in case as well. And all the bells and whistles that I could think to put on it. I noticed that there are parking spaces available nearby to rent, so I did that for you for the next year. If you need it for longer, I’ll pay for longer. But I doubt you’re going to be sticking around Hershey for long after you turn eighteen.”

“You’re right that I’m not. No doubt it was Maddie who told you that,” Evan sighed, shaking his head as he knew that his sister would have done so to try and get them to make sure he wouldn’t be able to leave.

“She did,” he replied, “Here is everything, the car is fully in your name, not mine or your mother’s. No one can take it from you,” he told him.

“I…” he paused for a moment as he tried to think what he should do.

“Take it, it’s a gift for putting up with us for the last seventeen years. For being able to strike out on your own at a young age, and being able to raise a good young man by your damn self. There is something else to come when you turn eighteen, but I’ll do that then,” Phillip told him.

“Alright,” he nodded, not truly happy, but accepting the gift.

“Be careful, and try not to act like Maddie did when she first got the car,” he warned as he headed to the door.

Evan frowned for a moment, before he remembered that Maddie had gone out driving a lot, so much that she had ended up sleep-deprived and had crashed her first car. “I will,” he replied as he saw his dad out.

Chapter Eighteen

Evan still didn’t know what to make of his dad. The man had messaged him twice during the rest of October. Just making sure that he had the details that he needed for the car. Maddie hadn’t been pleased that he now had a car. Berating him that he wasn’t able to drive and not caring that he had a license at all. In the end, Evan had used it a couple of times. When he needed to go grocery shopping, it was easier. He couldn’t take a passenger at the moment, so he was stuck driving alone for now. But that would change the moment he turned eighteen. Eric was looking forward to the point when he got his. Coco and Darren had saved up to get Eric a car, a nice little second-hand one that Eric and his dad had been working on to make sure it was road-worthy and safe for Eric to use.

Evan looked at the woman who was blocking his way. He had hoped that she would have gotten the message and kept away from him. “Please, just leave. Go home and forget about me,” he said tiredly, not wanting to deal with her.

“How can I forget, I can never forget. You’re a constant reminder of what I want to forget!” she screamed out, getting the attention of people who were around them as she took a step toward Evan.

“Then fucking forget me and get lost! I don’t want you around me, and you don’t want to be around. So why do you keep coming instead of doing your damn best to forget me!” he demanded to know, glaring at the woman that had birthed him.

“I’ll never be able to, not until you’re dead as well!” she yelled out as she kept getting closer to him.

Evan tried his best to back up. Trying to stay away from his mother. There was something different this time. It was like all reason had gone from her. Her eyes were murderous. “You need to leave, people are going to talk,” he stated, trying a tactic that had worked in the past.

“I don’t care anymore. I’ve let you live for too long already. He’s going to leave me, betray me as well and I won’t stand for you being the cause of another person that I love to leave me!” she hissed at him as she pulled something out of her coat and rushed at him.

Evan barely had time to drop the shopping he was carrying when the knife went into his side. He yelled out as people rushed to his aid. He fought his mother off as others pulled her away and 9-1-1 was called.

“Hey, kid,” a voice said above him, “You’re going to be okay,” he reassured as Evan felt someone press down on the injury.

Evan opened his eyes, glancing at the man above him. “I’m… I…” he said, not sure what to make of what just happened.

“It’s alright, she’s been contained,” he said, “Cops and ambulance are on the way,” he added.

Evan glanced around, seeing his mother raging as she tried to fight the three people who were trying to keep her detained. “She’s… crazy, something is wrong with her. That’s… my mother,” he said, he didn’t know why, but he was defending her, he was defending someone that wanted him dead. It didn’t make sense in his head, but it also did, he still cared about her.

“That’s even worse kid,” the man said, “I’m Joe, and what’s your name?” he asked.

“Ev… Evan, call Dad. He… he needs to know what she’s done. She needs to be sectioned,” he said.

“Don’t defend what she did kid, that’s the wrong thing to do,” Joe told him as the sirens came ever closer and then stopped when they arrived on scene.

Joe was swapped with a paramedic as they took over his care, and then loaded him in the ambulance. Evan talked one of them into calling his dad and then Coco. Telling both of them what had happened.

XxXxX

Evan woke slowly in a hospital room. He could hear two voices talking quietly by his bedside. One on either side of him. Someone had a hold of a hand, and the other had one, he could feel was close to him, hovering almost. Hesitating to touch him. He opened his eyes, wincing at the brightness.

“It’s alright,” Coco said as she let go of his hand and dimmed the lights in the room.

Evan opened his eyes to see the woman standing above his bed. “I…” he said, voice shaking before he coughed a little.

“It’s okay,” she said as another set of hands had a water cup in them ready for him to drink from.

Evan turned to face the one with the water cup. He couldn’t help but be surprised when he saw Phillip standing there, an actual concerned look on his face. “Why?”

“She’s gone too far. I could deal with it if she just talked. But this time… I’ve been trying to get her to see someone for years, since before you were born. She just refused, each and every single time. She walked out twice after you were born, once when you were one and a half, and another when you were three. I… part of me wishes I hadn’t talked her into coming back. I think when she was gone was the only time that house was happy. She wallows and always has done. I let her do so for far too long. She did the same when her parents died. She wallowed so much that she made everyone miserable around her,” Phillip said, “Her lawyer has gotten her sectioned for now. But I told him that he has to take care of her at the moment, I can’t… I can’t go through this again.”

Evan looked at him, “What… What’s going on? Why did she… and you say that…” he said after he took a few sips of water by Phillip’s insistence.

“Some of it, I’m not… ready to talk about. But… I told your mother a few weeks ago, before going away, that this was our last chance together. I’m not going to keep allowing her to wallow in her grief like she has been. To force her misery on others. I’m not going to keep catering to her like I have done for so long. I’m done, Evan. She wants to go that route still, it will be on her. You moving out let me confront a few things that I kept pushing down. I’ve been… seeing a therapist. I know, shocking isn’t it,” he tried to joke, but seeing that it fell flat on the two in the room.

Coco looked at him, “And you couldn’t have done this years ago?” she stated, not looking impressed.

“I wasn’t ready to give up on my marriage. I should have done it a long time ago when she refused to get help for things. Nothing changes, it doesn’t. It just means that it looks like my marriage is over,” he told them both, looking at Coco.

Evan was silent as he took in what his dad said. “Don’t, don’t end it because of me-”

“Evan,” Phillip said as he looked down at his son, “You aren’t the one that ended this. She is. As you know, her sister lives nearby, an aunt, she’s never really wanted to be around you, but Maddie knows of her. She knows what’s going on and is going to be taking your mother in when she is released, that’s if she’s not charged. I think she should be. Her lawyers are trying to get her off,” he huffed.

“She’s just… unhinged dad, I don’t… I don’t even know what I should… do… feel?” he gasped out as his emotions started to bubble up. He was trying to make sense of everything.

“For now, concentrate on getting better. And therapy, get some. I have, and while your… that woman will never admit that she needs it, she does by the bucket full. Don’t… don’t do what she’s done and let things fester. Take the bull by the horns and go. I know Coco has been talking to you about doing so. Listen to her, she’s a wise woman, and a good mother. She’s taken great care of you each time you’ve been in their care, and I know you’ll listen to her,” Phillip told him.

“I don’t know what you want from me, Dad?” Evan asked, looking at him and trying to figure the man out.

“I’m just a man who realized that he’s never been a father to you, and your grandparents would be very disappointed in me. Both sets,” he told him, shaking his head, “You weren’t even born before Margaret’s parents passed. Mine passed when you were three. They loved you a lot. I have to admit for a little while, you were in their care, until your grandfather had a heart attack, and then you came home to live with us. A few months later they passed away. Your grandmother loved your grandfather so much, she couldn’t live without him. She passed away a few days after him. What their marriage was, was what I hoped for with Margaret. I never got it, but… I’m starting to make my peace with that. Like I am with several other things, but it’s taking time. All I want is for you to be alright. To finally be happy, and I think you are, away from me and Margaret. It’s painful to know that my son can’t stand to be around me. But I understand, I let you down in the worst way. I let Maddie down as well. Give me a little more time, and I’ll tell you everything, Evan. Until then, be a little patient with me when I say I can’t tell you yet.”

Evan just nodded, still unsure of his dad, but part of him still wanted to give him that chance. To finally have a parent that actually loved and cared for him.

“I’m going to leave you to rest, Evan. I’ll come back, if you want me to,” Phillip told him, reaching out and squeezing a hand gently.

“I… do,” Evan said quietly. His voice was barely above a whisper.

“Coco, thank you, for taking care of him,” Phillip said as he looked at the woman.

“Glad you’re finally stepping up,” Coco snorted.

“Took a good talking to, several times,” he agreed and then left the room.

“I…” Evan began before he started to cry.

Coco sat on the edge of the bed, and with great care, she held him in her arms. “It’s okay, you’re going to be just fine. She’s never going to come near you again. Never.”

Evan cried for a while, until there was a knock on the door and the doctor that was in charge of Evan’s care walked in.

“Sorry,” he said as he looked between the two, “Your father told me that he had left and that Doctor Baxter was still with you.”

“It’s alright,” Coco said as she helped Evan lay back down. “Just a little comfort after what has happened.”

“I understand, Mr Buckley left explicit instructions that Nurse Kendall and her husband are not to be let into the room. Nurse Kendall is distraught over what’s happened. Only your family, Doctor Baxter, and Mr Buckley are allowed to visit, along with any police officers that may come for a statement.” he said, “I’m Doctor Shen,” he said, a sort of smile on his face as he walked over. Long black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail.

“Doctor Shen,” Coco said, “So, what’s the verdict?” she asked, sitting on the edge of the bed still.

“Nothing major was damaged. I would say a few days in here and then home to rest for a while and you should be just fine Evan,” he answered as he looked at his patient while answering and walking closer to the bed. “We’re going to be keeping an eye on the wound to make sure that there won’t be any infection. We have you only on a mild painkiller at the moment, and we know about the allergy, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

Evan relaxed a little more, “I want to go… home,” he said, but he didn’t know if he meant his apartment or Coco’s home.

“In a few days, I believe that would be fine,” Doctor Shen told him, “Now, please, get some rest. A nurse will be in to check on the dressing and wound in around three hours. I’ll be doing the rounds this afternoon, before Doctor Liu will be taking over for the rest of the night.”

“Your husband? I thought you were both working the same shifts?” Coco asked.

“We were until last week, we’re on opposites at the moment. We’re not happy,” he answered, looking annoyed. He did a quick check of the wound, redressing it after cleaning it, “It will be cleaned again in three hours, and then I’ll make a visual check of it when I stop by on my rounds. Then Qingge will take over,” he said as he then left the room. Letting Coco comfort Evan as he tried to make sense of the attack.

Chapter Nineteen

Evan was let out of the hospital after four days. His dad had visited twice during those four days. They had spent it talking, though it was awkward and Evan wondered if things were now too late for them to have any type of relationship with each other. Margaret was still locked away for now. They were going to be pressing charges. Phillip had told him not to let them drop. He didn’t know why, but for now, Margaret would remain at the facility she was in,.

Phillip had told him that she was being forced to get the help that she had needed since before Evan had even been born. He had even come to Coco’s home after he had been let out to visit him. Darren and Phillip had talked privately for a while, both of them not looking too happy but coming to an agreement about what, Evan still didn’t know.

“You okay?” Eric asked as he sat on the edge of Evan’s bed. Eric had just arrived back from school.

“Yeah, just a little bored. The classwork is all done, I just need to wait for the exams and then I can say goodbye to high school. I’ll have to come back for the graduation ceremony, but I’ll already have my high school diploma before then. I’ll be graduating college as well at the same time,” he snorted, “So I’ll be doing it twice within a week of each other.”

“Got tickets for both?” he asked.

Evan nodded, “Yeah, they already went around asking who what’s what. I… I got four for the college one. You, Coco, Darren, and Dad.” He was feeling nervous about talking to his about his graduation from college, and asking him to attend. He was going to be asking him about doing the same for the high school one. That was one of the things he was going to be talking to his dad about when he visited later on.

“He’s… trying,” Eric said, pulling a face, “Don’t know how much I trust him for it though.”

Evan snorted, “I don’t know if I should as well. But he’s been trying at least. It’s more than what he’s done in my entire life. But… I want to give him this chance. I don’t know why,” he shrugged as he settled against the pillows. “You think your mom is ever going to let me go?” he asked, he’d been stuck mostly to the Baxter household unless he had been at the hospital for checkups.

“Yeah, she will, just get up and go,” Eric laughed, “Like, RUN!” he yelled out, laughing even more as he saw the huffy look on his best friend’s face. “Come on, this is Mom, she knows you want to go back to your own place. I think she’s just waiting for you to say something.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, he was a little nervous about going back home. Scared that Margaret would somehow leave the facility she was in. Then there was also Maddie. She had messaged him a few times demanding that he stop the charges against Margaret. Phillip said that he had spoken to her several times, but she wasn’t listening to him at the moment.

“It’ll be fine,” Eric told him, “come on, get up, and let’s go down. I know your dad is going to be here later on, so get this convo out the way, so that’s one last thing stressing you. I know you have exams in three weeks.”

Evan nodded and got off the bed. His side was a little tender still, but it didn’t hurt as much as it had when he’d first left the hospital. The conversation with Coco went fine, she didn’t want him to leave for another two days, just to make sure he was doing well enough that he’d be fine on his own. Though she had argued that her and Darren would take care of any shopping he needed to do for another two weeks before she would let him do things alone again.

XxXxX

Evan looked up as his dad walked into the bedroom he was using while staying with Eric and his family. “Hi, Dad,” he greeted as he put aside the book he was reading. It was the next in the series that Eddie had sent to him.

“Evan, you’re looking well,” he said as he glanced at his son and could see that he looked a lot better.

“Coco and Darren have been taking good care of me, and she’s even set me up with a therapist that I’m to go and see twice a week,” he said wanting to roll his eyes at it, but even with only three sessions done, he felt a little more steady.

“That’s good,” Phillip said as he sat down, “I… I’m proud of the man you’ve become. Your grandparents would love to see how you are now. I think I would have had a belt taken to my ass if they learned what I’ve been like since they passed.”

Evan couldn’t contain the snort of laughter at that. “Really?”

“Yeah, they would. Evan, I didn’t start out as a cold and unfeeling bastard. That came later,” Phillip pointed out, “I have… a few things to share with you,” he added as he opened the messenger bag that he had brought with him. It was almost briefcase size, but there were three handprints inside the flap, and Evan had always wondered about it. Thinking that it was something that he had gotten from his brother, who was in France these days with his wife and kids. They never talked, but Evan knew that they had at one point. Maddie had mentioned going there to visit before Evan was born.

Evan looked curious as he watched Phillip take a small photo album out of the bag. “What’s this?” he asked.

“It’s an album, while Margaret was never one to play and spend time with you when you were little. I did, and so did your grandparents. Maddie… well she was on and off,” he said as he handed it over, for the two of them to go through.

Evan began to look through, seeing him on the lap of two older people, and guessing they were his grandparents. “He has a…” he said as he looked at his grandfather.

“Yep, a birthmark just like you, your uncle has one as well. I got in touch with him, told him what’s going on. He and his family are back in the US now. I didn’t even know, I missed a lot of things it seems,” he sighed as he added, “Your granddad Mikey, adored you. Loved that you had the same birthmark. He wonders if the next generation will have them as well.”

Evan nodded, taking in the stories that his dad was telling him, “Oh, is that my Uncle?” he asked as a younger man, with a birthmark was now holding a baby Evan.

“Yeah, that’s your Uncle Simon,” he smiled, “He’s older than me, but only by two years. Your grandmother Irene said he didn’t like the fact that he was going to be an older brother. He tried to sell me to the neighbors twice. And even took all the postage stamps dad had and tried to get the postman to take me,” he laughed with a bright smile on his face for once.

Evan couldn’t help but laugh and smile, “I… I wish I knew them,” he said, as he looked at the pictures.

“You might not get to know your grandparents. But I know your uncle would like to get to know his nephew. He’s in the US, and I know he’d like to visit. I was going to ask about your graduation. About a meal, with you, the Baxters of course, and with your uncle, and maybe his family if you’re up for it. Though you can meet your uncle before then, as well. The dinner would give you a chance to get to know them. They’d like to come and see you and Maddie, at some point,” he said in a rush.

“About graduation. You know I’ll be graduating from college as well, I’ve got most of what I need to do for an associate in Science, applied science and in psychology. I have reserved tickets for it, for both, there is one for you to come to both if you want. Just you,” Evan said, biting his lip before looking at his dad.

“I would love to be there, just tell me the date and time, and I will,” Phillip promised.

Evan smiled at him and nodded, “I will,” he said, “Just gotta wait for them to give me the date and time of both. Who’s this?” he then asked as he saw another kid in the picture.”

“That’s your cousin, Jason,” he said, “He’s about three years younger than Maddie. And the little girl next to him, is Sarah, she’s three years older than you,” he added. “I know that Jason is engaged at the moment, and Sarah is seeing someone. They have another, who’s a year older than you. I think there is a picture of your two together, playing nicely too,” he laughed, “Maddie never played well with others when she was little.”

Evan looked at him, “Dad, she still doesn’t.”

Phillip paused and then snorted, “You know, you’re right on that. She doesn’t. She doesn’t like it when people don’t fall in line with what she wants. She never has. Even when you were little, if you didn’t do what she wanted, she would always complain to Margaret. I should have seen that back then,” he sighed.

“Well, you know now, which is why she’s still harassing me to move back in with you,” Evan pointed out, rolling his eyes.

“I would love it, but I think you’re doing better on your own than you ever would with me. Not only that, but I’m thinking about moving and downsizing the house. The place was what Margaret wanted, not me. I’ve never been one to show everything off. Yes, we have money, but every Tom, Dick, and Nancy doesn’t need to know that. Though if you want to help me find a place to live, I would welcome it. We could search for a place together. Though I wouldn’t mind your help still, I want at least three bedrooms,” he added, speaking almost absently about what he wanted.

Evan listened as he talked about moving for a little bit longer before going back to the pictures. “Yeah, when… when they can come and visit, I’d like to meet them.”

“I’ll tell Simon about it, Ev,” he stated.

Evan startled at the nickname and looked at him, “Ev?” he asked.

“Oh, sorry, it’s what we all called you before Margaret started this full-name nonsense,” he snorted, “I was always Phil, or Philly to friends and family. Margaret hated it, too common for her. I think she was called Marge one too many times when growing up. Maddie was Madaline when she was little, and when Margaret started with the full name, Maddie hated it. So when she married, she told us that she had legally changed her name to Maddie. Margaret was upset, but she accepted it after a while.”

“I always called her Maddie though, I didn’t know her name was Madaline. I know she called her that at times, but I thought it was because she was just being mean,” Evan shrugged.

“No, she wasn’t just calling her a name that Margaret had given her. Maddie wasn’t happy with the nonsense, and neither was I. So when Margaret wasn’t around, I’d always call her Maddie, and while I may have called you Evan, it was… to distance myself from everything. Wrong move on my part, but I’m doing better now.”

“Right,” he nodded as Phillip went back to tell him stories about their family. Evan learned more about his family in the next two hours than he had done in his entire life before that moment. He learned about his grandparents, both sides, even though Margaret’s parents had passed three months before he had been born. Learned more about his Aunt Jessica on Margaret’s side, as well as an uncle that hadn’t spoken to them for a long time, not for over two decades. And learned more about his dad’s family, his uncle, aunt, cousins, and grandparents. Even a great-aunt who was still living in Maine. Evan was fascinated to learn about them, wondering how badly the family had fractured and what had caused it, but not daring to ask, just yet.

Chapter Twenty

Evan sighed as he massaged his hand after sitting his last exam. He was finally done with high school. The papers were collected, and he looked around the room. Only a couple were sitting the exams early like he was. None that had been skipped ahead, but those that wanted to get out of high school that little bit sooner. He knew one was doing it because they were moving away from the area, and they didn’t want to start again at a new school. They were soon dismissed and let out of the exam room. Evan would be at school one last time and then he wouldn’t be back until the graduation ceremony.

Evan walked out of the school and smiled to himself. He was done, and now all he had to do was get through college. His dad had sent word that his mother would be released in the middle of January. So he had another month left before she was out. Evan wasn’t looking forward to it. Phillip had kept him updated on what was going on since he had taken over the charge that Margaret was facing, he didn’t want Evan to have to deal with it. There was a chance that there would be a deal that would save Margaret from prison time and Evan was done caring as long as she never went near him again.

“Evan,” came a snappy voice.

Evan sighed as he saw Maddie standing next to her jeep and waiting for him, “Maddie,” he greeted, not happy at all that she was there.

“Finally, I thought you would never be finished in there. I told them to tell you to send you out, but they said that you were sitting exams. Who would be sitting exams now,” she snipped as she stormed over to him.

“I would be since I’m now done with high school. Just have college to get through. Not that you believe me or care since it doesn’t fit what you believe of my life,” he rolled his eyes. “So what do you want this time? Because I want to go home and just veg out for a bit with a game before I have a shift at the diner.”

“Diner?” she questioned, “I thought you worked at a coffee shop and grocers?”

“I did work at the grocers. It’s under new management and they’re annoying, so I decided to quit that one. I think there’s only one of the former staff that still works there,” he snorted, thinking back to the beginning of the month. Lisa had told him what was going on. The new manager that had taken over had changed everything.

“So you’ve now got another job that you don’t need,” she rolled her eyes.

“No, another job to support myself. I don’t rely on Dad’s money at all. I depend on myself. I have done since I moved out. So yeah, I got another job, and it’s a fine job to have. Work is work. I’m thinking more about what I want to do when I graduate college now,” he stated, “Since that should happen in the middle of next year,” he said as he began to move away from her.

“You should move home, Dad needs someone there. Mom’s not home at the moment, because of you, so you should be there for dad,” she told him, “Mom’s hurting and you’re making things a lot worse. I can’t even visit her because of it all.”

“Maddie, she tried to fucking kill me. If people hadn’t been around she would have suceeded. As far as I’m concerned she should have been locked away and charged with attempted murder. By the sound of it, she’s going to be let off for what she’s done because of her mental state. That’s why she’s in the damn facility instead of a prison cell. I just hope it fucking helps her and stops her from actually murdering me. I… I don’t ever want to see, speak or have anything with her again in my entire life. You do what you want. But even Dad is done with her shit. He put up with it and he said that he never should have in the end. That he should have made her get help before this. But no one bothered, no one saw her as a problem when she was always a problem for me. Dad’s finally done, he’s now standing up to her about her behavior. Which he should have done when I was still a little kid,” he snapped at her, “Stop telling me what I should be doing, because you have no idea what’s going on. You still have your head buried in the fucking sand about Margaret.”

“She’s your mom, you shouldn’t call her by her name,” Maddie snapped back, “You’re being stubborn again, and I need you to see past your own damn nose and look at the people around you.”

“Maddie,” Evan said, keeping his voice calm when he wanted to scream at her to wake the fuck up. “I’m not going to do what you fucking want me to. And I will never, ever call her fucking Mom ever again. She’s never been a mother to me, never, not once in my fucking memory has she ever acted like a mother to me. When she came and checked on me when I was hurt, it was because she hoped that she would find me dead, so she didn’t have to be the one to kill me. So no, I won’t be. And it’s you that just won’t listen to those around you. Me and Dad are fine with the way things are going. We’re doing fine,” he told her, “So, why can’t you leave it alone? You have work and a husband, and yet you’re still bugging me about stupid shit?”

“Because you’re ruining this family, just like you always have done. I can’t stand you sometimes. I really can’t,” Maddie confessed, “I want you to behave and do what you’re told.”

“I’m not ruining the family, Margaret did that, and it feels like you are as well. I’ve done nothing but exist. Maybe you should pretend I don’t. I know Margaret should do that,” Evan said, and then sighed, “I’ve gone over the same thing with you for the last, what… six months almost?” he said, thinking about how long it had been since Maddie had found out that he had moved out of their parents home and to a small apartment on his own. In those six months, she had done nothing but annoy him by trying to get him to go back. He was sick of defending himself and his actions against her.

“I just need to know that you’re safe. So do Mom and Dad. How can you be safe when you live alone?” she said, trying a different tactic for once.

Evan rolled his eyes and shook his head, “Not going to happen, and just phrasing things differently isn’t going to change that Margaret attacked and tried to kill me a month ago. I never want to see or talk to her ever again. She’s nothing to me, and soon enough I’ll want nothing to do with you. You’re making things difficult. I’ve got more important things to do than to sit around listening to you go on and on about shit you don’t even get. Because you’re too far up your own damn ass,” Evan snapped, turning around and walking off.

“Don’t you walk away from me Evan Alexander Buckley!” Maddie called after him.

“Go home, Maddie!” he called out to her as he went to where he had parked his car and headed home, hoping that she wasn’t fast enough to follow him.

XxXxX

Christmas and New Year came and went. Evan had spent Christmas Day with the Baxter family, with his dad joining them for dinner, and exchanging gifts. Phillip had also talked to Evan about his brother Simon coming for a small visit in March. Evan didn’t know if he was looking forward to the visit or not, but he liked the thought of meeting family, and maybe finding out what they were like. Maddie and Doug hadn’t shown up, even though they had been invited, but grudgingly on Coco’s part. She didn’t get along with either of them, personally or professionally. He received a letter from Eddie, and then there was a small box of gifts from Isabel and Edmundo.

January started with Eric’s seventeenth birthday. They celebrated with him the same way they had for Evan: a meal out and time spent having just having fun together. Eric bemoaned the fact that Evan wasn’t at the high school anymore and was spending more time at college, taking what classes he could to make sure he would be graduating with what he wanted.

Evan yawned as he finished the essay he had been writing. The library at the college was mostly empty, and it was starting to get late. It was already dark outside as he packed his things and got up. He nodded to one of the others in the room, he shared a class with them. He shivered as he walked out of the building, it was nearing the end of January, and it was still cold. Evan hated the cold weather and wondered if maybe California would be a place to go, to avoid the cold as much as possible.

“Finally,” a voice snapped as Evan neared the parking lot.

Evan looked up and frowned as he saw Doug Kendall standing there. “What do you want?” he asked, as he began to walk past him.

“Don’t you walk past me,” Doug sneered.

“Why are you here?” Evan asked him again as he turned around and waited for an answer.

“To tell you to stop bugging Maddie,” he answered, “You’ve been taking over her time that she’s not at home as much as she should be. Her work is suffering as well. You need to stop being so clingy and needy.”

“Wrong,” Evan snapped at him, “I’ve not been clingy or needy. I don’t want Maddie around. She’s done nothing but cause me trouble with her campaign to get me to move back in with Dad. I’m not going to, and she wants to bury her head in the damn sand about what Margaret was like, pretend that woman didn’t attack me, and try to kill me.”

“Bullshit, she’s told me that you need guidance, and help living alone,” Doug began, “She’s been helping you, and trying to get you to listen to reason.”

Evan laughed and shook his head, “Maddie can live in her delusions, just like the fact that you’ve been controlling her since you started dating. Making sure she’s not wandering away from you. That’s what this is,” he sneered, “This is you making sure that she won’t leave you. You’re so damn transparent. One day, Maddie will finally get her head out of the sand and see you for who you are. That is the day that scares you, that is why you don’t want her around her family. Well, she doesn’t help me at all, she doesn’t even know where I live. She never will, if I have my way.”

Doug sneered back at him, “She’s going to keep coming around. When she does, you make sure you send her home. She doesn’t need a whiny little brat like you in her life. I’ll make her see that in the end.”

Evan glared as the man stalked away. Evan pulled out his phone and messaged his dad about what had just happened. He knew that it wouldn’t make a difference to Maddie. She would just ignore the warning signs that were flagged when it came to Doug Kendall. Phillip had been noticing them for years, even before the two got married. He had tried several times to talk with his daughter, but she had ignored him. Evan put his phone away, and glanced around, making sure that Doug wasn’t around still as he went to his car and headed home.

Chapter Twenty-One

Phillip Buckley looked at the woman he had once loved with all his heart. Margaret Newson had been everything he had wanted in a wife. Vivacious, fun-loving and always smiling. Then twenty-two years ago, things started to go bad. They had gotten to a point where she was no longer happy to play with the children. No longer happy to spend time with her daughter taking her out to places. She no longer just danced around the kitchen as she sang to the radio as she cooked, cleaned or just felt like dancing. Five years later, things went from bad to worse. They had a baby in the house and Maddie. Things were just wrong, and Phillip knew it was never going to be the same.

Margaret had become stern, no longer caring about either of the children that remained. Her attitude to names, reusing to use nicknames that she had once used lovingly. She refused to deal with the fact that Daniel had died. That he was gone from the world and there was nothing that they could do to change it. Phillip was willing to keep going. To move forward, and keep going. To grieve for his eldest son, and to remember him. Margaret wanted to erase him, berating their daughter to never mention him again. To such a point that Maddie still, even with their mother gone, won’t mention him at all. Even when Phillip has brought him up. The only one that didn’t know about Daniel was Evan. Phillip knew he would be telling Evan soon, in a few months.

“Phillip,” she said, looking at him in disgust.

“Margaret,” he nodded at her. The divorce was slowly going through. For now they were married, but on paper only. Everything he had once felt for her was fully gone. He didn’t know when it had first started, the lessening of the love he had for her. But he knew that it was no longer there. “I’m here to take you to your sister. You’ll be staying with her, there is a restraining order out to make sure that you won’t go near Evan again.”

“That little brat, he shou-” she began, a sneer appearing on her face

“I will warn you now,” he began, cutting her off, “I’ll make sure that the pending charges are going to be pressed if you do. They’re holding off for now, but I’ll make sure of it. Do not test me, Margaret,” he warned her.

“How can you side with him!” she yelled, “How?”

“You forget that I didn’t mind having another child. I love Evan, I did from the moment I found out you were pregnant. I didn’t even know that you were trying to make a damn match for Danny. I will never forgive you for that. You had a baby just to be a match to Daniel,” he stated, watching her flinch at the mention of their eldest son. “And you still don’t even like to hear about him. He was our eldest, we loved him dearly. But you shut everything down and away. The wrong thing. It was so very wrong. Maddie now does the same thing and we both know that Doug Kendall is not a good man. We can both tell that, but because we’ve made her bury her head in the sand, she is still doing it with all the red flags that he is putting out. We’ve done that to our child, to our daughter. To the little girl who was happy to dance with her mother in the kitchen. Who would laugh when she and her mother would make cookies together and make a mess of the kitchen? Who would go on little mother-and-daughter outings? We changed her with the way we did things.”

“We were giving her the reality of life. It took away something precious and we were left with a poor imitation that never did the job that it should have done,” she snapped at him.

“It wasn’t Evan’s job to save his brother, it never was. When you told me what you had done, I researched it, I talked to the doctors. It was already too late, there was nothing in this world that could have saved Daniel. He was terminal before you even thought of having a child that could be a match. There was no guarantee that it was going to work, that another child would be a match. They told you that there was nothing we could have done, and Evan was never going to be a perfect match for his brother, he wasn’t a match for Daniel. You tried something before it was even a damn thing that was done,” he snapped.

“I did what I had to do to try and make sure that Daniel stayed alive. He was our son, our bright boy and you didn’t care about him. You went with Evan, all the damn time. You were always holding him, and Daniel was always there with you, I hated him, I hated that he was taking you both from me,” she complained bitterly, a sneer on her face as she thought of her youngest son.

“Evan wasn’t taking either of us away from you. You started to distance yourself from everyone, you never wanted to be around Evan, or even us, especially when Evan was with us. I… I wanted you to get help, to see someone and talk to them. Danny knew he was dying, he knew he wasn’t going to see Evan’s first birthday. He wanted to spend as much time with his baby brother as he could. Just like we wanted to spend as much time with Danny as we could. But you kept making him go for treatments that were never going to do anything but prolonged the damn pain he was in. He complained about it all the time, wanting you to stop, but you never would. You never listen to him, just like you never want to listen to anyone else. Well, it’s now got you a divorce, an ex-husband and a second son who wants nothing to do with you, and a daughter who has taken to mimicking you in the worst way possible. I just hope it doesn’t end up in her death at the hands of her husband, because I can see that happening if Maddie doesn’t wake up to what Doug is doing. Now, I don’t want to hear another word from you as I take you to your sister. I’m only doing this one last thing for you, and then we are done. I’m really only here to make sure you understand that you go near Evan, ever again, I’ll make sure those charges are pressed to the fullest extent of the law.”

Margaret growled a little as she followed him to the car and got in. It was the same car he’d had for the last few years. But there was something different about it. She couldn’t put her finger on it but kept quiet. Phillip drove her to Harrisburg and dropped her off, making sure that everything she had with her was given to her sister.

“Thank you for bringing her here, Phillip,” Jessica said with a nod.

“Just make sure she keeps away from Evan and myself, and we’ll be good. She still has papers to sign for the divorce, but that had to wait until she was out of the hospital first,” he stated.

“Are you really sure this is what you want?” she asked as her sister stormed past them and into the house.

“I let her get away with too much, Jessica. She buried her head in the sand when it came to Daniel, so much that we were never allowed to talk about him, to grieve for him. Hell, she stopped me from visiting his grave so many times in the past. She left me twice, and I should have taken the hint for what it was back then and just let her go. She… isn’t the woman I married anymore. She attacked and tried to kill Evan,” Phillip reminded her, “She tried to harm a seventeen-year-old because she blames him for Daniel’s death.”

“What do you expect her to do, Phillip? She had a dream of having Daniel grow up and then he was dying on her. She had Evan to save him-” Jessica began to defend her sister.

“It doesn’t matter why she had Evan. Evan wasn’t meant to save Daniel. Daniel was terminal before Evan was even considered. Margaret forced Daniel to keep going to treatments to prolong his life for him to make it as long as he did. Without it, he would have died before Evan was born. We got a few more months, but Daniel just got almost two years of nothing but pain and sickness. Evan wasn’t even a match for Daniel, there was no way that he could have been without IVF and such,” he told her, “So, don’t tell me you believe that stupid shit about Evan being made just to save Daniel. He wasn’t, she got pregnant on purpose, hoping that he would be a match.”

Jessica shook her head, “He-”

“Don’t, I’m already angry with the way that Margaret has refused to take responsibility for her own actions and you’re doing exactly the same. She tried to kill a seventeen-year-old because of something she expected of him that was never going to happen. She is the one to blame if you want to blame someone. She is the one that did it, not Evan, no one, but her. She put that on Evan’s shoulders when he wasn’t even born. Daniel was going to die, there was NOTHING we could have done. NOTHING,” he snapped at her, “You and her want to be deluded in the fact that you expected a newborn to cure terminal cancer, go on and do so. But don’t contact me again unless it’s to say that the divorce papers have been signed. I want nothing to do with a woman that has been emotionally manipulating me for the last what… twenty years,” he finished, “She hasn’t been the woman I fell in love with for a long time. Manipulating me to remain with her, to take her side of everything. We’ve ruined Maddie’s life, and Evan’s came close to being ruined because of her. I have a chance with Evan, and I’m just hoping to get Maddie to see the red flags that Doug is throwing up before it’s too late.”

Jessica stood silent, “You have no idea the pain my sister has been in. She lost her son.”

“So did I, or did you forget that Daniel was also my son? I grieve for him, and I still do. However, I don’t want to forget the bright boy that I loved. I knew he was going to die, and she buried her head in the fucking sand because something wasn’t going her way. She put everything of his in bin bags and threw it away! Threw it, like Daniel didn’t matter. Well, he mattered to me, he mattered to Maddie, and the rest of the family. None of us wanted to do that, but she did. She made us do it, each time we tried to mention Daniel, she would scream and berate us, verbally abusing us until we stopped. That isn’t someone that loved their son in my eyes. I did the wrong thing, and I will pay for that for the rest of my life. Now she has to face it all, and I’m no longer going to let her try and manipulate and abuse me into complying with what she wants. You and her now have to make sure she gets the help she fucking needs. I’m done, I’m washing my hands completely. I have two kids to help heal from what she has done for the last twenty years. Along with myself.”

With that, Phillip turned to the car and left his soon-to-be ex-wife and ex-sister-in-law behind. He had so much work to do on himself, for Evan, and to help Maddie, and the hope he could get through to her.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The first half of the year had been a shit show for Evan. He’d had Maddie hounding him to have the restraining order against Margaret dropped. Evan had refused and Maddie had stepped up the campaign until Phillip had talked to her. She was still doing it, but it wasn’t as bad. She had tried to surprise him by bringing Margaret around when he was working at the cafe. It was a quick warning about calling the cops that had stopped the two. Now, his exams were over for college and all he had left was graduation in a week. The day before that would be his high school graduation. Eric was already bemoaning about things but was also looking forward to starting college, he’d applied for pre-med.

Evan had applied to several universities around the country. But he’d accepted the offer at UCLA. Isabel and Edmundo had talked to him about staying with them while he attended, so he didn’t have to stay in the dorms. Phillip was happy to help him find a place to live while attending the university. In the end, Eddie had talked to him while he was home on leave and told him that his Abuela and Abuelo would be happy to have him with them, that he should take the offer, and find a good place to live, which could take time. It would be a better idea to wait and get the lay of the land before making a decision.

Phillip looked up as Evan walked into the small house that he had bought for himself after the divorce had finally gone through. Margaret hadn’t been happy that Phillip had really gone through with it, and had tried to get back with him twice. He didn’t pass on his address when he moved, and hadn’t even told Maddie, since she had taken her mother’s side in the divorce and had tried to argue with her dad about getting back together. In the end, Phillip had moved and refused to tell his daughter where he was living, while she was trying to meddle in their affairs.

“Afternoon, Dad,” Evan said, still wondering why his dad had asked him to come to the house.

“Evan,” he smiled, “Happy the exams are over?” he asked.

“Yeah, graduation soon as well. I’m… nervous, and I don’t even know why,” he laughed, shaking his head.

“I was as well. Your grandparents were there for me, as was Simon, he was jealous of all the attention that was on me at the time. I think I have a picture of my graduation and Simon is in the background pouting with his arms crossed. Two years before, when it was his, he loved the attention, and well, he was never happy about being a big brother half the time,” he laughed, “I’ll… find it out after our talk. This is… hard and painful to talk about. I’ve buried it a lot over the years, mostly to keep the peace. I never should have, but it’s taken a good year of therapy to really show me that I’m a fucking idiot.”

Evan frowned as Phillip tapped the album that was on his lap. It was closed now, but when Evan had first walked in it had been opened and Phillip had been looking at the pictures. “What is it?”

“When Maddie was almost two, we found out that Margaret was expecting. A little boy was born, we named him Daniel,” he began, patting the seat next to him. Evan went and sat down, as Phillip opened the album and let him see the pictures on the front. There was his family, smiling, happy, as a little baby sat in his mothers arms and a tiny Maddie looking down with a giggling look on her face.

“I… have a brother?” he asked, eyes going wide.

“You did,” he nodded, “It’s… hard to talk about at times. Margaret… she berated us, verbally lashed out at me and Maddie whenever we mentioned him. In the end, we stopped. Since Margaret wanted to pretend that he didn’t even exist,” he told him, “He was a bright child, just like you. When he found out Margaret was pregnant with you, he was so happy. So was I.”

“What… What happened? Where is he?” he asked, fearing the worst.

“When he was five, he started to become ill. By the time he was six, he was diagnosed with Leukemia and we started treatments. We fought for so long, hoping he would be okay. Then Margaret got pregnant with you, a couple of weeks after we were told that he was terminal. That there was nothing more that we could do. I was excited about another child, but I was also… heartbroken that I would be losing another. Daniel was so happy, he had so many plans for you that he wanted us to carry out. I think… I never carried any of them out. I still have the notes he made,” he sighed, “Margaret, wanted to try one more thing. I didn’t know until after you had been born that she was hoping to make a match for Daniel and let there be a bone marrow transplant. Margaret told me when you were a few days old what she wanted to do. I refused to let it happen. You weren’t a match, just like the rest of us weren’t. It was something we had already thought about, and we were looking for one in the system, but it was in its infancy back then, getting a match was a long shot.”

“So I was born just for h-” Evan began.

“To me, Maddie and Daniel, you weren’t,” he stated, “You were born because we were happy to have another child. Margaret planned that, but it’s not what we wanted. Daniel… he knew he was dying, he was almost eight when you were born. He lived until just before your first birthday. You know the bag that I use all the time.”

“The one with the three handprints?” he asked, nodding.

“Daniel and Maddie thought it would be a good idea to give me as a Father’s Day gift. The only Father’s Day I had with all three of my kids. I treasure that bag and have had it repaired so many times over the years. You were loved and wanted by the three of us. I was so excited to be a dad for the third time. I let Margaret get into my head and I let you down, I let Danny down as well. And Maddie. I let all three kids down in the end. Margaret was… determined to try and make sure that Danny would carry on living and you to be able to donate. I never let it happen,”

“But if I was a match, why didn’t you?” he asked, wondering if he could have saved his brother.

“You weren’t a match. There was nothing to be done, Evan. He was terminal before you were even born. Margaret didn’t want to admit it. I didn’t really want to either. I’ve been quiet about Danny for so long that I forgot how to talk about him. That… was one of the things I went to therapy for. I lost Danny, but in the end, I lost you, Maddie, and even Margaret. I let her get away with so much that I should have put a stop to it a long time ago. It took you leaving at such a young age, to make me start realizing just what I was doing. Danny would have called me an idiot a lot,” he smiled a little as he flipped the pages and showed a picture of a baby Evan in the arms of a sickly looking child.

“He… loved me,” he murmured as he saw the adoring look on Daniel’s face.

“He loved you a lot. I have the notes he made for you. I was able to save them, even after Margaret went through the house and got rid of anything that Daniel had.”

“The bike!” Evan yelled out, “The bike when I was five… I was the constant reminder of Danny… not o-”

“To her, you were, because, to her, you failed. In my eyes, she was the one that failed. She tried to do something that wasn’t even possible back then. And yes, the bike belonged to Daniel. I had… hidden a lot of his things away, took them from the trash when she was throwing them away. I never wanted to forget Danny. He only lived a short while, but I love him still, and I do… love you as well. I just forgot for a while, how happy I had been when Margaret told me that she was pregnant with you, how I felt when I held you that first time, feeding you, changing you, caring for you. Margaret didn’t do anything, I did all that. Then as you got a little older, Danny got worse. Margaret was demanding that I do nothing but look after Danny, I didn’t… not until he had passed. I carried on caring for you, until you were almost two, only then did I finally give in to her. I never should have,” he said, his words and tone showing his regret and sorrow over the situation.

“Why… why did you?” he asked, unsure what to make of everything he was being told.

“Happy wife, happy life,” he said, “I let people down because I believed in that. I never should have. I should have been there for you, no matter what Margaret had said or did. I put her first, and I should have been putting you and Maddie. I made so many mistakes and I will be regretting them for the rest of my life. I’m trying to right things, but I’ll never really be able to right it all.”

Evan nodded and sat there, “I just… I don’t even know what to say. I had a brother, and none of you went to tell me.”

“I know, you should have always known about Daniel. We locked him away and we never should have. Margaret had beaten us down so much, that the mean mention of him would set her off. We weren’t even allowed to grieve for him. I wasn’t allowed to look at pictures, think of him, or anything. I had to build up again to even talk about him. I went to his grave for the first time since he had died a few weeks ago. It’s been so long and it hurt me to know he’s never had us there, not once. He should have. He would… be twenty-five now. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if he had lived. I think part of me did want to forget about Daniel, to forget the hurt I felt over his death, and wishing all the time that he was still with us. That he was still here, to be my son and your older brother. To show you the things he really wanted you to know. I’m sorry, for keeping him from you. From keeping a brother from you. He might not be here, but he is your brother. I have things for you, from him, that he made and wrote over the time he knew of you.”

Evan nodded and sat there silent, sitting next to his dad, they went through some of the pictures, and told him a few more things about Daniel. He slowly processed what he had been told, going over his life and he still didn’t understand why he had been nothing but a hope for a mother that only wanted her eldest son to live. Even when they had been told it was never going to happen, that there was nothing that they could do. A mother who had pinned her hopes on a child that she carried and birthed, but only to find it was a false hope. Her hatred of him came from that false hope she had.

“Dad, can I… can I see what he left?” he asked, after remaining silent for a while.

Phillip looked at him and nodded, “Of course,” he said as he put the album on Evan’s lap and got up. He went to the far side of the room and brought out a box. It had Evan’s name on it, and a spattering of handprints in two different sizes.

“Danny and I made this for you. Daniel had one, and so does Maddie. Though… we never gave Maddie hers. I’m waiting till she has her first child. But I’m hoping she doesn’t. I don’t want her to have a child with Doug. He’s…” Phillip trailed off.

“Bad news,” Evan nodded as Phillip brought the box over and set it down. The two went to the floor and opened it. Inside were baby pictures of Evan, and little things that he’d thought had been thrown away. School reports, arts and crafts he had done during school, and even the things he had done at home. It was all there. Along with letters and drawings. He assumed they were from Daniel. He picked out the first one, one that had his name on it and the number five.

“We were to give you that one when you were five,” Phillip said as they slowly went through the ones that Evan could read.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Evan’s graduation had come and gone. Simon and his family had stayed for a week and Evan had enjoyed getting to know them, and even learning a little about Daniel from their point of view. Maddie hadn’t been happy when she had learned he knew about Daniel. She had yelled and screamed at him, at first denying that her brother had existed. Then she had said that she wasn’t supposed to say anything about him. She had stormed off, only to come back day after day telling him that he shouldn’t know about Daniel, that their mother didn’t want him to know. It had gotten to the point where he had taken time off work for a few days, just to get a small break from her persistence.

It was Evan’s last day working at the restaurant. He smiled and waved to those he was working with. “I’ll see you around. I might come and visit!” he called out as he then headed to where he had parked his car.

“Evan!” came the snappy voice of his sister as she stalked towards him.

Evan turned to her, “What do you want now?” he asked her, sighing heavily.

“What do you think!” she demanded, “I learned that you’re leaving?” she hissed as she got close.

“Of course I am, you really think that I’m going to stay here, that I’m going to hang around Hershey after everything that’s happened? I’ve got plans with my life and I am heading off to Uni as soon as possible to get my degree in criminology,” he told her, rolling his eyes.

“You can’t leave? You’re not smart enough for University either,” she told him, being condescending once more.

“Maddie, take a fucking hike. I’m done with your bullshit,” he said bluntly as he looked at her, “I’m leaving for Uni as soon as I possibly can. If you don’t like it, well, you can fuck off. I have my own life and I’m going to live it to the best of my ability. I’m done trying to find family. Dad is finally acting like a damn father to me. Telling me about the family and actually wanting to spend time with me. He wants to do that with you, but your head is so far up Doug and Margaret’s asses that you don’t see that he wants to spend time with his daughter.”

“You have no idea how much he has hurt our mom, she’s devastated. She’s angry as well that you know about Daniel. You weren’t supposed-” she was cut off as Evan spoke over her.

“Stop Maddie, you’ve been saying that for the last several weeks. Margaret can go jump off a damn cliff for all I care about that bitch. She tried to fucking murder me!” he yelled at her, “She tried to fucking kill me and here you are defending her again and again!”

“She’s your mother, she’s our mother. We owe her-” Maddie tried once more to defend her mother.

“We don’t owe her a fucking thing. Not with the way she has been with us all of my life. You might remember her as a sweet and caring mother, but I’ve NEVER HAD THAT!” he ranted at her, “Not once has she truly cared about me, not once in my entire fucking life. Instead, she has wanted nothing more than me dead. Me lying next to Daniel in a fucking coffin. You can keep pretending shes a perfect mother, but you don’t you fucking tell me that I should forget what she’s done to me. I will never forget, I’ll carry the scar of what she has done for the rest of my life. A constant fucking reminder that my own mother wants me dead.”

“I hate how you’ve changed. Where is the kind little boy I knew,” she said, with false sorrow.

“Dead, he died the moment that he realized that his mother would never love him. When his sister made promises that she constantly broke and left him in a home where he wasn’t loved or wanted. He died a long fucking time ago, Maddie. Instead, I learned how to survive in that house. I learned how to take care of myself, how to cook, clean, and look after myself from the moment your head first got turned by a cute boy when I was seven,” he reminded her, “You may have deluded yourself, but I’ve never had the fucking blinkers on, like you. You can believe whatever Margaret is selling, well, I’ve never brought a fucking thing from that woman, and I never will. I hate it every time you bring her up. It’s like you don’t care about me, you don’t care that she stabbed me, that she would have killed me if she had the chance,” he finished, breathing hard at finally getting all of that off his chest.

“Of course I care, but Mom, she went a little crazy, you have to admit that she was a little out of it. She was grieving Daniel, since now that you know. You have to-” She began to once more defend Margaret.

“I have to understand nothing about her. She decided that she wanted to forget and erase the fact that she had a son called Daniel. She was the one who berated and abused you and Dad to make sure you would never talk about him again. She wallowed in her grief and made everyone else do the same when they were ready to move on. She wallowed so much and blamed everyone else when it was no one’s fault that he died. But she blames me,” he told her, shaking his head, “She blames me for not being what she wanted. She didn’t listen to the doctors when she said that Daniel was terminal before I was even born. She didn’t want to admit that she was going to lose her son. Instead of spending what time they had left together doing fun things and making as many memories as possible, as Dad did with him, as you did. She pushed for more treatment.”

“Mom wanted him to live…” she trailed off, tears in her eyes.

“But there was nothing they could do. They could get him to live a couple of months more, but it was hurting him so much. Dad said he was miserable those last few months. So sick from the treatments, so sore and hurting badly. He didn’t want any more treatments. He knew he was dying,” Evan said, “Talk with Dad, he’ll tell you the things that you missed during that time. You were a damn kid, Maddie, you don’t know everything. Margaret isn’t going to tell you anything, but he will, he’s bluntly honest, which I prefer. So leave, I need to go home.”

Maddie didn’t look happy as she got in his way. “No, we’re going to talk this out.”

“No-” he began only for Maddie’s phone to start ringing. He sighed and let her answer it.

“No, I’m fine Doug. I’m with Evan. I nee-” she stopped and huffed, “Yes, okay. I’ll go home, I didn’t know you needed me,” she said. A weak smile appeared on her face as she nodded and looked at Evan, “I’ll tell him,” she said as finished with “I love you Doug, I’ll see you soon.”

“Well?” he asked, wondering just what Doug wanted him to know.

“I gotta go,” she said as she turned and rushed off, not saying another word.

Evan watched her go and sighed as he went back to his car. Pain exploded across his back, as something slammed into him. He crashed to the floor as someone continued to rain down heavy blows on him. Hitting him on the head, several times, as the person moved on to other parts of his body. He felt something give in his leg and he screamed out in pain. More blows came as he tried to move and defend himself. Evan didn’t know who it was at first, his eyes squeezed shut as he felt something running down his face as he curled into a ball after something had slammed into his stomach several times.

“I told you to stop taking up her time, Evan,” came the spitting voice of Doug Kendall.

“Dou… Doug,” Evan gasped out, as he fumbled with his phone. He managed to call 911. He could barely hear the dispatcher as he yelled out, “Help! Doug… Kendall, attacking me.”

“What… what the fuck are you doing brat!” Doug yelled as he stopped what he was doing and saw that Evan had a phone in his hands that he was curled around. “You fucking brat!” he shouted as he hit him again with the baseball bat he had brought with him.

Doug reached down to snatch the phone from him and Evan took the opportunity to lash out, scratching his nails across Doug’s face and clawing at his eyes. Doug yelled out as sirens could be heard getting closer. Doug dropped the bat as he ran.

“Bastard,” Evan hissed, as he tried to remain awake. He could see people heading towards him, the blue flashing lights lighting up the night sky as he slowly lost consciousness

XxXxX

Evan was slow to wake. His whole body hurt. It even felt like his hair hurt too. He opened his eyes, finding the room pleasantly dimmed. He glanced around seeing his dad sitting in one chair and the other had a coat on it, but no one there. He frowned, about to say something but instead coughed a few times.

“Hey,” Phillip said as he grabbed the water and said, “Slow sips,” he told him.

Evan knew the drill and took those first few sips. His throat was dry and painful. “Da… i… it was Doug.”

“We know, he was arrested about an hour after the call came in. They heard what you said on the call, and there was CCTV footage as well. He was arrested at home.” Phillip answered him, reassuring him that he was now safe and that Doug was being held.

“He’ll be granted bail, he just… he’s a damn surgeon, got good standing in the community and that,” Evan protested, “He’ll be-”

“I’ve talked to the detective that came here. Doug has been ranting about going after you again. They’re planning to ask for him to be denied bail, due to a risk toward you,” Phillip said, reassuring him as best as he could. “It’s going to be okay, we’re all here for you,” he told him.

“Ma… Maddie, what about Maddie?” he asked, wanting to know if Doug had hurt his sister.

Phillip’s face darkened, “At the moment, she’s not allowed to come and see you. She’s not sure what to believe at the moment,” he told him.

“She… thinks I’m making it up?” Evan said, eyes filling with tears.

“She’s unsure of it all. She wants to trust her husband, and she wants to trust you. It’s better for her to not be around, to say things that aren’t true.” Phillip said, wincing at the words. He was once again making excuses for a member of his family.

Evan shook his head and winced in pain, “What… what’s wrong with me?” he asked, wanting to change the subject.

“Concussion, fractured ribs. He broke your leg and your arm that you used to protect yourself is badly bruised, and there is a small fracture. They don’t know if you need a cast, but it’s going to be a pain to get around for a while,” he said, “You… the beating caused your spleen to rupture, it’s been removed. You’re going to be just fine though, you really are. Coco is out at the moment talking with Eric and Darren and telling them how you’re doing. She’ll be back soon. Don’t you worry, we’ve got you. It’s… up to you where you go after your release from the hospital. But we’re thinking of me coming to stay with you at your apartment, or you staying with me. Since no one but Coco and you, and work, know where we both live.”

Evan nodded and went quiet as he tried to think about what was now going on in his life when he was so close to leaving Hershey behind.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Evan had remained in the hospital for almost a week before being allowed home. He had ended up going to stay with Phillip, especially after Maddie had stopped by Coco’s home to try and find out where Evan was. She was blaming him for the fact that Doug had been arrested and charged with the attack. She didn’t believe that Doug had done so, not even with the CCTV footage that had been found. It showed where the attack happened, even a clear picture of Doug with something in his hand raining blows down on a prone form on the ground. Maddie hadn’t believed it at all and continued to try and see Evan. She had taken to watching Coco and had even been warned by the police to stop when she had been caught.

Doug’s lawyers had asked for a speedy trial, instead of it being drawn out since he wasn’t going to be granted bail because he was considered dangerous towards a minor. The speedy trial had been granted because the lawyers had played on his good standing in the community. Though Phillip had said that most of that was gone now when it was learned about what he had done to his brother-in-law.

Four weeks after the attack and one week before Evan was due to leave Hershey for Los Angeles, Evan was being wheeled into the courthouse. Evan would be out of the cast on his arm before he left, and would be using crutches by then. For now, he was stuck in a wheelchair, and he hated it. Phillip and Darren were the ones to go with him as he gave his testimony the day before. Maddie hadn’t had a chance to get to him until now, as she stood in front of the three, stopping them from heading to the courtroom.

“I don’t know where you get off on painting my husband as violent, but it isn’t on,” Maddie hissed as she glared down at Evan.

Evan looked up at her, “And you call the state I’m in nothing?” he asked her.

“Someone got to you, but it wasn’t Doug. It can’t be-” she began to protest.

“Of course it fucking was,” he hissed at her, “He’s an abusive bastard, and you know it. You don’t think we can’t tell that there are red flags in your relationship? How he needs to know where you are and what you’re doing every single time you go out. Or how about the fact that he warned me to stop bugging you when you were harassing me to move back home? To drop the restraining order against Margaret?” he asked her, “Or how about the very damn night he attacked me, he called you away and once you were gone he lashed out. That his own fucking phone pointed out where he was. You heard all the evidence that they presented,” he told her, “And just like Margaret, you want to bury your head in the sand and pretend that everything is perfect,” he finished with a sneer, “Get some damn therapy, you need to wake the fuck up before it gets you fucking killed. Because, no doubt he’s going to be in prison for a bit, but he’s going to end up getting out soon enough and you’re going to be his target again.”

“It’s not… not going to happen,” she said, shaking her head.

Phillip looked at her, “Maddie,” he said, his voice softer, “We know that something is going on, when you’re ready, I’ll be here for you,” he told her as he then pushed Evan past her. Darren walked beside them as they headed into the courtroom. It had only been three days since the trial had started, and Evan wanted nothing more than to be back at his dad’s for a bit, to rest and hide from the world.

Maddie stood there, looking at them, “You’ve got it wrong, there is nothing going on with Doug, he’s a… a wonderful husband, and like always Evan has to ruin everything! Just like your marriage, Dad, and Daniel, he killed Daniel!” she called after them.

Phillip let go of the wheelchair and turned to Darren, “Get him into the courtroom, I need to teach Maddie a few things,” he said as he then headed to his daughter. “You have no right to say those things. Your damn mother is the one that broke our marriage. She tried to kill Evan, just like Doug did. Not only that, but Daniel was terminal before Evan was even born, before he was even conceived. Your mother got it into her head from reading a few things that having someone who was a match would cure him. It was never going to work. Evan was not a match for Daniel, he was never going to be a match, it’s so rare to happen unless it’s designed that way. Evan wasn’t an IVF baby, he was conceived naturally. Daniel was dying and your mother didn’t want to let him go. She made so much up in her head to blame everyone for what was going on. There wasn’t anything we could do to save him. Your mother wants to blame everyone, but there is NO ONE TO BLAME,” he told her, shaking his head, “Evan is right, you need therapy. To get past the blame game, where there is no one to push it on.”

Maddie shook her head and looked at him in disappointment. “You threw away almost thirty years of marriage for him, for someone who’s caused nothing but pain in our family.”

“No one caused pain in our family except for leukemia. That is what caused the pain in our family. That… isn’t on Evan, or you, or me, or even Margaret. It happened, and we had to deal with the bad that came with it. We lost Danny, we lost a precious little boy, who loved his big sister and little brother so much. Who loved to spend time with both. Margaret wanted to forget him, but I never could, and I doubt you wanted to either. He was your younger brother and best friend. Now you have a marriage to a man who tried to kill your baby brother, who at one point you loved until recently. I don’t know what is going on in your head Maddie, but I’m here if you need me,” he finished before he turned to go after Darren and Evan.

Evan was sitting at the end of the row when everything was over. His dad was beside him. Doug had been found guilty. Evan found no joy in the silently crying Maddie as she sat behind her husband. Beside her were Doug’s parents, both looked upset, and the mother was trying her best to comfort Maddie. Doug’s father looked over at them, giving him a nod, apologizing silently for what his son had done to him. There was no blame for what was going on aimed toward him. To Maddie, her life was falling apart. Her parents had divorced. Her mother had attacked her brother, and then her husband had done the same thing, less than a year later.

Evan looked away from his sister and to the judge as he began to address Doug once more. He felt Phillip take hold of a hand to stop him from fiddling with the sling he was wearing for his arm. He looked at him and got a small smile in return.

“Dr Kendall”, the judge spoke as he looked at the smartly dressed man before him. “You not only attacked a minor, but also a member of your family. It is my duty to sentence you today. I sentence you to a maximum of eight years, with a minimum of four to be served before parole is offered.”

Evan lowered his head. It wasn’t long enough in his eyes, and he knew that his dad and Darren would feel the same way. “It’s over,” he murmured, though in four years or more, Doug could be out. He just hoped that in that time, Maddie would come to her senses and listen to what people had been saying to her. Court was soon dismissed and Phillip and Darren made sure Maddie couldn’t come near him again as they left the courtroom.

“Let’s go home,” Phillip murmured, as he spared Maddie one last look before they left.

XxXxX

Evan grabbed his crutches, glad that he was finally using them. His arm was out of the sling, and had been since three days after the trial. He was getting some physio to regain strength in his arm, since it had felt a little weak after a month of not being able to use it. He was as recovered as he was going to be, for now. He still had a cast on his leg. His dad had been talking to doctors in Los Angeles about the transfer of his care going there. He would be starting at university next week, and his birthday was only two days after that. He was a mixture of excited and worried. He would be leaving behind everything he knew. His apartment had been packed away by Darren and Eric. Phillip had taken to making sure that the trip to Los Angeles would be as smooth as possible.

“I can’t believe I’m leaving tonight,” Evan said as he walked into the living room of his dad’s home.

Phillip looked up, “I know, I’ll be driving down with your car, taking a few days to do so. I’ll be there the day you start. I’m so proud of you,” he told him as Evan came over and sat beside him on the couch.

“Yeah,” Evan said with a smile on his face, “I’m… glad that things are changing.”

“So am I. Two years ago, you decided to leave. To do something that would make sure that you would live and live well. It started a change in me. I started to look at my life, and how I had imagined it before you were born. I may have lost Daniel, but I have you and Maddie and I lost sight of that. I’m slowly becoming who I had hoped I would have been in the past. Now, my little boy is off to university, to study criminology. I don’t know what career you wanted, but,” he said as he got up and went to grab something. “This is what Danny wrote for you, when you headed off to uni, if you headed off,” he said as he handed him one of the letters that he had kept back.

Evan looked at it and opened it up.

Hi Evan

I’m eight years old, and I’ll always be eight. I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wish I could be able to do something awesome. I think I’d have liked to be a doctor, or maybe join the army. Grandpa was in the army when he was young too. I’ll never know in the end. But you, you’ll find something amazing to do. I know you will. You should be eighteen now, ready for university or college. I wonder what you’re going to study and what you’ll be.

I wish I was there to see you off, to wave at you, and be there when you graduate too. I hope Maddie is with you and Dad and Mom. I’m going to miss so much. But know I’m always around, watching and smiling, and wishing you so many happy things. Do well in school! Though I know you will.

Danny

Evan smiled, “He always sounds so grown up. He knew he wasn’t going to live and I hate it.”

“We all do,” Phillip told him, “But he wanted you to live and have the best life possible. And you’re doing just that, you’re living your life well, now, go and get some rest. Your flight leaves tonight and I want you well rested. Isabel and Edmundo are going to be waiting for you at LAX. I’ll be seeing you there when I arrive with your car,” he told him.

Evan sighed, “I don’t… want to sleep just yet,” he said with a little huff.

“You might not, but your body is telling you and me differently,” he smiled at him, “Go on, get some sleep. We leave in a few hours for you to catch your flight.”

Evan nodded, “Dad,” he said as he got up, “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me for being the dad I should have been all along,” he told him, getting up himself and wrapping his arms around his son, “I wish I knew where you got your height from,” he muttered as the teenager was a good two inches taller than him.

Evan laughed as they hugged for a little longer before Evan headed to his room to get a little sleep before his flight. He would be starting over soon in LA, having the Diaz family there to help when he started university in a week. He was excited and scared of the change, but he had his dad to call, Eric and his family to talk with, and more. He wasn’t as alone as he had been two years ago.

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