It was eerily quiet. I had been eerily quiet for some time. Of course it would be, Clyde still hadn't woken up and none of his siblings felt right going about their daily lives without him. Even Tiffany, who seemed to be in a constant state of trouble, was subdued and behaving herself quietly both in and out of the home.
Billy stared the wall of his bedroom as he'd done for hours at a time for the past few days. He only seemed to really wake up for the day when it came time for Garret to escape his own room and come to Billy's room to sleep for the night. Comforting his little brother seemed to be the only thing that could break his reverie.
Billy felt sick. He couldn't protect any of his siblings from their father. He couldn't make his father pay attention to Tiffany. He couldn't stop his father abusing Garret. Now, he couldn't prevent his father from putting Clyde into a coma. Billy grit his teeth angrily. He was a failure of an older brother.
"I told you to shut up!" Gordor roared. He grabbed Clyde by the front of his shirt. The ten year old's eyes were filled with fear. "When I speak, you are to listen!" Gordor snarled and threw Clyde across the room.
Clyde collided with a table and crumpled to the floor. The sickening sound of the wooden table cracking on impact rang through the room. The following silence was deafening. His siblings ran over to his motionless body. Garret was the first to reach Clyde's body. He crouched next to his brother and shook him gently.
"Clyde! Clyde, are you okay?" Garret cried, tears streaming down his face. Clyde was unresponsive. Garret moved his hands away and that's when the children noticed that Garret's hand was covered in blood.
A steady stream of blood flowed from the back of Clyde's head. Garret reeled backwards, screaming. His eyes were wide, as if he'd seen a ghost. He wailed helplessly, unable to tear his eyes away from his brother's body.
"He's bleeding!" Garret shrieked, "He's bleeding a lot!" Billy grabbed the cloth off the table and pressed it to the back of Clyde's head frantically. Tiffany lay with her head on Clyde's chest, sobbing.
"Dad! We need to take him to a doctor!" Billy said. His voice quaked with terror.
Gordor rolled his eyes and huffed. He stalked over and picked up Clyde's body. The body was still warm, his heart was still beating. He beckoned the other three children to follow him and left the house
with the bleeding boy without a word.
Billy was jolted from his reverie when he heard the phone start to ring. He was not allowed to answer it, but perhaps it was an update about Clyde! He ran to the phone and waited for his dad to come pick up the phone. Slowly, Tiffany and Garret approached the phone as well. They looked just as strung out and weary as Billy, but a subtle hope shined in their eyes.
After what seemed like an eternity, Gordor came to the phone. He picked up the phone and spoke in hushed whispers, feigning the guise of a concerned father, with the caller.
"Is that so? … Never? … It's that serious? … Okay. See you soon." Gordor hung up the phone and turned to his remaining children. The three looked up at him in fear and reverence. "We are going to see Clyde. Get in the car." He announced.
The three children exchanged glances. Did this mean Clyde had woken up? Or were they just going to get information about their brother's condition? Would they be pulling the plug and letting Clyde die? Their anxious stares told all of their fears.
Gordor snapped his fingers in front of Billy's face. Billy jumped and the three turned their attention back to their father.
"I said get in the car." Gordor snapped and walked off. The three children followed after him, tripping over their feet in their rush to get to their brother's side. They piled into the car and buckled themselves in. Billy sat in the middle of Garret and Tiffany. Tiffany immediately turned her attention out the window, though she placed her hand so that it was just barely touching Billy's. The small amount of contact seemed to comfort her. Garret, on the other hand, rested his head on Billy's shoulder. The smaller boy was trembling in anticipation and fear as the car moved towards their destination.
When they finally reached the hospital, the children wasted no time practically falling out of the car in the their excitement to see their brother. Gordor lead them up to Clyde's room and the nurse granted them access.
Clyde was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. He turned his head as the family entered the room. A wide smile spread across his face.
"Billy! Garret! Tiffany! Dad!" Clyde exclaimed and he slowly tried to sit up to greet his family. The nurse came running and helped prop him up so that he could talk to his family but scolded him for endangering himself when he'd just woken up.
His siblings exchanged a worried look. Clyde's voice sounded different. Not bad, just different. His words were slurred a little bit and his pronunciation sounded different. But he'd just woken up from a coma, so they didn't worry for too long.
The siblings pulled Clyde into a hug. Clyde did his best to hug all three of them at once, a happy chuckle leaving his lips. They pulled back and all sat on different parts of his bed to try and spend time with their brother.
The doctor came in before they could start talking to Clyde and they all turned their attention to the doctor. He came over and shook Gordor's hand in greeting. He had a clipboard with a lot of papers that the children couldn't really understand, but they looked scary. They showed pictures of brains and had a lot of big words on them.
Clyde reached for a small package of cookies on his table as the doctor started showing diagrams to his father. His hands were shaky and he fumbled with the cookie and dropped it into his lap. Gordor was playing the role of concerned father quite well as the doctor explained Clyde's condition to him.
"He's lost some of his cognitive function and motor skill from the traumatic brain injury." The doctor explained. Gordor nodded, a look of general worry adorning his features.
Clyde managed to get the cookie to his mouth and took a bite of it. His chewing was loud and honestly kind of disgusting, but no one dared to say anything. Billy stared in abject horror as his brother consumed the cookie. Clyde smiled at him, grinned even, not concerned with the fact that his mouth was full of cookie.
"And this won't get better?" Gordor said softly, still pretending he really cared about Clyde. The doctor shook his head.
"There is a chance that he is able to regain some of his functioning through therapy, but it is likely permanent." Gordor lowered his head, acting as though he was mourning. The doctor rested a hand on Gordor's shoulder and apologized.
"There wasn't anything else we could do. Make sure the kids are careful when they play from now on. Another traumatic brain injury could have really serious consequences," He said, "I'll give you guys some family time now."
The doctor turned and left the room. The children turned to Clyde, who had finished his cookie. Clyde grinned happily at them, completely unaware of his own plight.
"Thanks for comin' guys," Clyde said, his voice bubbly despite the dark situation he was in, "I missed ya."
Gordor huffed and gathered up the children. Clyde looked confused and scared as Gordor tried to drag his siblings away. The three fought back, but were no match for their father.
"Wait, why are ya leavin'?" Clyde asked, "It's real lonely in here." He frowned. Gordor didn't say a word as he dragged the three children out of the room. Clyde waved sadly after them. "Come back soon, okay? I miss ya!"