Chapter 3:
Okay, just quickly, I don't know much about any medical details, so if anything is medically incorrect about Ben, please don't hurt me! ;)
Pete sat in the in a waiting room in the hospital beside Sue, and apart from her there was no one else there with them. Sue had her head rested against his shoulder and she was crying and looked exhausted. Ben was in a coma, and he had suffered internal bleeding, several cracked ribs, a sprained wrist and many cuts and bruises. The doctors were doing all they could, but the atmosphere was extremely tense.
As soon as Pete had arrived, Sue had rushed over to him and told him everything between sobs. She thought it was all her fault, and that she 'should have been more careful!' She was saying how bad she was as a parent as this was the second time one of her children had been involved in a car accident. Pete had managed to calm her down slightly, but she still blamed herself and refused to see it in any other way.
Pete wondered how the hell he was going to tell Sue about Jake. This was the last thing she needed right now, but she needed to know. Pete felt so guilty and sick with what he had done; he remembered how Jake had smashed into the wall, blood dripping from his nose and his eye black and blue. He remembered the look of fear and horror in his blue eyes. He remembered how he had kicked him hard in the gut just to get away. How would he make it up to him? How would he tell Sue? How would he cope if Ben died and Jake refused to speak to him? He had to tell Sue, maybe she could help fix the broken relationship between the two. Taking a deep breath, he broke the deafening silence.
"Urm, Sue?" he started shakily.
"Hmm?" She replied, her voice sounding distant.
"There's something I need to tell you, and you're not going to like it. Before I left, me and Jake, well we had an argument. A big one."
"You and Jake always argue, I'm sure you'll both be fine tomorrow."
"Well, that's the thing Sue. When I said it was a big argument I meant what I said. He came downstairs to tell me about Ben, but I ignored him when he said he needed to talk. He reacted by becoming angry and I yelled at him. We ended up at each other's throats with swearing involved, but I suddenly flipped and, and... Look Sue, what I'm about to say next is going to hurt you, and trust me, it kills me."
"What are you talking about Pete?" Sue said in a worried whisper. "What do you mean 'I suddenly flipped'?"
"Sue, please, please don't freak out..."
"Just say what you want to say!" Sue said icily, with no idea what Pete was gabbling on about. It wasn't unusual for her eldest son and he husband to get into fights, but why did he choose to tell her about this one at such an awful time?
"Sue, I got extremely angry, and I hit Jake. I punched him full on and gave him a nose bleed and a black eye. I used so much force I sent him back into the wall where he hit his head which also started to bleed." Seeing his wife's shocked expression he immediately began to waffle again. "If I could take it back, I would, I swear! You know how much I love Jake and I would never normally hurt him, not ever! I feel awful Sue, and I don't know how to make it up to him, and-" But he was cut off by a sudden hard slap around the face.
"HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID?!" Sue suddenly screamed. "How can you not control your actions? He didn't do anything wrong you selfish arse!" Pete looked away in pain as he remembered exactly what his son and wife had said. "I can't believe you would ever do this to any of your children! Was he okay?"
Pete sat there, nearly at breaking point. "I don't know." He admitted. "He kicked me and then ran upstairs. I left after that. He looked pretty bad; I haven't seen him cry for years before today. And I didn't think I would hurt any of them like that before today."
"Well you had bloody well better make this up to him! And I won't blame him if he refuses to forgive you, and if that's the case then you're out Pete. You'll be out of the house before you can say anything to protest."
Pete nodded, he understood. If his son wouldn't forgive him then that would be his own fault, and he wouldn't blame him. And if he had to move out then he would face that consequence. H knew that's what he deserved. He never knew he could be so angry and abusive.