Chapter 7 - Struggle
Beca spent the majority of the time looking at pictures from college. The other part of the time she spent wishing the Bellas would come visit her already, it's been a week and her mother hadn't said anything.
Ethan went to his own home a while ago, but he still visited often. He got used to talking to Jack after Beca talked to him.
"Look Jack, that's a picture of our last performance as Bellas," Beca said. "Do you know what happened to them?"
Jack shook his head no.
"Exactly, nothing happened. They just lived their lives and nothing happened," Beca said angrily and put the pictures away. She put her face on her hands and took a deep breath. She couldn't cry in front of her son again. She'd been doing that a lot lately, she had to be strong for him.
Beca had to talk to lawyers about media strategies, she had to remind her son to stay away from the windows, all the while having to deal with her own inner demons. She kept hearing the beeping of the door each time she slept.
"Ma how long are we gonna be here for?" Jack asked in the middle of the night.
"This is where we live now, Jack," Beca said.
The two went to bed and when Jack woke up, Beca was still asleep so he walked outside the room and went over to the staircase. He saw Leo talking to someone who left. He saw Leo look at him and he immediately looked down.
"I wish there was someone who could play with me," Leo said, looking around.
Jack was quiet.
"Well I'm pretty hungry, I think there's something in the kitchen," Leo said, going under the balcony into the kitchen. "Yes, there's something very tasty in the kitchen I think."
Jack went downstairs and slowly went into the kitchen to find Leo whistling and grabbing a bowl.
"Hello," he said and Jack took a step back. "I didn't know you were up."
Jack then walked further into the kitchen.
"Do you want some cereal?" Leo asked.
Jack nodded shyly. Leo smiled and grabbed another bowl.
The two ate in silence as Leo watched Jack.
"I like this kind too," he said. "It's kinda sweet but pretty good."
Jack nodded before he got a little shier.
"Do you really have a dog?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah I do," Leo said. "Named Seamus. He's very small, very cute. Not very smart."
Jack paid close attention.
"You gotta meet him sometime. He'll shake your hand," Leo said.
"I had a dog too, but he wasn't real," Jack said. "He lived in Room."
"I see," Leo nodded.
After breakfast, Jack had an appointment with Dr. Mittal, he made a drawing of his family. Dr. Mittal thought he was doing excellent.
Beca was supposed to see him after Jack but Jill couldn't get her out of bed.
Jack was watching Dora on Jill's phone seating on a bean bag chair in his mother's room.
"Jack, go downstairs please," Beca said.
Jack paid no attention to him.
"Jack," Beca said.
Beca got up, grabbing him and took him downstairs.
"You have all these toys," she said.
"I don't want 'em," Jack said.
"Any kid would be happy to have these and you barely even touched them," Beca said.
Jill showed up and looked at Beca in a way that asked what the hell she was doing.
"I don't give him my phone so I'd appreciate it if you didn't give him yours," Beca said to Jill.
"Okay, I won't," Jill said.
"Jack, check this out," Beca grabbed the LEGO's and opened them. "See how I'm putting them together? Now you try it."
Beca sat on the couch and sighed.
"He needs to connect with something, I'm worried about him being on the phone," Beca said.
"Beca, he's really doing fine," Jill said.
Beca's eyes suddenly started filling with tears as her mother tried calling her attention. She was sad but she couldn't for the life of her explain why. She just couldn't.
"Beca," Jill whispered, sitting down next to her daughter.
"I don't know what's wrong with me," Beca confessed, getting the attention from her son. "I was supposed to be happy."
"You just need to rest, okay?" Jill said calmly.
"No I don't! I don't need to rest!" Beca said.
"That's what the doctor said.." Jill started.
"No that was not what the doctor said, you don't know what he said because it was a confidential conversation!" Beca said. "You don't know what he said!"
"Alright, alright, alright!" Jill got up from the couch and walked away from Beca. "You're impossible to talk to right now."
"Well sorry," Beca said with crossed arms.
"No you're not sorry!" Jill said.
"Yeah I'm not sorry!" Beca said. "You have no idea what's going on in my head."
"Well try me! I've asked you," Jill said.
"And then what? Then everytime you look at me that's all that you see?" Beca asked.
"When I look at you, Beca, I see my daughter," Jill said.
"You don't need me. You've been doing just fine without me," Beca said.
"How can you say that?" Jill asked, offended. "Do you think that you were the only one whose life was destroyed?"
"Actually yeah, that's exactly what I think," Beca said.
"How can you.." Jill sat back down next to Beca. "Beca, Chloe attempted suicide."
Beca looked up at her, not knowing the information. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked away from her mother.
"She did?" she asked.
"She did," Jill said. "She never stopped going to the police station to ask about you. Not once,"
"Then where is she? Why hasn't she come see me?!" Beca raised her voice again. "Where are the Bellas? Where are my supposed friends?"
"Beca, it's complicated. Jack can't handle seeing a lot of people at once," Jill said. "Right now you should be thinking about him."
Jill pointed at Jack who was covering his hears next to her.
"Don't you tell me how to look after my son," Beca said. "I'm sorry that I'm not nice anymore, but you know what? Maybe, if your voice saying 'be nice' hadn't been in my head, then maybe I wouldn't've helped the guy with a fucking sick dog!"
Jill walked away, it was too much for her to handle. She was in tears too. Jack slowly uncovered his ears and continued playing with the LEGOs.
Beca got up and went upstairs.
"Stay there, Jack," she said. "I'm going to call the lawyer, I can't stand this place."
oO0Oo
Jack woke up in the middle of the night to find the bed empty. It was weird, Ma was usually always in bed with him. He got up and decided to go look for her. He heard noises coming from the bathroom and slowly opened the door.
"Ma?" he asked, being met with resistance. He pushed harder. "Ma!"
When he opened the door, Beca was sprawled across the floor with vomit coming out her mouth and her eyes turned.
"Ma! Ma!" Jack screamed loudly. It wasn't long before Leo and Jill ran over to see what was wrong.
Jack didn't know what was happening or what was going to happen. All he knew was the doctors again put his ma on a bed and took her away. Leo had his hand on his shoulder but when the doctors left with Beca, he went back to the room.
The next morning, Jack was playing with his ma's bad tooth, not really in the mood to do anything else. He wanted to know how she was and when she was going to come back.
"Jack?" Leo called him.
Jack went downstairs and saw Leo holding the phone.
"The phone's for you," he said.
Jack held the phone to his ear.
"No, buddy, this way," Leo taught him and Jack was silent. "Say 'hello'."
"Hello," Jack said.
"Jack?" Beca's voice came from the phone. "Are you there? Can you hear me?"
"Ma? Ma, come back," Jack said. "Come back now,"
"I'll be right there, I just need to stay a little longer," Beca said.
"I pick! I pick for both of us!" Jack said before letting go of the phone and going back upstairs to Beca's old room.
oO0Oo
Jack had gotten used to playing with his LEGOs. They were actually quite fun, except if you stepped on them. That actually hurt a lot.
"Jack?" Jill called him from downstairs. "Somebody here to see you,"
Jack got up and went downstairs expecting to find his ma but instead he was met with the redhead girl that was in ma's pictures. The girl she talked about.
Chloe.
