Chapter 7
I was finally starting to have an okay time at school. Mrs. McGuire came back after about a week, when her dad finally got to leave the hospital. It was nice though being a big brother for Gracie. Everything seemed to be okay. Glee was doing well, football was coming to an end and my grades were actually improving. I was kinda shocked by it, but Mrs. McGuire wasn't. She said it was to be expected now that I was learning how to learn with my problems.
After school, Rach was sitting on my bed, helping me with some of my math homework. "Do you have your calculator? Are your equations written out?"
"Yes Mom" I said rolling my eyes, but she knew that this was something that I was supposed to do. It bugged me a little. It did make me feel like a little kid, but in some ways I guess it was because I had to learn how to learn again. If that made sense, and it didn't seem to in my head, but at least I knew what I meant.
After awhile, Rach and I started talking about everything that had been going on with me. "You know Rach, I keep wondering what my life would be like if I had been diagnosed with this when I was little, like Gracie. Would I be doing better in school? Would I still play sports or be in glee? It sucks that I always seem to be behind everyone else. You know, it is really hard to take a day to understand things that have happened. It's like last year when we lost Regionals; I was sad that day, but it was the next day when I really understood everything that was going on and had happened. When I was watching Gracie, she was telling me she has the same problems. When she goes on field trips she really doesn't tell her mom about them until the next day, which is just like me and football games. How am I supposed to function in the real world if it takes me a day to understand things? I need to be able to make decisions quickly and I can't. UGH!" I was making myself upset.
"Finn, calm down. You are doing great. I'm sure that is something that Mrs. McGuire will work on and when you go to college it will be something that they can continue with. Finn, you are such a leader, so please don't let things hold you back. Remember, you and I are in this together. You are a great guy and you know so much more than you think. Just keep having faith in yourself. Everything will turn out okay," Rachel was rubbing my back while she talked. I could feel everything start to relax. I had worked myself up, and I was so thankful I had Rachel calm me down. Who knew that Rachel Berry would be calming someone else down, normally it was me calming her down. I smiled thinking about that. "Whatcha smilin' for Finn?" I told her, and she gave me this shocked look, but then crushed her soft lips onto mine, and that was all she wrote for the next few minutes.
The next day was better. I was feeling better. I did my normal Saturday morning routine with Rachel and went to Mrs. McGuire's house. Rachel and I told her about my fears and she promised that we would be working on my processing ability after the morning, Rachel went on a shopping trip with her dads and I had promised my mom to take care of Mrs. Hammonds leaves. Mrs. Hammond was a nice old lady that was in a wheelchair. My mom and I helped her out by taking care of her lawn for her, and since she just lived a couple of blocks away, it wasn't a big deal.
I liked being outdoors and doing yard work. It gave me some quiet time to think, which was great. Even though I was having some problems, life wasn't too bad right now. I wasn't really getting picked on anymore since Mrs. McGuire got half the hockey team kicked off the team and had threatened expulsion on them. They pretty much left me alone in school, and I was too busy with sports, glee, Rachel and my studies to really see them outside of school. Azimio and Karofsky even stopped slushying the glee club.
When I finished I put Mrs. Hammonds rakes back in her garage and started walking home. I was lost in my own thoughts about Rachel and didn't hear the car stop or hear the doors open. The next thing that I remembered was a fist come crashing into my nose and smelling that nasty smell you can get when you think you broke your nose. Since I wasn't expecting it, I fell backward, and then felt more punches and kicks to my sides. I heard, "Homo-retard! This is for getting us in huge trouble. I don't know why anyone wastes their time on you!" My stomach and ribs hurt like hell and I could feel blood on my face and in my mouth, then things started to go black.
I woke up to hearing beeping sounds and not feeling concrete under me anymore. I was in a bright room with a cheerful looking lady talking to me. I couldn't quite hear what she was saying though. It felt like my head was underwater. "It's nice that you decided to join us Mr. John Doe. The doctors and police have been waiting for you to wake up We don't know who you are because you didn't have any ID and it appears your cell phone was smashed."
"Where am I and what's wrong with me?" I managed to croak out in a hoarse whisper.
"Well, yesterday afternoon the police found you lying on a sidewalk in a neighborhood. They thought your were a drunk, but when they walked up on you, you had been beaten, severely. They called for paramedics and brought you here. You have a broken nose, a busted ear drum, 5 broken ribs, a punctured lung, and some internal bleeding from what appears to be kick marks to your abdomen. There are bruised footprints on your torso." She said that last piece with a look of disgust on her face. "I'm going to let the policeman that is here to come in a talk to you. They've been stationed here since you were brought in."
I kept thinking that I got the crap beat out of me and was left on the street to die. Where was my mom and Rach. Why weren't they here?
A guy who looked like he was my age came in, but he had a gun sitting on his hip and a badge on his belt. He introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Detective Cooper. I'm glad to see you're awake. The first thing we need to know though is who are you? You had no identification on you, and no one has called in a missing persons report, so…." He left his statement hanging.
"I'm Finn Hudson. I'm 17. My mom is Carole Hudson." I gave him my mom's number and he left to call her. I hurt so bad, I didn't want to think about what she was going to say when she got to the hospital.
I don't know how long it took my mom and Rachel to get to the hospital, but it seemed to be only a second after the detective left. Both of them were crying, and then Burt and Rachel's dads came in, the came as support, I guess. Mom was hugging me and Rachel had my hands and my ribs were hurting like hell. I think my mom realized I was in pain when I winced trying to avoid screaming from the pain her hugs were causing.
My mom had told me she was worried when I hadn't gotten home after a few hours and how they had gone looking for me. She tried to report me missing, but I hadn't been gone for 24 hours so the police wouldn't take the report. The detective came in to talk to me, and asked for my family to leave.
"Was the guy with the hat your dad? He looked like he would kill whoever did this to you?" The detective asked. I just shook my head and told him that Burt was my mom's boyfriend, but that we were close.
"Okay Finn, do you know who did this to you? Was this a robbery? We didn't find your wallet on you and your cell phone was smashed nearby."
"I didn't take my wallet with me. I was just going to rake leaves for a friend and I hate having my wallet on me when I work outside. Even though I didn't see their faces because the blindsided me, I know who did this to me. They called me a homo-retard. It was two guys that have been bullying me and my friends at McKinley for awhile now. They were making fun of me because I joined glee club and kept calling me gay. Then when I was told I had autism this year, they started calling me retard. They tried beating me up one day at school. It was five against one, but my friends and my teachers jumped in. One of my teachers got them kicked off the hockey team and told them if they kept bullying kids she would get them expelled. Their names are Azimio and Karofsky. Even though I didn't see them, I know there voices, too well."
"So this has been ongoing bullying?" I shook my head at the detective. The nurse came in and took a syringe and shot something into my IV. I could feel the coolness of whatever it was enter my veins and I started to feel drowsy. I guess the detective decided to leave me alone because he patted my arm and said he would come back tomorrow.
When I woke up again, I saw Mrs. McGuire and Gracie standing by my bedside. My mom and Rachel were sitting on the small couch in the room. I could hear Burt and Mr. Schue talking in the hallway. Gracie looked like she'd been crying and was trying not too.
:"Hey girlie. Why the tears? I'm beat up, but I'm fine. Don't cry Gracie. I'll be out of here soon and back to being your "big brother" promise." I tried smiling at her, but she just ran out of the room. I looked at Mrs. McGuire trying to figure out what I had done.
"Finn, Gracie's scared dear. She looks up to you and someone has tried to take your life, and she's wondering if someone could come after you, and you're huge, would they come after her because she is so small. I know that doesn't make sense to you, but in her mind, you two are the same, so if it happens to you, it will happen to her. I'm just so sorry this happened to you Finn. No one deserves this, especially someone as kind and loyal as you. I'm so sorry Finn." Now Mrs. McGuire was crying. She leaned over and gave me a kiss on my forehead. Why was she sorry, she didn't do anything but help me and teach me things. But seeing this woman who was my second mom crying just got to me and I felt tears spring up in my eyes.
"Finn, if I hadn't gotten them kicked off the hockey team, they probably wouldn't have done this to you. I just wanted them to stop bullying you guys. I hate, hate, hate bullies and there is no way to protect you kids from them. I can't protect Gracie from them. I tried protecting you from the, and it got you beaten within an inch of your life." She was sobbing in-between pauses. My mom came up and put her arms around her, trying to comfort her.
"Mrs. McGuire, you have no reason to fault yourself for this. Those two assholes did this to me, not you. Like you said, all you do is try to protect me. Please don't feel guilty. They've left me alone in school. They were probably just waiting for an opportunity outside of school to get me, and they got me. It was just a matter of time before they came after me." That thought had really just occurred to me, it had just been a matter of time before they came for me, and they had time to really get angry.
"They got the jump on me, but I can't have people always protecting me. I have to stand up for myself. I am too much of a nice guy. I need to be a little more badass like Puck. No one messes with him. Even though I'm huge, I'm just a friendly giant. I can be picked on, and I let them get to me. I'm not Rachel, confident in myself. I'm not Puck doing what I want and not care. I'm not Santana or Quinn being mean to people for no reason. I need to be more like them in someway. I need to stand up for myself. I need to show Gracie to stand up for herself, and that she is worth it." I was getting myself worked up. I could feel my muscles tensing and the beeping of the monitors increased. I could feel the tears stinging my eyes. I was worth it. I didn't deserve any of this bullying and getting beat up. I'm slow, so what! I have issues, so what! I'm a good person and I like who I am.
Rachel was rubbing my one hand and my mom the other. Mrs. McGuire just stood their with tears in her eyes, smiling. "Finn, I am so glad that you realize that you are worth it. Maybe having some of those qualities that you said would be helpful, but you can't lose sight of who you are. I still feel that this is in some ways my fault, but I also know there is no way to prevent bullying." She sat on the edge of my bed, looking at my mom and Rachel. "No matter what, as a teacher or a parent, there is no way to truly prevent bullying. It is going to happen. The only thing that can really be done is educate the kids on what it is and reporting and then dealing with those that are reported for bullying. It is going to take a zero tolerance by the kids to stop the bullying. Teachers can't be everywhere, neither can parents. Now there are cell phones, texts, MySpace, facebook, email, you tube and all those other ways you can bully people. Unless is comes down to the kids saying, "NO, we aren't going to allow it, it will always happen." Mrs. McGuire looked right at me and my mom, "Charges are going to be filed, I'm almost sure of it, but you need to go after them in civil court. Have them pay for this financially. They and their parents need to know that this is not okay and that there are more consequences than just being suspended from school. I'm not you, and I can't tell you what to do, but I know if this was Gracie, I'd go after them with all guns blazing" You could see that Mrs. McGuire was dead serious too. She had this look about her that was hard to describe. She leaned over and gave me a kiss on my forehead again (it's weird having your teacher kiss you, but it was a mom type kiss, so I didn't mind) and gave my mom a huge hug. She smiled at Rachel and walked out calling for Gracie. I could her here ask Gracie if she wanted to see me, but I could tell that she didn't. I could understand, but I hope she will come back and see me. I didn't like seeing Gracie upset.
The next day the hospital released me home, but I couldn't go back to school for at least a week, which was fine for me. I didn't really feel like going back to school. Detective Cooper visited me and took more of my statement and told me they arrested Karofsky on Azimio in school. "We kind of made it a big production at lunchtime. Your principal wanted to bring them to the office so we could arrest them. Your teacher, Mrs. McGuire and Mr. Schue were there and had fit. They pretty much told him that they needed to be made a spectacle of, and that lunchtime was the best time. I secretly agreed with them, but I couldn't say it out loud. He finally said okay, so your two teachers took us to the lunchroom. I made sure I had four uniforms with me to arrest them. Walking into that café was like parting the Red Sea. Those kids just split when we entered. I couldn't even say anything because that Mrs. McGuire, she's got a voice on her, yelled at Karofsky and Azimio to stop. They froze too. I thought they would run, but the look she was giving would have froze the devil. Anyway, I made sure to loudly arrest them and tell them their charges. I think a kid had a mic or something because I heard what I was saying on the loudspeaker. Anyway, they are being charged with attempted murder. They left you there to die, Finn, so the DA decided to go for the max. Both are currently sitting in processing." Detective Cooper had a huge grin on his face from that. He and I talked some more. He said when I got better, he wanted to take me on in some one-on-one basketball since I was on the team. Guess he had been on the team when he was in high school.
Later on Rachel and the rest of Glee came to the house to see how I was doing. They even picked up Gracie and she was cuddled up against me. I had Gracie on one side and Rachel on the other while they all told me what happened at school. That's when it occurred to me that I needed take charge and be the leader that everyone told me I was. I needed to put an end to this bullying before someone got more hurt than I had.