Shocking News

Frederick's view point of Darryl Abramson's suicide

Notes: I own rights to no Annie characters Frederick Joanne Hector and the Abramsons and Samuels are my original characters. Grace's sisters and her children are Mandalicious's original characters. Jen's boyfriend is my original character as well.

Homeschooling was a rough transition at first. I'm happy that this is only a temporary thing. I really miss all my friends at school. Jasmine and Anna moved away on January 2nd. Joanne was pretty upset. Later that night we talked about it as we were getting ready to go sleep.

"How are you doing?" I asked her.

Joanne didn't answer me right away.

"Jo?"

"Well what do you think? My best friend just moved away. At least Casey gets to finish off the school year with you."

"Don't be so nasty."

Joanne sighed. "I'm sorry Freddie I'm just really mad. I wish things didn't have to result to Jasmine having to go private school."

"Casey's moving away at the end of the year too you know. I'm going to miss him when he moves."

"It's not the same with you. We're moving to Boston soon so we can be closer to Annie once she has the baby and Casey will still live pretty close. Framingham is only 45 minutes away. Once we move Jasmine and I will be in two totally different states."

Mom stood in the doorway.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked

We shook our heads.

Mom took a seat at the edge of the bed. "Come to Mama my precious darlings."

We curled in on either side of her. Mom kissed Joanne's forehead.

"Baby girl, I know you're upset about Jasmine moving away but you have to understand that the situation she was in at school was not good for her."

"I still could have helped her stand up to those dumb bullies. Once we move to Boston I'll be even farther away from her."

Mom smiled. "Distance might be a challenge for the two of you but don't let it stand in your way. We can always go to Brooklyn on the weekends or Jasmine and Mrs. Samuels can come visit us. No matter how many new friends you make your friendship with Jasmine will always remain strong. Who knows? Her parents may end up choosing to send her to private school in Massachusetts so you guys will be closer."

Joanne's eyes brightened. "Really? Are there private high schools in Cambridge?"

"I'm sure there's many private schools in the area. Maybe she'll even move to Cambridge."

"Mom are we definitely moving to Cambridge?" I asked

Mom nodded. "Yes. Aunt Jen and Aunt Melissa are taking me apartment hunting when I go to Boston for Annie's baby shower in a couple weeks. This will be a new experience for all of us but I think it will be a welcome change. Especially given what has happened in school this year."

Joanne smiled. " I can't wait for Annie to have the baby. I'm excited to be an aunt."

"I'm equally as excited about being an uncle. It feels weird that I'm only 12 and I'm going to be an uncle." I said.

"It's very exciting for the whole family."

"Mom do you think we'll be able to go back to school?" I asked.

"That's what I came up here to talk to you two about actually."

My sister and I exchanged a look.

"Mrs. Robertson has noticed you two and Casey have made outstanding progress in the past two months. How comfortable would you guys be about returning to school at the end of the month?"

"The end of the month?" Joanne's jaw dropped.

"That's correct darling."

"That's great news Mom. We really miss all our friends at school. We can't wait to go back!" I said.

"Will Casey be going back to school too?" Joanne asked.

Mom shook her head. "Unfortunately no. Mr and Mrs. Abramson have opted to homeschool him for the rest of the year. They've hired another private tutor. You two will definitely still get to see him though."

"Are they moving to Framingham around the same time we move to Cambridge?" I asked.

Mom shook her head "They're actually moving to Framingham on Memorial Day Weekend but we'll be moving to Cambridge about 3 weeks after as soon as school gets out."

I kissed Mom's cheek. "We love you Mom."

Mom kissed my forehead and then kissed Joanne's. "You two are everything to me. Your father and I are so proud of you for much your grades have improved. We love you very much."

Annie had her baby on April 15th. His name is Victor James. Mom went down to Boston to stay at Aunt Jen's for a few days and when she came home she was bursting with excitement.

"How's Annie doing Mama?" Joanne asked.

Mom's smile was a mile wide. "There were some complications with the birth but Victor is doing a lot better now. He is the most precious thing ever."

"When can we go visit Annie?" I asked.

"She's only been home from the hospital for about three days so I think we should give her some time to relax. How about we go down next weekend?"

Joanne and I smiled. "That sounds like a good plan Mom. We can't wait to meet Victor."

After school on the following Friday we hopped on the train to Boston and arrived at Aunt Jen's apartment by 6:00pm. Aunt Jen and her new boyfriend Randy met us at the train station. They've been dating for about three months.

"Hi Aunt Jen!"

Aunt Jen bent down to kiss my forehead. "Hello darling. We're so excited to have you guys stay with us. We haven't seen you since Thanksgiving."

"Hi Randy." Joanne said smiling at my aunt's boyfriend

"It's nice to see you three. I'm looking forward to a great weekend."

" When are we going to visit Annie?" I asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon around 1. I bet you two are excited to meet your new nephew." Aunt Jen said.

I nodded. "We sure are!"

When we got back to the apartment Uncle Alex Aunt Melissa Chris and Jake were waiting for us.

Aunt Melissa hugged Mom as she walked through the door. " I just hung up with Annie. She's bringing over the baby in about half an hour."

"Hooray! Now we don't have to wait until tomorrow to meet him." Joanne said.

"Should we wait for them to eat so we can all eat together?" Jake asked.

Aunt Jen nodded. "Set three extra places sweetheart."

Uncle Alex smiled at us. "Are you two excited about moving here in a few months?"

Joanne nodded. "You bet Uncle Alex! I can't wait to be closer to you guys and Annie and the baby. It will be good to be together as a whole family."

"Aren't you going to miss your friends though?" Chris asked.

"Sure we will, but we're going to make a ton of new friends once we get settled in at the middle school." I said.

Mom squeezed my shoulder. "I couldn't have said that any better sweetheart."

Annie and Hector came about 25 minutes later with Victor in tow.

"Freddie, Jo meet your new nephew." Annie said

We leaned over the car seat and looked in.

"Were we that tiny when we were little?" Joanne asked

Annie smiled. "I remember the day you two were born like it was yesterday. You were just as small as Victor is now."

"He was really sick when he was born?" I asked.

Hector nodded. "Yes. I think through out his life he will definitely have some health problems but we're ready for anything. Right sweetheart? "

Annie kissed Hector's cheek softly. "You betcha."

"Come on everyone let's eat. I just took the fish out of the oven." Aunt Jen said.

As soon as school got out we moved down to Cambridge. Molly and Isabella were moving to Massachusetts too. They were getting jobs in Allston and Brighton. They came over to help us set up our new rooms."

"Freddie have you talked to Casey at all since you've been here?" Isabella asked

I shook my head. "Once we get settled we're going to have his family over for dinner. I can't wait to see Casey again. Things have been so busy with moving that I never got to see him before he left Queens."

"You two must be pretty excited about starting your new school." Isabella said,

I nodded. " I think we're both a little nervous to be honest. Is that normal?"

Molly smiled. "Perfectly. When we first moved to Queens I was pretty nervous about starting at a new school. Luckily I knew all of Isabella's friends really well before school started.. that helped ease the transition a little bit."

Joanne was sitting on the floor helping me unpack a box of clothes. She had not said anything.

"Are you alright Jo?" Molly asked

Joanne sighed. "No, not really. I really miss Jasmine a lot. It's even harder now that we live farther away. What if she forgets about me?"

Molly put her arm around my sister. "That would never happen. You and Jasmine have been friends for a long time. I don't think she'd forget about you just because you go to school in different states."

"Are you sure?"

Molly kissed her forehead. "Absolutely positive. You have her address at school and at home. Why don't you write her a letter? Maybe you can see if she can come visit this summer. How about you me Bella and I do a special girls weekend and she can come with us too?"

Joanne's face brightened. "That would be fun. I always look so forward to those special girls only outings that we used to do with Annie. Calling her might be easier than writing her a letter though."

"We can go to Boston to go out to lunch and shopping how does that sound?"

Joanne smiled at my sister. "Great! Thanks Mol! I love you!""

"I love you too Jo."

School started on September 8th. Molly and Isabella ended up being right. Joanne and I had no trouble at all making new friends. We got involved in activities right away. I decided to join the travel basketball league instead of playing soccer for a change of pace. Joanne joined the intermural soocer team in the school newspaper. Jasmine would be coming down to visit for our birthday party at the end of the month. Joanne couldn't wait to introduce her to our new friends.

On the Tuesday before our birthday party Mom came to the dinner table looking really upset.

"Mama, why are you sad?" Joanne asked.

"Kids we're having a guest stay with us this weekend."

Joanne and I still couldn't figure out why our mother was so sad. "Who is it?"

"Casey's sister Megan."

"Casey's not coming over too? I asked.

Mom shook her head. "No sweetheart. "

"Why not?"

Mom exchanged a look with Grandma Helen.

"Frederick, Joanne Casey's brother Darryl is not with us any longer." Grandma Helen said.

"What?" We both said,

Mom choked back a sob and Dad rubbed her hands up and down her back.

"Darryl committed suicide early this morning. A jogger found his body hanging by a tree branch at 8:30 am."

Dad cleared his throat. "Megan is staying over on Friday night while her parents and Casey go shopping for stuff they need to buy for the wake and funeral services."

"Why would Darryl do something like that? All his parents were trying to do was helping him to get better."

'My sweet boy... there was so much tension in that household since the shooting last year. I think he just couldn't handle all the emotions he was feeling." Grandma Helen said.

"That sounds really selfish to me. Did he not realize how many people cared about him?" Joanne asked.

Dad sighed. "I'm sure he did darling. I think on top of his paranoid schizophrenia he was also depressed about issues related to the shooting. He wasn't forthcoming about admitting he was depressed. If he had been he could have been treated for that. That probably would have saved his life."

"Did he feel really bad for hurting all those people?" I asked

Mom nodded. "Mrs. Abramson said there was a note on his bed that simply read "I'm sorry for causing everyone so much pain. I love you."

"When are the services?"

"The wake is Monday night from 6-8 and the funeral is Tuesday at 9am. You two will go to school late that day." Mom said.

We nodded.

"I can't believe this happened." Joanne said

Mom squeezed her hand under the table. " None of us can my darling girl."

Tuesday morning we were up at 7:45 to get ready to go to Darryl's services. Mr. and Mrs. Samuels Anna and Jasmine had come in from New York the night before and were staying at Casey's house. When we got to the church Mom reached out and hugged Mrs. Samuels. "How are you all holding up?"

"As good as we can given the circumstances. I think the girls are still in shock." Mrs. Samuels said.

Mom pulled Anna and Jasmine in a hug and kissed each of them on the forehead. "Hello darlings."

"Hi Mrs. Warbucks. " Anna whispered.

"We love you." Jasmine said.

"We love you all too sweetheart. We'll all get through this rough spot together." Mom said.

The usher led us to our seats. We were sitting in the same pew as the Abramsons. I sat next to Casey.

"Hey Freddie."

I put my arm around him. "I'm really sorry about Darryl Case."

"It's going to be even harder to get used to him not being here. It's just surreal. You know what I mean? I didn't expect him to kill himself. I wanted to help him get better as much as I could."

Megan was sitting on Mrs. Abramson's lap. Her head was nuzzled deep into her shoulder. She was crying. Mrs. Abramson looked like she hadn't slept well in several days.

Mr. Abramson got up to speak at the microphone.

"This has been a rough year for our family and this adds extra hurt to our lives. Today we are here to reflect on Darryl's short life and the impact it had on us all. We'd like to thank our family and friends especially Grace and Oliver Warbucks and Erica and Tim Samuels for all the support they have shown us in the past year. We couldn't be more grateful for your support. We love you all very much."

The funeral service lasted for about an hour. Afterwards we went to Casey's house for a little while before going back to school. Anna reached into her purse for a tissue. "I can't believe Darryl's gone. I'm going to miss him a lot."

Joanne reached out to hug Anna. "This is a shock to all of us I think. Despite the fact Darryl was nasty to us sometimes I am going to miss him."

Anna put her arm around Joanne and Jasmine and pulled them into a hug. "Always remember that I'm here for you guys. The same thing for you and Casey Freddie."

I nodded. "We love you Anna."

"I love you all too."

Mom came over to us, "Okay kids. We're going to take you back to school now. Say your goodbyes."

Anna pulled us all into a hug. "We'll see you guys soon. Mom said we're going to all go out to dinner for your birthday next weekend. There are a lot of nice restaurants on the campus of our private school in Brooklyn. It will be our treat."

Joanne smiled. "Sounds great. Molly also said that you and Jas can come visit us some weekend and we'll go shopping or to the movies."

Jasmine smiled. "That sounds so much fun. We can't wait to see your new house and see Molly and Isabella again."