The very next day, Matthew was in the rehab center. The doctor had told him that it would take at least a week for him to be able to walk again. There was nothing much that they could do for the rest of his injuries. They had put his broken arm in a cast and had healed his twisted ankle. The only reason Matthew had been put in the rehab center was because he had difficulty walking and standing up.
About two days after being moved to the rehab center, Matthew had tried to stand and walk. Even when the nurses had told him that it was too soon he had done it anyway.
''I can do it.'' Matthew said. ''I can walk. I can do it. There is no reason as to why I shouldn't be able to do it.''
He took one step forwards and seeing as he hadn't yet toppled over he did another one. That was as far as he could go. He was still too weak to walk and fell to the ground. Because his arm was inside a cast there was no way for him to stop himself. And so, he fell face first to the ground. In an instant the nurses had caught him. Matthew was looking at the ground for a second before he tried to stand up again.
''Don't over exert yourself.'' One of the nurses said. ''Your body is still too weak to handle the effort.''
''Matthew?'' Arthur said walking in. ''Is everything okay? Why are you on the floor?''
''I can do it.'' Matthew whispered to himself. ''I won't depend on others to get around. I will walk. I will do it on my own. I can do it. I must do it for them. I am not weak.''
''You can do it Mattie!'' Alfred yelled as he walked in the room and saw his brother trying to get up. ''You've been running for a month, right? It shouldn't be that hard.''
Matthew felt the pressure that was on him. He tried his best to get up but he couldn't. His legs wobbled under the weight of his body. He tried to use his good arm to get up but failed as well. He had lost as much upper body muscle mass as he had done with his lower body. His lack of strength in all places of his body stopped him from being able to get up on his own. Matthew had not wanted to tell his family or anybody for that matter that he couldn't get up. He hadn't counted on his face showing his extreme frustration and disappointment. Alfred's words stung. He had been running for a month. This was nothing compared to what he had suffered during that time. Why couldn't he just do it? Why couldn't he just get up?
''It's okay Matthew.'' Francis said when he saw the face his son had made. ''Tu peux toujours réussir demain.'' (You can always try again tomorrow.)
''I can't do it.'' Matthew said. ''I can't get up. Why can't I get up? I have to get up. Je peux le faire. Il faut que je le fasse. I need to get up.'' (I can do it. I have to do it.)
He tried one last time and failed once more.
''I'm sorry.'' He said trembling. ''I can't do it.''
As these words were said, Alfred, Francis and Arthur went over to him and picked him up. As if Matthew was a toddler still learning to walk they held him up. They held him for a few moments before letting go and Matthew was able to stand up on his own. He stood for a few seconds before he began to feel his strength lessen. They held him again and helped him over to the bed. They smiled at him and Matthew felt his heart swell with happiness. This was his family. The family that might have forgotten him once but that would do everything for him now. Even if it would take time before life became normal they would be with him for as long as it took.
One week later there was a car coming up the driveway with four people inside when for so long it had been just three. For the three that had been making the back and forth from the hospital, being four again was one of the greatest thing that had happened to them. Even if they hadn't realised that there had been an empty space all that time they felt relived that Matthew had come back. They felt the emptiness that had been there since his disappearance go away. They were now complete. The nightmare was finally over.
The hospital had let him go that day because they felt that Matthew was okay. But they still gave him a lot of drugs for the pain and for sleeping. They also asked if they could give Matthew anti-depressants but the family refused. It would be unnecessary to give them to Mathew and would only worsen what had happen to him. There were various instructions that the doctors had given them for Matthew. They couldn't give Matthew too much food. They couldn't let him do to much exercise. And the most important of all they couldn't let him out of their sight.
The boy in question was sleeping soundly in the backseat of the car. His head was resting on his brother's shoulder and Alfred was doing his best not to move and wake him up. At one point, he was trying not to breathe too loudly.
''Mattie, wake up.'' Alfred said shaking his brother a bit. ''We're home.''
Matthew opened his eyes slowly and the view of the house, his childhood home, appeared in front of him.
''We're back?'' He asked slowly.
Alfred nodded and they got out of the car. Slowly they made their way towards the front of the house. Arthur and Francis were already there. Francis was holding Matthew's bag while Arthur had the cane and held the door open. The two brothers went inside and Matthew was finally home.
For a second he stood in the entrance not knowing what to do or say. Everything seemed so familiar that it almost seemed impossible that he had been gone for a month and a half. It seemed to him as if he had only been gone a few days. It seemed almost impossible that he had actually run away from that place.
His family began to rush pass him as they brought inside everything that they had left in the car. Matthew stood unmoving as he took in the scene. Everything was going so fast. Everything was going so fast without him.
''Alfred, can you take out the meat from the freezer?'' Francis said.
''Yeah sure.'' He replied. ''Do you want me take out the potatoes as well?''
''Yes, I will need that as well.''
''I'm going to go take the bags upstairs.'' Arthur said as he passed by Matthew.
Matthew started shaking. He had expected something like this but not so soon. He feared that he would become invisible once more the moment he stepped foot into the house. There was nothing stopping them from completely forgetting about him. Outside the house and at the hospital they might act as if they cared for him but once they were back home he would be as invisible as he had been before. He started shaking with fear of being forgotten. And yet he couldn't blame them. He was born to be forgotten.
''I'm tired.'' He muttered so low that they didn't hear him. He didn't expect a reply or a reaction. ''I'll be going to my room.''
Matthew moved towards the wall and slowly made his way to the stairs. He didn't want to go grab the cane since it was his dad that had it. And currently his dad was upstairs. It left Matthew with little choice. If he could make it to his room unnoticed, which granted wouldn't be hard seeing as they were already forgetting him, then he would be able to rest a bit. One thing he remembered from before running away was that when they started forgetting him he used to stay near the walls of the room and make his way towards his bedroom. He did the very same thing then.
''Crap!'' Arthur screamed from inside Matthew's room. ''We didn't clean anything up. Matthew, I'm so sorry but you won't be able to stay in the room till it's clean. You can sleep in our room tonight. We'll sleep on the fold out bed.''
''Yeah…um okay.'' Matthew said uncertainly. ''I can sleep in my room even if it's dirty. You don't have to give me your room. But why would my room be dirty? I remember that I cleaned it right before…''
''Hey Mattie?'' Alfred asked. ''It's probably not a good idea if you go in the room.''
''Why?'' Matthew replied incredulously. ''It shouldn't be that bad, right? All I need to do is dust a bit. It's fine.''
And so, Matthew made his way towards his room with a lighter heart. His fears had been proved wrong. They hadn't forgotten him yet. They still knew that he was there. But still he got the feeling that they would forget eventually. Francis and Alfred had followed him. Matthew didn't understand why. His room really couldn't be that bad. There must just be a little dust in it. Nothing of importance. Then why did Matthew feel as if they were watching him to see if he would break?
Matthew opened the door. Once inside he was shocked to see that his room looked nothing like it had been when he had left. He almost couldn't see the floor. His walls that had once been bare were now covered with papers. One wall had a map with various pins sticking out of it. He saw missing posters with his own face on it strewn haphazardly around the room. Arthur was quickly trying to clean up the room but stopped when he saw that Matthew was there.
''Ah, I'm terribly sorry Matthew.'' He said. ''I bet you didn't expect this much of a mess when you came back. But no worries I should be able to clean it up soon enough.''
''What is all this stuff?'' Matthew asked as he looked around his once tidy room. ''Why is there a map hanging there?''
He received no answer. Nothing but an awkward silence filled the room. He looked closer to what had been written on the map for as he came closer and closer he recognised his brother's handwriting. Under the places that had been pinned there were written variations of the same sentence.
Searched in: 3 times, Searched in: 7 times, Asked around: 4 times, He was here, Found his bear. And it went on and on. It was a map of all the places they had been while looking for him. His fear of being forgotten melted away instantly. So, they really had looked for him. They had searched places again and again for him. They had asked around for him so many times that he felt ashamed of ever having thought that they would forget him.
Matthew bent down to take a look at the missing posters on the floor. He picked one up and saw his name and description written there. Seeing his own face on a missing poster came as a shock to Matthew. He hadn't noticed them at all in the streets of the city. How he could miss something as obvious as his own face was astonishing. Guess this really meant that he was made to be forgotten. There was even a plea to help his family find their lost son. Matthew folded it up and put in his back pocket.
He looked around the room once more and found papers that did not look like missing posters. Again, he bent over and picked them up. First, he saw pages upon pages of his old-school notes and grades. Under that was a page of notes on himself. There was thing written on it like: good student, organized, best grades in French, math, history and science; worst grades in Spanish but good in everything else; he's in the hockey team; one known friend; quiet, etc. The list went on and on. But at the end of it all was a small sentence saying ''in the end we don't know much about him''.
''What is all this?'' Matthew asked as he went to pick up another sheet of paper filled with notes.
Nobody said anything. His family looked sheepishly at the ground as if they were embarrassed about something. Matthew looked at Arthur for answers and saw that his dad was holding a sleeping ag under his arm.
''Why do you have a sleeping bag?'' Matthew asked. ''And why is it here?''
''Oh…um…well'' He looked at the others nervously.
''We slept in your room.'' Alfred said bluntly. ''Once we learned that you were gone we started sleeping here. We tried sleeping in our own rooms but we couldn't. We were sort of scared of forgetting. So yeah…it helped being around your stuff. But I guess a lot of it isn't here now. Or well you can't see it under the mess.''
''And why would my stuff no longer be here?''
''Um…in the off chance that you were found dead we-well myself mostly-started packing your stuff.'' Arthur said looking everywhere but at Matthew. ''It would hurt too much to have a constant reminder of your death. I-I'm sorry.''
''Oh, no it's fine. I understand.'' Matthew said. ''I would have done the same thing.''
Silence.
''So…um… you guys really needed to sleep here?'' He asked slowly.
Nobody answered.
''You really couldn't live without me?'' He whispered nervously.
He felt ashamed of ever having run away. He hadn't thought of all the consequences of his actions. He had only thought about what he had had to endure during that time. It had never crossed his mind that he had made his family suffered. Even after Gilbert's speech he hadn't really understood the gravity of what he had done. He hadn't understood at what point he had made his family suffer. He didn't know what had happened while he was away but he knew from what had been said and from what he saw that it had been hell for them. To get to the point where they could no longer sleep in their own rooms it must have hurt. Of course, he hadn't had it easy as well but for them it had been hell.
''I am sorry.'' Matthew said. They started to say something but he cut them off. ''No, I truly am sorry. If I hadn't done what I did nobody would have lived through that hell. In the end, it's my fault and I am truly sorry for that.''
A/N sorry for the delay. First of all, happy new year and merry Christmas. We were going to post this chapter earlier but life got in the way. Don't worry it's the last time we are this late in posting. After all we know how much it sucks to have to wait for a new chapter. This isn't going to be the end of the story. We still have a bit more to go. There will probably be two more chapters. We will try in the next chapter to make it a little more happy. This was supposed to be the happy chapter but it didn't make sense to make it happy this soon. We try to make it as realistic (in human emotions) as possible. The rest might be a little bit more fictional because this is a work of fiction after all and we don't really know what could happen.
So see you next week.