This is the next chapter.

If any of you have sent reviews, favourited or followed in the past few days, thank you but I haven't go the messages cause of no wifi on my part, but I shall go check after I upload. I've hijacked my mama's phone wifi so I can upload this.

Anyway, on with the rest of the story.

T.C

~oOo~

Chapter 12

One Call Away

POV - Scott

I spent the rest of the day with John, apart from when I had to leave for lunch and dinner. Though he wasn't really interested in talking to me, when Jane came over and offered us sweets, he took one and became a bit more open.

It wasn't unusual for John not to talk, but what I wasn't used to how scared he looked and acted. His refusal to look up at me, but how he would for Jane.

So when John had to go and see one of the councilors at midday, I went to speak to Jane. I wanted to know how she was doing it.

"How are you doing it?" I asked. It was probably a little bit too vague of a question, even for somebody on John's level of genius.

"How am I doing what?" She replied, not looking up from the piece of paper she was doodling on.

"You've managed to get him out of his shell in less than a day." I told her, "We've been trying to do that for years."

She looked up from her doodle, which really wasn't one. It was a biro drawing of a pocket watch that could rival one of Virgil's drawings.

"Tell me, when was the last time any of you were able to connect to him on an intellectual level? I'm not saying you're not smart, but the rest of you seem more brawny and outgoing then John."

That was true. Every one of us, except John, was brawny. We were athletic. John was lithe and unimposing. The only thing about him that was imposing was his height; and he seemed to get taller everyday.

"We've uh… We've never been able to compete with John intellectually. It's never fun when we do quizzes. John always wins."

"Try again, fail again… Fail better."

"What the hell does that mean?" I asked.

"It's a quote by Samuel Beckett." She told me, picking a flower out of the bouquet she had on the bedside table, "Get the staff to make up a quiz. We can do three against three."

"And what good will that do?"

She sighed, rolling the flower - a yellow rose - between her fingers.

"It'll show him that you're trying to get involved in something he likes. But in the meantime, give him this." She handed me the flower.

"I'm guessing this has a meaning."

"Yes. It means friendship, joy and good health. In the eighteenth century, the elusive yellow rose was discovered growing wild in the Middle East." She rambled on like John had earlier, "They are also the perfect way to toast friends, life spirits and send a general wish for well-being."

By this time, John was being led back into the room. And I knew that that was my queue to leave Jane, and return to my brother.

"Hey… Don't steal my flower." She shouted, giving me a slight wink before trying to grab at the flower.

Thankfully I got what she was playing at, and held it just out of her reach.

"Sorry." I smiled, "I'm giving it to Johnny."

I mouthed 'thank you' to her, before turning and heading over to my little brother, who was smiling at me.

~oOo~

The rest of the day passed without much incident. He chuckled a little when Alan decided to kick Virgil in the leg, because he was 'taking up too much room on the bed'. Grandma probably would've told him off had John not found it funny.

But we did have to leave at eight. I didn't want to, but I knew there would be no use in arguing; so we left for the hotel.

Virgil had retreated to the bed he had claimed as his own, and started studying sheet music on hit holo-tablet.

"You composing there, Virg?" I asked, walking over to him and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"No. I'm learning something for…" He stopped mid-sentence, his cheeks reddening a little.

"You don't have to tell me if you want to keep it secret." I told him, "I'm not going to force you to do that."

He smiled at me, looking very relived about that.

"Thanks, Scotty."

"Anytime, little brother." I smiled, patting him on the shoulder and standing up.

I checked on Gordon and Alan who, for once, were quietly playing a board game on another bed; before going off to find Grandma.

It didn't take long to find her. We might have temporarily acquired two of the biggest connecting rooms in this place, but Grandma was sitting on one of the couches; clutching something to her chest.

"You okay, Grandma?"

She looked up at me, tears in her eyes.

"How far must he have fallen?" She asked, putting a picture frame on the coffee table, "And how did we not notice?"

The picture in the frame was that of ten-year-old John. He had on his too big NASA shirt, a baseball cap, and was standing in front of a Space exhibit at a museum in New York.

He was so happy. We'd gone to the aquarium for Gordon, art gallery for Virgil, and the Air Force base of me; and not once did he complain. We complained when it got to doing something he wanted to do, which was unfair looking back on it.

"Very far, Grandma." I replied, sitting next to her, "He blames himself for what happened to mom and Grandpa."

"But it's not his fault. Surely he should know that."

"I don't know if he does." I shrugged, "He thinks it's his fault because he asked to stay out longer; and if he hadn't done that, they might not have died."

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out, and saw that it was dad.

He's finally getting back to us, I thought, it's about damn time he did that.

"Hey, dad." I said when I picked up, "Nice of you to get back so quickly."

I knew it was wrong of me to be sarcastic towards him, but it had taken him over two days - and six calls - to either check his phone, or call to make sure everything was fine.

"I've been very busy, Scott." He told me, "This is the first time I've checked my phone in the past week."

Typical. Always busy with work, and not worrying about anybody else.

He seems to forget that it wasn't only him affected by what happened to mom. He might have lost his wife, but we lost our mom.

"And do you think it's been sunshine and daisy's for us?" I asked angrily, "Cause it hasn't, and it still isn't."

"What's been going on, on your end?"

"Don't you listen to you're messages?"

"I saw I had some missed calls from you guys, and just called you back." He told me.

"John tried to kill himself on Sunday, dad." I scoffed, clenching my free hand into a first, "He's in the hospital, on the Suicide Watch Ward. And we've been dealing with it, while you've been god knows where."

There was silence on his end of the phone, but I didn't let that stop me.

"You know, it's like we lost both our parents, because you're never around. You've left us alone for too long, and now we have to deal with the consequences."

And with that, I hung up.

~oOo~

As much as I wanted to stay by John's side the next day, he forced me to go to school; much to my protest.

I wanted this day to be over. I couldn't stand being away from my little brother for so long. The only good thing about this situation was the fact that it made me realize that we had to stick together, and be there for each other.

And I all but ran out of my last class of the day when the bell rang. I couldn't wait to get back to John's side, and take some of Jane's advice.

We had to wait for Virgil. He came running out of the art department about five minutes after the final bell rung.

"Budge up, Gords." He panted, opening the door and chucking his bag in the trunk, "Sorry for being late. Had to clean up my table."

When the door had been opened, Gordon moved into the middle seat. Older siblings always got the window seat.

"It's okay, Virg." I told him, "We haven't been waiting that long."

He chuckled a little at that.

"Yeah, and you're not at all agitated about having to wait, even if it wasn't for that long." He said sarcastically.

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Your leg, Scooter." He pointed at it the best he could given the space, "You always bounce it when you get impatient."

Damn he was good. I was hoping that he wouldn't notice that. I'd been trying really hard not to do it, but I'd failed brilliantly.

"Seatbelt on, Virgil." Grandma said, "You too, Gordon. Didn't think you could hide that from me did you?"

Gordon, who'd been trying to hide the fact he wasn't wearing his, admitted defeat and put his belt back on.

You could never get anything past her. Sometimes it was like she had eyes in the back of her head; and she'd catch you with your hand in the cookie jar without even having to look. Not like anybody wanted her cookies anyway, but it was worth trying all the same.

But the trip back to the hospital was quiet, and the only movement was Grandma's hands on the wheel, and Virgil's hands ghosting over non-existent piano keys.

Virgil seemed really nervous about something. I hadn't seen him act this way in a long time. Not since his Grade Six piano exam when mom was still alive.

However, I wasn't going to ask him what was wrong. When he was ready to confide in someone, he'd talk. No point trying to force him into doing it.

So when we arrived back at the hospital, taken the elevator to the right floor, and walked onto the ward, it was a big surprise to find it empty. The only sign that anybody had been hearer was the unmade bed and the flowers that still sat on Jane's bedside table.

"Where is everyone?" Alan asked, a little tremor in his voice, "What's happened to them?"

"Come here, Allie." I said, crouching down and opening up my arms for him to run into, before standing back up again, "I don't know where everyone is, but I'm sure if anything had happened, or was wrong; the hospital would've called us."

Alan had his head buried in my shoulder, and I could feel him starting to shake as he began to cry.

When Alan got this way, which wasn't very often now, nothing could get him to calm down or stop crying. Well, I thought nothing could calm him down.

"Hey there, sweetie." Our familiar, mysterious ginger friend said, "Everything's okay. Come on, I'll take you to where everyone is waiting."

He looked up into her smiling face. She might've been a bit paler then she was yesterday, but other than that she looked fine.

"Everyone's alright? Really?"

"Really, really." She confirmed, "And I can't start the show without my maestro, can I?"

Virgil went beet red, and Alan and Gordon started laughing. I admit, I also smiled at the colour his face was going.

"Tell you what, and only privileged people get this." Alan was listening intently, waiting with bated breath for her next sentence, "How about I give you a piggyback ride to the activity hall? And maybe you can be on my team for tonight's quiz."

Alan nodded enthusiastically and relinquished his hold on me, holding his arms towards Jane; who took him in her arms and carefully maneuvered him onto her back, and started walking back from where I assumed she'd come from.

The walk wasn't very long, and Jane was keeping my youngest brother amused and tear free, but it was still nerve wracking to say the least. And it wouldn't stop my unease until I saw that John was okay.

But John was okay. I saw that for myself when we rounded the corner and saw him sitting at the table, trying his best not to fiddle with his bandage covered wrists.

Jane, again, carefully put Alan back on his own feet, and he immediately took off running towards John.

"Guess what, Johnny? Guess what?"

John looked a little bewildered, but didn't flinch away like he had been, when Alan finally reached him.

"What, Allie?"

"Jane said that Virgil was a master, and that she couldn't start the show without him."

"She said that he was a maestro, not a master."

"Yeah, that. What is a master-row?"

We all laughed at that, even John who hadn't laughed properly in months.

And she all but dragged Virgil to the electric keyboard. It was nothing like the sleek black one we had at home; but this was a hospital, not a music store.

He tried to protest, but she stopped him before he could even get a sentence out. She was on a mission, and nobody was going to stop her.

So Virgil sat himself in front of the battered keyboard, and waited to be told what to do next.

"Ready?" I heard her ask.

Virgil gave a very shaky nod. He looked terrified, but I could tell he wasn't going to give up. And by the look on Jane's face, she wasn't going to let him.

"I'm only one call away. I'll be there to save the day. Superman got nothing on me. I'm only one call away."

I was in awe. Even knowing nothing about music, I could tell that it was good. Who knew that a voice like that could come out of her? Certainly not me.

The way her voice blended with the piano was amazing.

She kept singing, skipping round to all the patients that we're in the room and bringing smiles to their faces. Even by the end of the song, John was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

He's getting better. Slowly, but surely.