Their Family
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Chapter Twenty-One
They slowly travelled home in silence, no one daring to utter a word for the fear of the worries of the last few hours could come spilling out. Jay drove home cautiously and felt like he had almost avoided a hundred collisions, he was sure if it was him or the roads that were the problem, he thought it was the silence, they barely went anywhere as a four but when they did there was usually lots of noise and commotion.
'Shall I put the radio on?' Jay offered and was met by silence which he took to mean yes and on came Wasted Hours by Arcade Fire. A fitting song Jay felt after all the time which he had just spent searching and worrying about Ruth and the kids when she had in fact gone to do what he had asked of her, quite ironic actually the more he thought about.
All those wasted hours we used to know
Spent the summer staring out the window
The wind it takes you where it wants to go
First they built the road, then they built the town
That's why we're still driving round and round
And all we see
Are kids in buses longing to be free
Wasted hours, before we knew
Where to go, and what to do
Wasted hours, that you made new
And turned into
A life that we can live
Some cities make you lose your head
Endless suburbs stretched out thin and dead
And what was that line you said
Wishing you were anywhere but here
You watch the life you're living disappear
And now I see
We're still kids in buses longing to be free
Wasted hours, before we knew
Where to go, and what to do
Wasted hours, that you made new
And turned into
A life that we can live
Jay could feel himself drifting into a deep thought as the car veered off onto the right hand side of the road, Ruth grabbed the wheel as he realised what had just happened
'JAY! WHAT THE HELL? ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED' Ruth screamed out of panic, he pulled over to the side of the road unable to say anything unsure of how it just happened
'Oh God, is everyone ok?' He asked over Safia's bawls, he hadn't hit anything but he came pretty damn close and the slamming of the breaks cannot have been good for any of them, he could feel it in his own neck.
'I think we are all ok' Ruth said as she got out of her seat and opened Safia's door to comfort her
'Is she ok? She didn't get hurt did she?' He panic with the loud screeches which were failing to ease off
'I think she just got a little fright didn't you baby' She soothed 'Liam are you ok, you look as white as a ghost?' He just looked at her terrified with a blank stare before nodding 'Are you sure, you don't look fine' Before he could answer he flung open his door and jumped out and his breathing became laboured.
'Jay, take Safia just now!' Ruth instructed as she rushed to Liam's side attempting to comfort him 'Just take nice big deep breaths for me, in and out' She demonstrated to him and encouraged him to follow suit. Jay stood there with Safia still howling in his arms before he sprung into action and raced to the boot to grab the spare medical kit which Ruth had always insisted in keeping in there for emergencies. He took out her stethoscope as well as a small breathing bag which was in there and took them to Ruth. As she examined him, her face remained in a panic, she didn't understand how he could be in such a bad way, as she listened to his breathing she almost sighed with relief.
'OK Liam, listen to me, you are having a small panic attack, it's nothing to worry about so just you keep breathing deeply for me' She encouraged him 'Now come on let's get you sat down in the car' She attempted to lead him back to the now empty car but he was refusing, shaking his head frantically 'Ok, ok we don't have to get back in yet, let's sit on the kerb instead' She suggested, trying to reason with him.
After around 10 minutes his breathing had steadied out but he was still shaking like a leaf and resistant to get back into the car.
'OK, Jay you drive back with Safia and then me and Liam will walk the rest of the way, it shouldn't take too long so we should only be five minutes behind you'
'Why don't I leave the car here for now and we can all walk?' He suggested as he took Safia's pram out of the boot and unfolded it 'I could do with the fresh air'
The four of the walked home slowly, not wanting to rush Liam too much as he still wasn't completely calm yet. As Jay opened to door to the house and they all piled in, he silently thanked God that they were all home safely.
'Liam, why don't you go and have a lie down for a while and I'll bring you up some water' Ruth made this seem like an offer but he was getting little choice so of he went upstairs 'When I come back down, we really need to talk about a lot of things Jay'
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