Bleeding Out

Chapter Twenty-Five

The Mercer brothers were once again sitting nervously inside the hospital's waiting room, as Bobby hung his head down between his hands while trying to remain calm, about twenty minutes after the ambulance arrived with their youngest brother. The older man had gone with the paramedics, refusing to leave Jack's side in case he woke up at all, and once they left the warehouse, Jeremiah pulled out his phone again to call their mother. He didn't explain any detail about the fight at the time, but they all knew that they would need to when she arrived. Because she was out late meeting with Rachel Davis' supervisor about bringing the vile woman up on charges for her mistreatment of the poor child Evelyn had easily come to love and care for, it took the kind caregiver longer to get down to the hospital than it would have if she were at home. When she finally made it and saw the looks on her other children's faces, she knew that the situation was grave.

Bobby refused to look at her out of shame while he remained seated, while Jeremiah and Angel both walked over to hug her as Jeremiah spoke first saying worryingly, "It was bad, Mom, but we didn't have a choice."

Evelyn looked between each of her boys and felt her middle son's hands trembling within her own, then she turned to him first as she replied sadly, "It's all right, but I really only care more about my boys right now. How are you really? Are any of you hurt? And don't you lie to me."

"A bullet grazed my arm, but I promise you it's only a graze," Angel answered, knowing that he couldn't hide it from her. "Bobby's the one who actually got shot."

"Really Angel?" Bobby called out angrily as he finally stood up while glaring at his brother. "I swear to God if we weren't in the frickin' hospital…"

Evelyn cut him off as she moved to stand before her oldest and responded firmly, "That's enough, Bobby. Let me see."

Bobby pulled down his jacket from over his arm to do as she asked, then he replied quickly, "It's fine, Ma. Nothing, but a through and through. I've had worse scrapes playing hockey."

"No you haven't," she answered in frustration as she motioned for one of the nurses at the receptionist desk nearby to come over to help her boy. "I know about all of your injuries you've sustained, not to mention the ones you've brought on the other players."

"Please see to it that my son gets taken care of," Evelyn stated quickly as another nurse joined her colleague to have him brought in to see a doctor despite his protests, then turned back to her other children to get the rest of the story. "How bad is Jack? I know he's in surgery, but… What exactly did that monster do to him?"

Jeremiah looked over at Angel, then turned back to their mother as he responded sadly, "We're not exactly sure all he did, but he definitely hurt him in the same way that he had before, mole… molested him I mean. It looks like he beat him pretty badly with his belt too. It's real bad, Mom."

Angel nodded, then added, "What's worse though, is that Jackie somehow got his hands on a gun and had to fire on Shepard to try to defend himself, took a bullet in his stomach, but it didn't kill him, only knocked him back long enough for us to get in that room and rush him before the son of a bitch could kill him. The kid didn't know us, couldn't see more than a threat. If one of us had found him first, he would have shot us, not realizing we weren't there to hurt him. He was real sick and so freaked out…"

"Oh dear God," Evelyn cried fearfully as she started to collapse until her boys grabbed hold of her and led her over to the seats, then looked at each other as they both decided without having to say a word that they wouldn't share with their mom about how he had tried to kill himself again or about the photos on Shepard's son's laptop. "How could you let this happen, to a child?"

"God certainly isn't all powerful, if he even exists at all," Angel replied coldly, knowing that she was still speaking to this so called heavenly being and not them. "If he does, then he sucks at his job."

Jeremiah sat down beside her, Angel on her other side, as she placed her hands over her mouth and cried softly, then Jeremiah spoke up again after giving her some time to grieve in silence, saying, "That bastard ain't dead yet, but he knows what happens when he messes with a Mercer. If he survives…"

Bobby came back out with the wound in his arm wrapped in bandages as he interrupted, "There's no way in hell that he's getting out of here alive. Jack's going to survive this and when he does, he'll never feel safe so long as that motherfucker's still out there."

"If he survives, he'll got to prison, Bobby," Green answered as he walked into the room and stood before them. "For the crimes he's committed, there's no way he'll ever see the light if day again."

"That isn't good enough for a son of a bitch like him!" Bobby shouted angrily. "He deserves to die! You should have killed him Angel."

Evelyn moved to stand before her oldest son as she took his face in her hands and looked into his eyes, then responded worryingly, "It's obvious that you boys didn't have a choice to get into the fight you ended up in tonight. You were protecting your brother and for that, I am grateful and proud of you for, but I never ever want to hear that any of you killed someone out of revenge, no matter how badly you want to. I know how angry you are Bobby, believe me because I am angry too. I am pissed off, but I don't want to see any of you get punished or hurt trying to ease that anger, which you will never be able to do. All that we can do right now, is be here for Jackie and be here for each other. We will pray that God will see fit to make this right and see that justice is done the right way. Do you hear me, sweetheart?"

Tears formed in his eyes as he nodded and replied, "Yeah Ma, I hear you."

"Forgive the interruption, but are you the ones here for the fourteen year old boy brought in an hour ago?" a doctor asked when she walked into the room as the Mercers all stood quickly and looked at the woman in shock upon seeing blood covering her clothes.

"Ye… yes, Jack is… he's my son," Evelyn answered fearfully as she finally looked into the woman's eyes. "Please, how is he? He isn't…"

The female doctor shook her head and responded, "No, but his condition is quite severe. The paramedics informed us that when they ran their tests in the ambulance on their way here, that his fever was burning nearly 106 and from the shape his body is in, it's no surprise. His fever is dangerously high, but his body was freezing to the point of hypothermia due to the coldness of wherever he was being held. I assure you we're doing all we can to bring his fever down and his body temperature back up."

Jeremiah spoke up as he asked, "And what about his wounds? The gashes, the lacerations, the bruising…?"

"They certainly aren't helping him any," she replied more curtly than she intended to be. "I'm sorry, it's just that I hate monsters who can do something so cruel to a young kid like your boy. It looks like the lacerations were mostly caused by something solid and sharp, most likely a belt buckle, the rest by the strap itself. They're badly infected and he lost a lot of blood, which is why we are giving him a transfusion as we speak. He had multiple bruises across his entire body, some of them from earlier beatings, which I imagine you already know about, a few minor bone fractures and busted ribs, but worst of all…"

"Is that he has been sexually abused," Evelyn answered coldly for the woman, who simply nodded to confirm her statement.

The woman continued sadly, "I'm afraid that his abuse appears to have gone on for a long time. I noticed the slash marks on his wrists… I spoke to one of his doctors from his previous hospital stay, who explained that you were all there with him and knew of his cutting and at least two suicide attempts. Truthfully, I'm amazed that this poor child has been able to keep fighting for so long, after all he's been through."

Bobby looked over at his mother as he said proudly, "He's a hell of a lot stronger than he knows."

"I don't doubt that," the doctor responded. "We're doing everything we can for him. He's still in surgery and will be for at least another hour, but as soon as we move him into a room, you'll be free to see him and stay with him for as long as you wish to. He isn't out of the woods yet and will have a long recovery ahead of him if he does survive. He's really going to need you."

"Thank you so much," Evelyn stated as the nurse nodded again, then she watched as the woman walked away and turned back to her boys. "I have faith that Jackie will be alright, so long as we do everything possible to prove to him that we are his family now, and we will."