Cal is younger than Ethan.
This chapter was prompted by bronny9 with the prompt: On their first day as doctors, at the ED, the boys get some bad news regarding their mum, will they pull together, or not?
The Secret Life Of Casualty.
Chapter 350.
"Listen up, " Charlie cleared his throat as several doctors and nurses turned to look at the older man, who was standing at the Nurses Station. "We have two new doctors joining our team today. They are called Caleb and Ethan. "
Instantly, word spread around the doctors and nurses: What would they be like?
"Here, they are. " Said Charlie, as he noticed two men, standing just inside the entrance, as if that could give them an escape if they wanted to run: One of the men wore glasses and had blonde hair, and was quite shorter, compared to the other, slightly older by a year or two, who had brown hair.
The two boys looked at each other before walking inside. Charlie walked over to both of them, smiling and holding out his hand. "My name is Charlie Fairhead and I'm the charge nurse here"
"Nice to meet you " Ethan said, shaking Charlie's hand, Cal stuck his hand out as Charlie gripped it.
Ethan was instantly enveloped by a staff Nurse with urban hair, who was going on about how cute he was. Cal was feeling left out as nobody was coming over to him. It made him feel like he was back at school and was being picked on.
"Come on, I'll give you the tour" said Charlie. "Then I'll fit you with some scrubs"
The two boys nodded as Charlie showed them first RESUS, where patients with serious injuries went.
"Oh, sorry" He said, when he noticed the number flashing up on the screen belonged to his mothers care home. He answered the call.
"Hello, Ethan Hardy, speaking " He said, as he went somewhere quieter.
"Mr Hardy, " A voice, which belonged to a woman, spoke, in to his ear.
"Ethan, please " He replied, he'd lost count of the amount of time's he'd asked them to call him by his first name, instead of "Mr Hardy. "
"Ethan, " The voice repeated. "I tried to call your brother, but he's not answering, "
"Typical Cal. " Ethan thought, before turning his attention back to the phone.
"I'm afraid we have some bad news, " The woman told him.
Ethan bit his lip as the woman's voice was heard in his eat again, she took a deep breath. "Matilda passed away earlier today. I'm so sorry for your loss. "
"Thank you, " Ethan whispered as a lone tear slid down his cheek, he used his other hand to wipe it away before anyone could see him. But it was too late as Cal walked up to him, and without Ethan saying anything, Cal, knew.
"It's your fault, mum's dead!" Cal yelled.
Ethan was shocked before he started yelling back at him, fumbling to put the phone in his back pocket. "She was ill, Caleb, it was going to happen "I'm just as upset as you are"
Cal ran away, there was a tightness in his chest, he knew he was going to have a panic attack if he didn't slow his breathing down. It wasn't happening though.
He stood in shock for a few minutes, before taking a deep breath and wondering where to find his brother. He tried the rooms Charlie had shown them around earlier but he wasn't in any of them, where was he? But before he could take a step, Robyn was shaking her head in disappointment at him.
"What?" Ethan shrugged.
"You should be looking out for Caleb, he's younger than you. " Robyn said.
"We've just had some bad news, if you must know. " Ethan replied. He wanted to add "keep your nose out" but he didn't.
"Are you ok?" Charlie asked.
"I'm looking for Cal. "
Charlie frowns.
"Caleb" Ethan corrects himself. No one knows them well enough yet, to know that Caleb prefers being called "Cal" as the use of his full name reminds him of bad things in his lie.
Charlie goes around with him, again to try to find him, but he was nowhere to be found.
"I don't know who I'm going to talk to now Mum's gone, " Cal whispered, a tear falling out to the framed photo he was holding.
"You can talk to me, " Ethan said, stepping in to his brothers room, trying to ignore the dirty undies on the floor, as well as the clothes. He sat down on his brothers (unmade ) bed. He stroked his brothers hair and then together they looked at pictures of their mother.
"I'll always be here for you, " Ethan said as he kissed his brothers forehead.
Cal nodded, as a tear fell down his face
Cal picked up his phone and scrolled through his phone, looking at photos: Matilda before she got ill, Cal and Ethan, and some of Matilda in her hospital bed, an IV in her arm. "It's going to be hard deleting her number" He then pressed her number as her voice floated through the room.
"Hi, this is Matilda, sorry I can't come to the phone right now, leave a message"
Cal leaves his mum a message. "Hi, mum, it's Cal, I just wanted to say I loved you. "
Then come the hard task of preparing for the funeral, the boys had decided to bury Matilda at the church where she went for mass every Sunday, Ethan gave Cal the job of phoning around Matilda's friends but he found it a hard task as he kept breaking down as he her friends say "we only saw her a few days ago, she was talking abut you boys" what was supposed to be a small comfort to the boys, weighed down heavily on Cal, he'd spent every minute he could with her, but she was on so many drugs to try to make her feel comfortable, Cal didn't know if she could hear him or not, he liked to think she did, it brought him comfort.
A hand on his back startled his brother from his thoughts. "Mums not really gone, you know, Cal, she's in here " Ethan pointed to his heart.
A few few days later, it was the funeral of Matilda and the boys dressed in their smart black suits and Cal was supposed to be lowering her coffin in to the ground but found he wasn't able to put his mother in the ground so it fell to Ethan. The coffin felt heavy on his shoulders, but he knew he couldn't mess this up. He carefully balanced the coffin on the two wood pieces and stood back before the coffin was lowered in to the ground as the boys put their
The boys had their mums wake at the flat as they decided it should be the two of them. They opened some beers and while Ethan tried to remain sensible as he was on the early shift tomorrow, Connie would have him if he showed up hungover, Cal was knocking them back, Ethan knew his brother liked a beer, but he'd never see him knock back that many, something must be wrong.
"Cal!" Ethan says, his brother stares at him with a glassy look in his eyes, it's not exactly focused but Ethan uses it anyway "Are you ok?"
Cal laughs, Ethan wonders what he's laughing for, there's nothing to laugh about. "Of course"
"Don't lie to me, Caleb"
"Caleb" Cal repeats. He's in trouble. Uh oh. He needs help. But he's scared to ask for it. Scared Ethan will think he's weak, at this, his dads voice floats through his mind.
"Your weak Caleb. "
"Talk to me. " Ethan's voice makes him jump.
"Ethan, I'm fine, " Cal tells him but Ethan is slowly shaking his head at his brother. He knows his brother tries to hide his feelings, but Ethan remembers the way he held on to the frame earlier, but also something else is telling him that this isn't just about their mum. He needs to find out what. He follows Cal to his room, he's sat on his bed, the bottle of beer on the side table.
"Dad abused me, Ethan. "
Ethan knows that Cal had a hate relationship with their dad, as Ethan was seen as the "Golden Child" who could do no wrong and Cal resented that. He tried hard, but even his hardest was never the golden boy as he had very well known with his dad telling him he was dumb, stupid and thick.
His mum's dying wish for him was to make her proud. And that's what he was going to do.
Thanks for reading.
