Revenge

Chapter 56

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Trisha emerged from her room as soon as she heard the apartment door close. She walked to the window and watched as Faith helped Bosco into her car. Just before Faith pulled away from the curb, Bosco looked up at the window and the sad look on his face almost broker her heart. She put her hand on the window pane as if to reach out to him, but Faith pulled away. Trisha's gaze followed the car as it made it to the corner and then out of sight. She wandered around the apartment a little and ended up at the table where the photo album still lay. She flipped it open, new tears forming.

"Maurice, I'm so sorry," she said quietly through her tears, closing the book and replacing it on the shelf. She walked to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea and saw the receipt from the pharmacy on the counter, next to where the bag of medication was. She looked around quickly to see if the bag had been moved and then realized that he must have taken it with him. How long before he noticed the bottle of vitamins with her name on them.

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Bosco was sleeping soundly on the couch, having taken two of the potent pain pills. He didn't hear the banging on the door or the shouting from the other side of the door.

Faith had run into Bosco's mother as she stopped at the grocery store after bringing Emily to the football game. From talking with Faith, Rose had found out that Bosco was counting on her to come over to his place and stay with him after she'd gotten out of work, although she never heard that from him.

Rose assumed he had called the bar and left a message with one of the employees and she'd never received it. She'd have to take care of that tomorrow. Suppose she hadn't run into Faith and no one stayed with him? Now, she was worried that something had happened to him while he was alone and he was lying, unconscious, on the floor of his apartment.

"Maurice!" she called again, searching through her purse for the key he'd given her a long time ago. Finally, she dug the key out and put it into the lock. She opened the door and saw him lying on the couch, sound asleep in an awkward position, the remote for the television lying on his chest, rising and falling with each breath he took. Fear shot through her at the sight, thinking that her mental image while on the outside of the door was right all along.

She closed the door behind her and rushed over to him. She didn't want to startle him, but couldn't understand why he didn't hear her banging on the door if he was so close to it.

She reached out and touched his shoulder, shaking him gently as she called to him. "Maurice, wake up. Maurice?" she said, noticing his brow wrinkle slightly.

"Maurice," she called again, louder, shaking him a little harder this time.

"Wha...? Ma?" he said groggily as he opened his eyes.

"Yeah, Ma!" she answered, breathing a sigh of relief. "You scared the hell out of me! Are you alright?"

He tried to sit up, but was unable to. The pills were pretty strong and his arms and legs felt very heavy. He had a hard time trying to clear the cobwebs of sleep from his brain. "Yeah, just beat," he answered, finally giving up trying to sit up by himself and letting Rose help him. "I probably should've only taken one of those pills," he thought to himself.

"I've been banging on the door out there. I can't believe you didn't hear me?" she said, noticing the untouched soup on the coffee table in front of him. "Have you eaten anything?"

"Um, no," he said, still trying to wake up fully. "Not hungry," he added as he stood up to stretch, feeling the soreness caused by the odd position he'd fallen asleep in.

Rose carried the cold soup to the kitchen. "Do you want me to warm this up? You really should try to eat something. You're never going to get your strength back if you don't eat," she said, putting the bowl of soup in the microwave without waiting for an answer from him.

"What time is it?" Bosco asked, wondering how his mother had found out he was at his apartment. "What're you doing here, Ma?"

"It's almost midnight," she answered and Bosco calculated that he'd been sleeping for about four hours. He tuned back into Rose as she continued. "I ran into Faith in the store. She said that I was supposed to be coming over here to take care of you tonight, although it was news to me. Who did you talk to when you called me at the bar, because I didn't get the message?"

"Who.., what?" he said, trying to catch up to the conversation. "I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't call you at the bar. I just wanted to be alone," he said, sitting down at the kitchen table as Rose put the hot soup in front of him.

Rose caught sight of his expression out of the corner of her eye as she turned to get him a drink from the refrigerator. "There's nothing in here," she said, exasperated. "How about some hot tea or some coffee?"

"Tea's good," he answered, taking a spoonful of soup.

"So, what's wrong, Maurice?" Rose asked him as she went about making a cup of tea for both of them.

"What's wrong?!" he asked, grumpily. "I got kidnapped, beaten and tortured, and you're asking me what's wrong?"

"That's old news, Maurice. I'm talking about what happened today? I thought you were going to be staying with Trisha?" she replied.

"I was...," he said, pausing, unsure of whether he wanted to get into this with his mother tonight.

"But...?" she prodded.

"Trisha wasn't feeling good. I was worried about her not getting enough rest while I was there, so I came here to get out of her hair," he lied.

Rose knew it was probably more than that, but didn't want to push her son too hard. She knew it would only make him more irritable and closed-mouthed. "Uh huh," she said as she walked into the living room area to straighten up. Bosco took another spoonful of his soup, rolling his eyes as he knew his mother didn't believe him.

"We're having some problems," he finally said.

Rose picked up the bag of medications off the coffee table, looking to see if the contents were garbage or should be kept. "Anything I can help with?" she asked, pulling the three bottles out of the bag.

"She was hiding something from me. I don't know if I can trust her anymore. I don't even know if I really know her," he said quietly.

Rose almost dropped everything in her hands as she read the labels of the bottles. "She was keeping this from you?" Rose asked, holding up the bottle of vitamins. Bosco turned slowly so as not to hurt himself to look at what his mother was referring to.

"That's just my medicine. I think I'm due for one of them," he answered, turning back around without catching what she was referring to.

"So, when did you start taking these?" she asked, walking over to him and putting the bottle on the table in front of him.

Without looking at the bottle, he said, "They gave them to me at the hospital. One for pain and one is antibiotics."

Rose reached over and tapped the bottle on the table with her fingernail. "Anything you want to tell me about this one?"

Bosco looked at the bottle and only saw the word 'vitamins'. "Oh, those are Trisha's. She must've left them in the bag," he said. He then went on to explain to Rose about how Trisha had passed out at the hospital and the fact that the doctor told her she was anemic and should take these vitamins and eat better.

He looked up at his mother when he'd finished to see a funny look on her face. "Maurice," she said, picking up the bottle. She held the bottle out to him and pointed to the words on the bottle. "This says pre-natal vitamins. You know what that means don't you?"

"Pre-na...," he repeated, the words suddenly sinking in. He dropped the spoon he was holding into the bowl, making a mess on the table when it caused the splash.

"Maurice? Are you alright?" Rose asked, amused at the shocked look and pale complexion on her son's face.

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TBC...