Chapter Three:
*I might not have mentioned this before, but words that are in between the underscores ( _ ) are the words that would be in italics, so in the dialogue, they are stressed. A little trick I learned from my friend Hotaru!
Leon's blood froze in his veins and it really did seem like his heart stopped beating. The words his sister spoke had seemed so...unreal. He heard the words she said, knew that each of them could have been looked up in the dictionary he never used, knew that they made perfect sense and yet...they made absolutely no sense at all. It was like saying up was down and right was left. Or the moon was made of green cheese. Or that...or that...
"Leon? Kiddo, are you there?" Lanna whispered so low that he almost didn't hear her.
"Yes. No. I mean..." Leon stumbled over the words. "Yeah, I'm--oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, God, _NO_!"
"Oh, Leon, it's o--kay..." Lanna trembled, her voice cracking and her sobs breaking through. On opposite ends of the phone line and three states apart, the oldest and middle children of the late Frank Kennedy doubled over with bleeding hearts and punctured breaths.
The phone fell from Leon's hands just as Lanna slid down the wall to rest on the floor of the hallway just outside the hospital's viewing room. The rest of the Kennedy girls rushed toward her to help and she didn't resist. Only allowed them to help her up and pushed back the tears that had escaped her momentarily.
"Do you want me to talk to him?" one sister asked.
"No, Leila. I'm alright." she took hold of the phone again.
On the opposite end of the line and three lonely states away, the middle Kennedy had sank to the carpet and was staring off into space. He was shivering as if the room had suddenly fell three degrees below zero.
Lanna's voice came from the phone and he summoned up all of his strength to lift the receiver to his ear.
"When?" was all he could say.
"About an hour ago."
'How's mom? Was dad in pain? What happened?' Questions swirled in his head. Words fought to get out and make their peace.
"Mom's still in shock, she isn't saying much and--"
"I'll be there." Leon said gruffly. Then he let the phone fall.
**********************************************************************
Leon was very thankful for the streets not being crowded as he drove through them not really caring how many laws he was breaking. His first instinct when he hung up the phone was to just grab his keys and drive all the way home without any stops. But he couldn't just leave without at least telling Claire. That thought crept into his mind before he even got up from his spot on the floor. Claire. He'd have to tell Claire what happened. That thought cleared the path for more reasoning. To at least grab the duffle he kept in the closet--filled with extra clothes and toiletries--in case of an emergency.
He grabbed the bag, his keys and flew out of his apartment. From there, he was on autopilot. He didn't even realize what was going on around him. As if the scenery of the Pennsylvania town had melted away and only the road he was on still existed. It scared the shit out of him to realize just how little he was feeling at the moment. Shouldn't you cry? Shouldn't you be angry? At the birds for singing, the wind for blowing? Whatever you cried about or found anger at, shouldn't you feel something besides this numb emotion caught between hot and cold?
Nerves frayed in his body, each one letting go and detaching themselves from him with every mile he drove to Claire's school. By the time he reached the little campus he was a wreck. It must have been recess or lunchtime for one of the grades because there were children playing in the yard. Leon drove right past them, seeing them swinging, climbing and laughing in slow motion. He parked in front of the gate and headed for the entrance. He knew where Claire's classroom was and that you needed a visitor's pass to stay on campus but he couldn't care less. Another feeling that he was lacking at he moment.
The fourth and fifth grade wing was down the stairs on the right and he climbed down them, almost floating but sure that every muscle in his leg was working to hold him up. A group of little boys streamed past him, knocking into him as if he were invisible. He heard a school aid yell for them to get back in line and they obeyed after some huffing and puffing.
Room 19 was at the very end of the fourth grade wing. Leon was about to open the door when it burst open, hitting him right in the jaw and pushing him against the wall. He felt a very faint sting in his nearly crushed fingers and bumped nose but he pushed himself back out and headed into the classroom. He wavered in the door for a few moments, surveying the scene before him: Claire was erasing something at the blackboard and there was a very menacing looking boy (well, as menacing as a nine-year-old boy could attempt to look) sitting on a chair facing the wall.
"I'm not a baby, lady." the boy said.
"I'll believe that when you stop acting like it." she quipped, setting the eraser down.
"You're not my mother. You can't keep putting me at the wall like this." he griped.
"Thank God for that unbelievable stroke of luck." Claire told him. "And you just watch."
The boy was obviously stuck for a moment before he said, "Watch what?"
"I will keep you at that wall. You will miss the whole year of recess and any other privileges and liberties I award the other kids." Claire said noncommittally. "If... you don't shape up."
"You can't do that. I'll tell my father."
"Your _father_ doesn'--"
Claire bit her lip, looking as if she wanted to say something brash and cruel. Something that could damage a child for the rest of his days. But she stopped and took a deep breath. She turned to face the boy and said evenly.
"Joel, is there anything you want to talk about?"
"No. You ain't my shrink." he said grumpily, challenging the wall in a staring match. "You're just a teacher. You _should_ be a whore."
Claire was about to say something smart back when Leon found himself exploding with, "YOU BETTER WATCH YOURSELF, KID!" he bellowed it so that even the windows shook. Both the boy and Claire whipped around to look at him.
"Don't you _EVER_ talk to her like that again." Leon warned him, his nostrils flaring. He had no idea that he had been following what the conversation was about. "She was just concerned and you had NO RIGHT to speak to her with that kind of language."
Claire came up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Officer Kennedy, you're early." she stumbled only slightly over the words.
"That kid shouldn't be talking to you like that, Claire."
"He's a KID, Leon." Claire replied, looking like she wanted to force back a laugh. What was _wrong_ with her? Didn't she realize the gravity of what was going on?
"Joel." Claire said, looking at Leon.
"Yes, Miss Redfield?" he answered in a soft voice, looking warily at Leon's police uniform (which he had not changed out of yet).
"Why don't you start on that assignment you had earlier but were too stubborn to complete?" she suggested.
"I told you, I don't--" he halted in the middle of his sentence when he saw Leon glaring at him. He quickly added, "I guess I could try."
"Good boy." she said. "No more disruptions?"
"No."
Claire nodded and led Leon out the door. She shut the door and looked at Leon; once she saw his eyes, her face fell into a concerned expression.
"Oh my God. What happened?" she asked, touching his shoulder. Her warmth seemed to settle there then disappear in the numbness. "Are you okay?"
Leon frowned and shook his head, "I'm sorry...what was that?"
"Hoo, boy." she said, trying to smile. "You're at my school at 10:00 in the morning when you're usually at work. You're even a bit temper--"
"My dad died, Claire." he interrupted before she could continue. "I...I have to go to Illinois to see them."
"Oh, Leon...I...Of course, of course." Claire said, her voice dry, her hand clutching the base of her throat. She didn't even bother asking who the 'them' was.
"Yeah...I just--you know... just wanted to tell you that--" Leon lost his balance and clutched at the wall for support. Claire grabbed for him and helped him steady himself.
"You're going to drive all the way to Illinois, like _this_?" Claire asked him, then shook her head. "No. No. You wait here."
It was Leon's turn to shake his head. "No, Claire. I gotta go _now_." But he didn't get up when Claire set him down on the bench by her room. After five minutes, a man arrived at the room and Claire hurried out with her jacket. "Thank you so much, Jake." she said. "My lesson plan is on the table. I'll be faxing the rest to the school when I can."
"All right. You spoke to the principal?" Jake asked.
"Yes." she said. "Over the intercom."
"Okay." Jake replied. He looked at Leon, who was staring off into space. "Is there...some kind of emergency?"
Claire hurriedly put her jacket on and looked at him flatly. "I wouldn't be leaving so abruptly without it being an emergency."
"Your friend okay?" he asked, nodding towards Leon.
Without giving his question any acknowledgement, Claire handed him the keys to her classroom and made a movement to help Leon up.
"I'm fine." Leon told her without much protest as he got to his feet.
"Well, see. He's fine." she replied to Jake, then took Leon's hand, grasping it firmly in her own.
They didn't say anything on the way to his car but several objections ran through his mind. He didn't want Claire missing anything because of him. She really didn't need to do this...
"Okay." Claire said after she had set him in the passenger's seat and herself in the driver's spot. "You have a map here somewhere?"
"Haven't you been listening to a word I've said?" he demanded.
"What?" Claire asked, gazing up at him quizzically.
Leon pressed his lips together and looked out the window. "I told you I don't want you missing any work because of me. You don't need to go."
"Leon...you never said any of that." she told him cluelessly. She blinked softly at him, looking like she either wanted to cry or yell at him.
He groaned in frustration. "Claire...I'm sorry." he said, brushing his hair back. "I--I must have just...zoned out."
"You don't need to worry about anything." she assured him, squeezing his hand. "I'm going to help you just like you helped me so many times."
"You really don't need to." he said weakly.
"Well, too bad." she replied, starting the car. She shifted into reverse and looked at him. "Because I want to."
*I might not have mentioned this before, but words that are in between the underscores ( _ ) are the words that would be in italics, so in the dialogue, they are stressed. A little trick I learned from my friend Hotaru!
Leon's blood froze in his veins and it really did seem like his heart stopped beating. The words his sister spoke had seemed so...unreal. He heard the words she said, knew that each of them could have been looked up in the dictionary he never used, knew that they made perfect sense and yet...they made absolutely no sense at all. It was like saying up was down and right was left. Or the moon was made of green cheese. Or that...or that...
"Leon? Kiddo, are you there?" Lanna whispered so low that he almost didn't hear her.
"Yes. No. I mean..." Leon stumbled over the words. "Yeah, I'm--oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, God, _NO_!"
"Oh, Leon, it's o--kay..." Lanna trembled, her voice cracking and her sobs breaking through. On opposite ends of the phone line and three states apart, the oldest and middle children of the late Frank Kennedy doubled over with bleeding hearts and punctured breaths.
The phone fell from Leon's hands just as Lanna slid down the wall to rest on the floor of the hallway just outside the hospital's viewing room. The rest of the Kennedy girls rushed toward her to help and she didn't resist. Only allowed them to help her up and pushed back the tears that had escaped her momentarily.
"Do you want me to talk to him?" one sister asked.
"No, Leila. I'm alright." she took hold of the phone again.
On the opposite end of the line and three lonely states away, the middle Kennedy had sank to the carpet and was staring off into space. He was shivering as if the room had suddenly fell three degrees below zero.
Lanna's voice came from the phone and he summoned up all of his strength to lift the receiver to his ear.
"When?" was all he could say.
"About an hour ago."
'How's mom? Was dad in pain? What happened?' Questions swirled in his head. Words fought to get out and make their peace.
"Mom's still in shock, she isn't saying much and--"
"I'll be there." Leon said gruffly. Then he let the phone fall.
**********************************************************************
Leon was very thankful for the streets not being crowded as he drove through them not really caring how many laws he was breaking. His first instinct when he hung up the phone was to just grab his keys and drive all the way home without any stops. But he couldn't just leave without at least telling Claire. That thought crept into his mind before he even got up from his spot on the floor. Claire. He'd have to tell Claire what happened. That thought cleared the path for more reasoning. To at least grab the duffle he kept in the closet--filled with extra clothes and toiletries--in case of an emergency.
He grabbed the bag, his keys and flew out of his apartment. From there, he was on autopilot. He didn't even realize what was going on around him. As if the scenery of the Pennsylvania town had melted away and only the road he was on still existed. It scared the shit out of him to realize just how little he was feeling at the moment. Shouldn't you cry? Shouldn't you be angry? At the birds for singing, the wind for blowing? Whatever you cried about or found anger at, shouldn't you feel something besides this numb emotion caught between hot and cold?
Nerves frayed in his body, each one letting go and detaching themselves from him with every mile he drove to Claire's school. By the time he reached the little campus he was a wreck. It must have been recess or lunchtime for one of the grades because there were children playing in the yard. Leon drove right past them, seeing them swinging, climbing and laughing in slow motion. He parked in front of the gate and headed for the entrance. He knew where Claire's classroom was and that you needed a visitor's pass to stay on campus but he couldn't care less. Another feeling that he was lacking at he moment.
The fourth and fifth grade wing was down the stairs on the right and he climbed down them, almost floating but sure that every muscle in his leg was working to hold him up. A group of little boys streamed past him, knocking into him as if he were invisible. He heard a school aid yell for them to get back in line and they obeyed after some huffing and puffing.
Room 19 was at the very end of the fourth grade wing. Leon was about to open the door when it burst open, hitting him right in the jaw and pushing him against the wall. He felt a very faint sting in his nearly crushed fingers and bumped nose but he pushed himself back out and headed into the classroom. He wavered in the door for a few moments, surveying the scene before him: Claire was erasing something at the blackboard and there was a very menacing looking boy (well, as menacing as a nine-year-old boy could attempt to look) sitting on a chair facing the wall.
"I'm not a baby, lady." the boy said.
"I'll believe that when you stop acting like it." she quipped, setting the eraser down.
"You're not my mother. You can't keep putting me at the wall like this." he griped.
"Thank God for that unbelievable stroke of luck." Claire told him. "And you just watch."
The boy was obviously stuck for a moment before he said, "Watch what?"
"I will keep you at that wall. You will miss the whole year of recess and any other privileges and liberties I award the other kids." Claire said noncommittally. "If... you don't shape up."
"You can't do that. I'll tell my father."
"Your _father_ doesn'--"
Claire bit her lip, looking as if she wanted to say something brash and cruel. Something that could damage a child for the rest of his days. But she stopped and took a deep breath. She turned to face the boy and said evenly.
"Joel, is there anything you want to talk about?"
"No. You ain't my shrink." he said grumpily, challenging the wall in a staring match. "You're just a teacher. You _should_ be a whore."
Claire was about to say something smart back when Leon found himself exploding with, "YOU BETTER WATCH YOURSELF, KID!" he bellowed it so that even the windows shook. Both the boy and Claire whipped around to look at him.
"Don't you _EVER_ talk to her like that again." Leon warned him, his nostrils flaring. He had no idea that he had been following what the conversation was about. "She was just concerned and you had NO RIGHT to speak to her with that kind of language."
Claire came up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Officer Kennedy, you're early." she stumbled only slightly over the words.
"That kid shouldn't be talking to you like that, Claire."
"He's a KID, Leon." Claire replied, looking like she wanted to force back a laugh. What was _wrong_ with her? Didn't she realize the gravity of what was going on?
"Joel." Claire said, looking at Leon.
"Yes, Miss Redfield?" he answered in a soft voice, looking warily at Leon's police uniform (which he had not changed out of yet).
"Why don't you start on that assignment you had earlier but were too stubborn to complete?" she suggested.
"I told you, I don't--" he halted in the middle of his sentence when he saw Leon glaring at him. He quickly added, "I guess I could try."
"Good boy." she said. "No more disruptions?"
"No."
Claire nodded and led Leon out the door. She shut the door and looked at Leon; once she saw his eyes, her face fell into a concerned expression.
"Oh my God. What happened?" she asked, touching his shoulder. Her warmth seemed to settle there then disappear in the numbness. "Are you okay?"
Leon frowned and shook his head, "I'm sorry...what was that?"
"Hoo, boy." she said, trying to smile. "You're at my school at 10:00 in the morning when you're usually at work. You're even a bit temper--"
"My dad died, Claire." he interrupted before she could continue. "I...I have to go to Illinois to see them."
"Oh, Leon...I...Of course, of course." Claire said, her voice dry, her hand clutching the base of her throat. She didn't even bother asking who the 'them' was.
"Yeah...I just--you know... just wanted to tell you that--" Leon lost his balance and clutched at the wall for support. Claire grabbed for him and helped him steady himself.
"You're going to drive all the way to Illinois, like _this_?" Claire asked him, then shook her head. "No. No. You wait here."
It was Leon's turn to shake his head. "No, Claire. I gotta go _now_." But he didn't get up when Claire set him down on the bench by her room. After five minutes, a man arrived at the room and Claire hurried out with her jacket. "Thank you so much, Jake." she said. "My lesson plan is on the table. I'll be faxing the rest to the school when I can."
"All right. You spoke to the principal?" Jake asked.
"Yes." she said. "Over the intercom."
"Okay." Jake replied. He looked at Leon, who was staring off into space. "Is there...some kind of emergency?"
Claire hurriedly put her jacket on and looked at him flatly. "I wouldn't be leaving so abruptly without it being an emergency."
"Your friend okay?" he asked, nodding towards Leon.
Without giving his question any acknowledgement, Claire handed him the keys to her classroom and made a movement to help Leon up.
"I'm fine." Leon told her without much protest as he got to his feet.
"Well, see. He's fine." she replied to Jake, then took Leon's hand, grasping it firmly in her own.
They didn't say anything on the way to his car but several objections ran through his mind. He didn't want Claire missing anything because of him. She really didn't need to do this...
"Okay." Claire said after she had set him in the passenger's seat and herself in the driver's spot. "You have a map here somewhere?"
"Haven't you been listening to a word I've said?" he demanded.
"What?" Claire asked, gazing up at him quizzically.
Leon pressed his lips together and looked out the window. "I told you I don't want you missing any work because of me. You don't need to go."
"Leon...you never said any of that." she told him cluelessly. She blinked softly at him, looking like she either wanted to cry or yell at him.
He groaned in frustration. "Claire...I'm sorry." he said, brushing his hair back. "I--I must have just...zoned out."
"You don't need to worry about anything." she assured him, squeezing his hand. "I'm going to help you just like you helped me so many times."
"You really don't need to." he said weakly.
"Well, too bad." she replied, starting the car. She shifted into reverse and looked at him. "Because I want to."