January 1st, 2013
A whole new year had started for the Malucci family. Sailor was now seven years old and they were slowly preparing for Ireland's eleventh and Lyric's ten birthdays. Dave was feeling a lot better, but he still wasn't going back to work. He still needed some quiet time…well, as much as you could get with six children. He didn't want to admit it to Randi, but his nightmares had come back. They were different now, but they were still there. Last night had had a dream where Charles kidnapped him and when Dave escaped, his heart gave out. A heart attack knocked him to the ground and Charles stood above him watching.
"Dave, wake up." Randi stood above him, "You're sweating." Dave opened his eyes.
"I'm hot." He mumbled getting up out of bed.
"Are you sure?" Randi crossed her arms, "have you taken your medicine?"
"Christ, Randi. I'm fine." He growled. Randi stared at him.
"Sorry, I'm just worried." She said.
"Back off." Dave walked into the bathroom and slammed the door. Randi stood there.
"You can't get yourself worked up, you know that." Randi said.
"What? I'll have another goddamn heart attack?" Dave asked, "Maybe that'll be best for the family."
"What the fuck is your problem?" Randi asked, "I asked you a simple question, Don't get one my back." She stalked out of the room. Dave growled looking at himself in the mirror. God, he looked so old. He was getting more and more grey hair every day. His face looked even more tired since his heart attack. He looked down at his legs that Charles had messed up. They had been hurting him a lot lately.
"Christ." Dave muttered running his hand through his hair. He walked out and picked up the phone and dialed Steve's number.
"Hello?" Steve picked up the phone.
"Hey, it's me." Dave said.
"Hey stranger." Steve chuckled, "I haven't seen you in awhile."
"I know. You could have visited me in the hospital." Dave said to his friend.
"And have you bite my head off like you usually do?" Steve chuckled, "What's up?" Dave sighed deeply.
"Do you still get nightmares?" He asked. Steven was silent.
"What…What do you mean?" He asked.
"Do you still get nightmares about the war?" Dave asked calmly. Again, Steven was silent. "You do don't you?"
"Not as much as I used to, but maybe once a week." Steve said, "Do you?"
"Yeah. I think they're getting worse since my heart attack. I dream about that and Charles and about loosing the kids." Dave said, "The other night I had a dream that Jett wandered in traffic and Charles ran him over."
"Man, you need to talk with someone." Steve said.
"I haven't seen my therapist in like a month." Dave told him.
"Well, My advice is that you go now. Don't let it fester. You'll have another attack if you do." Steve said. "Does Randi know?"
"No." Dave said, "I can't tell her. She's scared enough letting me out of her sight."
"Have you gone back to work yet?" Steve asked. Dave shook his head.
"My doctor doesn't want me to yet. I have a heart check up in a couple of weeks and he'll tell me then." Dave said.
"Good. In the mean time, go to your therapist, okay?" Steve asked, "if you need help, call me. If you have a nightmare, call me, but tell your wife. She needs to know."
"Thanks." Dave sighed, "I'll talk to you later." He hung up the phone and sat on his bed. Knowing Steve was having nightmares too some how made Dave feel a lot better, but he also knew Steve was right. He had to tell someone or another heart attack would be on it's way. Stress caused the last one. He wouldn't let stress cause another.
January 15th, 2013
Randi's nerves were on edge. Dave had a heart check up and he refused to let her go with him. The past couple of weeks, Randi had sensed something was wrong. He rarely slept in the bed with her and rarely talked to her. She assumed he wanted to move on.
"Jett! Gage! Come get dressed!" She called out walking into their bedroom. Jett gave her a look. "We're going out and you need to get dressed."
"No." Jett said.
"Yes." Randi pulled out some jeans and walked over to Jett.
"NO!" He yelled.
"Yes, Jett!" Randi said taking his arm. He twisted and struggled.
"NO!!!" He screamed, kicking his legs. Randi sat on the floor pulling him with her. Jett began to bawl and scream even louder. Gage just sat on the bed staring at them.
"God, knock it off, Child." She said pushing him to the floor and removing his pajama bottoms.
"NOOO!!!" Jett screamed louder. Randi wanted to smack him, but she knew better. She pulled the jeans on and snapped them on. She looked at Gage.
"You better not pull this." She said. Jett and Gage jumped up and ran out of the room. Randi stood up with a groan. Those boys were something else. They rarely talked and when they did they were often screaming. Randi began to pick up all their toys, stuffing them in the toy chest. She reached in and pulled out a stack of papers. She stared at him. They were all filled with numbers. Randi frowned deeply walking out of the room.
"Mom, I'm going to Brian's." Lyric said walking past her.
"Wait." She showed her the papers, "What is that?" Lyric looked at the papers.
"Trigonometry." She said, "In crayon."
"They're the boys'." Randi said. Lyric chuckled.
"Funny." She said, "I can barely do that."
"I'm serious. I found these in their toy chest." Randi said. Gage walke dup to her seeing the papers.
"MINE!" He cried, grabbing them, and running into his room. Lyric looked at her mother.
"Something's not right with them." Lyric said.
"What do you mean by that?" Randi frowned deeply. Lyric sighed.
"I don't have a medical degree, but I think the twins are autistic." Lyric said, "Things they do lead me to think that way."
"That's bull." Randi said, "Autistic kids can't do trig."
"There are plenty of autistic child prodigies." Lyric said, "It was just an idea I had. I'm going to Brian's."
"Okay…" Randi sighed walking downstairs. Jett was sitting in the living room flipping through a book. Maybe the twins weren't as slow as they had thought they were. They were just reserved, unlike the rest of their kids. Dave walked into the house, "Well?"
"I have a clean bill of health. I still need to keep off of fatty foods." Dave said, "I can go back to work though."
"Good." Randi said looking at Jett then to Dave, "When did you start learning Trig?"
"Whoa…" Dave chuckled, "freshman year of college I think."
"That's what I thought…" Randi said.
"Why?" Dave said ruffling Jett's hair. Jett gave him a look and lifted the book up higher.
"I found some trig that Gage has done." She said. Dave laughed.
"Funny." he said.
"I'm serious. He's doing something that Lyric can't even do." Randi said, "And Lyric is brighter than you and I put together."
"I…" Dave looked at Jett, "Can you do trig, Buddy?" Jett ignored him.
"She also suggested autism." Randi said. Dave looked back at his wife.
"Our boys aren't autistic." Dave said, "They're just fine."
"What if they're not? They don't act like the girls did when they were this young." Randi said.
"They were preemies." Dave said.
"They've caught up, Dave. I think they've surpassed where they were supposed to stop." Randi whispered. "You can't use that as an excuse anymore."
"It's not an excuse. It's a medical fact, preemies usually don't fully catch up until kindergarten age." Dave said.
"Unless you're a Malucci." Randi said, "We breed special children, Dave. Look who we have here. Ireland is an Emmy nominated actress. Lyric...I can't even explain her. Sailor, is a skating prodigy. Daisy can play the piano better than Beethoven. Why should the twins be any different? Maybe they were a little slower to show their talents than the girls were, but Dave, you didn't see what Gage had written. I don't want to stress you out, but…"
"Okay…" Dave sat down on the couch, "Maybe We should have the doctor who looked at Daisy check them out."
"It couldn't hurt." Randi said, "It's just something to think about because if the boys are…excelling, then I don't want to suppress them."
"Me either." Dave said. They both stared at Jett. He was silently reading. Randi assumed he was just looking at the pictures before, but now…Now he could probably read Russian poetry. Randi was as confused as ever.
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