Penny wasn't sure how long she had been running. The world around her seemed to freeze and grow dizzy. She kept panting heavily, her mouth open, her tongue dangling, going dry. She wasn't fully aware of anything else going on around her, nor could she fully understand her mother's words. She had just kept going and going until she had reached her destination.
When she had heard the loud sirens going by, she had thought not too much on it. She thought that it was for something else. She didn't think that her best friend would be involved. But when she had found out...
She and her mom had left to come visit as soon as possible. Penny had forgotten about ChalkZone in that moment, and when she remembered, it was too late. She did feel some guilt about it, but that guilt rapidly washed away as the horror of what happened to Rudy came over her head. She would explain to Snap later what had went on.
Her mom and her had arrived at the hospital as quickly as they could get here. Penny rushed down the hallway as soon as they were given the okay to visit Rudy. She ran in front of her mom as her heart raced against her chest, her heart pounding heavily. She didn't care about anything else. Not the pain in her feet or in her chest or her mother shouting to her. She just needed to know if Rudy was okay.
She soon arrived in the visiting room. She immediately froze and gasped loudly in horror. She brought her hands to her mouth, unable to fully muffle her sounds. Tears rapidly flowed from her eyes. "Oh...R-Rudy..."
She was not prepared for what she had seen. She didn't really know what to expect. She had little knowledge of the incident other than Rudy was sent here. But geeze, she was not expecting something like this.
Rudy was laying in the hospital bed, leaning against the back of it, slightly upward. He had his head pressed up against the pillow, his head turned to one side, which was towards her. Had he heard her come in? It was obvious that he couldn't see her; his eyes were covered up in bandages. He didn't seem to have much hooked up to him outside of some things to monitor him with. But this served little to calm her down as she focused on his eyes.
She moved in slowly, feeling her body shake with each step. She wanted to reach out and hug her friend. She wanted to comfort him. Her eyes couldn't stop darting around as she surveyed the damage. She could see a red burn area on small places near his eyes that the bandages did not cover. She reached out with her hand before stopping herself and pulling it back, pressing her teeth firmly against her lower lip.
With tears burning in the back of her eyes, she choked out, "R-Rudy... What happened to you...?"
In that moment, Mrs. Sanchez came in from behind her. Penny looked up as she felt her mother grip her shoulder gently. She then looked away and stared at her injured friend. A million questions pounded through in her head and she couldn't tell just where to begin.
"Penita, the doctor said he is going to recover." Mrs. Sanchez said.
But that wasn't enough for Penny. "What happened to him, though?" Penny looked up at her mom, her vision blurred by her tears. "How did this happen...?"
Mrs. Sanchez opened her mouth to speak, but then she froze and she let out a sigh, looking towards the ground. "I'm not really sure. But..." She looked over at where Rudy was. At this point, the young boy had turned away and a series of small whimpers could be heard coming out of his mouth. "I think we should wait a little while. He still needs some time to recover. I'll speak to his parents when I have the chance."
That statement caused Penny to look around for a bit. "Where are they?"
Mrs. Sanchez rubbed the back of her head slowly. "I think they said something about needing to speak with someone... Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be here soon."
Penny hoped so. As she listened to her friend cry over on the bed, it just made her feel more and more anxious to know exactly what happened. She thought of rushing out and asking the doctors, but they might not tell her. Maybe it's confidential. She would have to wait until the Tabootie's got here before she would figure out anything. The idea of having to wait longer made her burn up inside, but unfortunately, that's how life was sometimes.
She looked over at her friend sympathetically. She was glad that he was going to make it out of this just fine. She was glad that he'll be able to return home soon. But she wished that she knew what happened to him and why he was in so much pain.
And what of his eyes? Was this...permanent..?
The idea of Rudy becoming blind chilled her blood. She could feel a small, shaky gasp coming into her open mouth. She leaned towards her mother, falling into her warm embrace. She cuddled up against her, seeking her comfort. She glanced at Rudy out of the corner of her eye, licking her lips slowly.
"R-Rudy... Please be okay..." Penny whispered softly.
sss
The officer narrowed his eyes softly. "I hope you both realize what kind of situation you're in."
Mr. Tabootie struggled to keep his cool. If he could stay a little calm around the doctor, then he should be able to handle himself here. Or at least, that's what he told himself over and over again. But despite that, he still felt a little unsure and he had a feeling that he wasn't going to be able to stay calm for long.
"Did you really have to drag us out here now? Our little boy is in the hospital. We need to stay with him." Mrs. Tabootie said, attempting to plead with the officer.
The man simply shrugged his shoulders. "You've got to see him for a little bit. He will be fine. However, as for you two..." The man began to pace back forth in front of them, staring intently at them. "I'm not sure if I could say the same for you."
Mr. Tabootie clutched his hand into a tight fist. "Why are you treating us like we're some kind of criminal?"
"Well, let's see..." The officer tapped his finger against his chin. "Perhaps it has something to do with, I don't know..." He then motioned towards the two parents. "You two allowing this to happen?"
There was a wave of shock that struck the two parents. They quickly moved back as they stared at the cop in utter shock. They looked at each other, their faces having a large mixture of emotions shooting through them, before looking back at where the officer was. They could feel their mouths going dry as they struggled to comprehend what he just said.
Mr. Tabootie could feel himself shaking, his body burning like it had been set on fire. He couldn't believe what this man had just told them. How dare he say such things... What was he trying to insinuate had happened? Mr. Tabootie gritted his teeth against each other. He knew it was going to be hard to keep himself calm. He just didn't realize that it would happen so quickly.
But as awful as this was, there was still a positive angle to this. Now they had a better idea on what the doctor was getting at. Now they understood where these people were coming from. But the revelation, the understanding of the situation, did not calm them down that much. If anything, it made them feel a little worse. Because now they were standing accused. They should have just rejoined Rudy once more and stayed there with them instead of doing this right now.
They didn't even have to come here now. The doctor said they could wait until tomorrow if they wanted to. But Mr. Tabootie, as well as his wife, just couldn't stand the anxious, burning feeling they had regarding this meeting, and it was gettng in the way of them trying to comfort their son. So they decided to get this done and over with now. They thought that they would feel better once it was all over. But as they both realized, it seemed as though it was just going to make them feel worse.
"What are you talking about? Do you really think that we allowed our son to do those things?" Mr. Tabootie asked the officer. He tried to force himself to remain calm. A difficult task, but he felt like he pulled it off pretty well.
Mrs. Tabootie took a step forward. "Please, you have to believe us. What happened... We would never allow it on purpose."
The officer didn't show any amount of sympathy nor did he seem scared off by Mr. Tabootie's glare. The man's face remained calculating and almost cold. This did not settle well with the Tabooties. They could tell that something was going to come up. Something that was going to make them very uncomfortable. Yet they still waited for an answer. Not knowing hurt them even more.
The officer seemed to deliberately prolong the silence. Was it a jab against them? Or was he just trying to think of what to say himself? Was this that easy for him? Mr. Tabootie just didn't care. He wanted the man to tell him just what the heck he was thinking. What was he implying by all of this? Was he really trying to say that...
"Where were you when this happened...?"
Mr. Tabootie snapped his head back at this. His eyes widened as he struggled to control the surging thoughts. He took in a few shaky breaths, his mind spinning. He looked over at his wife, noting her confused and shocked expression as well. He then looked back at the officer. All at once, he could feel a cold sensation burning him up inside. He didn't like where this was going.
Mr. Tabootie turned his head down, furrowing his eyes as he tried to think of what had happened leading up to the events of Rudy's incident. He recalled how Rudy had really wanted their help with something, and he was busy and he supposed Millie was as well. He gritted his teeth momentarily as he realized that the officer might not like the answer. It made him feel a little sick inside as well. But they weren't going to get anywhere until they answered.
So taking in a deep breath, he did.
"I was in the living room, recording some stats for a sports game." He looked over at his wife expectantly.
She got the hint quickly. "I was hanging up clothes in the bedroom."
"I see... So none of you thought it was a good idea to watch your son?" The officer hissed softly. The two parents couldn't bring themselves to answer right away. The officer continued, "I'm not saying that you did this to your son on purpose. I hope you don't misunderstand that. But you still must understand that child negligence is punishable by law."
"Child negligence?!" Shouted Mr. Tabootie before he could stop himself. Adrenaline briefly rushed through him and he felt the urge to pounce on the man. If his wife wasn't hanging onto his arm, calling out to him to calm down, he probably would have done that.
The officer simply folded his arms against his chest, doing little to let up on his words. "You should know that, even if you didn't give him those things to go outside and play with, you're still his parents. You're responsible for him. You should have been watching him."
"We were!" Mrs. Tabootie exclaimed. "At least, I was. I told him that I would speak to him after I hung up the laundry!"
The officer turned to Mr. Tabootie. "And what about you? What did you tell your son?"
"I told him to wait until commercial. And...I said to play with his clay models for a while." Mr. Tabootie replied.
The officer nodded his head slowly. "I see. What kind of help did he require?"
Mr. Tabootie tried to answer that question, but he soon realized that he really didn't know. He was so focused on the game that he couldn't remember much of what Rudy's questions were. He just knew that Rudy needed help regarding his diorama or whatever and he wanted him to wait.
Mrs. Tabootie, however, did have something to say. "He wanted to know...something for his diorama. He didn't really tell me because..." Her voice trailed off for a moment as she swallowed hard. "I-I was a bit too busy and wanted to hang up the clothes quickly, to...get it done."
Mr. Tabootie felt a sting of guilt at this. A part of him had a feeling that she focused on getting the clothes hung up because of him. He tried not to say a word.
The man standing before them looked at them left and right, studying them carefully, almost scrutinizing them. It was hard to tell just how satisfied he was with their answers, or if at all. Soon, he straightened himself up and leaned back slightly. His voice seemed to deepen just a tad as the next statement flowed out of his mouth, adding to the tension. "And none of you thought to keep your son within your sights?"
"Well, he's usually good on his own. I mean... He tends to disappear for hours in his own hiding spot and he always comes back." Mr. Tabootie tried to explain.
The officer hissed lowly. "You mean to tell me that your son goes off alone to who knows where and he's there for 'hours' and neither of you tried to figure out where this was...?"
"W-Well we..."
"What if something were to happen? What if he got hurt there?"
"It's not..."
The officer wouldn't let Mr. Tabootie finish. Raising up his head, he said, "But this whole thing isn't about some hiding spot. I should tell you, that's not working in your favor. But right now what concerns me is why neither of you bothered to make sure that your son was not able to get those dangerous chemicals."
Mrs. Tabootie fumbled with her fingers. "We didn't think that we would be able to get to them. He's never tried to before."
The officer narrowed his eyes into slits. "Did you bother using child safety locks?"
Neither parent could attempt to answer this. All that happened is that both were suddenly washed with an uncomfortable feeling. Cold and hard, pushing down upon their shoulders. They exchanged glances as they swallowed hard. There was nothing in the world they could say to squirm their way out of this.
"While I do understand that your son should have done what you said and waited, the responsibility of him getting hurt still falls on you. If you had child locks in place or if you had kept an eye on him, then he would have been fine." The officer explained. "I'm afraid that this is going to reflect very badly on you. I'd say you're looking at a federal offense."
"What?!" Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie exclaimed. Shock and horror swept through their bodies, making their hearts beat fast and their minds spin.
The officer nodded his head, showing little sympathy to them. "You're looking at potentially jail time." The parents looked at him in horror. "But that really depends."
Although Mr. Tabootie was hesitant to know, dreading the answer, he still choked out, "O-On what..?"
The officer glared at them. "On what your son says."
Mrs. Tabootie put her hand to her mouth. "Why do you want to question our son?"
"Because what happened to day was obviously the result of child negligence. I do want to hope that this was a one time thing. But we need to be sure." The officer said. "Beginning tomorrow, we will interrogate your son and we will see if there has been a history of this. If we find that you have neglected your son multiple times, then you are definitely looking at at least a year or two in prison."
Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie held onto each other after the man delivered this news. They could feel their hearts beating even harder, clenching tightly almost to the point of exploding. They looked at each other, their faces going pale. Neither of them had expected things to go this way. They thought that the only problem their son faced was his eyes healing. But to potentially be pulled away from them...?
This...was a lot worse than they had expected.
sss
A rush of pain surged through his body. His face felt like he had stuck it in some kind of fire. He could feel a stinging sensation crawling along his face and he almost thought that something had been poured onto his skin. In a cruel ironic twist, it almost kind of was.
Thanks to his own stupidity.
Rudy couldn't believe that he had just pulled something like that. Why didn't he just wait like his parents had asked him to? Why didn't he wait until one of them was available? It wasn't like he absolutely had to get the diorama done just yet. He had the entire darn weekend to do that. So why in the world did he not just... He had no clue, really.
Now here he was, sitting in the hospital. He was hardly aware of what his surroundings looked like. His eyes were covered up in bandages and just moving them a little hurt like heck. He had to struggle to keep them still as he waited for the process of them healing.
Without his eyes, he had to rely on his other senses. With his ears, he could hear the sounds all around him. The moving of carts, the opening and closing of doors, the chattering of people. With how they all seemed to echo a little, he took a guess and thought that maybe this meant that he was in a decent sized room with the door open, allowing in some of the sounds. He could also hear Penny's whimpering. She was somewhere in the room, perhaps standing with her mother.
He could also detect the scents around him. Mostly bitter and wonky, like he would expect a place full of medicine to smell. He could especially smell something on his face. He was not sure if it was the bleach or if it was some kind of medicine. Either way, the smell just reminded him of his predicament. He couldn't help but shudder at this.
The blanket that he could feel was a little thin and hardly much to help him feel comforted. But somehow, it was enough. He dragged it over himself and let it lay against him. He moved his feet a little and managed to poke his toes through the bottom part. He could feel a coolness coming over them and he took in a deep breateh, sighing softly.
At least the painkillers were kicking in. His eyes were still hurting like someone sliced his face open. But at least the pain had started to die down a little, which helped him relax. Fear and horror still ticked inside of him, making his stomach lurch. It would take a while for those feelings to go away. At least he was no longer in a panicked state and his heart was able to resume more normal beating. This would help him heal a little faster, he was certain.
"H-Hey, Rudy..." He could hear Penny say. He tried to look at her, but of course, he could only see darkness. He just nodded his head in her direction, prompting her to continue. "H-How are you f-feeling?"
Rudy curled his lip up into a partial snarl. "Like I was dragged out through the mud."
"The doctors did say that you should be released soon." Mrs. Sanchez spoke up. Rudy could hear her footsteps as she got a little closer. More so than Penny. "Oh you poor thing... Just...how did this happen..?"
Rudy gritted his teeth at this. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to tell her. His parents were bad enough; he had a feeling he was going to get the scolding of a lifetime from them. But Mrs. Sanchez spent even more time handling tough situations and she probably uses dangerous chemicals more often. She would likely have more to say to him if she found out what he had done.
Still, his parents weren't going to be back for a while, he didn't think. Something about needing to talk to someone and that they would be back. He did overhear enough of the conversation to know that it had something to do with the doctor wanting to find out more about the situation and to better understand it. This did little to comfort Rudy. Was the doctor going to get in on scolding him, too?
But this was Mrs. Sanchez he was speaking with. She might be a little more gentle, right? Penny never seemed to have any complaints about her, and she was rarely unpleasant. The only times that she would be like that if she was under a lot of stress.
But wouldn't this count as...?
After debating with himself for a few more moments, Rudy shook his head once to the side and just decided to get it done and over with. If he denied answering her now, then she was only going to try again later. Even asking his parents on what happened... Better he tell her than them.
"I was trying to make a historical diorama. Mr. Wilter gave us the assignment." Rudy said. "I wanted to test something out. I wanted to see what would happen if I dipped some clay into bleach or whatever else that we had."
Mrs. Sanchez gasped at this. "Why did you want to do that?"
"To make some cool effects. I thought it would help make my diorama look better. I guess that I miscalculated on that part." Rudy felt shame washing over him.
Instead of starting to accuse him, he was surprised when Mrs. Sanchez asked a different kind of question. "What about your parents? Couldn't they have helped?"
Rudy let out an exasperated sigh at this. "They were 'too busy', they said. My dad was watching some kind of sport and claimed he needed to accurately write down all of the scores." He motioned his hand to the side as he continued, "And my mom insisted on getting the laundry put up first because dad would be upset if she didn't, even though he was downstairs watching the sports channel."
Mrs. Sanchez moved in a little closer. "So they didn't offer to help you at all?"
Penny chimed in. "I would think that they would want to support their son's work."
"They did. They just..." Rudy could feel frustration rising up inside of him. The same frustration he had felt before when his parents didn't help him. He didn't really blame them for what happened. He should have just listened to them and waited. But at the same time, their excuses were just flimsy to him. "I suppose parents can often have really strange reasons."
Mrs. Sanchez spoke up, her voice obtaining a slight...edge to it. "I've helped my Penita many times on school projects when she's asked for it. I'm surprised your parents didn't..."
Realizing he forgot to mention something, Rudy was quick to cut off the woman. "It's not like that! They did offer to help! They just...wanted me to wait."
"I see..." Mrs. Sanchez seemed to lighten up a little.
"That's a bit more understandable. But..." Penny paused for a moment. Rudy could hear her seeth shakingly, and he thought he could almost hear more tears rolling down her face. "How could this have happened...?"
Rudy hissed to himself. "Easy. Because I was too impatient to wait. I got myself into this. It's my fault."
Penny gently touched Rudy's shoulder when she got close enough. "Don't blame yourself, Rudy. It was an accident."
Rudy let out a sigh and turned his head away. He knew that Penny was right. There was little reason for him to keep blaming himself for this. He couldn't just wallow in his sorrow, kicking himself for this over and over again. He should try to focus on moving forward and recover from this and use it as a lesson.
He would probably feel guilty about this for a long time to come, though. He should have struggled harder to keep himself from going forth on his own. He could have easily waited. He was in no rush. The project wasn't due tomorrow or anything. There was no reason for him to...
Suddenly, Mrs. Sanchez spoke up, interrupting his stream of thoughts. "How did you get a hold of the bleach, Rudy?"
The boy tilted his head in confusion. He wasn't really sure why the woman was asking that sort of question. What did this have to do with anything? "I... From the cupboard of course. The bottom one, underneath the sink."
There was a bit of a long pause. Then Mrs. Sanchez said, "And your parents didn't lock it up?"
Rudy was only getting more confused at this point. He still couldn't understand why Mrs. Sanchez was asking these strange questions. He couldn't understand where she was going with this. But he still managed to answer her question despite his confusion. "No. It's never locked. Why?"
"Yeah, mama. Why did you want to know?" It seemed Penny also wanted some answers.
Mrs. Sanchez was silent for a moment before said, "I was just curious."
