August, 2007

Jeremy Fitzgerald

Jeremy slowly peeled his eyes open to a blinding white light that burned his eyes. He tried to turn his head but felt something wrapped around his neck. He put a hand around his neck to feel bandages. He put his hands down and slowly turned his head to see his dad and his brother.

His brother had relief written all over his features and gave Jeremy his signature wide ditzy smile. His dad on the other hand, was staring at him with an intense glare. It looked like anger, disgust, and was that... hatred?

His gaze was so intense that it made Jeremy squirm uncomfortably and he had to look away. He quickly noticed that his mother was nowhere to be seen.

'Where am I?' He thought to himself.

He turned back towards his father and brother.

"Where am I?" He rasped out, his voice cracking slightly from the lack of use.

"The hospital." Mr. Fitzgerald nearly growled out.

"You've been unconscious for a while." Vincent said.

Jeremy was about to ask another question but took notice of his father and brother's appearance.

His dad's eyes were red and puffy, as if he had been crying. His hair was messy and he had a lot of stubble on his chin, more than Jeremy remembered seeing before. He had on a stained gray shirt and sweatpants, giving him the look of a deranged man.

Vincent on the other hand wore a simple purple t-shirt with dark blue jeans. But he also had very purple hair.

Despite the confusing situation he managed to crack a smile, his previous thoughts disappearing. Vincent seemed to be able to read his mind and answered his unasked question.

"Remember how I like to play around with chemicals?" He asked.

Jeremy tried to speak but his voice gave out so he just nodded. Vincent then gave him a cup of water and moved his bed into a sitting position.

"Thanks." Jeremy said, taking a couple of sips.

Vincent waited until he was done to continue his tale.

"Well one day I decided to fool around with my things but this bottle broke and spilled this funky looking liquid all over my head. I went back over my notes to see what it was and it turned out to be the ingredients for permanent hair-dye, so now I am the world's first ever natural purplette," Vincent said with his too wide grin. "And everyone at school seems to love it."

Soon an older looking doctor with brown, turning gray hair, and blue eyes came into the room carrying a clipboard.

"Oh, good you're awake. If the two of you wouldn't mind I'd like to speak to Julia alone." He said looking down at the clipboard.

"Jeremy." Vincent spoke up.

"Huh?" The doctor said looking at him.

"His name is Jeremy." Vincent repeated.

Jeremy gave his brother a wide grin.

"Oh, excuse me then. May I speak to Jeremy alone?" The doctor asked.

Jeremy's brother and dad got up and left the room, Vincent giving him a worried glance as he left.

"Hello, I am Doctor Walker Spellman. I have been caring for you for these past two years." He said bluntly.

"Years?!" Jeremy blurted out.

He knew that some time had to have passed but he didn't expect it to have been so long.

"Yes, do you happen to remember the events that led up to this?" Dr. Spellman asked.

Jeremy tried to think back causing his neck to throb painfully. He had fuzzy memories of his animatronic friends and a boy and a girl.

'Michelle and Mike.' He thought.

But he couldn't remember the accident itself.

"No." He said, hanging his head in shame.

"Well, it appears you had some serious damage to your face and neck, most of which required stitches, along with some head trauma. We've removed the ones from your face but the ones in your neck will have to stay in a little longer," He explained. "Here let me remove your bandages." Dr. Spellman gently undid his bandages, being mindful of his stitches, and threw them away.

"Umm, can I see what I look like?" The boy asked shyly, messing with his hospital gown.

He had to know what he looked like, no matter how disturbing the injury looked he had to know that this was real.

Dr. Spellman hesitated before grabbing a handheld mirror from the bathroom and giving it to the now nine year old.

He handed it over to the boy. Jeremy gasped and nearly dropped the mirror. Looking back at him was a strange boy with a thin pale face and bags underneath his eyes, with a scar running across his cheeks and nose. What really distraught him were the large ugly reddish-brown scars and stitches running across his neck.

"The scar in your face should heal and will most likely go away after a few years, but the stitches in your neck will leave permanent scars." Dr. Spellman said.

Jeremy slowly reached up to touch the stitches and flinched.

Jeremy felt tears welling up in his eyes, but he tried to hold them back.

"There is one other thing I need to tell you," The doctor spoke up. Jeremy set the mirror down and looked up at him and waited for him to keep talking. "Your mother passed away in a car accident a few months ago. I'm sorry."

"W-what?" Jeremy said just above a whisper as he let the tears fall from his eyes.

He felt as though his whole world was crashing down around him. He felt his chest tighten and more tears rolled down his cheeks. Soon he was hyperventilating and grabbing the bed sheets in one hand and his chest in the other.

He could hear the doctor telling him to calm down but drowned him out. Soon he felt a pair of arms around him, his face being put into the crook of someone's neck.

"Shh, it's okay Jer-Jer. You're okay," A voice said, slowly rubbing his back. "Breath, just breath. It's okay." The voice soothed.

Soon Jeremy felt the tears stop and he started to breath normally. He lifted his head up to see his brother and that wide grin he always had.

"Now I understand that this is a lot for you right now, but given the circumstances I don't think you two should go back with your father. He seems a bit unstable due to his loss." Dr. Spellman said with concern, not wanting either boy to be with a potentially dangerous man.

"No! Our dad loves us very much!" Jeremy shouted.

Vincent hushed him and turned to the doctor. "He's the only family we have, we gotta go with him." He said, both boys forgetting their father's earlier expression.

Oh how wrong they were.