Chapter Two-Hundred and Twenty-Five
Ryan chuckled as John waited patently in his chair, watching as his eyes widened with the sight of the cast cutter in his hand. "Relax, Johnny." He smiled, noticing that John was chewing on a stick of Bubblemint again. "Are your teeth hurting?" He asked, remembering when his kids were teething and liked to chew on their rubber teething rings to help with the soreness.
John shrugged, being careful to keep the wad of gum in the back of his jaw so that he could use it as a cushion on his swollen gums. "Kinda."
"Give it a couple days and those'll be out." He turned the cast cutter on, slicing through the plaster until it fell away to show the cotton and John's own skin again. "There." He sighed, watching as John bent his knee. "Test it out."
John pushed himself off of the chair, babying his leg for a moment to make sure he didn't hurt it and end up in another cast. "It feels weaker…" He stated, stretching his foot out as he took another step.
Ryan nodded. "That's normal. You haven't put weight on it for a while, so the muscles need to get used to it again."
John stumbled slightly, gripping at Ryan's hand as he steadied him. "Thanks."
Phoebe crossed her legs as she and Amelia played with her barbies, laughing as she heard Cody and Jim shouting at each other while they played some game in the yard. "Is everyone around here this crazy?" She asked, rushing to the open window when a splash reached her ears, only to see that Jim and fallen into the pool.
Amelia giggled, remembering what John and the others used as an excuse when they got in trouble for being weird. "They're just weird from the drugs they used." She shrugged, not understanding what she'd just said.
"Drugs?" Phoebe asked, hardly able to believe that her sweet, loving brother could ever have done something so evil. "John did drugs?"
Amelia nodded, remembering the first time she'd seen John in the throws of a seizure. "His brain used to get confused and make him twitch around a lot. Mommy told me he was sick because the bad people who stole me made him take something that was bad."
"You mean seizures?" Phoebe watched as her brother walked through the back gate, noticing that he seemed to be sore from something.
Amelia shrugged, watching as John cradled his side like he always did after he'd been to boxing practice. "I don't remember what they were called." She grabbed Phoebe's hand, dragging her down the stairs to see John as he walked into the house. "John!" She squealed, bounding toward him as he grabbed a bag of frozen peas from the freezer and holding it to a bruising spot on his cheek.
"Hey, Squirt." He smiled limping over to the back sofa and flopping onto the cushions and letting his aching body relax for a moment. "How're you two doing?"
Phoebe stepped toward him, noticing that he was bruised and still had sweat on his skin. "What happened?" She asked, afraid that he'd gotten into a fight or something on the way home.
He chuckled, licking his lip as it started to bleed from the little split he'd gotten. "I'm on the boxing team at my school and we had practice today. I guess I've been out of commission for too long and lost my edge." He let Amelia climb onto the sofa and lift his head onto her lap. "I usually don't take this many hits."
Amelia nodded, holding the bag of frozen vegies on his cheek for him. "He's the best fighter on the team!" She bragged, looking up as her mother walked inside of the room.
"Only when he's not hurt too bad though." She smiled, patting Phoebe on her shoulder and looking down at John and her daughter as he tried to recover from his practice. "Why don't you go shower." She pulled on a section of his hair, rubbing her fingers together as the oil made them feel odd. "You need one."
He nodded, slowly pushed himself off of the couch and made his way upstairs. "Sure thing." He smiled, pulling his new varsity jacket off and tossing his sweaty team tank-top into the laundry hamper as he passed it.
Phoebe tilted her head as she caught sight of the upside-down cross on his lower back, looking up at Mary to see her sad expression. "How'd he get that cross?" She asked.
"He'll tell you that when he's ready." She sighed, turning to the back door as Dominic and Jade walked inside. She picked up her daughter, taking her and Phoebe outside. "Come on, we're trying to decide on a theme for John's birthday next month." She put a smile on her face, trying to hide the pain in her heart at the hardships John had faced and get the kids out of the house incase John did have a breakdown with all the change.