"You can see him now." the doctor said as he walked into the waiting room. It had been nearly 2 hours and everyone had been feeling more and more downtrodden as the minutes ticked by. Now, though, Justin jumped to his feet and went towards the room the doctor had told them Leo was in.
"Is he alright?" Vaughan asked, pulling the doctor to one side.
"He's still unconcious but we've done a blood transfusion so he should wake up in a few hours." Vaughan sighed in relief. "We'd like to give him a session with a psychiatrist when he's better though. The injuries were self inflicted and it's obvious he's been self harming. At a guess, I think your son has depression but a therapist is better placed to tell us how serious."
"Can you help him though?" Vaughan asked. He knew Leo wouldn't want the help but it had come to a point where Vaughan couldn't ignore it anymore. Not if he didn't want his youngest to become like Olga.
"There are anti-depressants and other methods we can try. But Leo is in the best hands."
"Thank you." Vaughan said before following Justin to Leo's room.
...
Justin stopped at the doorway. Leo was lying in the bed, deathly pale with an IV in his arm and a breathing mask over his face. a hand on his shoulder made him jump as Justin turned to face his dad. Neither said anything as they entered the room. The machines were beeping slowly as Justin took a seat. He took Leo's hand into his own, frowning at the frail way his brothers wrist looked.
The cuts were more evident than before. White criss crosses covering his little brother pale skin. The hand his dad had a hold of was wrapped in a wad of bandages. Where Leo had cut himself. Put a knife to skin and tried to kill himself.
Justin placed the broken glasses on Leo's bedside table. Floyd had repaired them with some tape he'd bought in the hospital shop while Allie had promised to get new ones first thing tomorrow. "I sent Allie and the others home." Vaughan said, not moving his eyes from Leo's face. "and I called mum. She'll be here tomorrow."
"Okay." Justin said. He didn't have the energy to try to make conversation and neither did his dad so they just sat in silence. Sat in silence, waiting for Leo to wake up.
...
The first thing Leo became aware of when he woke up was a dull ashe in his left arm. Groaning, Leo shifted in the bed where he was met with resistance. "Hey, Leo calm down." Justin voice floated into Leo's ears as the younger slowly opened his eyes.
Everything was blurred but he could sort of make out his dad and brothers faces. "Hey, we're here now. Just don't try to move to much." Vaughan said and Leo would have nodded if he had the energy.
Someone he didn't know came in then, removing the mask on his face and doing something at the corner of the room. It was frustrating not being able to see what she was doing but Leo just didn't have the energy to try and turn his head.
"What h'ppened?" Leo slurred, blinking the tiredness from his eyes. Justin and Vaughan shared a look before Vaughan answered.
"You tried to kill yourself." There was a hitch of emotion in Vaughan's voice as the memories came flooding back. The argument. The feeling of uilt, that everything would be better if he wasn't there.
"You really scared us Leo." Justin voice cracked and was his brother crying. Leo didn't think he'd ever seen Justin cry before. A mix of emotions flooded Leo but he just didn't have the energy to try and decider them.
"Get some sleep. Well talk more when your better." Vaughan said, gently kissing Leo's head as he slowly closed his eyes. "I love you son." Vaughan murmured into Leo's hair as his youngest slowly drifted back into unconcious.
...
The next time Leo woke up it was to Justin sleeping at the side of his bed and the seat his dad had been in last time empty. Leo looked closely at his brother, seeing the signs of stress on his features. Guilt welled up when he saw the tear marks on Justin's face. His brother had been crying and recently. His brother who never cried, not even when their dad had gone. And Leo had caused it.
Glancing at the clock, Leo saw it was just past 3 in the morning. They'd been there all night. As Leo watched Justin sleeping, he thought back to what he'd done and all he could think was what had he done. Pressing the knife into his skin had been a relief but right now he felt sick.
He was in a hospital. An iv in his arm, which was stinging like he'll from the jagged cut he'd made on his wrist. Justin was sleeping on an armchair, upset because Leo had tried to kill himself. The guilt ate away at Leo and it was at this point he would have reached for a knife but the simple thought just made him sick.
He'd caused so much hurt by doing a simple act. And he hated himself for it.
...
The next day at school had been difficult for Allie, Floyd and Tiffany. Vaughan and Justin had stayed off, neither wanting to leave Leo and Allie could hardly blame them for it. She'd talked with Vaughan that morning and was glad to hear Leo had woken up but she could still hear the strain in Vaughan's voice. It had hit him hard, Justin to.
Explaining what had happened to the teachers had been a bit of a trial but thankfully maggie, Christine and Simon had managed to get the other members of staff to quieten down. The rest of the day had been a blur of classes and worry. Thankfully, waterloo road had been relatively uneventful that day.
She wasn't going to come to the hospital, wanting to give Leo some time alone with his dad and brother but Floyd and Tiffany had wanted to check up on him. Truthfully, Allie did to so it didn't take much persuading for her to drive to the hospital straight from school.
As she parked up, a taxi pulled up outside the hospital. Taking no notice of it, Allie and her children exited the car and headed inside. That was until the woman in the taxi got out and Allie froze in place. "Mum, what is it?" Tiffany asked, turning to look back at Allie.
"nothing, you two head inside." Allie said, motioning for Floyd and Tiffany to go. Both gave her strange looks but did as she asked. When they were gone, Allie turned to face Vaughan's wife.
Decided to end it here hope you enjoyed and please review :-)