A big thank you once again to all the kind people who left a review and an even bigger apology that I have taken so long to update. I will try to do much better from now on! I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

Chapter Eleven: The Edge

As the Braxton boys approached the house, Brax noticed that his father's car was gone. Relief instantly washed over him. Danny had most likely gone out with "the boys" so he could continue to drink his way through his hangover. Brax assumed he would not be back until the following morning. "Can we play with the football Brax?" Heath asked as they walked in the door.

"Just give me a minute will ya Heath," Brax sighed. "I've gotta get Casey changed and into his bed." Heath moaned, signaling his disapproval. "Go out the back and I'll join you when I'm done." Brax instructed.

He carried Casey into his room and lay him down on the cane bassinet. It was dirty and worn and the cane pieces were starting to fray. Brax went to grab a nappy so that he could change Casey and he noticed that the bag of nappies was almost empty. As soon as he was done he was going to have to talk to his mother about the shopping. Hopefully Danny had given her some extra cash after returning from his last trip away. If not, he would work something out. "I'm not going to let you do without little fella, don't worry about that." Brax muttered to Casey as he changed his dirty nappy.

"Braxxxxx," Heath yelled down the hallway. Brax didn't respond as he gave Casey a dummy and tried to rock him to sleep. Casey's eyes were heavy and slowly began to close. "Braxxxx," Heath called out again.

"Quit it Heath," Brax growled in frustration. "I said I would be out when I'm finished putting Casey to sleep!" Brax turned back to his baby brother. "That other brother of yours is just going to have to learn to be patient isn't he?" Brax soothed while rocking the bassinet.

"Please Brax." Brax turned towards the doorway of the bedroom where Heath was now standing. He was pale and visibly shaken.

"What's wrong?" Brax asked rushing over to him. "Are you feeling sick again?" Heath just stood there not moving. Brax grabbed Heath's shoulders. "Heath talk to me, is everything OK?"

"Mum won't wake up." Heath whispered.

"What? Where is she?" Brax yelled starting to panic. "Heath?" Heath pointed towards the living area and Brax ran down the hallway. "Mum?"

Brax came to a halt as he saw his mother passed out on the living room floor. An empty bottle of his painkillers lay beside her. "Oh God!" Brax dived down and started to shake his mother. "Mum, wake up. Mum, can you hear me? Mum…" No response. Brax grabbed his mother's wrist and felt for a pulse. He sighed in relief when he felt a weak beat. "Heath," he called out to his brother who was quietly watching from the hallway. "I need you to go to the phone and call 000 for an ambulance." Heath began to slowly move towards the phone. "QUICK," Brax shouted.

While Heath made the call, Brax tried to remember what he had seen the paramedics do the last time his mother had overdosed on drugs. He rolled her onto her side to clear her airways and then he attempted to perform CPR. "1….2….3….4….." he puffed as he pushed down on her chest.

"Is she dead Brax?" Heath quietly asked as he gradually walked over to where their mother lay.

"No," Brax panted as he continued the CPR. "Is the ambulance on the way?"

"Yes," Heath whispered.

"Good." Brax didn't know if he was helping and he didn't know how much longer he could keep up with the compressions. Brax closed his mother's nostrils with his fingers and began to blow into her mouth. As soon as he had administered two breaths into his mother's mouth, she began to silently vomit. Brax quickly rolled her onto her side as the contents of her stomach poured out. "Heath, get me a towel." Brax frantically yelled as he tried to scoop the bile out of Cheryl's mouth with his fingers before she choked on her own vomit. Heath handed Brax a towel and looked on in disgust as Brax attempted to clean vomit from their mother's mouth and face before continuing to perform mouth-to-mouth. Heath began coughing and convulsing himself, unable to stomach the scene in front of him. Brax started another round of compressions. He was just about to ask Heath to help him continue when noticed that he was struggling to deal with the situation. "Heath, go and wait out the front for the ambulance will ya? Tell them to hurry!" Brax huffed, really starting to struggle to breathe himself.

Heath turned and ambled down the hallway towards the front door. As he walked past Brax's room he heard Casey sobbing. He continued walking. He couldn't deal with that right now. Heath slumped down onto the steps leading up to the front porch. Even though the heat of the sun was beating down on him, he shivered and wrapped his arms around himself for comfort. He knew why Brax had sent him outside and he was filled with shame. Heath was snapped from his thoughts by the sound of a loud siren filling the air. He looked up and saw the ambulance come to a screeching halt in their driveway. The paramedics ran from the vehicle. "Is your mum inside son?" Heath nodded and they rushed past him into the house.

"Over here," Brax called out as he heard the paramedics enter the house.

"We'll take it from here son," one of the medics rushed over and moved Brax to the side.

"Do you know what happened?" an ambo called Mark inquired.

"I think she had too many pills." Brax ashamedly replied.

"What did she take?"

"Painkillers." Brax bent over and picked up the empty bottle of his tablets and handed them to one of the staff.

"Do you know how many she took?"

"No, but the bottle was mostly full this morning."

"When did she take them?"

"I don't know. She was like this when we got home just before we called you," Brax worriedly responded.

"Jonesy, quick get a tube, we need to intubate. Val, you get the IV hooked up and then we need to get her to the hospital ASAP. She is going to need gastric lavage," the ambo called out to his colleagues. He looked back at Brax. "Good boy, you have been a big help," Mark said as he patted Brax on the arm. "What is your mother's name son?"

"Cheryl Braxton."

Brax felt Heath as he came and stood in front of him. Brax wrapped his arm around Heath's chest, holding his brother close. They watched as one of the medics shoved a tube down their mother's throat. She began to drift into consciousness and started choking as the tube was inserted. "Cheryl, listen to me, my name is Luke and we're here to help you. We need you to stay still and calm, we are taking you to the hospital." Cheryl continued to lash around as they forcefully lifted her onto a stretcher. The medic who called himself Luke held their mother down while another jabbed a needle into her hand. They strapped her to the stretcher, so she was lying flat and began to rush towards the ambulance.

While two of the paramedics got Cheryl loaded into the ambulance, Mark turned to the boys. "We need to get your mother to the hospital so we can pump her stomach and get rid of the pills. You called us just in time." He kindly explained. "And the CPR you did has probably saved your mother's life, she is very lucky you were here son." Mark once again patted Brax on the arm. "We will take care of her for you." Mark turned and ran over to the police who had now arrived on the scene before quickly jumping into the ambulance and racing off to the hospital.

"Is your father here Darryl?" the familiar voice of Constable Cooper asked, more kindly than usual.

"No." Brax mumbled, still clinging tightly to Heath.

"Right, didn't think so. Well we are going to find your father and then go to the hospital because we have a few questions for your mother. Are you boys alright here?"

"Yep."

"Well you just call the station if you need anything Darryl,' the sympathy was evident in Ashton Cooper's eyes. Brax watched the police car race off before slowly turning towards the house. Brax dropped his arm that was around Heath and the young boy quickly grabbed hold of Brax's shirt and followed him inside.

Upon entering the house, Brax heard Casey's screams. Walking into his room, he ambled over to the bassinet and saw that the baby was really distressed. His face was red and covered in tears. He had evidently been crying for quite some time. Brax hadn't noticed in all the commotion. He was too focused on trying to revive his mother. He tried to pick up his brother, but had to lay him straight back down as an excruciating pain ripped through his body. "Argh," Brax winced.

"What's wrong Brax?" Heath who was now holding onto Brax's shorts noticed the pained look on his brother's face.

"Nothing," Brax reassured him. The pain in his ribs was another thing that he had pushed aside as the adrenalin from helping his mother had kicked in, but he was paying for it now. He was already in pain before they had arrived home due to forgetting to take his morning tablet but the CPR had made it so much worse. And now thanks to his mother, he had no painkillers left to take. No relief in sight. Brax tried lifting the crying Casey again, but he couldn't do it. He dropped him down and clutched his chest.

"Brax, are you OK?"

"Yes Heath, I'm fine. I'm just tired." Brax grimaced as he made his way over to his bed. "Can you help me with something?"

"Yeah," Heath replied.

"Can you try to rock Casey to sleep. I just need to lie down for a minute." Brax carefully lowered himself onto his bed and closed his eyes.

Heath did as Brax instructed. He placed the dummy back in Casey's mouth, lifted him up and sat down on the edge of Brax's bed, nursing the crying baby. Heath gently rocked him from side to side until he was calm. "What should I do now Brax?"

Brax didn't open his eyes. "Put him back down in the bassinet. Hopefully he will fall asleep now." Brax hoarsely instructed. Heath obeyed and luckily Casey did drift straight off to sleep.

Heath gently slid onto the bed next to Brax. He could hear the shallow breaths that Brax was taking and he knew he was more than just tired. He grabbed hold of Brax's t-shirt.

"Is mum going to die Brax?" Heath realised Brax was in a bad way but he couldn't hold in the question in any longer.

Brax opened his eyes and looked across at his brother. "I don't know mate."

"What happened to her?"

"She took too many pills."

"Why?"

Brax paused for a minute, unsure of how the answer his brother's question. Heath was too young to remember the last time their mother had tried to commit suicide and Brax didn't know how he would react to this harsh reality. His natural instinct was to protect Heath but he didn't know if that was the right thing to do in this scenario. The news was bound to spread around Mangrove River. Brax had seen countless neighbours out in the street watching Cheryl being taken away in the ambulance. They would talk. Brax sighed. He knew he couldn't protect Heath forever so he decided to tell him the truth.

"I think it was because she wanted to die."

Heath sat up. "She wanted to die?" was all Heath could manage.

"I think she was sad and she didn't know how else to fix it," Brax said solemnly.

"Did we make her sad?"

"NO," Brax emphatically stated. He tried to sit up but couldn't, so he looked Heath straight in the eyes hoping that he would understand. "There was nothing you or me could have done."

"But I didn't help with the baby when you were in hospital Brax. I left my mess around the house…"

"Heath," Brax cut him off. "It wasn't your fault OK? Do you understand?" Heath nodded, not entirely convinced but he agreed for the sake of his brother. "Good." Brax sighed. "Now why don't you go and play out the back with the ball. I'm going to stay in here with Casey and have a rest until he wakes up."

"Can I stay in here with you?"

Brax raised his eyebrows in surprise. It was not like Heath to turn down the chance to play outside. "OK, but you will need to find something quiet to play because I don't want you disturbing Casey." Without leaving the room, Heath quickly grabbed one of Brax's old toy cars and settled onto the side of the bed. He used Brax's leg as a racetrack, pushing the car up and down, but with his left hand he once again gripped Brax's shorts. Brax could feel his sadness start to spill out of his eyes. He quickly closed them before Heath could notice and tried to ready himself for news from the hospital.