Sorry for the delay and thank you as always for the reviews!
Chapter Thirteen: Control
Heath and Brax sat either side of the empty car seat on the somber drive home from the hospital. "Dad, did they tell you how long Mum and Casey have to stay in the ward?" Brax broke the silence. Danny Braxton leaned over and turned up the volume dial on the radio and continued to puff on his cigarette. Brax coughed as he choked on the smoke.
They pulled into the driveway and Brax jumped out straight away, desperate for some fresh air. "Oi, not so fast boy!" Danny barked. "I need you to run inside and grab me a slab of beer."
"No, get it yourself. The doctor said he needs to rest!" Heath defiantly snapped at Danny. Brax looked over in shock as Danny switched the engine off and started marching towards Heath, who was luckily on the other side of the vehicle.
"Is that so?" Danny jeered. "Hasn't your big brother taught ya about respect? Get over here now and I'll teach ya what happens to little boys who don't do as their told!" Brax rushed over and blocked Danny's path to Heath.
"Get inside," Brax angrily shouted at Heath. "Now!" Brax shoved Heath to get him moving and he reluctantly started walking towards the house. Brax spun around to face Danny.
"Well wasn't that sweet," Danny laughed. "You've got the little kid fightin' ya battles for ya now have ya Darryl? Thick as two bricks that one!"
"Don't talk about Heath like that!" Brax mumbled and braced himself for the wave of anger that was bound to follow. Danny grabbed a fist full of Brax's t-shirt near the neck.
"I will speak about him any damn way I like Darryl," Danny spat. "Now GO AND GET ME SLAB!" Danny slammed Brax into the side of the car and he fell to the floor. Brax quickly scampered to his feet and ran towards the house.
Heath who had been watched the exchange from the front window ran over to Brax as he entered the house. "Are you OK Brax?"
"I'm fine. Just go and play in your room, I'll be finished in a minute," Brax panted as he quickly made his way to the kitchen pantry before his father got impatient and entered the house himself. The cartons of beer were not hard to find because they were the only items on the otherwise empty shelves. Brax lifted the box of beer and winced in pain.
"Brax, the doctor told you to rest or you'll have to go back to hospital, remember?"
"I remember," Brax puffed, stumbling to the door.
"I can carry it," Heath suggested.
"NO! Just do as your told and stay inside Heath," Brax impatiently gasped. Heath dropped his shoulders and dejectedly walked towards his bedroom.
Brax handed the carton of beer to his father. Danny threw it on the passenger seat and started the car back up. "Where are you going?" Brax murmured.
"I'm off to celebrate gettin' rid of ya mother for a while." Danny smirked. He reached over and grabbed one of the beer cans and took his first swig of the day. "Cheers hey?" He pushed the beer can into Brax's chest in a toasting motion and laughed as the beer ran down his son's shirt. Brax took a step back from the car. "Oh and Darryl, if you ever let the boy speak to me like that again, I won't be so forgivin' next time. I'll have him wishin' he was drowned at birth like he shoulda been. You got it?"
"Yes," Brax replied sadly.
Brax walked back into the house and flopped onto the couch, clutching his chest. He was in agonising pain from the force in which Danny had slammed his body into the car. He closed his eyes and tried to block it out. Heath walked over and lightly shook him. Brax opened his eyes and Heath was standing there with a glass of water and his painkillers. Brax smiled. "Thanks mate!"
Heath sat down on the edge of the couch and watched Brax swallow the pills. "He hurt you because of me, didn't he?" Heath softly spoke. The guilt of seeing his brother so obviously in pain was eating him up.
"No, it's not your fault Heath."
"He was angry because of what I said."
"Yes, but he was more angry at things I said to him," Brax explained.
"I'm sorry Brax, I was only trying to help you."
"I know you were." Brax said. "But just promise me that you'll never do that again. We've got to do what Dad says, even if we don't want to."
"Why?" Heath asked.
"That's just the way it is!" Brax stated matter-of-factly. "Now speaking of Dad, he won't be coming home for awhile, so you can go back to your own bedroom tonight."
Heath looked worried. "No, I want to stay with you."
Brax sighed. "All right, but we will have to bring your mattress into my room tonight. I can't spend another night with you hogging my blanket and snoring in my face."
Heath giggled. "And you need a good night sleep as well, because you're going back to school tomorrow." The smile disappeared from Heath's face as he walked out into the backyard to play with his football.
-x-
Brax opened his eyes as the morning sunlight began to stream through his window. He looked at the clock. Seven thirty. Brax was surprised to see Heath was still in bed, he was usually up at the crack of dawn. "Oi, Heath, it's time to get up. You don't want to be late for school." Brax started to gently shake Heath awake.
"I'm feeling sick Brax," Heath croaked.
"What kind of sick?" Brax asked getting to his feet.
"In the tummy," Heath flipped over and buried himself further under his blanket.
"I see!" Brax muttered. "When did you start feeling sick? I didn't hear you get up during the night."
"It's only just started now."
"Would this have anything to do with the fact you are going back to school today?"
"No." Heath replied not very convincingly.
"Heath, get up! You're going to school." Brax said impatiently. He grabbed the blanket and ripped it off the bed.
"Please don't make me Brax," Heath pleaded, sitting up on the mattress. "I can stay home and look after you."
"I don't need looking after. What I need is for you to go to school," Brax exasperatedly answered. Brax could see that Heath was getting quite upset, so he sat down next to him on the mattress. "Listen mate, what you need to understand is that the police or the school could get social services involved if you keep missing school. If social services find out that you're not going to school while mum is away, they might take you away. Is that what you want?" Brax gently asked.
Heath dropped his head in defeat. "No," he whispered.
"School's not that bad ay? You can see your friends….." Brax stated, trying to cheer his brother up. "Start getting ready and I'll go and see what I can find you for breakfast." Brax left Heath and headed out the front door. He walked across the road to old Mrs Figg's house. She had a fruit tree in her back yard that Brax visited when he got desperate. Mrs Figg had called the cops on him the last time she caught him raiding her tree, but he had to take the risk today. He could not send Heath off to school so upset and with an empty stomach. He slowly slipped around her side gate, careful not to make any noise. He scanned the yard to make sure she wasn't out enjoying the early morning sun. The backyard was empty. The orange tree stood tall in the back corner of the yard. Mrs Figg had clearly recently collected most of the fruit from her tree but there were still a couple of unripe oranges that Brax could see, as well as some fallen pieces. Brax gradually crept towards the tree. He was so focused on locating all of the oranges within reach, that he didn't notice the watering can that was lying on the grass. He cursed as his foot hit the metal can and caused him to trip over. The bang echoed loudly in the still morning air.
"Who's there?" Mrs Figg came running to her back door. "Darryl Braxton, is that you again?" Brax quickly got to his feet and ran towards the tree. If he was going to get caught anyway, he may as well have some oranges to show for it. He snatched three green oranges from the tree and started running for the side passage. Mrs Figg rushed out of the house with her dressing gown on, waving her arms in the air. "You're not going to get away with this Darryl!" she shrieked. "I'll make sure the police throw the book at you this time!"
Brax didn't stop running until he had reached his own front door. He slammed the door behind him and fell against it for support. He hunched over, clutching his chest and panting for breath. He knew that Mrs Figg would follow through with her threat and call the cops, but there was no point in worrying about that now because a minor trespassing complaint would not be high on their priority list. Brax figured he had a few hours before they came looking for him. The fact that the police would more than likely be paying the Braxton household a visit today did however make it even more vital that he get Heath to school. Brax slowly stood up straight. He pushed through the pain in his chest and made his way to the kitchen. "Heath are you ready yet? Come and get some brekkie before we go!" Brax cut two of the green oranges up into quarters, hoping that they weren't too sour. He placed one on a plate and wrapped the other in tissues for Heath to take for lunch. "Oi, Heath, hurry up!" Brax couldn't hear any movement and there was no sign of his brother. He went to find him but Heath wasn't in his own bedroom or in Brax's. "Heath?"
"I'm in the bathroom," Heath's muffled voice called out from behind the closed bathroom door. Brax had made sure that Heath had had his shower last night so they could save time in the morning, so Brax wasn't sure what Heath was doing in there for all this time. He went to open the bathroom door but it was locked. Brax frowned. He couldn't remember Heath ever locking him out before.
"Heath, what are you doing in there?" Brax called out.
"Nothing, just go away Brax," Heath replied quietly. "I'll be out soon."
This only added to Brax's concern, so he started banging on the door. "Open this door now Heath," Brax growled. After a minute Brax heard the click of the lock.
He opened the door and studied the scene in front of him. Heath stood despondently in his towel, fresh from a shower and staring at the ground. His pajamas were in the sink and his bed sheets were on the floor. It took Brax a minute to put all the pieces together and work out what was going on. He now understood Heath's reluctance to open the door and felt guilty for pushing him. "Did you wet your bed last night?" Brax quietly asked. Heath just nodded, avoiding eye contact with his big brother. Heath hadn't wet his bed since he was four-years-old. An eight-year-old Brax, used to help him hide the wet sheets and pajamas before one of their parents found out got angry. But that was years ago! Brax knew the events of the past couple of days had hit Heath hard but he was only now starting to realise the full extent of Heath's anxiety. Heath had always hated school, but Brax could see it ran a lot deeper than that this time. "It's ok Heath, it's not a big deal. I'll get these things cleaned up after school. Now come on, let's go and get ready." Heath began to shake his head in protest and Brax quickly added, "I'm coming with you."
Heath looked up. "To school?"
"Yeah, to school."
"But the doctor said you have to stay home and rest."
"It doesn't matter, I'll be fine." Brax reassured, but Heath didn't look convinced. "I'll take it easy, don't worry. Now hurry up, we are going to be late."
-x-
As Brax and Heath neared the front gate of the school, Heath grabbed Brax's shorts. Brax reached down and gently pushed Heath's hand aside. "You've got to stop that now mate," Brax lightly instructed. "You know what the kids at school are like." Heath nodded in agreement. Heath put his hands in his pockets to stop himself from reaching out to his big brother but he inched closer to him so his arm was brushing against him. Brax sighed. "Stay tough ok? I'm not going anywhere."
The boys entered the playground. It was full of kids running around and playing handball. Groups of girls sat in circles, chatting about their TV viewing from the night before. Brax started to head towards the Year 6 classrooms so he could put his school bag away and Heath continued to follow him. Brax exhaled. "Heath, you need to go and hang your bag at your classroom."
"Can you come with me Brax?" Heath nervously asked. Brax was starting to think forcing Heath to come to school today was a bad idea. He dumped his bag and walked with Heath to the Year 2 classrooms.
"Well well, look who it is!" Brax's heart dropped at the sound the antagonising voice. "Finally decided to grace us with your presence again Braxton." Brax turned around and saw his classmate Jack Carey walking towards him. Jack had made his dislike for Brax clear from the second he had started at Mangrove River Primary School two years ago. Jack grew up in a neighbouring beach town and spent his early years in a nice house by the water and attending a private school. His parent's divorce resulted in his mother uprooting him and his sister to the more affordable suburb of Mangrove River and Jack had never got over the shame. He thought he was better than the Mangrove River kids and he hated being beaten by any of them. But Jack couldn't quite overcome the natural sporting ability of Brax and it drove him crazy! Since Jack could not get the better of Brax on the sporting field, he spent his school days looking for any other opportunity to put Brax in his place.
"Looks like it," Brax muttered in response.
"Looks like you brought a shadow with you too," Jack smirked and bent down to face Heath. "You need big brother to hold your hand while you put your bag down do you?" Heath slunk closer into Brax and Jack began to laugh.
"Shut ya face Carey!" Brax took a step closer to the boy. It was one thing for Jack to insult Brax himself, but he had crossed the line by bringing Heath into the exchange.
"Or what Braxton? You'll hit me like your old man hits you," Jack taunted taking a step towards Brax. Both boys were so close their faces were almost touching.
"Mind your own business when it comes to my family, you got it?" Brax snarled.
"It's a bit hard to do that when your family is the talk of Mangrove River. I heard your mum tried to top herself this week." Jack sniggered. Brax could feel his anger rising and he tried desperately to control it. Jack could see he was getting the better of a usually restrained Brax, so he kept going. "Can't say I blame her. If I had sons as pathetic as the both of you, I'd want to end it all too!"
"I mean it Carey! Shut-up!" Brax clenched his fists.
"Take Heath for example," Jack couldn't hide his pleasure at the reaction he was getting from Brax. "I heard he's so thick that he's in the remedial reading class with the dumb kindergarten kids. I imagine the shame of having a son who is such a lost cause…" Brax didn't wait for Jack to finish his sentence before he landed a punch right on his nose. Jack fell to the ground and Brax continued to hit him. All the anger that Brax had been holding in for so long came pouring out. He was blind with rage and he couldn't hear Jack screaming for him to stop or see the blood that was pouring from his face.
The strong male hands of one of the teacher's, Mr Peck, managed to pull Brax off Jack. "Hey, hey, stop that! Calm down Darryl!" he shouted and Brax gradually stopped swinging his arms. As Brax began to cool down and catch his breath, he started to realise he was in big trouble. Jack was crying and clutching his nose. Heath's teacher, Mrs Anderson, was comforting him and blood was gushing everywhere. A crowd of children gathered around to watch the commotion. "How dare you!" Mrs Anderson stood up and faced Brax. "Never in all my time as a school teacher have I seen such a vicious attack!" she shouted. Brax hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry."
"You will be sorry all right! Thugs like you Darryl Braxton have no place in our school. Principal's Office, NOW!" Mrs Anderson barked before helping Jack to his feet. Brax turned around and saw Heath watching him with tears in his eyes. Brax mouthed the words "I'm sorry."
"Move it Darryl!" Mrs Anderson bellowed. With a heavy heart Brax turned his back on his brother and started the terrifying walk to the Principal's Office.