Chapter 5: by potatoesarenotforsex
(Sorry it took so long! I couldn't make my mind up on several aspects but I hope you like the end result! A little longer than usual :P)
It just wasn't fair. I could tolerate him being married to my mother, I could even deal with having to move into his house- mansion, really, far too many bathrooms for any one family in my opinion. But that wasn't enough, he had to go and have a baby, so that he, my mother and this new son could be the perfect little family, rich and fabulous, while the awkward, common, step-son just fades somewhere into the background where he won't unbalance the family portrait. There was no point in denying that it was going to end up that way, even my mother had struggled to come up with the right words, mumbling her way through her words, trying to comfort me.
It might well sound like I resented my mother but I could never – not even if I wanted to. In a way, I could see why she'd be so happy at this chance for a new family, not one ravaged by death and destruction. Unfortunately for her, she didn't realize that I would never fit into that equation, no matter how hard I tried.
"There was a train crash last night."
The sudden voice cracked through my thoughts and I swiftly turned around to face Phil. My moment of confusion only was made more ridiculous by the fact that we were still at his house and no doubt had well overstayed our visit. I gave him a faint smile, before I paused for a moment to go back, revisit what he'd just said and the smile faded away.
"A train crash?" My head turned to look back into the ballroom, where I saw the figure of my stepfather, arrogant as ever, boastful as always, his conversation with Phil's dad floating out through the large windows. Everyone was far too happy, far happier than they were associating with each other the previous night, at any rate. Perhaps this little medical emergency had brought some peace to the bitter resentment I had been informed to feel against the Lester family.
"Yeah, it derailed, crashed into a signal tower." Phil looked too sad for someone so full of kindess. "87 people are dead, many more injured; that's what the news reporter said. Phone lines have been down- it would also explain why we couldn't get an ambulance last night." The misery was woven through every muscle of his, Phil's own suffering and social discomfort last night hardly conspicuous compared to the sight of his despondency over this news. I could hear a phone ringing from inside, the sound of birds still enjoying the remnants of morning as it faded; and it occurred to me that such empathy would one day make an excellent doctor of the young heir, but it didn't seem like the time or place to mention it.
"How awful!" It really was, I couldn't imagine what the site must look like. Wreckage and chaos and so many bodies…
Phil took a step closer; strangely reminiscent of a less sober action from the night before, and a glimpse of a smile graced his lips as he hummed the beginning of the opening song from titanic.
"Really makes you think about what's important in life, doesn't it?" He paused, slipping his hands into the pockets of the formal trousers he was still sporting from last night. "So much death, and then new birth- I still can't believe I just delivered a baby! I mean, your brother!"
He seemed so astounded by the possibility of his contribution that I couldn't' even bring myself to make some snide comment about the newest misery in my life, so I settled for a gentle- "Thank you. I mean, that's my mum, I don't know what might have happened if you weren't there to help."
His smile was a little more certain this time.
"Lucky for her the hospitals make deliver at least five babies on our obstetrics placement! If there's anything I can actually kind of do in my med degree it's-"
"DANIEL GET IN HERE THIS INSTANT. AND YOU TOO LESTER." The last word was fired from my stepfather's mouth like a bullet, vengeful and well aimed, far too familiar. We didn't dawdle.
The scene was static, frozen in a tableau of what appeared to be a mixture of shock and pride, slathered across the faces of the adults in the room, while maids and butlers rushed to bring our coats and tidy up the smashed cup of coffee which was slowly bleeding across the floor.
Pausing a moment to fully administer a glower of hatred at Phil's father, who appeared to be returning a similar sentiment, my stepfather span to face Phil and pointed a monsterous finger towards him.
"You! This is your fault! And I'll be damned if I don't see you pay for what you've done- is this how your parents taught you? Mistakes and laziness?"
There was an abruptly loud slap, as Phil's mum brings her palm forcefully across his face, something no one else would have dared to do. Even she looked a little astonished at her own actions, but stood her ground, even as his eyebrows disappeared into his hairline with newly-fueled rage.
"Don't you ever, ever speak to my son like that! You have no right, you awful man, no right at all! You are guests in our house and lucky to be even that. I demand you leave at once and should you ever return, I will not hesitate to press charges against you and every single member of your family. Now, leave!"
His cheeks flame red, my stepfather puffed up his chest in a last attempt at bravado, then grabbed my forearm and dragged me out of the room before I could even get a proper chance to make an apology to Phil, or even look at him properly. The whole confrontation had happened so rapidly, I still had no idea what was going on and why.
Hauling me to the car and ripping the keys from the house valet, my stepfather barely gives me time to close the door before fired the engine and raced down the long drive, cursing under his breath as he went.
I knew that saying anything would probably make him turn on me, but I can't wait any longer.
"What's going on? Where are we going?"
"To the hospital, like we should have done last night, like we should have done yesterday- she was about to give birth for goodness sake!"
Everything inside of me froze in a moment of icy silence, before I managed a reply.
"Is mum okay?"
The words were barely louder than a whisper but he heard them, squealing to a stop at the red light and drumming his hands on the leather steering wheel.
"She's fine. No thanks to your little friend in there. But my son, my son, has just been diagnosed with Usher syndrome, do you have any idea what that means?"
I shook my head, hoping that was the safest option.
"It means he can hear a thing and soon enough he won't be able to see either. That's my son, and he was going to be so brilliant and now that Lester has gone and ruined everything."
I sat in silence, my mind reeling. Deaf? It seemed so impossible, I'd never even heard of this syndrome; was it really because of something Phil had done? As we pulled up in front of the hospital and parked, my stepfather turned to me, his voice painfully quiet and all the more petrifying for it.
"Don't you ever see that boy again, you understand me? Not him, not that house, not any of it. As far as I'm concerned, that family murdered my son's future and they will pay."
He didn't wait for me to answer, flinging open the car door and storming off into the hospital. I followed the sound of his voice to the maternity ward, where the nurse informed us that my mother was resting and on IV fluids, and we couldn't see her.
As my stepfather began to rage at her, spitting out influential names and all the ways he could take this matter to a higher level, but I slipped behind him. As inconspicuously as I could, I made my way to the other side of the room, to the windows behind which all the newborn babies lay. It took me a little while to find the right one, the nametags were fairly small and difficult to read at a distance, but once I saw 'Howell', printed at the end of a cot, and gazed up at the infant curled beneath a blue blanked within, it was obvious that my stepbrother could not have been any other baby.
His hair was brown, like mine, and one of his tiny fists was curled up around his chin, almost trying to grab at the red, mottled skin. My mind grasping to remember the feelings of resentment I had reserved for this child, all I could think was and overwhelming sense how impossibly small he seemed. Vulnerability had a new definition and, as I pressed my nose against the glass, an unexpected need to protective this tiny figure, as defenseless and fragile as he was. A nurse came into the room and the other babies became more alert, some crying for attention, others fidgeting and scrunching up their faces, but he just lay there, passively unaware of what he could not hear.
I heard my stepfather's words echoing through my mind, 'murdered my son'. What had he meant? There was no death or destruction or sadness, there was only a small boy, lying in a cot, who would never hear his mother's voice calling his own name.
This was no murder- this was my brother.
Yay! Hope you liked it :) Thank you to everyone who is reading and especially to the lovely vogonsoup, DovahFinn and Phanz sister for reviewing :D
Drama, drama, drama- what could possibly happen next? I have no idea! So keep tuned for another brilliant chapter from PhanFictionz and see you soon!
xxx panfs