William
Playing Mario Kart with his friend was the best kind of fun. Even when he didn't win William still enjoyed racing his car around the crazy track. Currently, Noah was in the lead. On his part of the screen William focused on getting coins and other prizes along the way. His hope was to get a boost so he might catch up with Noah, though at this point it didn't look like that would happen. A few minutes later the game was over with both of them laughing at the way they had crashed into other drivers and one another. "I wish real driving was so much fun," William said as he leaned back in the game chair.
"Well, bumper cars are kind of like that. Maybe we can go to Paulie's Pizza Zone," Noah suggested.
There were round bumper cars there along with ever video game on the planet. William nodded. "We should go ask your mom if she'll take us." With that thought in mind, he got up and raced his friend downstairs to the kitchen. William waited while Noah asked, feeling slightly disappointed when she told them that they were eating at the house.
"Noah, why don't you go up and start on your homework. I need to talk with William for a few minutes." William watched his friend heading out of the kitchen before he walked over to the table and sat down. Mrs. Walthrop was really nice. She smiled at him as he sat in the chair next to hers. "William. Tomorrow I'm taking you to see a doctor at the hospital. He wants to run a test."
His brow furrowed. "What kind of a test. It's not a shot is it?" Shots were the worst sort of pain.
"No sweet boy, nothing like that. He's going to swab the inside of your mouth."
When she didn't say anything more, William tugged at the bottom of his tee-shirt. "Why does he want to do that?"
"Well, it's a test to make sure you're healthy."
Relief was the first emotion William felt. "Okay. Is Noah going back to school tomorrow?" Since his mother had died, and William had been staying with the Walthrop's, Noah had been allowed to miss school to keep him company.
"He will be with us. Why don't you head on upstairs and work on some of the make-up work your teacher sent. I'll call you both when dinner is ready."
Back in his friend's room, one William got to share, he found Noah working on his homework. "Your mom says I have to get a test but not a shot. I also have to do my homework too." After grabbing his math workbook, William sat down on the bottom bunk. He settled on his stomach with his workbook in front of him. Math was his favorite subject. Soon he was focused on that, hoping that maybe over the weekend they could go to the pizza place and ride the bumper tubes.
Since the visit to the hospital didn't take too long, Mrs. Walthrop took them to the park. As soon as they were at the playground, Noah suggested they play Flash. "I get to be Flash first."
"Ok, I'll be Captain Cold." Once Noah turned around to count, William ran over to a big tree close to the wooden pirate ship. With ease he climbed up quite high, hiding in the branches. He knew once his friend found him, he would get caught on his way back down, but William didn't mind. Once Noah began looking, William giggled as he watched his friend trying to find him among the playground equipment. Climbing trees was something he never got tired of. William hoped that someday he could have a giant tree house.
Finally Noah found him. As William was well prepared, when he got down the tree, he was caught. Once it was his turn to be The Flash, William counted with his eyes shut facing the tree. While he searched, William thought about his mom, wishing that The Flash could have saved her like he had done for so many other people. One time his mom told him that as fast as The Flash was, he couldn't save everyone all the time. It was that reason William wasn't mad that he hadn't been able to be there for his mom. Once he found Noah, the two boys decided to play on the giant wooden pirate ship.
This time William was Captain Jack Sparrow, while Noah was Captain Barbossa. "The Black Pearl is my ship," William said as he walked crooked, like he'd seen Jack walk in the movies.
"Arr, I say you're wrong. This is my ship and you should walk the plank." Noah had a stick, and William got one of his own as they began to battle over who got to keep the ship. They played pirate until it was time to go back to the house.
Trying to go to sleep was always hard. Even with Noah's mom sitting close by in the desk chair, William hated closing his eyes. Ever since his mom's death, his dreams were always about that and so much worse. Night was the only time he couldn't stop thinking about her.
It was dark outside of his house. All around there were empty streets and sidewalks. William turned around in a circle yelling for his mom. He heard his voice echo, feeling cold and afraid. Inside his house all the lights were out. Even though he tried to stop, his legs kept moving him towards the kitchen. There on the floor was his mom. She was lying on her stomach with her face down. All around her body was a puddle of blood. William desperately wanted to run away, but he couldn't. When he was standing over her, his mom reached out, wrapping her cold hand around his bare ankle. As her head lifted William saw that her eyes were white. She growled like all zombies did. "Nooooo." William tried to get away but he couldn't.
Suddenly he felt hands on his shoulders shaking him. William cried out as he sat up before clinking to Mrs. Walthrop. All he could do was cry against her chest while she rocked him. It wasn't her he wanted comfort from. Thinking about that had him crying even more.
A few minutes later he settled down enough to take the glass of water from Noah. He took a few sips before letting his friend take it back. "I don't want to talk about my dream." William pulled away from her and settled back against his pillow, making sure to hold on to his wolf that his grandparents had gotten him a few years ago. As he shut his eyes, William remembered how much fun it had been to go to the zoo with them in Metropolis. They had gotten to go feed the Giraffes. William had ridden the carousel and the train. It was those memories that drew him back into a sound safe sleep.
In the morning, William didn't feel like talking or playing. After he ate, he crawled back into bed keeping the covers over his head as he held on to his wolf. His stomach hurt, and he wanted his mom back.
"Will, do you want to build a fort?" Noah asked.
"I guess so." William pulled the covers down and got up. He helped Noah pull the desk closer to the bunk bed. After they had the sheet draped from the top bunk over the desk, he got their pillows and put them inside the covering of the sheets. Once they were inside, seated side by side, Noah turned on his I-Pad and they watched funny animal videos.
"What did you dream?" Noah asked a little later.
"It's the same one all the time. I'm in the street and it's all empty. There aren't any cars or any people on the sidewalks. When I call out there's always echoes. After that I walk towards my house even though I don't want too. I know that I'll see the same thing but I never can stop." William shut his eyes doing his best to be brave. "My mom was dead in the kitchen when I got home from school. But in my dreams she's always laying on her stomach and after I get close she grabs my ankle. Her eyes are white and she growls like a zombie. After that I always wake up." Despite his best efforts, William felt the tears running down his cheeks.
"I'm sorry. I won't ask you about it again. Do you want to watch Thor?"
"Yeah, that would be so much more fun." William helped Noah hold the I-Pad between them focusing on the movie rather than the unpleasant memories of his bad dreams.
Helen Walthrop sat in a small room in the courthouse tapping her foot against the floor. The CPS officer in charge of William's case had phoned just after breakfast, letting her know that William's father wanted to meet with her. The call had surprised her because until then, she didn't know his father was still around.
Helen worried that too much change for William would make things much worse. Thankfully Molly was home from school and agreed to come watch the boys this morning. Just as Helen got up to stretch her legs, there was a knock at the door before Karen walked in, followed by a man she recognized from the news. Never in all her life, would she have imagined this.
"Helen, this is Mr. Queen, William's father."
"Please call me Oliver." When he reached out, Helen shook his hand before sitting back down. After he was seated across from her, Karen began to tell Oliver about the arrangement of William living with her. When she finished, Oliver didn't hesitate with his questions. "How is my son?"
"He's coping as best he can. Nights are the worst. He has horrible nightmares, ones he won't tell me about. My son, Noah, told me that he thinks she's a zombie in his dreams. He hasn't been back to school. I've been trying my best to make him feel safe."
"Thank you for that. I never knew about him until just a few days ago. If you will agree to this, I want to have a few visits with him before moving forward. Eventually I want my son to live with my fiancé and me."
Helen didn't mind, and was happy that William's father was willing to take things slow. Her heart hurt at the thought of him going away, but she also knew that she was going to work with Oliver on this. "I don't mind at all. If you don't mind to give us a couple of days, I'd like to prepare him for this."
When he nodded, Helen felt relief. After making arrangements for their meet up at her home, she got her purse and walked to her car. On the drive home she thought of Samantha and hoped that her friend would approve of this.
Once again, William sat at the kitchen table while Mrs. Walthrop got him a glass of milk, and a plate with three chocolate chip cookies. He'd already finished his homework, even before Noah. The cookies were still warm, and William sighed in contentment as he let his second bite melt in his mouth.
"William, I got a call about the tests yesterday. Those tests while determining that you are healthy also tell the doctors other things. In this case the test let the doctors take your swab sample and match it with your father's." Helen waited for him to process this.
"I don't have dad. Mom said he died before I was born." William set his cookie down and his brow was furrowed in confusion.
"She wasn't aware that he was alive. He didn't know about you and I got to meet him yesterday." Again she waited, wanting to let him process without rushing him.
William shook his head. "I don't have a dad. I have you and Noah and Paul." Helen stood up and walked to him, kneeling in front of him.
"You do have all of us, and we all care for you William, very, very much. You are so lucky to have so many people who love and care for you. Your dad is a nice man. He wants to come by and meet you. He doesn't want to take you away from us right now."
William scrubbed at the tears running down his cheeks. "I want to go upstairs now."
"Alright." Helen watched him go as she sat down at the table. She hoped against hope that Mr. Queen would realize that his son wasn't ready to be moved away from the only home he had ever known.
When his friend came back into his room, Noah watched him crawl into the bottom bunk, pulling the covers over his head. After putting down his game controller, he walked over and sat on the mattress edge. "What happened?"
William started to sniff. "You're mom said my dad's alive and he wants to see me. I don't want him to see me. I want to live with you and even Paul."
Paul was Noah's annoying older brother. He knew all about dads who didn't live at home. Noah and Paul's dad lived in Gotham City. They only saw him at Christmas and sometimes when he came to town on their birthdays. "Well, maybe it will be like my dad. We only see him on birthdays and Christmas. Maybe you can just see yours like that and then you can live here and be my brother."
The blankets were pulled away, and William was looking at him. "You really think so?"
"Yeah, I mean your dad doesn't know you and he wouldn't take you away from a place you've known all your life." When his friend smiled, Noah felt better for him. "Okay, now we have to plan our attack on Paul. They both began to laugh as William got out of the bed. Bothering his big brother was something Noah loved to do. His brother used to be fun, but now all he did was talk about stupid girls.
After finding ways to prank people on Youtube, the boys got the supplies they needed. Paul wouldn't be home until later, leaving them plenty of time to set their traps. In his brother's bathroom, Noah with William's help, put plastic wrap over the toilet before lowering the seat. With a can of shaving cream in hand, they pulled the covers back on Paul's bed and emptied most of the can at the bottom of the mattress before pulling them back up.
"This is going to be epic," William said as they walked back into their room after putting away the evidence. "He's going to be so pissed."
Noah laughed. "That's the best part. Come on, let's see if we can go outside and climb in our tree."
Playing checkers was one more thing William was doing to keep from being nervous about meeting his dad. Again he was super glad Noah was home with him. While he decided on where to move one of his red checker pieces, Noah was taking apart and putting his kings back together. "Do you ever think about what you'll do if you do have to go live with your dad?"
For a moment William focused on the board. He smiled as he was able to make a double jump, taking two of Noah's pieces. "I'll live here of course. I'll tell him that I am with my brother and I'm happy here. It will be just like you said. He can come on Christmas and my birthday."
"Yeah, but what if he forces you to go with him."
William frowned. "I don't know. I hope he doesn't want me."
Once Noah made his move, both boys focused on the game. After it was over, with William winning, the boys crawled into their fort. They pretended that they were camping out in the wilderness, hiding from a big, brown bear. "Quick, get my sword. He's getting into our food." When Noah handed him a wooden sword, William crawled out. He used his sword to fight the bear off before going back into the tent.
"Did you kill him?"
"I stuck him in his butt and he ran away," William said while he laughed.
"Hey we should find a Youtube video of a bear getting stuck in the butt and running away." As Noah crawled out to retrieve his I-pad, William settled back against his pillow excited to see if they could find that on a funny animal video. Someone knocking at the door delayed Noah's return.
"Will, mom says you need to go with her."
Before crawling out, William grabbed his wolf. Noah stood by the door. "I'll get the video ready."
"Okay." Hesitantly, William followed Mrs. Walthrop down the hall. His stomach was churning. All he wanted to do was turn around and run back to Noah's room and lock the door. Once they were downstairs, William took her hand. She led him to the living room, the room with the piano and bookshelves. William stared down at his bare feet, hugging his wolf even tighter.
When they stopped walking, Mrs. Walthrop knelt down in front of him. "William, everything is going to be alright."
Taking a deep breath, William glanced past her staring at the man sitting on one of the sofas. He was a tall man. He had really large hands and really large feet. The man, his dad, also had a half a beard. He was smiling at him, waiting which helped him feel safer.
"Hi William."
"Hi," he whispered.
"Who is that you're holding?"
Glancing down at his wolf, William shut his eyes trying to not feel so stupid and afraid. Once his eyes were open, he looked back at his dad. "My wolf. Nana and Poppa got him for me when we went to Metropolis Zoo. He protects me."
"He looks like he does a good job."
"Me and Noah were talking. He has a dad who lives in Gotham City. His dad visits for Christmas and on his birthday. I want to stay here and live with Noah. He's my brother now." When his dad stood up, William realized that Mrs. Walthrop wasn't there, and that his dad was a giant. He began to worry his bottom lip with his teeth before his dad knelt down in front of him.
"William, I want you to feel safe with me. I'm very grateful that you have Noah and his family. They are doing a very good job taking care of you. I'm going to come by for a few more visit's so we can be comfortable around one another."
Taking that to mean that he didn't have to leave, William felt relieved. "Noah and me like playing the Flash. When I'm The Flash, Noah hides and he usually likes being Ace. I like being Captain Cold when I'm the bad guy." As he told his dad about what things he liked, William walked with him and sat on the sofa next to his dad.
"Do you want to know a secret?"
William nodded.
"The Flash is a very good friend of mine."
At that revelation, Williams eyes opened wide. "What's he like?" For the rest of the visit, his dad answered most of his questions about The Flash.
In bed that night, William was excited to tell Noah about what his dad told him. "He says that the Flash has been where he lives in Star City. He says that sometimes he helps the Arrow, or he used too."
"That's so cool. Do you think you'll get to meet him."
"I hope so. He told me that he just wants to come by for visits. You were right, he is going to let me stay."
A soft tap on the door before it opened got their attention. "You boys need to go to sleep. You both have school tomorrow."
When she was gone, William rolled over on his stomach with his wolf in his arms. As he shut his eyes, he thought about what it would be like to meet The Flash.