Chapter Text
James sprinted up the stairs. He was in college when he had gotten the text message; “James your mother is really sick, she’s throwing up blood and her pupils are really wide. I’ve never seen anything like this before. Come home!”
His mother had been gradually getting worse over the past couple of months, but he thought she was getting better.
“Mum, I’m coming!” He yelled desperately as he almost tripped over himself running up the stairs. He slammed open her bedroom door to see his father knelt by his mother’s bed. “No.”
His father was holding his mother’s hand.
James dropped his bag and ran over to his mother, “Mum… wake up.” He gently grabbed her arm.
“James,” His father began.
James refused, “No! No, she needs to wake up”. Tears began to form in his eyes, “Mum! Wake up, please!”
Nothing.
A tear dripped onto his mother’s night dress.
“She’s gone, James” His father spoke, drearily.
James fell to his knees, gasping for air as he cried.
“You need to go get Elsie and Holly. I’ll call someone to get her picked up and we’ll try and figure out what to do next, okay?”
James nodded. He was unable to form words. He picked himself up off the ground and grabbed his bag, slowly beginning to trudge out of his mother’s room and back down the stairs.
Elsie and Holly were his younger siblings. He took his dad’s car to pick them up, even though he wasn’t 17 yet, he didn’t care all that much anymore. He picked up the two girls without saying a single word to them. He couldn’t bring himself to.
When they arrived home, James went to open the door. It wouldn’t open. He tried again… nothing. “Dad?”
Elsie and Holly stood behind him, confused. James yelled out for his dad again, but no response. He peeked through the letter box to see if something was in the way, but all he saw was his dad’s lifeless body hanging from the ceiling.
He immediately slammed the letter box shut. “In the car, now.”
“What? What’s going on-” Holly began to ask.
James interrupted, “Do as I say, okay? Get in the car. Both of you”
Elsie had begun to cry.
Soon, the police had arrived and James, Elsie and Holly all watched their parents as they were both taken away in an ambulance.
They all stood together, watching as the cars all drove away. Elsie hugged James’s leg, and he placed a comforting hand on her head.
“What do we do now?” Holly asked, stood behind them both.
James sighed, wiping a tear from his face and turning to face her, “We get on.”