LOTF: Before and After

Phase 3: Chapter 25

Ralph was near tears as he sat on Paige's motorola cellphone, his dad on the other end of the line.

"Do you know what happened?" Jeffery asked worriedly.

"He cut himself on the drawer" Ralph's voice shook with sadness and concern.

"It must've been pretty deep for him to end up needing to go to emerg, huh?" Jeffery assumed.

"Probably" Ralph agreed as he looked down at his blood stained pyjamas.

"Where's his dad?" Ralph's father wondered.

"At work, he was gone before he knew it happened" Ralph continued to lie without really lying.

"Okay, well don't worry about when you'll be home, okay? Tell Paige we don't mind driving to get you if she'd rather not do it considering what she's been through today."

"Okay" Ralph sniffled through the tears, Paige's cellphone sticking to his stained face.

"I love you, Ralph. Everything is going to be okay. Let me know how Jack is once you know, okay?" Jeffery spoke softly, earning a unseen nod from his son in response.

"I love you too" Ralph said after a few seconds.

Not much more time passed before Ralph lept out of his seat at the sight of Jack coming out from down the hallway he'd been ushered into about an hour earlier, a doctor walking alongside him.

"Jack!" Ralph called out, causing Paige to turn  too, leaping up a second after Ralph to run at her little brother.

"Hey, you okay?" she coddled him as he stopped in his tracks. The doctor who treated Jack stood back to let the siblings reunite.

"I'm alright" Jack chuckled softly.

Ralph stood a few feet behind Paige as he noticed the color had returned to Jack's skin again. His arm was wrapped in a white, secure bandage. As the doctor addressed Paige and talked to her about the home care steps, Jack found Ralph's eyes behind his sister. He reached his injured arm out to Ralph, a gesture that demanded he come closer.

Jack stepped around his sister and the doctor as Ralph came over to him.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked Ralph gently, reaching his good arm up to push back the little strands of hair that were matted to Ralph's forehead.

"Me? What about you? That's supposed to be my question" Ralph spoke delicately.

"You know me" Jack brushed off his concern. "And because I know you too, I know you were worried. You always did worry too much, y'know" Jack cracked a slight smile at the end.

"Maybe it's you who doesn't worry enough" Ralph forced the blond to consider. But of course, he didn't.

"I'm here, aren't I? Nothing to worry about" Jack dismissed again.

"You could barely stand up by the time they took you back there" Ralph informed the injured boy.

"I can stand up just fine" Jack said as he gestured down at himself, but all Ralph really noticed was his bloody clothes.

"You're not making the compelling case you think you are" Ralph insisted as he pulled at the fabric of Jack's t-shirt before releasing it to snap against his chest.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Just shut up and hug me" he said, grabbing Ralph's arms and pulling them around his own waist. He released Ralph's arms to wrap his own around him, knowing Ralph wouldn't let go. Of course, he didn't. He tightened his arms around Jack just where the boy had guided him to, and let his head fall against his.