Astronaut

Chapter Twenty: Problem Child

Pulling up outside, Jack gets out of the car to go and unlock the front door, he sees Clint pull up with Kenny and John. Lee follows behind Jack whilst holding a sleeping Harvey who's burnt out after what happened at school; they make their way into the house with Caroline, John, Clint, and Kenny just behind, making their way towards the living room where Mrs Shaw is with June, Rachel, and LJ. The older woman notices the group enter into the room, noticing the sleeping form of the six year old redhead first; she watches as Lee places Harvey down on one of the couches and then sees Caroline and John go over and begin playing with their younger siblings to distract them, so the adults can discuss what happened earlier on with Harvey. With the five children occupied, Jack and Lee begin to tell Mrs Shaw all about what happened to Harvey and the aftermath of it.

"That's terrible! He shouldn't be subjected to that and neither should you two," Mrs Shaw asserts to Jack and Lee whilst sitting beside the latter and running her fingers through the still sleeping six year old's red hair. After the older woman leaves, Harvey starts to wake up, blinking his eyes a few times after rubbing them with the back of his hands to get the "sleep" out of them, he glances up at the ceiling in confusion wondering where he is at first; he lifts his head up and notices his dads beside him and then notices his five siblings in the room with him.

"How are you feeling now, Harv?" He hears his dad ask him

"Okay considering what happened earlier at school," he replies slightly optimistic, but then his tone changes to disheartened as he then questions:

"I still don't understand why I got into trouble and that other boy didn't? What he was saying to me about you two is way worse than what I did to him,"

"I know, but you can't just hit people because they're saying stuff to you,"

"That's what Clint was saying earlier,"

"He's right," he looks at his dad with an exasperated expression

"So, do I just not stick up for myself or you two, then?" He questions in an irate tone. His dad looks taken aback by this and tells him directly:

"I know you've had a rough day, but that doesn't mean you have to take it out on me," Harvey glares at him with a frown and angrily lets out:

"Fine!"whilst folding his arms over his chest to emphasise his defiance

"If you keep this up you can go upstairs to your room," he hears his daddy tell him. He ponders for a few seconds, then gets up off of the couch and shouts at his parents:

"Fine! I will!" he storms out of the living room and stomps upstairs to his room.  Still in a state of shock by what just happened with Harvey, Jack starts to get up off of the couch to go upstairs and confront the six year old about his bad behaviour, he feels a light tug on his arm as Lee pulls him back down again and says to him:

"Jack, just leave him. He needs time to cool off," as soon as he says this, the two of them hear a series of crashes and bangs coming from the floor above. The loud ruckus has also alerted the five remaining children who look as confused as their parents.

Harvey sits on his bed looking at the mess he has made of his room with tear stains drying on his flushed cheeks. His normally neatly ordered books have been strewn across the room, his Saturn Five lava lamp has been knocked down from his bedside cabinet and onto his room floor, his still unused telescope lies on its side – lens hopefully not broken. The only things that haven't met their fate with the floor whilst he was on his rampage, are his records and his record player which are still in their usual places. Once he feels as though he has calmed down, he starts to tidy away his books but just as he is about to pick up the first couple of them, he hears his room door open and looks up to see his parents towering over him. He starts to feel pangs of guilt as he continues to lock eyes with his parents and thinks about the mess he has made of his room; his dad is the first of the two to question him with:

"Have you calmed down now, Harv?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry for getting mad at you, I was still feeling stressed out after what happened with that boy at school," he apologises whilst looking up at both of his parents

"I know you were, but that still doesn't give you the excuse to talk to us like that," his dad tells him

"I know, I'm sorry," he answers with regret

"Are you needing a hand to tidy up?"

"Yeah," he responds as he looks around at the sprawled items on his carpet. He goes back to collecting his cascade of books and put them back to where they belong on his bookshelf; his dad goes over and picks up his knocked down telescope still lying on its side, and his daddy goes over to his bedside cabinet to pick up his lamp that's fallen off.

"Harv, what's this?" He hears his daddy asking as he finishes putting the last book on his shelf; he turns around and notices his daddy holding a balled up piece of paper after repositioning his lamp

"It's not anything important, it's just something I'd written whilst I was up here," he watches as the ball of paper gets unfolded and reveals what has been written on it. When the text is revealed, both Jack and Lee look at it sceptically then cast worrying looks to the young boy in front of them. The paper reads as follows:

Here we are again, awake at 5 AM
I didn't mean a word I said
Can we just pretend I can take it back? Change the way this story ends
I remember when things were simple then, it doesn't always hurt this way
I will fall asleep, you will carry me
You will take my fears away
Am I messed up, forever flawed? Beyond repair, but forever yours
All my life all I've ever done is try and try
I never mean to be your problem child, your problem child
I don't know why I always find a way to make you cry
I never mean to be your problem child, your problem child
When you look at me, I wonder if you see all the things you think I can be
Or all the crazy nights, all the stupid fights
All the tears that fill our eyes
Am I messed up, forever flawed? Beyond repair, but forever yours
All my life all I've ever done is try and try
I don't know why I always find a way to make you cry
I never mean to be your problem child, your problem child
All my life all I've ever done is try and try
I don't know why I always find a way to make you cry
I never mean to be your problem child, your problem child
I don't know why I always find a way to make you cry
I never mean to be your problem child, your problem child
Your problem child
Your problem child

After reading the sheet of paper, Jack looks over at Harvey who is now over at his telescope, inspecting the lens and making sure it's not cracked. He goes over to the redhead with Lee just behind and asks the young boy:

"Why would you think that you're flawed, Harv?"

"Because of my condition," comes the reply

"But that doesn't mean you have to feel like a burden, it just means you're unique," at this, Harvey smiles widely at both of his parents, then finishes inspecting the lens of his telescope. Afterwards, he follows behind his dads out of his room to go back downstairs to his five siblings who have been left to their own devices. Entering into the living room again, he sees his siblings still playing with each other; he goes over to them and begins apologising to them for his behaviour earlier on, which they of course accept; he too joins in playing with his brothers and sisters.