Fallen Behind: The Eighth Brother

Chapter Twenty

Jaylyn's POV

"Jaylyn, sweetie how are you feeling?"

I shrug at my parents.

"The doctor said that your body isn't rejecting the antibiotics. And that you should be good to go home in a couple of days."

I nod to them.

"We have a room cleared on the first floor. It's one of the guest rooms." My mother walks forward to sit on the edge of the bed. "We're so sorry for the way we've been treating you." She dabs at her eyes with her hanker chief. "It's was so wrong of us, and I only hope that you could forgive us. We haven't know what to do with your condition and we didn't know how to treat you. And how we treated you was so awful."

She grabs my hand. "We want things to change. We want to change. Your father and I really want things to be better. Once we get home, we can go shopping for some new things if you want."

I shrug, not really believing her. This is all a show for the people.

She smiles sadly at me and pats my hands.

I put my hands in my lap. The door to my room opens to Ashton and Raven.

"Hey, here's your books." Ashton states as they both walk in. He hands them over and I take them, placing them next to me on the bed.

"Thanks." I take a sharp in take of air when I attempt to sit up.

"You ok?" Raven asks, placing his hand on my shoulder. I nod to him.

"Alright, well, we're gonna head home for the night. We'll be back tomorrow." Mother smiles then her and father left.

I put the math book onto my lap and look at the sticky note on the cover, containing the homework assignment. I open the book and begin the assignment on a scrape piece of paper.

"Have you eaten yet?" Raven asks. I shake my head. "What do you want?"

"I'm not really hungry."

"Well you're gonna eat. So choose something." Raven states, handing me the menu.

I look through it and pick what I want. He calls down and orders what we all want.

"So," Ashton sits down on the edge of my bed. "Oh! There's a note from someone in your science book. I didn't read it, don't worry." I nod my head.

I look back down at my math book and continue doing the homework. It wasn't long until that was done. I started working on my history homework. That only took me like ten minutes. Before doing my chemistry homework, I pull out said note.

You should have been aborted.
-G

I read it over. Tears spring to my eyes and I barely manage to hold them in. I fold it back up and place it underneath my pillow.

"Who's it from?" Raven asks, sitting on the other side of the end of the bed.

I shrug. "Dunno."

"There was no name?" Ashton asks.

"Only 'G'."

"Hm, my friend Gavin signs his name with only G's sometimes. Might've been him." Ashton shrugs. "What'd it say?"

"Nothing important." I state.

"Hmm. So, what are you watching?"

I shrug. Some tv show about people in high school was playing. I wasn't really paying attention to it.

"Withering Heights, I love this show." He glances up at me. "Mind if I lay?" I shake my head at him. He stands up and lays Dow next to. I scoot over to give him more room. He moves around a little before finally getting comfy.

The show plays for a few hours. Then another show they liked came on. When the fifth episode of the second tv show, I fell asleep. I wake up to a needle being pushed into me. I look up to see a nurse putting my IV, which had fallen out at some point, back in. Next to me, Ashton was asleep. Raven wasn't in the room anymore and the tv was shut off. The nurse leaves and I lay back down, quickly falling asleep.

-

Having a normal room was an experience I hadn't had in awhile. It was nice to be sleeping in a comfy, warm bed. My room got extremely hot last night. I got more more last night then most nights.

I had completely forgotten about my job until I got a call this morning. Once I explained what happened, he was nice enough to give me the number to his cousins construction company. He accepted me, after a half hour phone interview. Today is my first day.

Right now, I'm getting ready to go to work. I just got out of the shower and have pulled on boxers and jeans when the door to my room opened up to Ryder, who ran and jumped onto my bed. I turn around in a fright. He looks at me with a smile.

"Good morning Jaylyn!" He says in a singing voice. "Gosh you are too skinny, don't you ever eat?" I laugh nervously.

"Yeah," I say.

"Where are you going?" He asks as I slip on a t shirt.

"I have to go to work." I state.

"Work?" I nod. "Why?" I shrug. "Where at?"

"Miller's Construction." I say.

"Cool, do you need a ride? I can give you ride or any of the boys can."

"No thanks, I like the walk." I smile slightly.

"Are you sure?" I nod. "Alright, well, when do you have to leave?"

"In a few minutes. I want to get there early. It's my first day and all."

"Yeah, I get that." Ryder smiles at me then gets off of the bed. "I'll see you when you get home then."

He wraps his arms around my waist in a hug. I awkwardly hug him back.

Once he leaves, I continue getting dressed. I pull on an old t shirt I don't really care about and pull on the boot I just bought.

Leaving the house, I make my way in the direction of the construction site. Today I work nine o'clock in the morning until seven o'clock tonight.

I made it to the construction site over twenty minutes early. No one was here yet, since I was the first one here.

I set my stuff down and lean against a tree to wait for others to get here. I hear a rustling in the bushes by the other side of the house. I look over and don't see anyone. Passing it off as just and animal or something. But that thought was proven wrong when I heard the crunching of boots on the gravel.

"Don't move or I'll shoot." A voice behind me grunts next to my ear. Presumably, a gun was pushed roughly against my back. He throws me against the wall of the semi built house. "Empty your pockets. Slowly."

I slowly start to empty my pockets. I pull out my almost empty wallet and go to pull out my phone. I stop halfway when it buzzes but I continue to pull it out. A shot rings out and my body crumpled to the ground.

"Shit," he yells. "I thought you said the safety was on!"

"It was supposed to be! Fuck man, what are we gonna do."

"We're gonna get the hell outta here. Leave him be. Wipe the prints off the guns and we'll toss them."

The sound of shoes running away is the last thing I heart before my eyes closed and I gave into the darkness. A smile graced my lips as I thought about how much better my life had gotten these past few days.

I was glad I was gonna die when I finally made amens with my brothers. But I guess some lives just aren't meant to be lived.