Chapter Two

Chapter 2

 

He hears the phone ringing, but it was too early for anyone to be calling.  He reaches to the side of his bed and presses the ignore button to make it stop ringing.  He rolls over to try and get back to sleep, two seconds later his phone rings again.  Once again he reaches off the side of his bed and ignores the call not even checking to see who it is.  Rolling over once again he figures who ever it is will get the hint that he’ll call them back, but his phone begins to ring again.  He picks up his phone and brings it to his eyes which take a second to adjust.  He sees that it’s his brother Daniel calling.  This was odd because Daniel was never up that early.  Michael answers the phone.

“Why are you calling me so early?  You’re never up at this time.”  Michael says confused.

“It’s Mom, someone broke into the house and… George is dead.”  Daniel says trying to break the news lightly.

“Come on man, this isn’t a funny joke.  It’s way too early to be joking with me right now.”  Michael says aggravated.

“It’s not a joke, I’m at their house right now and there’s media and cops every where.”  Daniel says in a very serious voice.”

“How’s Mom, did they hurt her?  Is she alright?  Daniel, please tell me the truth!”  Michael says sitting up in worry, hoping nothing bad had happened to his mom.

“She’s a little beat up but she’s alright, but George was shot in the head and didn’t make it.”  Daniel says reassuringly.

Michael begins to feel guilty thinking back to this conversation.  The news about what had happened to George actually came as a relief.  He wasn’t happy he was dead, but wasn’t upset about it either.  George was the only person in this world that could actually bring Michael down and make him feel like a lesser man.  Michael would never have to worry about feeling that way again.

“I’ve got to go, the cops want to speak to me. I’ll give you a call back in a little while when I figure out more.”  Daniel says rushing off the phone.

As Daniel hangs up, Michael heads straight to the computer.  Although Daniel sounded extremely serious he thought this may just be an over the line joke.  He pulls up the local Texas news website and there was the house.  He press’s play on the video and quickly realizes that this is no joke.  The reporter had said they took his mother in for questioning, and this confused him.  “Why would they take her in for questioning?”  He thought to himself.  This didn’t make sense; they wouldn’t do that unless they thought she had something to do with it.  Michael picks up the phone and calls the local police station trying to get ahold of his mom to make sure she was alright.  Every time he just got the operator and they wouldn’t allow him to speak to his mother.

Since he wasn’t getting any information from the police, Michael just sat there at the computer waiting for more information from the computer.  Unable to speak to any officers he had to find out everything through the media.  Daniel wasn’t answering the phone anymore and the media said that his mother was finally released from questioning and allowed to leave.  He immediately switched over to a travel website and bought a plane ticket to Texas for the next day.  After buying the ticket he just waited by his phone, impatiently waiting for a return call from Daniel.  Hours later the phone rings, Michael quickly answering it before the first full ring was done.

“Hello?”  Michael said anxiously awaiting news.

“Hey it’s me.”  His mom says choking back tears.

“Are you ok?  We don’t have to talk about anything right now, but please tell me you’re alright.”  Michael said rushing to finish his sentence so she could answer.

“I’m ok, just got a black eye.  George is dead Michael, he’s gone and they wouldn’t let me see him!”  His mom says breaking down having to take a deep breath after every word.

“I know, I bought a plane ticket home and will be there in the morning.  I will talk to you more when I get there, just wanted to know you were alright.  Can you put Daniel back on the phone?”  Michael says in a calming voice.

“Alright man, I’m going to let you go and take care of her.”  Daniel says trying to rush off the phone.

“Hey, before you go.  I am getting in around 8 a.m.  Will you be able to pick me up?  Are y’all going back to the house?”  Michael said trying to get a few answers.

“Yea, I’ll be able to get you in the morning, just text me your flight information when we get off the phone.  We’re going to Aunt Laylas’ house; I really don’t think it’s a good idea to go back to the house right now.”  Daniel says.

“Alright, I’ll text you the flight information and see you in the morning.  Please call me if anything changes or if anything else goes wrong.”  Michael says getting ready to hang up.

“I will Bro, I love you and will see you tomorrow.” Daniel says.

“Love you too.”  Michael says as he hangs up the phone.

Michael tries to sleep that night but just can’t.  He reads every news post he can find on the internet about what happened and is confused.  Out of anything that could happen in his life this seemed to be the top ten most likely in his head.  He doesn’t worry about his mom because he knows she’s safe with Daniel, but his mind just goes through stories of what could’ve happened that night.  Out of all the images his imagination could dream up, the thought of his mom pulling the trigger wasn’t one of them.  He doesn’t see why she would do something like that because they were very wealthy and she lived the perfect rich house wife life that she had always wanted.  “There’s no way she did it.”  He thinks to himself.  “The cops probably just have to question her and were just doing their jobs.”

It’s now eight o’clock the next morning and Michael is just now stepping off the plane.  He heads to the baggage claim area where Daniel is waiting for him.  Before any words are said they go in for the hug.  This hug in Michaels’ mind is not just a hug, it’s “The hug” because this was the hug that got him through his childhood.  He couldn’t imagine what life would’ve been like without that comfort.  Michael didn’t have to wait for any bags because all he brought was a carry on.  He wasn’t going to waste his time packing all his stuff because he figured he was just going to be in town for a couple days to make sure the family was alright.  They start walking out towards the airport parking lot.

“So, how is she?”  Michael asks, already knowing the answer.

“She’s pretty shaken up, the crying comes and goes.  She’ll be fine one second and then breaking down the next.  You’ll see when we get there, for now I want to catch up with you.  How is it in Chicago?”  Daniel asks.

“Well I never understood why it was called the windy city until I moved there.”  Michael said sarcastically.

They spent the rest of the car ride to their Aunt Laylas’ house just catching up, trying to pretend like Michael was just in town for vacation.  Michael noticing that his brother is just doing what he does best which is being the strong one.  Daniel was always trying to take Michaels mind off things when life was bad.  He was happy that Daniel distracted him during the car ride, and he did a great job at it.  Michael had felt as though he really was just in town visiting for no reason for almost the entire car ride, until they reached his Aunts street.  Reality starts to kick in and the sadness for his mother begins to sink it.  Michael could never understand why, even after the horrible past, he couldn’t bear to see his mother cry or feel any type of pain.  As they pull in to the driveway Michael prepares himself mentally for what he was about to see.

Michael gets out of the car and heads to the front door.  As soon as he walks in he sees his mom sitting at the dining room table both eyes swollen from crying, but only one was black.  He goes up to her and she stands up putting her arms around him to give him a hug, something Michael wasn’t used to getting from his mother.  As soon as Michael puts his arms around his mother she begins to break down again.  Crying so hard that Michaels’ hands are the only things stopping her from falling to the ground.  He doesn’t know what to do at the point, and just holds on to her and lets her cry.  A few minutes later she catches her breath and her legs are now strong enough to where he can let her go without her falling.  They both sit back down at the dining room table.

“Why did they take you in for questioning at the police station?”  Michael asked, knowing it was too soon, but curiosity had gotten the best of him.

Author's Note

This chapter is not finished, just wanted you to see the direction it's heading.