The Boy Next Door

Chapter 27

Chapter 27:

That's horrible!, I think but I let Stuart continue.

"All the friends I had just left me, fake friends in a form of best friends they were. I was left a lone, I was rejected and lonely from a popular boy. Harry had left me in the world a lone. Mum and Dad were left speechless and heart-broken, his loss was too much for them after all he had made them proud, really proud, in fact he made the whole Reading proud. 

We had to move on, slow it was but still. I decided to become more like Harry, an independent, strong person who could support himself a lone. I decided that I would make Dad's dream of having an economist as a son come true, since that day, I promised that I would take the subject later on in my school life. The first few months were the hardest. I remember sometimes in the morning to wake up Harry, since he was a great sleeper, Mum would knock on his door and say 'My darling, breakfast's ready!' She'd wait for five minutes or so and then she'd open the door. His empty bed and clean room reminded her he was no more in this world but he was just there in our hearts. She'd then sit on his bed, smell the bed cover which would smell of him, fresh lavender, his favourite scent. Then she'd kiss his picture on the side-table and say 'Why, Harry, why?' And she'd sob and then get up, spraying the whole room with lavender air-freshener, his favourite.

This brings tears to my eyes and I let then fall. Stuart blinks his clear blue eyes which go watery and continues.

"Dad used to say 'Wait, Harry's coming,' but then he'd realize and then take me to the car to go to school. At times I felt like he was behind me, laughing or smiling like he used to. Some times, I thought that he, would come from the behind and say 'Boo! Scared ya, Stu!' and then smile if I'd get scared or would come up and say 'Need help with that?' I knew that I couldn't give up after all I had to be there for Mum and Dad, that would be what Harry would want me to do." Stuart sniffs.

"But we slowly learned how to continue without him. One bright sunny day, Mum fell ill. She could hardly stand. We rushed her to the hospital and the doctors told us she was pregnant. Dad and I felt delighted. 

'God is sending us joy, Stuart, joy because we were patient, He is so Merciful!' Dad said. I was over-joyed to know that I'd be a brother again. Mum was crying with happiness. It was like the rainbow had finally came out, and the Sun had slowly shinning for us. We used to spend hours, days, nights, weeks making long lists of both grils' names and boys' names. We finally decided to go with "Megan" if it would be a girl and "Lucas"  if it would be a boy.

It was the sixth month finally and we would know the gender now. We went to the hospital to get to know. After two days when we went to fetch the reports, Mum fainted on the way to the doctor's office. They rushed her to the ER and did a few tests. They checked her blood-pressure and it was very high. They didn't know what it was and the test reports were confusing. They suspected that she had Meningitis. They ran her through test for the disease but it wasn't it. They wondered what it was. They checked if she had brain tumor, but she did not. They finally did a test and found out that she was effected by MND, Motor Neuron Disease.

'This type doesn't have a cure, un-fortunately,' The doctor informed us. 'But we will try our best, our medication might just work.' Those days were toughest. Dad and I had already lost Harry and now Mum, no, we kept on believing in her strength of surviving. Mum was a tough fighter, she didn't give up. After a couple of weeks, Mum was busy in the kitchen cooking, when she fell. She yelled of pain. I rushed to her to help her up. As soon as I left her arm so that she'd stabilize, she fell down, she couldn't stand on her own feet.

It was MND virus acting at its peak. It paralyzed Mum and she couldn't walk. I hated to see her like that. Next thing we knew that one morning she woke up and she couldn't speak or move even a finger. It was like she's a statue who could just breathe. Dad was heart-broken. He took off from his office and stayed home and took care of Mum.

It was a breezy day of May when I returned home to find an ambulence outside my house I rushed to see. It was Mum, she had to be rushed to the hospital. By the time we reached the hospital, Mum was gone.." Stuart breaks into tears and I hug him, also crying.

How strong he is, how brave he is!