Freaks: Year Two

The Invisible Coat

Toby woke up to the sound of crying.

He tried to sit up quickly, wincing from the pain in the side of his stomach. He looked over and squinted in the dark to see who it was.

It was Francis.

Toby felt horrible at this realisation. First Francis had to experience for the first time how loud and horrible the house got, and now he could not even escape it in his sleep.

Toby needed to check on him, but when he tried to move, a pain seared through his leg and that just made him think, what if he really did need the hospital? He tried to push that thought away, and attempted to move to get to Francis, but with another ache in his leg, he knew moving would only make it worse.

He turned to Ethan who was sprawled out on the floor. "Ethan?" Toby whispered. No change. No indication that he had been awoken. Toby grabbed the pillow from behind his head and dropped it on Ethan's face. "Wake up."

Ethan started to claw at the pillow and Toby just stared at him, wondering if he was in the middle of a dream or if he was semi-awake and just being weird. "Ethan," Toby hissed. "Stop being a cat."

"Oh, just shhhhhhh."

Toby let out a frustrated sigh. "Ethan, this is serious. Wake up, I need your help."

Ethan slowly got up, removing the pillow from his face. He rubbed his eyes before he looked up at Toby, sleepily. "Hm?"

"Francis is crying," Toby said in a whisper. "Can you bring him over here? I want to try to calm him down."

Ethan looked over to where the two younger ones were sleeping on his bed and noticed the crying form of their little brother. He got up quickly, went over to the bed, and slightly shook Francis.

Toby was very glad that Edgar was able to stay asleep during this. Ethan brought over Francis in his arms to the best of his ability and transferred him over to Toby. Toby looked back to Ethan. "Go back to your bed and sleep with Ed. You really shouldn't be sleeping on the floor."

Ethan looked hesitant. "You sure–"

Toby nodded. "Yes, go on," he whispered and Ethan slowly made his way to his own bed where Edgar was still sleeping. Toby gave a small sigh and hugged Francis who was now awake, softly crying. "It's okay," Toby said, rubbing his back soothingly.

"I don't like all the yelling," Francis cried into Toby's shoulder.

Toby continued to hug his brother and consol him the best he could without using words. Toby just hoped it was helping. He really wished that he was able to help calm his younger brother more, but things like this had happened before. Many times, but the difference was that Jasper would be there. He always knew what to do. Toby hoped he was doing it right.

Francis' crying had quieted after a while, and soon Toby realised that Francis had fallen asleep in Toby's arms, face pressed up against his chest. Even though it was not the most comfortable thing for him with the injury at the side of his stomach, at least his little brother was now calm. That was the most important thing.

He would put his little brothers over him any day.

Toby got woken up in the morning by something. He wasn't sure what, but from what he remembered it sounded like someone loudly snapping at someone and he shot up at that, immediately on edge.

He blinked rapidly and when his eyes adjusted, he saw that none of his brothers were in the room with him. He stared for a beat, confused as to where they had gone and cautiously started to move but immediately winced. Yup, his leg was still hurting.