I don't know

2

Allison pulled up in the hospital's parking lot. She had left the triplets with her sister, whom she had urgently called after she finished talking to Anthony. She felt so bad for Anthony. She had dumped the news of a divorce on him, and less than an hour later, he had found out his father was in the A&E. She loved Lucia, Austin, Archie, and Thomas like they were her own, and just because she was going to divorce Anthony, she wasn't going to cut off her ties with them. Even if Anthony and Thomas didn't have the best relationship, she had known Lucia and Thomas since she was 12. And when her brother passed away when she was 16, they had been there for her, and she was going to be there for their family. She owed them, and it was her responsibility.

She rushed to the receptionist and asked, 'I'm looking for Thomas James,'

The receptionist looked up from the paperwork he was filling out, 'Of course. How are you related to him?'

Allison confidently replied, 'His daughter-in-law,'

'Go forward and take a right. Second door to your left.'

She thanked him before rushing off.

'Anthony! What on earth happened?' She asked the minute her husband came in sight.

'Doctors say it was a heart attack. I need to go look for Archie. He apparently left for some gathering before... this happened.' Anthony said as he grabbed his car keys out. 'Mum's in a state. Austin is in there with her. I'll be here as quick as I find Archie. Thank you.'

'Nonsense. They're my family, Anthony. Even if the divorce is going to happen.'

Anthony smiled gratefully before he left the A&E, leaving Allison with Lucia. When Anthony got into the car, he realised he didn't know where his brother had gone off to. He wanted to bang his head on the steering wheel but didn't as the steering wheel was expensive to replace, and he still had to find Archie. He remembered Austin telling him he wanted to go to a hang out with his friends Dean, but Lucia said it was too late to go out, and he had gotten mad, flipped her off, and left. So he was guessing that he would be at Dean's house. He started the ignition as he tried to remember off the top of his head where Dean's house was.

~~~
Archie James was having the time of his life. He had asked his mother if he could hang out at his friends house as it was Dean and she loved Dean, but guess what? She still said no. So he demanded why he couldn't go, and when Lucia told him it was too late, he just rolled his eyes and walked out of the door. Sure, he'd have to face his father's wrath when he got home, but who cares? His dad would just ground him for a week, but what use was that? He had a window for a reason.

'Hey man!' Dean said as he greeted his friend with a fist bump. 'So you convinced your mum?

'Yep. You brought the movies?' Archie asked. He felt weird for some reason. Something was telling him to go back home to be with his family, but he ignored it. It wasn't his first time he did something like this.

The boys began to watch the movies one after the other. They were mostly ones that their parents didn't let them watch. Dean was using the garage and told his parents Archie was coming over, and they weren't too bothered about it even if it was late. If it was Archie's parents, they would've definitely sent Dean home and told Archie off. Dean's parents were cool. No matter how much Arhcie tried to concentrate on the movie, a feeling kept rising in him like a spring, but he kept pushing it down.

After a few hours, they heard footsteps coming down, so they hurriedly switched the TV off. It was Mr. Wood.

'Archie, your brother's at the door.' He said groggily and looked like he had just woken up.

Dean looked over at Archie with a questioning look, to which Archie just responded with a shrug. He truly didn't know why his brother was here.

'I'm coming,' he said as he walked out to see his oldest brother Anthony standing there, not looking very pleased. A thousand questions flew through Archie's mind. Why was Anthony here? Why did his parents send him? Why was he wearing a nightshirt on top of jeans?

'Sorry, Mrs Wood, but I just need to pick Archie up,' Anthony said, talking to Dean's mother. He spotted  Archie, and as much as he wanted to lash out at the boy, he kept his composure. 'Archie, get in the car.'

'Why?' Archie demanded. He wanted to know why his eldest brother was here at 11 in the night. Like this man could be pretending to be his brother to kidnap him. Anthony threw Archie a murderous look. That was his brother, alright.

'Archie, get in, and I'll explain. Thank you, Mrs Wood.' Anthony said, rubbing his temples. He didn't want to get into a fight, not now not here.

Archie threw Anthony a murderous look before getting into the car and slamming the door. Anthony sighed heavily, dreading the day he had to deal with 3 teenagers at the same time. Sure, he was a teenager at a point, but then he was terrified of his father. Archie, on the other hand, was more... daring.

'What is going on?' Archie demanded. 'Why are you here? It's literally a 5-minute walk home. We can walk home. We don't need to ruin the environment in the process, you know.' Archie said, trying to annoy his brother.

'We're not going home. We're going to the hospital.' Anthony replied, ignoring Archie's comment about the environment.

'Why?' Archie interrogated. He wanted to know why he was being dragged somewhere by his brother, who he only saw in the holidays as him and his Dad had issues even though he only lived 15 minutes away.

'Because Dad had a heart attack,' Anthony replied, keeping calm and as much as he wanted to shout at his brother he decided now was not the time. Especially with what was going on.

'WHAT? And you didn't even call me!' Archie exclaimed, his eyes wide in terror. How dare they not call him when his own father was in the hospital?!

'Austin called you 5 times. He said it went to voicemail.' Anthony replied in the same tone.

Archie paused for a moment before he retrieved his phone to realise his brother was stating the truth. Austin had indeed called him 5 times.

'I didn't realise.' Archie muttered. 'Is he ok?'

Anthony softened his tone, 'I'm sure he's going to be fine, Archie.'

'You don't know that!' Archie exclaimed as they pulled up in the hospital's car park.

'Archie... What you did tonight was completely unacceptable and will be discussed soon, but right now, you need to calm down.Ok?'

Archie nodded solemly. What Anthony didn't know was that Archie felt bad. Really bad. He knew he shouldn't have screamed at his mother and left the house even though she said no. And maybe... just maybe if he had gone home, his father would be there, alive and well.

~~~

Austin wanted to fall asleep. He tucked his knees to his chin and rested his head on them. Ally had arrived a few minutes ago, and Anthony had left to go look for Archie. His mum was staring at the floor, tears still streaming down her face. Ally was talking to the doctors, and she didn't look pleased with any of them. She walked over to Austin and took a seat next to him.

'Hey. Once Anthony comes back with Archie, I'll send both of you over to the house so you can get some sleep.' She said, smiling at him reassuringly. He smiled back, but it was a weak attempt.

Then Anthony walked into the waiting room with Archie behind him. Archie was staring at the floor as he walked in. Lucia looked up and let out a little gasp. Archie walked over to her and sat down next to her. She wrapped an arm around him, kissing his forehead.

'I'm sorry,' he muttered.

'It's OK, Archie,' Lucia whispered back.

Silence descended among the James' family. Anthony and Allison were talking in hushed tones so Archie nor Austin could hear them.

Then, a nurse exited the A&E room, looking solemn. Everyone looked up at her, worried and anxious.

'I'm sorry. He's no more.'