All Mine

Chapter 23

Emily’s POV

For the past few weeks Maddy has been away Harry hasn’t been himself at all. Before Maddy came along Harry was quite shy and not a very social person. In England he played football for the school boys’ team, the only amount of socialising he did. Moving to Australia was a long, thought-through decision that we made as a family. Now that Maddy gone it seems as though he has no will to live anymore, I know that’s cliché but what else am I to think. He is always at Maddy’s house, he has dinner with her family at least three times a week and his mobile doesn’t leave his side. He stares at the screen waiting for a new message but sometimes they just don’t come. Of course I’ve tried talking to him, trying to get into his head and figure out what’s going on with him but he won’t let me in. He’s been very distant, even Oliver has picked up on the signals. I’ve been contemplating speaking to his teachers but I don’t want to pry, I mean it could be nothing and I don’t want to seem nosey. I know he could resent me for it but I’ve decided it’s the only thing to do, I have no other options. I’m concerned for my son. I know how much Harry loves Maddy but if she isn’t coming home anytime soon I honestly don’t know how long Harry can go on like this.

“Harry!” he stops in his tracks, his body slowly turning towards me.

“Yeah?”

“I am going to speak to your teachers, is that okay?” I ask hoping to god he doesn’t turn on me.

“I guess,” he turns to head to his room, “Why?” I knew it was coming.

“Well I’m worried about your...” I pause not sure whether I should tell him the truth, “about your marks, I want to speak to a few teachers and figure out how they mark everything, I’m confused.” Harry’s face turns confused, a face I’ve seen a lot recently.

“Okay,” he turns back around and strolls towards his room with his head hanging low. Heavy guilt growls through my body but I push it aside knowing I’m doing the right thing.

As Harry leaves for school I jump in the car buckling Bella in with me. The traffic is relentless, which confuses me, generally it’s hard to find a car. I pull up in the school car park, far away from where I can see Harry’s car. I only step out of the car once the kids become scarce. Class has begun.

I trudge through the car park, the heat melting the tar making it stick to my shoes. Bella wriggles in my arms and as I swing open the door to the office a friendly man greets me in the doorway. “Hello, can I help you?” he asks. “I’m Mr Utah,” he adds.

“Hi, I’m Emily Moore, uh is it possible to speak to you about my son?” he nods with a smile.

“That’s fine, a parent just rang to cancel their appointment so you’re in,” he offered for me to follow him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know we had to book an appointment,” I apologise taking a seat before his desk. Facing him I feel as though I am back in high school myself, embarrassing memories of being sent to the principal’s office flood my mind.

“It’s fine Mrs Moore, you’re new so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt,” he chuckled. His skin was dark which made me wonder what culture he was from. “So what can I do for you?”

“Well I suppose your aware of your ex-student Madelyn Kingsley?” he nodded signalling for me to continue, “Well she moved away to Paris and Harry is almost lost without her, I was wondering if you have anything to tell me about his actions or a change in his grades, I don’t know how to help him?” his face fell serious.

“Mrs Moore this is quite serious, the more Harry dwells on Madelyn the worse he’ll get. I will get his teacher in here in a moment and they can speak to you one by one. I suggest you speak to him, you must let him open up,” Bella wriggled on my lap before a horrid smell erupted from her nappy.

“Thanks, uh do you have a bathroom I can fix her up in?” he smiled before showing me the way to the teachers’ bathrooms. I was happy not to have bumped into Harry or any of his friends.  After switching Bella into a fresh nappy we returned to Mr Utah’s office where several teachers were waiting, so much for one at a time.

“Mrs Moore, it’s nice to meet you,” once I counted I found that there was six teachers waiting to spill their guts to me.

“Hi, I was wondering if any of you could tell me any changes or worries you have towards my son Harry Moore?” two of the teachers quickly explained that they hadn’t noticed anything but worryingly four of them remained.

“Mrs Moore, I’ve noted Harry’s changes in a diary, I knew things weren’t going well for him and I’ve written it all down here. I asked all the teachers to do the same so anything you need to know Is in this book,” A blonde lady with an enviable figure handed me a small black diary and when I turned the pages every page had at least a squiggle.

“I’ve noted the changes in grades, they have gone down in math and arent looking promising for getting any better,” the blonde steps away.

“He hasn’t contributed to any class discussion and shows no interest in any subject. He needs you. He needs you to talk to him, you must get it all out,” explains a tall man with curly brown hair.

“He needs a shoulder to lean on. He misses Maddy; she became his everything when he had nothing.” How these teachers could read him so well amazed me, “He created a song in Music,” she began again, “It was very deep, nothing to be worried about, if I was you I’d be proud he has a sensational voice. It’s just the subject line, the song was called ‘Come back’. Was he a little down last week?” before long a music video of my son was playing on a small screen laptop in front of me. She was right, he did have an amazing voice but I’ve known that for a long time. What I didn’t know is how much he put into his lyrics.

“Um yes, on Wednesday especially,” I explain. I wait hoping they would have an answer.

“Wednesday was the day he performed this song for the class, few people laughed knowing exactly who the song was written about,” my heart sunk.

“Her name was sung a fair few times,” I chuckled half-heartedly.

“I think the only thing you can do now is speak to him, get his story and help him through this.” The tall man interrupted the blonde.

“I’ve found that having a goal or a prize, something to look forward to helps with depression,” the word I dreaded pierced the silence like a knife. It was a horrid word. It was a word I’d hoped as a mother that I would never use to describe my son. Not Harry.

“Okay, thank you for your time, I appreciate it,” before I could escape the dreary office I was halted by Mr Utah.

“Mrs Moore, I take it that you don’t like the news you’ve received. Call me for another appointment in a week or two so as a team we can help Harry through this, he’ll be okay,” he assured me. I gave him a half-hearted smile before leaving and almost racing to the car.

Bella seemed completely oblivious as to what was going on.

When I reached home I was left on my own until the boys would come home. I entertained Bella and watched a few movies to keep my mind off Harry’s situation but nothing would work. The whole day was spent imagining what I was going to say to Harry this afternoon, was it too soon? Please don’t let it be too late!

Home alone I replayed the simple but devastating statement the doctor gave us just a year ago. “You have a rare disease; it affects less than one in ten thousand people in the world. I’m sorry Harry but you can’t expect to live past a year from now.” The long and painful word ‘incurable’ invaded my mind. Why Harry? I honestly can’t even remember the name of his condition, I’ve tried to block it from my mind on so many occasionsand maybe it was starting to work. Maybe Harry was at the last of his days. The thought pierced my mind sending my brain into total shut down. Not now! Not ever! Please.