Wish You Were Here

Chapter four

Chapter 4

"Atticus, wake up."
I awoke to Riley gently shaking me.
"What?" I said angrily. I was really tired. When I fell asleep they had just brought me back to my room after the amputation. They had my leg cut off from the hip at an angle, so I looked like a barbie/ken doll with a leg torn off.
"I have to tell you something."
"Yes?"
"In a few weeks, I'll be leaving town for a while. For Navy stuff." Her eyes looked down at my leg, or rather, where my leg used to be and I could tell she was upset.
"What kind of Navy stuff?"
"It's confidential."
"Oh."
"Atticus, I don't know if I'm coming back. If I don't, I want you to find someone who loves you as much as I do. Find a prom date. Move on."
"Are you breaking up with me?"
"No, but if I don't return then you need to move on as if I did."
"Oh."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
I moved her head down to mine and kissed her gently.
"I love you Atticus."
"You stole something from me." I told her.
"And what would that be?" She asked me, getting frustrated.
"My heart." I kissed her again, and afterwards she hugged me for a long time.
"This is where we need to be."
"Yeah, it is."
She crawled into the tiny bed and slid under my arm. I couldn't resist how cute she was all curled up. I kissed the top of her head, and what she said next surprised me.

26
"I love you."
"I love you too." I replied, stunned as I realized how easily the words came from me.
"Do you ever think Cole would stop bullying you?"
"You'd have to kill him for him to stop bullying me."
"Nothing else?"
"You could try but he'll start again eventually. Believe me, I've tried."
"So if I really, really wanted him to stop, I'd have to kill him?"
I was appalled at this. I was sure she wouldn't do it, but there's always a chance that anything could happen, at any time. "Please don't try."
"I won't. But is that the case?"
"Yeah. That would be the case."
"Wow."
"Yeah."
I felt my eyelids droop, and as soon as I began drifting to sleep I heard my phone ring.
I looked at the screen and saw an unknown number flash across. I answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hey sweetie!"
"Mom?"
She began to talk so fast that I could barely understand her "Just called to check up on you. I can't wait for you to be home! Great news, to try to be better parents, we're moving back home! We'll be a family again! Your father's not very excited but he'll come around. If you're anything like your brother, you'll be excited!"
"Mom..."
"Oh, I'm doing it again. When do you get to come home? Two, three days? I can't wait!"
"Mom!" I snapped.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm talking too much again too. What were you going to say, dear?"
"They, last night-"
Her tone changed from overly joyful to very serious. "What happened last night?"
"They had to give me an amputation because of the knife. I lost my leg, and the way that C- I mean, whoever did this, they jammed the blade in such a way that they had to cut at an angle, and they don't have a prosthetic that will work to support my tiny body weight. I was too small for the ones they have."
"Oh my god, Atticus, I'm so sorry. Did they say anything else about your abnormal eating habits?"
"Well, since I haven't eaten this entire time, no, and that's not my main concern right now."
"You haven't eaten at all?" Riley interjected. I held up one finger and begun to wrap up our conversation.
"I'd really like to get some sleep mom. I'll call you soon, okay?"
27
"Okay, I love you baby!"
"Love you too."
I pressed the button on my phone and was immediately bombarded with questions and accusations from Riley.
"You haven't been eating! Oh my god Atticus! What's wrong with you? Why?"
"Okay, before you go all haywire, just know that I was born with a small stomach. I hardly eat at all because I can't, and when I do it either tides me for like 4 days or or I just barf it up."
"Atticus you haven't eaten in how long?"
"Seven days."
"And you've been here...?"
"...Seven days."
"Please eat something. For me?"
I was getting hungry, so I agreed.
"Tell you what. I'm going to get you something good, okay?"
"I'm a vegetarian, actually."
"Okay, well, that limits my options, but I can still get you something good."
"Okay."
"I'll be back, okay?"
"Okay."
She walked out of the room and I suddenly realized that I was sort of hungry. Usually due to my tiny stomach I ate a large meal and didn't eat again for four days at most. I drank plenty and as a result of my tiny, tiny stomach I was perfectly healthy. I guess seven days was a little too much though.
I was still thinking about this when I turned on the tv. There was some kind of Spanish soap opera thing, and I flipped through channels until I heard something interesting. I finally stopped at a news channel as the recent football stats had just stopped.
"And now, two boys, one missing and the other hurt. What happened?"
The woman on screen began to tell the story, from the beginning of the incident to now, of what happened friday night with Cole.
"The killer has been identified as Cole Mason, but has not been found. The victim has been identified as Atticus Matthews, and is currently in the hospital. The victim was found asleep in the park, with a bullet just under the ribcage and knife in his hip. He was rushed to the hospital. The killer is still on the loose. Soon, we will be interviewing Mr. Matthews. Stay tuned."
I clicked off the TV. Soon, there would be a swarm of news reporters here. On top of that, this was a rerun from yesterday. They could be here in five minutes for all I know. Then, speak of the devil, there was a knock at the door.
"Come in." I said warily.