A Soldier's Guide to Single Parenting

Picking Up the Pieces Part 10

I was shocked when I saw him. My son was almost unrecognizable to me.

My heart sunk and my stomach churned. I was shaking as I covered my face with my hands and drew a deep breath.

"Oh God!"

'What had they done to my boy'?

Despite all the horror I witnessed in Vietnam, nothing could have prepared me for the sight of David lying motionless before me. Kept alive only by a machine. Todd had his hand on my shoulder as he pushed my wheelchair up to the side of the bed. Next to me, Suzanne gasped and began sobbing. She turned to Todd for comfort and he held her. Jon followed us into the room but stood back. He was barely able to look at his brother as he fought back tears. He lasted only a couple of minutes, wiping his face with his forearms and staring hard at me as he walked away.

"I'll go and see if he's okay," said Todd. We both knew that Jon wouldn't talk to me. It was more than he could do to look at me.

As Todd left, Suzanne sat on the chair next to the bed, biting her lip and trying to compose herself.

"Simon's dead!"

"I know."

"What happened? What's going on, Daddy? I'm scared. How did you get shot?" I was expecting those questions, but I didn't have any answers or none she would have accepted.

'Should I tell her I tried to kill myself'?

Even that seemed irrelevant now, compared to what happened or what could still happen. We didn't know for sure if David was going to pull through. Officially he was in critical condition but that's all any of the doctors would tell us.

The senior consultant had already spent several minutes explaining David's injuries and preparing us for what we were about to see. He had been attacked with a blunt object, fracturing his skull and putting him into a coma. He was hit several times in the face and had broken bones in both legs. The doctors wouldn't speculate how it happened but he was lucky to be alive. Clearly whoever attacked him meant to kill him and i got the impression the doctors were trying to prepare us for such an outcome.

"Simon's father did this," I hissed, my fingers digging into the arms of the wheelchair in a silent rage. "He drugged me and took the boys away."

I was ready to rip him apart.

Todd had earlier confirmed that Darcy had been taken into police custody and was being questioned. Simon's death—a drug overdose—was being treated as suspicious, possibly murder.

"How could he do this?" asked Suzanne. "And you let him."

I closed my eyes, hoping to return to my dreams but this was real. I had lost track of time. "What day is it?"

"It's Thursday." she said sobbing. "They found him on Monday in a doorway downtown in the Combat Zone." When I reached out my hand to comfort her she turned away making it clear she didn't want me to touch her. My shame was complete. Simon was dead, David was in a coma, Suzanne and Jon wanted nothing to do with me, and it was all my fault. I could have stopped it all.

"I thought he was with you at Todd's house. I had no idea. The phone's been cut off. I'm sorry."

"It's not me who you need to say sorry to. It's your son!" She stood up and walked out, leaving me alone with him.

I leaned forward to hold his lifeless but warm hand and stare at my once beautiful boy. I was sickened by the severity of his injuries. It was impossible for me to comprehend how anyone could inflict such brutality on a person who was no more than a child.