Blown Apart

19

Cody's POV

Mom speed walks all the way to the car walking six steps in front of Brynlee and me and muttering to herself. She was stressed and I get that but she didn't need to ignore me for it. On the way out we are met with Dr Robbins who waves encouragingly and mom walks straight on not even seeing her. I stop and so does Bryn. We didn't want to be rude but it's not like either of us had been in a room alone with her before, or even talked to her in general.

"Sorry, she's stressed." I say not really sure how this was going to go.

"It's fine. I see you guys are going home tonight. First time I have seen you in a while leaving." She said with a chuckle but it's true we hadn't been home since everyone was in the hospital after the first night where we went home to get a change of clothes. After that once, we hadn't since.

"Yeah it's been a while. I guess we will be off now." I say as Bryn just stood next to me nodded, she had never been one to really be the most sociable but I can tell this would be a convenient time to leave.

Thank goodness she understood and nodded as we left. Me and Bryn walked to the car in silence and saw mom waiting to go. We got in the car and the silence became very awkward.

"Mom..." Brynlee asked, from the back seat in the car.

"Yes." Mom looks at Bryn from her mirror briefly.

"Will the others be able to come home soon?" Bryn asked.

"I don't know Brynlee Bear." Mom said, focusing more on the road than on Bryn.

"What were you and mama arguing about?" Brynlee continued with the questions and I knew it was a risky road she was going down.

"It was nothing, just a lot going on."

"Can we see Bronte tomorrow?"

"Byrnlee stop with the questions! I'm tired . Okay, can we talk tomorrow?" Beca snapped and I could see Brynlee taken back.

"Fine." Brynlee snapped, turning to look out the window. We sat in silence until we got to the house. We all just sat there looking at the house. It felt different since no one else was in there and knowing where they were as well made the house feel so empty.

We all got out of the car and made our way inside. No one said a word to each other as everyone went their separate ways. I went up to my room as Mom collapsed on the couch turning on the TV, Brynlee struggled down to her room, asking Mom, reluctantly, in a minute to come help her get dressed. She had still been struggling getting used to using only one arm but she was doing a pretty good job she hadn't overly complained until now. When after Mom and snapped at her she wanted to continue ignoring her, but couldn't. She would eventually use her arm again.

I reached the landing where all the rooms led out of and at the end of the corridor the ladder which leads to Bronte's room. She hated when any of us went in her room without permission. The amount of times she went on about getting a lock on her door was unbelievable. She claimed it was unfair as she was always out so she was never in their place to 'guard' it. Obviously it was a no. Mama didn't want anyone to feel locked out and hated locking doors. She claimed if it was fully her discuision then we wouldn't even close the doors. She didn't want anyone alone or feeling shut out from on another that's probably why when we all have arguments and slam the doors we get yelled at the most for it.

Even though I knew she would kill me I took the risk. If I'm being honest it didn't seem like she would be home for a while they way people at the hospital talked about her condition. It was never anyone to me directly but the doctors would talk in the hallways all the time. It was difficult to hear them talk like she wasn't real but it wasn't like I was going to say anything. It was the only way I heard what was happening with her. Because my parents couldn't bring it up without crying. Or arguing now as it seems. Cause even though they didn't say it that was definitely what they were talking about. It's what everyone is talking about now.

I climb the wooden 'Stairs' that were built when she was younger as a toddler was never going to be able to climb a rusty metal ladder. I mean she couldn't climb these stairs but she learnt and after having to carry her up there all the time she suddenly became tall enough. Just. I push the trap door open and climb the last few steps until I stood in her room. I didn't close it. I wasn't planning on staying long.

The room was a mess as usual. I looked around her room. It felt like a whole different room. There are cabinets behind the door full of thousands of trophies. Outside too as they didn't all fit in. There were hooks on the walls full of medals too. I reached my hand out and heard them all clink together. I felt the way they were engraved on the back. I picked on up and turned it around. Mom always insisted after every event she would go out and get them written on the back what the date was and what she got it for on the back so when she looked back she remembered. I try to step forward only to hit a large cardboard box again filled with more medals and trophies. The cabinets and hooks had been a new thing that mom was doing; she just never got round to putting them all up. Because Bronte would be out winning more every other week.

I move away and step over all the clothes from the floor. The messy unmade bed. The unfinished homework spread all over the desk. I go over and glance at the work on the table. It was due in for the day after she started it. Now it's obviously late. But nobody's thinking about her maths homework. Come to think of it I hadn't even thought about going back to school in ages. I glance at what she has written and what it was meant to be. She's wrong. She never got Math. And like most things she didn't get she would leave till last minute and push off until she had to do it. It seemed like there wasn't anything in her room and the stuff that wasn't where it was meant to be. She had pictures stuck on the wall of her friends and us. And I realized everything had changed. I hadn't seen Bronte to know that this is gonna have hit her like a ton of breaks. Everyone has been hit by a ton of breaks. I make my way down to the ladder making mental notes before she comes home, we clean her room.

Tomorrow hopefully we get to see Bronte, and as excited as I am I'm also nervous. I don't expect it to be bad. But hopefully Bronte is still positive about it. We should bring board games into play. Gives us all something to do, and probably good for her to take her mind off and relax. It will also be good for Cece to leave her room. Maybe we could ask about when Cece can leave. She seems to be doing well and taking her tablets in time and I think it would be good to be able to go home more and have moms have some good news. And after seeing Bronte we can see when she can go home too. I hope we get good news. Hopefully it causes everyone to stop arguing and cheer up. And I can't wait to see my baby sister and her cheerful smile. The way she always puts everything into her running and works til she's right. She will be doing it now, showing her doctors how quickly she can bounce back. I can't wait to see that. That has to cheer everyone else up as well.