Henry’s POV
Kenny leaned on comfortably, his eyes closed in exhaustion.
"Kid, stay here with Kitty." I pointed at the corner of the room, and both looked at in confusion before looking at Kenny.
"He is alright, just tired," I assured the boy and the tiger before asking Kenny just to make sure.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah. You?" He nodded.
"I’m alright too."
The kid nodded and seed less anxious than when he had entered, taking a seat on the tiger when it curled up into the corner I had pointed at.
I could hear different voices inside the house.
For example, Danny, who was apparently getting the mattress out of the ’attic’ with the staff sergeant, who admonished him for crying.
And Jordan, who went to speak with the doctor, telling him to co down.
"You are a disgrace to the military; I can’t believe such a weakling was in my unit!" The staff sergeant huffed while they carried the mattress first out of the attic and then down.
"...I saw...Mrs. Howard...pushing you away...with ease," Danny protested while crying.
"Two laps around the house for you later!"
"But...you aren’t...my sergeant...anymore."
"Three laps!"
Danny managed to get punished with six laps for his constant yapping by the ti we finally saw them arriving in front of the door.
"Is Kenny alright?" Danny cried even louder, putting the mattress down in the open door, with the staff sergeant carrying the other end also letting go.
Kenny snapped his eyes open and glared at him.
"Why the fuck are you crying?"
"Mo...mo...moldy..." Danny started before trying to lunge at Kenny, but the staff sergeant stopped him by grabbing him by the collar.
"Seven laps," he comnted.
"The fucking cast wasn’t moldy; it was just a bit dirty. Calm the fuck down," Kenny growled before pinching my thigh.
"Can you not announce childhood shit to everyone next ti, please?"
"Sorry..." I whined, burying my head in his neck and planting kisses on his skin to ask for forgiveness.
I hadn’t thought straight and just wanted everyone to feel as miserable, if not more, than I was feeling.
The staff sergeant cleared his throat, and when I looked up, I saw Danny, who had stopped crying, staring at us with his mouth agape, while the staff sergeant looked away uncomfortably.
Shit.
"Sorry..." I repeated.
"Mhm..." Kenny humd, but he was pissed off as hell.
"I knew it!" Danny pointed at us while the staff sergeant shook his head and walked away.
"What exactly did you know, Danny? Hmm?" Kenny asked threateningly.
"Yes, what is wrong, Danny?" I placed my head on top of Kenny’s and furrowed my brows at the blonde.
"Nothing," he said droopily before again pointing at us.
"DON’T DO THINGS IN FRONT OF THE KID!" Then he ran away and apparently slamd into Jordan in front of the room, who just brought the doctor down.
"Do what? What’s going on?" Jordan stayed behind while the doctor squeezed himself through the doorfra in which the mattress was placed, with two infusion holders in his hands.
I took a look at the kid, but he was busy combing through Kitty’s fur, the latter clearly happy to get a free grooming.
"How is Kenny?" Jordan asked when Danny didn’t answer him.
"...Better," he said, sounding like he wanted to gossip but not daring to really do it.
"How are you?" The old doctor squatted in front of us and looked into Kenny’s eyes.
"Good. Check him," Kenny motioned at , and I squeezed him happily for constantly worrying about , even though he was angry about kissing his neck in infront of unimportant people.
The doctor took a look at .
"Should we first take care of the... bite wound?"
"No. Give us the vitamin treatnt."
The doctor flinched, for whatever reason scared of , and took Kenny’s arm first to clean it up.
After getting him ready, he got on the IV drip, and I was next.
I still sat there on the floor, leaning against the wall under the window, with Kenny on , both of us full of earth that had dried and stuck to our skin, getting an IV drip myself with people around us—it wasn’t that bad of a morning, given what the night had turned into.
The Lawrence family surely has a worse ti than we do right now.
The doctor soon left, and we heard him report to Mrs. Howard and Ethan upstairs, telling them that we were fine before going back to his room.
Mrs. Howard didn’t co down, but Ethan did, making sure we were alright before he personally reported to the old lady again.
In the end, Danny and Jordan finally left while the kid still lounged on Kitty.
I didn’t want to send them away for now, as I felt safer with them around—safer for Kenny’s psyche.
The said person was dozing off while using as a mattress, and I felt better by the second with feeling his weight and breathing, as well as his heartbeat.
And the vitamins that were entering my body also helped a bit. I didn’t feel like fainting anymore.
It seed that Ethan and Mrs. Howard were silently sitting around when the latter suddenly spoke.
Although quiet, her voice was not soft enough for us not to hear it.
"Did I ever tell you about my first son?"
"No, Mrs. Howard," the attorney answered, and I took a look at Kenny’s face, unsure if he was awake or asleep.
"He was a cheeky little fellow. A brat, constantly making trouble; he took after his bastard of a father..."
There was a long silence, and I thought she wouldn’t talk anymore when she continued.
"He was a good kid. And he grew into a good adult..." She took a sip from a beverage, probably of sothing alcoholic.
"But he dared to die...just like that."
"Without leaving a child, and only when his parents had already grown old." Again a sip, again paralyzing silence.
It doesn’t matter to . I don’t regret telling her the truth, and I don’t regret yelling at her either.
I am growing furious just by thinking about it again.
She could have taken Kenny, but she left him there to be so neglected that it can only be called abuse.
"Back then, it was another ti. Wealthy families needed to have an heir. And although my late husband surely had a bunch of illegitimate children to bring in, would I ever allow that? Ha!" She scoffed.
"Our second son...was the opposite of our first son. Obedient, never a loud word, bad grade, or tantrum..." She sighed.
"We didn’t raise him—I didn’t really raise him because I didn’t want to raise another child at my age. He had nannies and everything he wished for, but he was not without boundaries—I didn’t want to raise a deranged psychopath..." The sound of ice clacking against an empty glass was heard before soone opened a bottle and filled said glass again.
"Contrary to our first son, who had a lot of friends and a lot of girlfriends, the second had fewer, but not none. Besides being uncannily obedient, he grew up to be ’normal.’"
"A few years after my husband’s death, he introduced to his fiancée. I had no specific requirents, but she even ca from a good family... Nevertheless...that girl was...sothing else." She chuckled.
"When he left us alone for a mont, I asked her if she really wanted to be my son’s wife, and that woman said, ’He is okay. I’ll take him.’" Mrs. Howard laughed.
"They loved each other...but they also LIKED each other—the forr leading to marriage, the latter maintaining it."
"That evening, I spoke with my son alone, and I told him, ’No, I am against this marriage; I won’t allow it.’ - That was the first ti he threw a tantrum." She sighed.
"I was relieved."
"They married, and they had a few annoying children."
"Then the girl died. My first thought was...luckily there are children, and I didn’t need to produce another kid with the cold cheating bones that rested inside a grave."
Hearing that, I took a look at Kenny and saw him chuckling.
"Because I knew that it was over for The Second. He was broken. I thought he needed to let his grief out by either destroying himself or..."
"I wasn’t interested. Everyone should stay alive; that was all, so that this cursed family would continue. I knew it wasn’t a good environnt, but not how bad it was. I thought he would get a grip."
"Nevertheless, I had an eye on the youngest. He reminded quite a bit of..."
"I have already lived my life. I was old, a son was gone, another turned out ’okay’; there were grandchildren...why wasn’t anybody else taking care of this? Why would an old woman ready for her grave have to save the day?"
"Who would have thought? If I had known back then that death wasn’t near and that I would gain a new life...I would have beaten sense into my unfilial son. I would have taken that child to and taken care of him."
"I wouldn’t have let The Second ss up the youngest."
I took another look at Kenny and kissed his cheek when I nearly went deaf from him roaring for his grandmother to hear.
"WHO THE FUCK IS SSED UP??"
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