Andrew’s Dilemma

Part 2

By, Cain129

Synopsis:    After being found by Megan at school after his failed suicide attempt Andrew is admitted to the hospital. At first the doctor thinks that he is only dealing with a suicide victim but soon discovers that Andrew is also a victim of child abuse.

  

Chapter Three

Sarah Roberts is a complete mess as she gets off the phone with Dr. Masters. Her son was in the hospital and they wouldn’t even give her an update on his status.   She knew this day would likely come but deep down never accepted it.   Jake was hard on Andrew she knew this but she also understood why. The child was weak minded compared to other boys and acted more like a daughter then a son.  

  

What Jake did had to be done and there was nothing wrong with disciplining your child. Granted, sometimes Jake took it a little too far, but what he done had been out of love for Andrew. Now, because of the stupid laws that took parents rights away, kids were becoming completely out of control.   Sarah was really angry as she went though all the other messages on her phone there was one from the principal at school. It said that Andrew had tried to take his own life and was taken to the hospital.

  

Sarah just shook her head. “Just great. I bet everyone in town knows now.”

  

She then grabbed the phone and dialed Frank’s cell phone. She made her way into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of wine from inside the fridge, then sat down and poured herself a glass and waited for Jake to answer.   It took a few minutes before Jake answered the phone, and from the sound of his voice and the noise in the background Sarah knew that he was still at the tavern.

“Yeah Sarah, what do you want?”  he replied,

  

“Jake I just got home there was a message waiting Andrew is in the hospital”

“What did the little bastard do now, and what’s it going to cost us?” Jake growled.

  

“He tried to kill himself and honey the police are involved,” Sarah said sadly

  

“I will be home in ten minutes Sarah, and then we’re going to the hospital and getting  our  son!” Jake said hanging up the phone and storming out of the bar.

  

  

  

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Meanwhile, back at the hospital there is a knock on the door of the doctor’s lounge.   John got up to answer the door and found Nancy standing there, along with a police officer.

  

“John, this is Detective Johnston, he is here to take your statement.” The two of them came inside and took a seat.

  

Detective Johnston put out his hand to introduce himself. “Just call me Mason there is no reason for us to be so formal.”

“All right, Mason, My name is John Masters. I am the doctor that is taking care of Andrew Roberts, and this Megan, she is a friend of Andrews and also the one that found him. I’d also like to introduce you to Janice Tanner, who is Megan’s mother

  

“It’s nice to meet all of you”He said, then turned to John and said, “I think that we will start with your statement first then I will move on to Megan’s”

John began. “I guess the best place to start is that Andrew was admitted after a failed suicide attempt. While I was examining him, I discovered that the child was covered in bruises. Some were old, but others looked fairly recent. It was at that point that I filed the child abuse report with Child Protective Services.”

“What made you believe that it was child abuse?”asked the detective.

John thought for a minute. “The sizes of the bruises indicate that they were done by an adult that was pretty tall and muscular.”

Mason turned to Megan, “How long have Andrew and you been friends Megan?”

“I have known Andrew since we started school together.”

“Has Andrew ever talked to you about his home life?” asked Mason.

  

“Andrew and I haven’t really been talking for awhile.” She said. “When the two of us last spoke, he had said that he was having trouble at home with his parents.”

  

“Can you be more specific Megan?” Mason asked, writing in his pad.

  

“Andrew used to say that his father was really into football when he was Andrew’s age, and he wants Andrew to play as well. That’s not what Andrew wants, he hates sports. His father doesn’t seem to care, and has been making him work out. Every year, he makes him tryout for the team but he is too small, and the other boys would kill him.”

  

“I also have this, too,” Megan said, taking a notepad out of her purse. “Inside is a letter to his parents that explains why he tried to take his life. With everything going on, I just haven’t had a chance to give it to anyone.”

  

Mason reached over and took the notepad. With Dr, Master’s approval, he walked over to the photocopier and made copies of the pages, then handed back the original and but the copy in a folder.

  

“I’ll have you hang onto the original for now because Children’s Services will most likely want to see it. ” Mason told her. “Thank you for saving it.”

  

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Mason was looking over everything he had written. He turned to Megan and asked her, “Have you ever seen bruises on Andrew before today?”

“Yes but I never really thought much about it. There is always some bully at school that wants to use him as a punching bag.” She said sadly.

  

Mason looked a little angry, “It sounds like Andrew has had a rough time, both athome and at school.” Mason felt for the child, as he knew what it was like. He had been a small kid as well, and had his own childhood demons.

  

After he finished writing everything down, he turned to John. “When do you think it would be a good time for me to come in and talk to Andrew?”

John thought for a second. “I would wait until he recovers from the pills that he has taken. They may still be in his system and I think that he should be fully conscious before he is able to give you a full statement.”

  

While they were finishing up, something was going on at the nursing station, there was a lot of yelling, and John got up look out the door. A couple was arguing with the nurse, and the man was demanding to see his son. The nurse was refusing to let him anywhere near the child. Mason came over and joined John by the window, then said “Letme guess, these are Andrew’s parents.”

“Yes, I believe you are correct,” John said with a frown.

  

Within seconds there was a security guard there trying to calm down Jake Roberts. Jake was definitely drunk and very defiant. There is no use trying to talk to a drunk. Within a minute a fight broke out between the security guard and Jake Roberts and even in his present state Jake was more then a match for the security guard, having had years of military training. If the guard was not careful, Jake could kill him.

  

Mason called for assistance and ran over to help the security guard, but by the time he reached them the guard was already lying on the floor and Mason was forced to fight off Jake himself.

  

The whole time that they were fighting, Sarah kept telling Jake to stop, but he was not listening to her at all.

  

Mason was no slouch, and was pretty much able to hold his own for the most part. Still, he needed help to finish things and bring the drunk under control. When another couple of security guards arrived, they were finally able to take Jake down long enough for Mason to use his handcuffs and take Jake into custody.

  

Mason then turned to Sarah,” My next stop would have been your home but it looks like the three of us will have our talk at the station, it’s your choice you can come on your own or I can take you in the same way as your husband.”

“I will come along peacefully,”Sarah said with tears running down her face.

  

The whole time this was going on Megan and her mother watched from the safety of the doctor’s lounge. Neither one of them wanted to risk being seen by Jake or Sarah. John had quickly run over to attend to the security guard who had been hurt in the fight with Jake Roberts.

  

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Chapter Four

  

The ride home seemed to take forever for Megan it had been a hard day for her. She never thought that she would ever witness anything like she had today. Seeing the fight between Jake Roberts had scared her, and made her wonder how Andrew had been able to cope as well as he had, considering what his home life must have been like. Up till now she had thought the only real problems a teenager had were deciding what to wear, or who she should date. After today she knew that life was not so black and white.

  

“Penny for your thoughts honey”, asked Janice

  

“I was just thinking about Andrew, mom. I never realized how hard he had it.”

Janice frowned,“He has been through more then most people can handle honey”

  

“I wish that I had known that before, Mom. I could have been there for him.”

“Well Megan we all make mistakes. I was once your age too, and believe me honey, I made plenty! I learned from them though, and so will you. If you really care for Andrew, then be the friend that he needs, baby.” Janice said with a smile

  

“Mom, are you going to become Andrew’s doctor?”

  

“I think so. After everything that I have seen today, I don’t think that I can walk away.”

  

“What about Dad?”

  

“He will be alright with it too, Megan, once we explain what happened, honey.”

“Thanks, mom”

“I appreciate it, but I am not doing it for you, honey, I am doing it for Andrew.”

  

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After arriving home, they checked the answering machine. It was full of messages from the kids at school. Most of them were looking for the latest gossip, which unfortunately was about Andrew’s suicide attempt. For most of them, she just hit the erase button. She came to one from Jennifer, so she picked up the phone, took a seat on the couch and dialed Jennifer’s number.

  

“Hi Jennifer, it’s me.”

  

“Hi Megan, how did everything go?”

  

“Not very good sis, it was terrible,” She cried.

  

“Is Andrew all right?” asked Jennifer, sounding really worried.

  

“Sorry Jennifer, Yes, Andrew’s going to be fine. It’s just that the doctor found bruises all over him and the police were there and when Andrew’s parents arrived there was a big fight between Andrew’s father and the police. It was really scary. Andrew was abused for a long time, but he was too scared to say anything,”Megan said in frustration.

  

“Damn, Megan, what is going to happen now?” asked Jennifer

  

“Mom is going to take care of him, he needs people that he can trust and right now that is a very short list of people.”

  

“Is there anything that I can do to help?” sheasked. “Maybe, Jennifer. It looks like he will be staying here for awhile, once he is out of the hospital”

“Whatever you need me to do Megan, count me in”

  

“Jennifer, you know how the kids at school are, they won’t understand”

  

“I know, Megan, but there are some things more important than being popular.”

  

“You don’t know how happy it makes me feel to hear you say that, Jennifer.”

  

“I got to run, Megan, my mom wants help with supper. I will call you later, love you.”

  

“Love you too Jennifer, Talk to you later, bye”

  

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After ending the call with Jennifer I joined mom in the kitchen, she was busy peeling potatoes, “Is there anything that I can do to help, Mom?”

  

She looked over at me. “There is chicken in the fridge, and shake and bake in the cabinet, honey.”

  

About a half hour late, Anthony Tanner arrived home from work. He’d had a long day and couldn’t wait for his supper, but he could tell immediately that something was wrong. He could read his family like a book and once they were all seated at the table, Janice told him everything that had happened. Anthony was not a very emotional kind of guy, nor was he the violent type.   After hearing what had happened to Andrew though, he wanted nothing more than to find Jake and beat the pulp out of him.

  

Anthony looked at his wife and then his daughter, “Andrew is welcome here, no matter how long it takes.”

“Honey, if Andrew is going to live here, you need to know everything.” Janice told him.

  

“What do I need to know other than that the child was abused Janice?” asked Anthony.

  

“Andrew may be a transsexual, and if he is, then he needs to be treated.”

  

“If the child didn’t already have a hard enough time, he has to deal with this too?” Anthony said with a frown.

  

“Are you alright with that, honey?” asked Janice

  

“If being a girl is makes Andrew happy, then I am fine with it.” Anthony said.

  

With everyone in agreement, a plan was made. Andrew would have somewhere safe to call home and there would be people there that were willing to help him.   There was only one other problem that needed to be solved. Would Andrew be willing to accept their help? Only time would tell.

  

  

  

End of part two

To be continued in part three