I'm just a kid

He hated waiting. How anyone could have the patience to wait for something was beyond him. I mean, how was someone expected to wait for nine months to have a baby and then, when you think the baby is coming, you have to wait for hours until the actual birth takes place. It was aggravating but exciting at the same time. It was about eleven ‘o’ clock in the morning and Gareth was sitting in a chair beside Stacy’s hospital bed, his feet propped up on the mattress and his head leant back over the top of the chair. Light snores were emitting from his partially open mouth as he slept soundly with his arms crossed over his chest. The magazine that he had previously been reading was resting on his lap on some random page about one of the new Ferraris or something like that. He had been at the hospital with Stacy since about midnight and it had been literally when he had just got nice and comfortable in his bed. It teaches you never to have all nighters any time near your baby’s due date.

It had been almost eleven hours since Stacy’s contractions had started to get closer together. Over the past couple of days she had started to get a few twinges in her abdomen, which the doctors said was her cervix thinning in preparation for the birth of the baby or something like that. Gary had found it rather hard to concentrate on what the doctor was saying due to the sudden shock that he was going to be a father in less than three or four days. It was a terrifying thought for the fifteen-year-old, but he wouldn’t have run away and left Stacy on her own like a lot of teenage fathers out there did. No, he was sticking by her no matter what. Once Stacy’s contractions had become stronger and closer, Gareth was sitting in the car with her and holding her hand. He had been reassuring her that it was all going to be alright and that by the end of it, they’d have a little baby all of their own. Oh yes, he was being very mature about this.

Suddenly, something made a grab for Gary’s foot, causing the young male to jump and actually topple completely off of his chair.
“Crap…” came a muffled voice from the floor, one of his feet still resting on the mattress and in his girlfriend’s rather tight grasp. Her breathing had become more laboured as she received a rather painful contraction, causing her to grab onto whatever was closest to her.
“Gary..?” Stacy breathed through clenched teeth. Her pale blue eyes were focused on the ceiling as the pain in her abdomen remained, grip still tight on the male’s shoe. From the floor, Gary quickly tried to stand up, even with out the ability to use one of his legs and, once he was standing, he removed Stacy’s grasp from his foot and took her hand in his. He couldn’t imagine how painful it must have been for her. All he could think of was that pain of her hand clasping tightly to his, which was painful enough.

At the sound of the commotion coming from the room, a nurse bustled in with the doctor shortly following. The doctor and nurse conversed quietly and checked Stacy over and measured how much she had dilated.
“Right, it’s time to move you to the delivery room,” he stated simply, looking back to Stacy, who was still breathing rapidly, and a rather wide-eyed Gary.
“Holy shh…” the male teenager started as, once again, Stacy’s grip tightened on his hand.
“Right, come on. Here we go,” the Doctor said calmly and started to make the preparations to move the two to the delivery room.

------

Considering how long the two had been at the hospital for before hand, the actual birth seemed to be over quite quickly. Stacy was exhausted, her hand still holding Gareth’s, though now her clasp had sub-sided and was weaker as she tried to catch a glimpse of her little baby who they had just been told was a boy.
“Gary, where is he? I want to see him,” Stacy practically pleaded to the boy standing beside her, her tone almost worried as if she was scared that they were going to take him away and she’d never be able to see him.
“They’re just cleaning him up…Stace, he’s so small.” Gary was just able to see his little boy as they wiped him over and wrapped him in a towel. The boy just couldn’t take his eyes off of him. His heart was pounding and even though the baby was crying, he had to admit that it was the best moment of his life. That little baby was his and Stacy’s and no one was able to change that.

Slowly, one of the nurses’ brought the little boy wrapped up in a towel, over to his parents. Once she reached the two, the nurse passed the baby over to Stacy first and then backed away so that the three could spend that special moment together.
“Oh my god…” Stacy said softly, her voice slightly higher than normal as she was on the verge of tears. She held the baby with both arms, terrified that she was going to drop him. “He’s gorgeous,” she added, glancing to look at Gareth before looking back to the baby boy.
“Yeah…I-I just can’t believe it…” Gareth was almost in a daze at the site of this little thing wrapped up in a towel that was practically triple it’s size. The teenager leant over slightly to kiss Stacy softly on her forehead before looking back to their little son.

“What are you going to call him?” the Doctor asked, a soft smile upon his lips as he watched the happy little family. The two teens looked at each other, smiling before looking back to the child in Stacy’s arms.

“Dominic. His name’s Dominic.”

Never saw it coming

It was about ten thirty in the evening and the party was in full swing. Alcohol and food was freely flowing from person to person as everyone just let loose. It was a themed party that one of Gareth’s friends was hosting at his house and, of course, Gareth was making sure that everyone’s spirits were running high. He had noticed that Stacy hadn’t arrived yet, but put it to her wanting to look perfect for this party even though, to Gary, she looked perfect no matter what. Since the incident about a month ago, Gareth and Stacy had become more than friends and were basically dating. Though not much had changed between them. They had always hung out with each other as much as they could and were usually hugging and such, occasionally exchanging small kisses on the cheek. But now, to Gareth’s glee, he got to have a proper, full-on relationship with her. Of course, it wasn’t all about the being physically close, but emotionally as well. Yes, kind of sappy which is why he never really admitted that he liked the whole emotional admittance part of the relationship, though behind closed doors he was a right sucker for it.

The male was currently, as a joke, wearing a hula skirt over the top of his three-quarter length combats. The typical joker, trying to get everyone to laugh at the fact he was wearing a skirt. Of course, he would never wear a skirt with out his trousers underneath. That would just be pure embarrassment, though he was sure it would be a pleasurable sight to see and would certainly be humorous. But no, there was no chance of that ever happening. At least, not this evening.

Apart from the hula skirt, Gareth was dressed pretty normally. Over his top half was a pale blue button-down shirt with a few of the top buttons undone, whilst on his feet were his scruffy rebooks that he had owned for over half a year. He refused to believe that these trainers needed to be replaced as they were slowly falling apart around his feet. If he stepped in a puddle, his feet would end up absolutely drenched. But, it was the summer so, currently, there was nothing to worry about.

The male’s eyes scanned over the crowd of people, also dressed in Hawaiian themed clothing, but he saw no sign of Stacy anywhere. The past few days she had seemed to be a little off with him. Each time he tried to give her a hug, she would just draw back as if he was poisonous and would infect her with some sort of deadly disease. In honesty, the fifteen-year-old was feeling rather rejected by her and wasn’t really sure what he had done wrong to make her act like this. Of course, him questioning about whether or not it was her ‘lady’s time’ probably hadn’t helped at the time as she had thrown him one of the iciest glares that he had ever received. It had actually made him edge away from her slightly in case she decided to pounce on him and maul him to death. And it was strange because she had never been like it around him before. A sigh left the lad’s lips as he went to sit down on one of the chairs by the pool, allowing himself to freely glance at all the different people that had arrived at this party. He didn’t know half of them but they all looked like they were having a good time. But Gary’s mood had now taken a turn for the worst as his mind settled on the way Stacy had been acting and whether or not she was even going to show up to this party.

However, soon enough, Stacy arrived and boy did she look beautiful. Gary was rather glad at the fact that he had been sitting down at the point that his girlfriend had arrived otherwise he was sure he would have fainted from the sheer beauty of the girl. The male made his way over to her, almost instantly wrapping his arms around her and swinging her round a couple of times.
“Gary, come on, put me down,” the girl laughed, rolling her eyes as her arms slipped around Gareth’s neck once her feet were back upon the ground.
“Talk about fashionably late,” Gareth said softly into her ear before lightly kissing her soft cheek and then those lovely lips.
“Well, you know me. I just have to keep you waiting,” Stacy teased, kissing Gary back whilst her fingertips brushed through his thick, brown locks. Butterflies seemed to flutter in abundance inside the girl’s stomach, a certain nervousness setting in. Once she drew back from the kiss, her fingers continued to thread through the male’s hair, stroking the soft strands whilst she peered into his dark brown eyes. It was easy to tell that something was bothering the girl, just by how her eyebrows were slightly furrowed as she looked at him.
“Stace, what’s the matter?” Gareth asked, a concerned expression now showing on his features. “You’ve been acting strange recently. Come on, what’s up?” If something was wrong with Stacy, he wanted to know about it so that he could do all he could to make her feel better. Though, he wasn’t entirely prepared for what she said next.

“Gareth, you remember that night at the party just outside of town…when the taxi didn’t arrive for about an hour and we stayed in the truck?” the girl questioned whilst her fingers continued to stroke through his hair. The soft feel of those locks just seemed to reassure her that whatever she said, everything would be fine. He wouldn’t leave her. He wasn’t the type of guy to do that, but there was still that nagging worry at the back of her mind.
“Yeah, of course I do…” Gary responded, looking at her curiously. It was starting to worry him even more now, his mind whirring as he thought of all the possibilities, all of the things that could be causing his girlfriend such obvious distress. Stacy held onto the long pause after Gary had spoken, taking deep breathes before she finally decided to speak again.

“Gary, I’m pregnant.”

The male’s eyes widened instantly as he heard this, eyelids repeatedly blinking blankly at the girl.
“W-w-w-what?” He couldn’t help but stutter throughout that one word. Had he heard her right or was it his imagination? His arms fell limply to his sides, wide eyes still focused on Stacy as if waiting for her to say that it was all a joke. Those butterflies seemed to be doing a good job at making Stacy’s stomach do back flips. Her heart practically sank as she noticed how shocked and panic-stricken the boy now looked. She let her hands drift from his hair and back to her sides.
“I’m having your baby, Gareth…” she repeated, feeling the need to tell him once more so that he understood that she wasn’t lying and that it wasn’t just one big joke.

Sadly, the fact that he had now lost the support of Stacy’s arms meant that he was no longer being held up. And as Stacy repeated her statement, Gareth slowly fell backwards and fainted.

On the floor, unconscious and in a hula skirt. Oh, what a great role-model he’d be.

Today is still in front of us

It was rare for the young male to shed tears or to allow his emotions to control his body and his actions. But recently, it had slowly became harder to control these things that kept invading the lad’s mind. Jerry preferred to think of himself as the strong one and the most dependable of his family, even though he was the one that wasn’t around as often as he probably could have been but this was due to school and the part-time job that he was trying to maintain. The time just all added up which left him less and less chances to visit his family and to check on how his father was getting along.

But he was always a phone call away, however, today he would have preferred not to get the phone call that he did.

It wasn’t that he would have preferred not to be told of what was going on, he would rather know about it rather than be kept in the dark and left completely unaware of the things that the rest of his family were going through. However, he would have been happy if he had never got the phone call and that nothing had happened to cause any need to actually call him. Yes, it certainly wasn’t the sort of news that a teenage boy needed to hear in the middle of the week when school was already leaving him frustrated in the evenings with the tonnes of homework that was slowly piling up on his desk.

Jerry’s school shoes lightly clicked against the floor tiles of the hospital corridor, the sounds echoing throughout the seemingly-never-ending stretch between the reception and his destination. He was relatively well known to a few of the nurses and doctors around this particular ward as he was frequently visiting whenever he got the time. His father was usually asleep so he would chat to anyone he could get his hands on about his condition and check that there wasn’t anything that they were missing, even though he knew nothing of how to cure illnesses, especially the one that his father had. The male always felt helpless. For the past two years, he had been the rock that held his family together but he just wasn’t able to stop what was causing so much pain. It was out of his hands and he would never be able to change that.

After a few more minutes of walking, as well as exchanging a few nods of greeting to a couple of the nurses that he knew, he came upon where his father lay asleep, a peaceful look resting upon his pale features. The older male’s wife and youngest son sat at his bedside, dark red marks staining their cheeks as their gaze remained fixed on the man lying in the bed. The woman’s fingers curled around the younger boy’s hand, holding onto it for dear life as if it was the only thing that was keeping her from collapsing from sheer exhaustion. However, a smile managed to pull at her lips as she noticed Jerry standing in the doorway. The woman almost instantly stood and rushed over to her eldest, her arms quickly wrapping around the boy who practically towered over her.

“Hey, Mum,” Jerry said softly, his own arms wrapping around what was left of the woman as the previous healthy weight that she had obtained over her life had simply fallen from her over the past two years. It was a sad sight to see, such a lovely and usually happy family in such a distraught state. But it couldn’t be helped. Jamie remained seated in his chair, watching his mother and older brother share a long embrace. He looked just like Jerry, apart from the fact that he wasn’t as clean-shaven. Instead, he had a short stubble starting to form due to the lack of motivation to shave. His cheeks were a bright shade of red, caused more than likely from the continuous need to wipe his jacket sleeve over his eyes to hide the tears that were so obviously being held back. Jerry’s gaze shortly turned to his brother once his mum had drawn back.
“You alright, squirt?” he asked, managing to force a small smile in an attempt to lighten the difficult atmosphere that floated around the room. When all he received was a short nod, he walked over to him and gave him a hug, which was a rarity for Jerry to receive back but this time his brother held no reluctance in throwing his arms around him. Jamie had always been the one that found it harder to deal with the extremes of his emotions and it usually led him to do things rather out of character.

“How long have you both been here?” Jerry asked softly, making sure not to speak too loudly in case he woke his father from his drug induced sleep.
“About seven hours,” the younger male said, his tone sleepy. It was only ten in the morning so the two had been there since three ‘o’ clock.
“Why don’t you both go and get something to eat? I’ll stay with Dad in case he wakes up,” the older teenager suggested before sitting himself down beside his brother. He was acting so strong as if it wasn’t affecting him. He was the one that the others leaned on and if he crumbled…well, everything would just get worse. Jamie looked almost relieved at the suggestion of food as he quickly stood up, smiling at his brother before turning his gaze to his rather reluctant looking mother.
“Oh, I don’t know Jerry. What if he wakes up and we aren’t here?” she questioned, her face contorting to show a sense of reluctance and worry.
“Mum, I’ll be here and just think of what Dad would say. He wouldn’t be happy if he found out that you were starving yourself on his account. Go on,” Jerry reassured, shuffling his chair closer towards the hospital bed. No sooner had he said that, Jamie was practically forcing his mother out of the door, his stomach almost growling at the woman who was stopping it from getting it’s fill.

Once the other two were out of the door and on their way to the canteen, Jerry turned his gaze to his father, resting his arms lightly on the edge of the bed. No longer did he have to keep that strong exterior for the rest of the family as he sat there alone with the almost life-less body beside him.
“Hey Dad,” he said in a soft voice, fully aware of the fact that he probably wasn’t registering anything he was saying, or about to say. “You’ll be pleased to know that I managed to finish that essay that you kept asking me about. You know, the one about how alcohol and drugs can completely ruin a teenager’s chance at a good life. I remember when I was eight; you used to force me to read all those books about it. You wanted to make sure that I never got onto that rocky road.” Tears were slowly starting to become apparent in the boy’s eyes, his head hanging low as he couldn’t bare to look at his father in such a state but he managed to quickly regain his composure and looked back to him.

“You’d better not go anywhere. I dunno how I’d be able to look after Mum and Jamie with out you. Mum’d forget half of the stuff she needs to do and would end up getting in a right state. And Jamie, well, you know how much trouble he’d be, especially at his age.” Jerry laughed lightly as he said this, smiling softly whilst he spoke but his smile was short-lived.
“Dad, I can’t do this on my own…I just can’t. We need you so badly. Yo-You can’t just leave us like this. You just can’t.” The male stuttered mid-sentence as he almost choked on his words, tears welling up and trying to force themselves over his slowly reddening skin. He rested his cheek against the edge of the bed, his hand moving to curl around his father’s as a way of trying to reassure himself that he wasn’t going anywhere. Jerry’s eyes slowly closed, teardrops dripping over his cheeks and settling on the bed sheet that rested beneath his head. His grasp tightened on the hand beside his face, a small smile twitching on his face as he felt the older man’s grasp strengthen, his thumb lightly brushing against the teenager’s skin.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he croaked, eyes remaining closed whilst his son’s body shook beside him with the tears forcefully tumbling over his smooth skin, unable to get them to stop.