CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE: AUSTIN

I kept the letter a secret from Leo because it wasn't important, and telling him would only add to his worries, so I tore it up and soaked it in water before throwing it away.

Even if the letter was gone, what Ford mentioned in the letter was still bothering me; what did he mean when he said Dalton was no longer a problem?

I was buried in my thoughts as I glanced out the window when the door creaked open and Detective Adams and Sloan entered the room; judging by their demeanor, I knew something was wrong.

"Let's talk in the waiting room," I said as I exited my mother's ward and made my way to the waiting area, detectives Adams and Sloan following close behind, we took our seats in the corner of the waiting room, before Detective Adams started speaking.

"Austin," Detective Adams began, her voice kind yet solemn. "We have received an update on the case."

My heart skipped a beat as I focused my attention on her. "What is it?"

Detective Adams exchanged a glance with Sloan before continuing. "Dalton... he... he took his own life in the prison he was being held in."

My mind was struggling to make sense of what Detective Adams had just said. Dalton, the man who had caused us so much pain and anguish in our lives, committed suicide just like that.

"When did he die?"  I asked.

"Three days ago?" Detective Adams replied,

"He died three days ago, and you're just telling me now."

"We wanted to make sure he committed suicide and wasn't murdered in prison." Detective Sloan answered.

"I see, so now you're sure he committed suicide and wasn't killed,"

"Yes, we found his suicide note a day after we found him hanging in his room," Detective Sloan explained, running his hands through his hair, "and it wasn't forged if that is what you're thinking, it was written by him"

"I'm sorry," Sloan said, "I know that apologizing will not provide closure or undo what he has done. However, we still apologize for not making him pay."

"He was a fucking coward until the end," I murmured, tears welling up in my eyes, a volatile mix of emotions threatening to boil over, but rage was the most evident.

This must have been what Ford meant when he said Dalton was no longer going to be a problem; he didn't deserve to go down so easily; he was meant to suffer, just as my mother has been suffering for the past few weeks.

Detective Adams moved closer, her words laced with sympathy. "Austin, we will continue to investigate and ensure that justice is served. Even though Dalton is no longer alive, the persons who shot her are still out there, so we will do our best to catch them".

"What's the point?" I asked, knowing that those guilty were already dead and that the cops could do nothing to quell my anger at this point.

"It's still worth investigating," Detective Sloan replied.

I nodded, my voice choking with emotion. "Do whatever you want, I really don't care anymore. I simply want my family to be safe, and now that Dalton is gone, it can be possible."

"You deserve to be angry, but we will do everything we can to find them," Detective Sloan said, his tone firm. "So they can be brought to justice."

"Please just leave, I need time to process everything," I murmured, feeling overwhelmed by my emotions.

"We'll take our leave now, Austin, take care of yourself, if you need anything, give me a call," Detective Sloan said as the two left the hospital, and it took me a bit to get my bearings before I found the courage to return to my mother's bedside.

What will I say to her when she wakes up? That the man she thought she loved got her shot because he is a drug dealer on the run, and that after they caught him, he committed suicide because he didn't want to go to jail.

The news just kept replaying in my head as I took the elevator to the intensive care unit, but when the doors opened, I saw the doctor and nurses running towards my mother's room, and panic gripped my heart.

"What exactly is going on?" I asked Nurse Sam as I ran to my mother's room, but she didn't respond; instead, she pushed me out of the room and shut the door behind her. I paced up and down the corridor, waiting for someone to come out and tell me what the hell was going on.

A few minutes later, the doctor and nurse I had seen hurrying into my mother's room emerged, smiling.

"Your mother is a fighter, she gave us a scare for a moment but she is awake now, you can go see her," the doctor said as he walked over to me.

"What! You're not messing with me, are you? Doctor"

"No, Austin, I'm not messing with you, your mother is awake and her vitals are looking good," the doctor grinned, and I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders; all the pent up feelings I'd been holding back suddenly poured out all at once, and all I could do was cry as I hugged the doctor.

"Thank you so much, sir; you have no idea how grateful I am that you didn't give up on her," I said as I wiped my tear-stained face.

"No need to thank me, Austin; I was just doing my job, I have other patients to see now," the doctor said, "but I will check on her later."

As I turned to face Nurse Sam, she pulled me into an embrace and said, "Congratulations, Leo, she is finally awake."

"Thank you, thank you so much," I whispered quietly, tightening my grip on her.

"It's okay, honey; she wants to see you." Nurse Sam said as she pulled away and kissed my cheeks before returning to her duties.

When I entered her room, her eyes were closed, but when I cleared my throat, her eyes opened and her face brightened up when her gaze fell on me.

"Hey mum, how are you doing?" I asked

"Austin, I didn't want to bother the doctors with questions, but why am I in the hospital? My mother asked, her tone confused,"I couldn't believe it when the nurse told me you were outside. I thought you were locked up; when did you get out? And why didn't you call me to come get you if they let you go early?"

"Mum, it's been three years since I was arrested"

"What are you talking about, Austin? Please stop messing with me."

"I'm not joking, mum; I served my sentence and was released for good behavior a few months ago; don't you remember kicking me out of the house when I returned?"

Why couldn't she recall anything after I left for jail? Was she pretending to remember in order to gain sympathy from me? However, when I looked into her frightened eyes, I realized she wasn't pretending. She truly can't remember anything that happened in the past three and a half years.

"That can't be true; why would I throw my only child out on the streets?" Her tone of voice conveyed her confusion.

"I will get to the bottom of this, give me a moment mum," I said as I hurried out of the room, wondering what the fuck was going on. I began looking for someone who could help explain what was going on before I go crazy from overthinking.

"Nurse Sam, something's wrong with my mum, she doesn't remember anything that happened in the last three and a half years," I explained, and concern was visible in her eyes as she dropped what she was doing to go get the doctor.

When the doctor arrived, he performed several tests on my mother and returned three hours later to discuss the results with me.

"I'm sorry, Austin, but your mother has retrograde amnesia as a result of the lack of oxygen to her brain at the time of the accident."

"Will she ever be able to regain her memory?"

"Based on what I saw in the MRI, it could be permanent, and she might never regain her memories," the doctor explained.

"Isn't there something you can do, a surgery she can undergo or a drug she can take?"

"When it comes to the brain, it can be very tricky, we can't make her undergo unnecessary surgery, it might make her condition worse, it would be better to leave things the way they are now and not push her, if she wants to remember let nature take its course" the doctor added before checking his watch and looking up at me "if you would excuse me I need to attend to another patient, just be patient Austin, everything will work out"

When the doctor left, I texted Leo, telling him everything and asking for his help because I didn't know what to say or do right now,  my mind was blank. As soon as he read my text, he said he'd be here in a few minutes.

"How are you holding up, Austin?" Leo asked as soon as he walked out of the elevator.

"I don't know" I answered as I looked up at him,"she is awake"

"That's great, man; you should be happy, right?"

"Like I said in the text, she has no recollection of anything that happened since I went to jail three and a half years ago."

"What did the doctor say?"

"He said she has retrograde amnesia, and there's a chance she won't remember anything from those three and a half years."

"Would you like her to remember?" Leo asked, and I looked up at him, puzzled, but he was actually making sense. Do I really want her to remember what happened to her?

"I don't think so; am I being selfish?"

"I don't think you're being selfish. You just want to protect her from those bad memories. Anyone in your shoes would do the same thing."

"You always have an answer for everything, don't you?"

"I do, I don't I" Leo replied, tossing his hair to the side like the chicks from those romantic flicks Athena loves to watch, making me to bursts out laughing, he always knew how to cheer me up

"Thank you, man, for being here,"

"No thanks needed, man,"

"Let's go see my mother, I'm done hiding from the truth," I say getting up to my feet,

"Okay, whenever you're ready," Leo said as we walked to my mother's room, and she smiled at me.

Her gaze was drawn to Leo. I could see in her eyes that she was intrigued about who he was. I've never brought friends to meet her before.

"Hi mum, this is Leo, my best friend."

"Hello ma, it's great to finally meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Leo, where did you meet my little Austin?"

"We go to school together, ma"

"I hope he doesn't get you in trouble, he's always been headstrong," my mother inquired.

"No Ma, I try to keep him out of trouble." Leo replied with a small smile on his lips.

"Thank you dear, I've been worried because he was always alone, so I'm glad he has a friend like you,"

"Don't worry, ma, he's not alone anymore." Leo commented, and she grinned, He was right, I wasn't alone anymore,

"What did the doctors say, honey? You ran out promising you'd get answers, so did you?"

"Yes, mum, you fell and hit your head, the doctors said you have a concussion, so you will have to stay here a little longer," I said as I exchanged glances with Leo.

I know everything I said was a complete lie, but lying was the only option in this situation, she can't  know what really happened.

"Oh, I don't remember falling, but can we afford for me to stay here any longer?" She asked, her eyes were filled with concern.

"Don't worry, mum; it's already taking off."

"Oh okay then," she answered, but I could tell she wanted to ask more questions about how I paid my expenses, but she didn't. Instead, she said, "I feel sleepy, dear, I'm going to rest now, it was nice meeting you Leo, take care of yourself"

"And you, too, ma"

"You guys, especially you, Austin, should stay out of trouble."

"Yes, mum, we will, I want to walk Leo out, but I will return to stay with you until midnight before I leave"

"You don't need to come back; go home with your friend Leo; I'll be fine; there are a lot of doctors and nurses here to take care of me,"

"But mum -"

"Austin Gerald Kendall, go home and rest; I'll be fine,"

"Okay, okay, I'm going, take care of yourself, mum, and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, love, and goodbye, Leo,"

We both said "Bye" as we exited her room.

After leaving the hospital we went by my house on our way to the apartment to pick up some clothing for tomorrow because I didn't have any clean ones, which reminds me that I need to do laundry.

"Athena will be so happy to see you, she really missed you at school," Leo said as we drove home, and I remembered the meeting with the detectives, which I hadn't informed him about yet.

"Leo"

"What's up?"

"The detectives came by today," I said and a frown formed on his face

"What did they want again? Can't they just leave you alone?"

"I think this is the last time we'll see them around here."

"What are you talking about?" Leo asked, as he parked his car in front of the apartment complex,

"They came to inform me that Dalton had died."

"What! How? Did they kill him?" Leo asked, and I immediately knew who he was referring to.

"No, he apparently committed suicide because he didn't want to testify in court"

"Are you certain they had nothing to do with his suicide?"

"I really don't know, but I got a strange letter from Ford a few days ago saying that Dalton would no longer be a problem."

"Wait a minute, what letter?" Leo questioned, and I remembered that I had kept the letter a secret from him, there is no turning back now the cat is out of the bag.

"I received a letter at the hospital from Ford a few days ago,"

"Why didn't you tell me about the letter?" Leo inquired.

"I thought it didn't matter until today,"

"How do you feel about it?I know it's difficult for you to hear that he murdered himself rather than pay for what he did to your mother."

"I'm both angry and relieved; angry that he took the easy way out, but relieved that we're all safe now, that he can't hurt us anymore."

"Well, even if you didn't get the justice you wanted, he still paid with his life for hurting your mother, even though he committed suicide."

"Yeah, I guess you could put it that way"

"Everything can return to normal now that he is dead and your mother is awake."

"Yes, it can; thank you for sticking by my side, bro; I couldn't have done it on my own."

"I will always be there for you, Austin"

"Same here," I responded as I pulled him in for a hug.

"Come on, everyone will be so happy to hear that your mother is finally awake"

"I can't wait to tell them" I said as Leo and I walked up to the apartment, everything was over and I could live a normal life with my friends by my side, maybe my bad luck is finally improving.