Chapter Two

Jaelyn was in the bathroom the next morning taking a pull from his prescription bottle and placing the oral chemo pill into his mouth. After swallowing it with water and placing the glass onto the sink, he sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror. He heard a knock on his door, Jaleyn immediately hid his medication bottle into his pocket and he turned around and noticed it was his little brother Evan after he opened the door.

"Hey, want to go outside and play some baseball?" Evan asked.

Jaleyn took a deep breath and said, "Yeah, sure."

Evan nodded his head before he turned around and walked away from Jaleyn. Jaleyn left the bathroom after he watched his brother leave the bathroom as well, hoping he didn't notice as his older brother saw him take his medicine. Jaleyn walked up to his bed and said to Evan that he would be downstairs in a few minutes.

"Sure." Evan said.

Evan turned around and he left Jaleyn's bedroom. Jaleyn immediately hid his medicine bottle into his suitcase after taking it out of his pocket—before he even grabbed his baseball cap and placed it on his head before Jaleyn left his bedroom to go play baseball with his little brother.

After Jaleyn heads downstairs, Jaleyn had already gotten his baseball glove and so did Evan and he and Jaleyn stood outside of their house. Jaleyn shuts the door and he and Evan walk together to the front yard to play baseball and Evan has his baseball in his hand and his baseball glove in his other hand.

"So, uh, how's dad been doing since he lost his job as an accountant?" Jaleyn asked, once Evan threw the ball at his big brother and Jaleyn grabbed it with his baseball glove.
They were tossing the ball back and forth. Evan took a deep breath and said,

"He is taking it really hard. He hates working as a barista." Jaleyn nodded his head and Evan threw the back back at Jaleyn once again. Jaleyn sighed and said, "So, he pretty much hates his job?" Jaleyn asked.

Jaleyn threw the ball back at Evan before Evan grabbed the ball with his baseball glove. "Yeah. I told you, he hates it." Evan said, before he tossed the ball once again back at Jaleyn.

Jaleyn sighed once again and he stopped throwing the ball this time. Jaleyn leaned over with his hands touching his knees as he looked at the ground.

"Are you okay?" Evan asked. He could tell that Jaleyn looked a bit off. Jaleyn leaned up slowly and he looked at his little brother and said, "Yeah. Just got a little lightheaded."

Evan nodded his head and said, "Okay, well uh, dad isn't liking his job as a barista because he misses working as an accountant. He literally got fired because he had been coming to work late. Apparently he hasn't gotten over Oliva's death. I wish he understood that it wasn't your fault that Olivia died." Evan explained.

"Hey uh, dad didn't say anything about why you know... why he blamed for Olivia's death," says Jaleyn.

Evan shrugged his shoulders and said, "No. I tried asking him once again and he said that he doesn't want to talk about it." Evans said. Jaleyn threw the hall back at Evan and Evan grabbed the baseball with his baseball glove.

"So you honestly don't know why Dad would blame me for Olivia's death?" Jaleyn wondered.

"No. I wished I did." Evan said, throwing the baseball back at Jaelyn and Jaleyn grabbed the baseball once again using his glove.

Jaleyn thinks for a moment before he looks at Evan, and Evan asks Jaleyn if he was gonna throw the ball back at him. "Yeah." Jaleyn said, before throwing the ball back at Evan, and he and Evan continued to play baseball as they'd thrown the ball back and forth.

Eventually Jaleyn walked back inside the house and he heard his mother taking over the phone in the kitchen. Jaleyn immediately knew who his mother Leah was talking to over the phone. Jaleyn knew it was his dad on the phone and he overheard his mother saying that Olivia's death was an accident.

"Jaleyn was just twenty years old, Dash! He was still a kid. Of course he misses his sister." Leah said. Jaleyn sighed and he headed up the stairs and headed to his bedroom.

After walking into his bedroom, Jaleyn walked towards the nightstand and laid his baseball glove onto the nightstand as he sat on the edge of his bed. Jaleyn swallowed and he heard his mother as she walked up the stairs still talking to Jaleyn's father Dash over the phone and Jaleyn overheard the conversation once again.

"Honey, please, just forgive him. Why? Because he is our son! He is family, Dash!" Leah said.

Jaleyn took a deep breath and began to get emotional. The guilt he was experiencing in his chest—it was like a painful ache of pain where Jaleyn knew it was the feeling he's been experiencing since the night Olivia died. He had a flashback of his little sister Olivia lying dead on the floor in the basement after falling down the flight of stairs.

Once Jaleyn's flashback came and went, Jaleyn sighed. He wiped away his tears from his eyes and he overheard footsteps approaching his bedroom door. Jaleyn saw a shadow of his mother on the floor and Leah walked away from the door and headed down the stairs this time. Jaleyn closed his eyes and he swallowed at the same time.

After opening his eyes once again, his nose started to bleed. Blood dripped down to his lips and Jaleyn gently patted his lip with his fingers and he looked at his fingers to notice blood on his fingers. Jaleyn sighed once again before he stood up from his bed and headed towards his bathroom that was inside his bedroom.

After Jaleyn walked into the bathroom he looked at himself in the mirror and he took a piece of toilet paper from beside the toilet and grabbed a piece of toilet paper to stop the bleeding from his nose. After Jaleyn covered his nose with his toilet paper, hoping for the bleeding to stop—Jaleyn threw away his toilet paper into the trash can next to the sink.

He stood where he was thinking of how his father yelled at Jaelyn for not being responsible for watching over Olivia when Jaleyn was nineteen. He was still a kid at the time. Now he's grown up—as a man in his mid twenties. During dinner time, Jaleyn was sitting in the dining room sitting across from his little brother Evan and his mother sitting on one side of the table and his father sitting across from Leah on the other side of the table.

After Jaleyn took a bite of his food, he could barely swallow it. He was feeling a bit nauseous. The oral chemo pills were taking a toll on him. The side effects were worse than other days. Evan could tell his brother didn't look so good. He was playing with his food this time. It was an awkward silence. All Jaelyn could think about is throwing up. He was feeling sick to his stomach.

Evan sighed and he took a drink of his water as he watched Jaelyn play with his food. "So uh, Dash, can you tell the boys about your promotion you received at work today as a barista?" Leah said, after gently patting her lip with her napkin to wile away food off her face.

"Congratulations Dad," says Evan.

"Thank you, son." Dash answered. Leah looked at her oldest son Jaleyn as he was looking down at his food and asked him if he could congratulate his father Dash on his promotion.

"Congratulations," said Jaleyn as he looked at his dad. Dash sort of gave him a look on our face where his expression was that he still blames his son for the loss of Olivia.

Jaleyn swallowed as he looked back down at his plate and Evan told his mother and father that he had exciting news. "What's the good news?" Leah asked.

"Well I made it to captain on the baseball team," answered Evan, smiling at Leah. "Oh honey, that's awesome news! Congratulations!!" Leah said, smiling at Evan.

"That's good Evan, keep up the good work and soon you will see yourself playing against the Yankees at the World Series," says Dash.

"I find that hard to believe, dad." Evan said, chuckling.

"I'm serious, you could be a world champion one day. We're proud of you son," says Dash.

Evan nodded his head and chuckled. Jaleyn sighed and he felt even more guilty about the fact that his father wasn't proud of him but was proud of his little brother Evan instead. Jaleyn thinks his father hates him and doesn't want any kind of a relationship with him anymore. Ever since Olivia died, Jaleyn lost his connection with his father. They'd used to do everything together. But this was shortly afterwards when Olivia died. It didn't take Dash long to realize he needed to stop having a bond with his oldest son Jaleyn.
Jaelyn felt heartbroken. He felt like he was living in a world of chaos.

Jaelyn was heartbroken when his father Dash didn't come to his law school graduation. Now that won't matter to him anymore because he will probably no longer practice law as a lawyer because he is sick and has cancer.

In Jaleyn's bedroom, he was lying in his bed with his covers on top of him and his little brother Evan was lying next to him and they were staring at the ceiling where they watched the fan blowing in their faces.

"You okay?" Evan asked, after he looked at his big brother Jaleyn.

"Yeah," answered Jaleyn in a soft tone of voice.

"You looked pretty sick at the table earlier this evening." Evan said, looking back up at the ceiling.

"Uh, I just didn't feel like eating dinner tonight. I wasn't in the mood." Jaleyn said.

"I'd thought I heard you throwing up in the bathroom earlier." Evan said.

"Maybe you heard it from a movie." Jaleyn said.

"Come on, Jaleyn. I'm not stupid." Evan said.

"I'm fine." Jaleyn answered.

"Okay, well uh, shall we practice more pitching than usual tomorrow? I really want a jumpstart on the next season, since it's not until September," said Evan.

"I don't care. Want to wake up at about ten o'clock tomorrow morning to do more practice?" Jaleyn said, wondering.

"Yeah. Sounds great." Evan said.

Jaleyn was beginning to get tired. "Well uh, I'm gonna go on to bed. I'm getting a bit tired." Jaleyn said to Evan.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow." Evan said, as he stood up from the bed, walking towards the door and eventually leaving Jaleyn's bedroom. Jaleyn (as he continued to lie in his bed) continued to stare at the ceiling.

He has another flashback of the tragic accident. Him rushing to the phone to call 911. Twenty-years-old Jaleyn was in panic and in tears. Once the flashback ended, Jaleyn sighed and he was starting to get emotional once again.

The next day, Jaleyn and Evan were sitting on the front porch talking to each other about how he and Jaleyn should go to a summer baseball game at the park. "Yeah. When is it?" Jaleyn asked. "Uh, on Saturday at noon. It ends at three. I'd thought we should do something together since we hadn't hung out since I can remember," says Evan.

"Yeah, that sounds good. If mom wants to come with us too. I can drive us down there." Jaelyn said, sighing.

Jaleyn saw his ex-girlfriend Eva Roaden talking to her mom outside across the street. He hasn't spoken to Eva since the incident happened that night. Eva walked inside her home and was carrying groceries in her house. Jaleyn thinks Eva still lives with her mom and dad. Her parents were there on the night of Olivia's accident.

Evan looked at his brother and then glanced at Eva. Eva came walking outside of the house once again, heading towards the car to grab more groceries from the trunk. "You should talk to her." Evan said. "I don't know. I sort of called off our relationship after—," Dash came outside of the house onto the porch and interrupted his son's conversation with Evan.

"Hey uh Evan, your mom needs you downstairs."

Evan nodded his head and said, "Okay."

Evan stood up from the bed swing and he sighed. Evan went up to the door and opened it before he went into the house. After the door shuts, Dash looked at Jaleyn and said, "You know, I just wished you hadn't come home." Jaleyn looked at his father and Dash gave him this look on his face as Jaleyn realized that his father hates him. "You just coming home is just gonna bring back memories of what happened that night. I hope you realize that." Dash said.

Jalelyn didn't say a word. He went all numb and quiet. Dash turned around and he opened the door before walking back inside the house. Jaleyn was fighting back tears.

He wiped his eyes with his hands trying to hide his tears. Jaleyn just sat where he was sitting thinking of what his father Dash said of what he just told Jaleyn. Evan eventually came back outside and sat on the bed swing. Jaleyn sighed and he immediately stood up from his bed swing and stormed into the house and slamming the door.