Part Five
Giles led a distraught Iam into the hospital. “He’s going to be fine, isn’t he, Uncle Rupert?”
Giles sighed, “I’m not sure, Iam. We’ll see what the doctors say.” He located a nurse. “Excuse me, we’re here to see Alexander Harris.”
“Room 237,” said the nurse.
Outside the room were the two social workers. When Giles approached, Jenkins said, “Are you Rupert Giles?”
“Yes, that would be me,” he said.
“You’re the one who made the call,” said Yates. “They’re sending a couple of workers over to the other boys house tomorrow.”
“Good. This is Iam. You said Xander asked for him by name?”
“Yes, before he withdrew from his surroundings. We can’t get him to respond at all,” said Yates.
“I can help,” said Iam. “Can I go in?”
“Of course,” said Yates, letting the boy into the room.
Yates and Jenkins asked Giles to me to a more private area. “We’re sorry to bother you, to make you come down here.”
“It’s quite alright.”
“What did you see exactly that made you think Alexander was being abused?” asked Jenkins.
“He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt today, and when I spoke to him earlier, it slid up and I saw bruises on his arm that looked as though someone had grabbed him rather hard. And the way he was acting seemed to fit.”
“How do you know the profile for an abused child?” asked Yates.
“Because of my nephew. I have custody of him because he was abused by both parents and raped by his father.”
“I’m sorry,” said Yates softly.
“No, it’s fine. Xander is the first friend Iam’s made here. And Jesse, the other boy I called about. Iam is finally starting to open up.”
“Xander?” said Iam softly, once he was in the room. He stepped up to the bed and carefully took Xander’s hand. “Xander, it’s Iam.”
“Iam?” asked Xander, focusing on the blue-eyed boy.
“How are you feeling?”
“M’fine. I wanna go home.”
“The doctors have to make sure you’re alright,” said Iam gently.
Xander sighed, “My dad’s gonna be mad.”
Iam looked at Xander for a minute before replying. “Xander, you’re not going back there.”
“What about my dad?” he asked fearfully.
“Going to prison for a long time, I’m sure,” soothed Iam.
“Where am I going to go?”
“I don’t know. Do you have relatives?”
“No, not really. There’s my uncle Rory, but I don’t like him, he’s the same as my dad,” Xander looked at Iam with a woeful expression.
“Well, we’ll see what the social workers say? Do you mind if I leave for a minute?”
“You’re coming back right?” When Iam nodded, Xander relaxed. “Can you call Jesse? He must be worried.”
“Of course.” Iam walked out of the room. “Uncle Rupert?” He looked around the hallway, but saw no sign of his uncle. So he went out to the lobby and headed toward the payphones. He dug out the correct change, then looked Jesse’s number up in the phonebook.
“Huh?”
“Hello? Is-is Jesse home?”
“Hang on.” Jesse could still hear the voice. “Jesse get your ass down here!!! And don’t take too long, neither!!”
“Hello?”
“Jesse? It’s Iam.”
“Iam? What’s going on?”
“Well, it’s Xander. He’s in the hospital.”
“What? Why?” asked Jesse worriedly.
“His father,” spat Iam. “The police caught him in the act though.”
“God, I’ll be right down!”
Iam hung up the phone and went back toward Xander’s room. As he passed one of the lounges, he saw his uncle speaking with the two social workers. He stopped and listened.
“There’s an uncle I think we should call,” said Jenkins.
“No!” yelled Iam. The three adults turned to look at Iam, who blushed furiously. “Sorry for eavesdropping, but Xander told me his uncle’s abused him too.”
“It’s worse than we thought,” said Yates. “The boy has no other relatives.”
“Uncle Rupert, what about us? Could we take him?” asked Iam, attempting to make his eyes as large and tear-filled as possible.
“Iam, please don’t make that face at me.” This caused the blue eyes to become even larger and more tear-filled than before. “Oh, for the love of… Would it be possible for me to take the boy?”
“I’m not sure how long it will take to find a foster for him, but that should be fine until we do,” said Jenkins.