Part Six
The two social workers looked at each other before turning back to the man. “Well, I suppose we can certainly try,” said Yates. “We’ll get the paperwork going tomorrow. And it’s certainly fine if you take him with you tonight.”
Just then Jesse came running in, “Iam called me! Where is he? What happened?”
Iam grabbed Jesse and tried to calm him down, “He’s in 237, let’s go see him.” The two boys headed into Xander’s hospital room.
“That’s the other one that I called about,” said Giles, after the boys were gone.
“Xander?” Jesse said softly, looking at his boyfriend who was curled up on the hospital bed. When there was no response, Jesse tried again, this time placing one hand on the boy’s arm. “Xander?”
Xander jerked away, as though trying to escape. Jesse backed up quickly.
“Xander, it’s us. Iam and Jesse,” said Iam, hoping to get through to Xander.
“…no…” whimpered Xander.
“What’s wrong?” asked Jesse, close to crying.
“I don’t know,” said Iam. “He was fine before I left.”
“Fix him!” said Jesse. “He’s never been this bad before!”
“I don’t know what to do,” said Iam.
Jesse moved back to the side of the bed and reached for Xander. When his hand touched the other boy, Xander reacted violently. He blindly hit at the other teen before collapsing on the bed sobbing. “…stop, please…don’t touch me…no…”
Shocked, Jesse just stood there for a second, before running from the room in tears. Iam followed him quickly, calling after him, “Jesse, stop! He’s in pain. He probably doesn’t even know it’s you!”
Outside the room, Giles and the social workers looked up when Jesse came tearing out of the room with Iam running after him. Giles grabbed Jesse and forced him to stop. He looked at the tear-streaked boy and pulled him close. “Shh, it’s going to be alright.” Giles looked over at Iam. “What happened?”
“Jesse touched Xander and he hit him,” said Iam with wide eyes. “But Xander’s not focusing on anything.” His voice dropped to a whisper, “I think he can’t stop remembering.”
Giles tried to soothe the distraught boy in his arms as he pondered what Iam had said. If he decided to take in Xander, the boy was definitely going to need counseling. But he would be unlikely to do it alone. “Iam, if Xander were to stay with us for a while, would you mind if he went to your appointments with you?”
Before Iam could answer, a doctor went into Xander’s room.
Jesse realized he was sobbing against a relatively unknown adult and pulled away embarrassed. “ ‘M sorry,” he mumbled.
“There’s no need,” said Giles. “Everyone needs to do that, especially if someone close to them is hurt.”
Jenkins had been on his cell phone, and now he turned to Jesse, “Jesse McPherson?” Jesse nodded his head. “Would you mind talking with me for a moment?”
“I guess,” said Jesse, his eyes flicking to Giles, who nodded almost imperceptively.
Yates and Jenkins carefully led Jesse into the waiting room they had used earlier. “So, Jesse,” said Jenkins, “Xander’s a good friend of yours?”
“Y-yeah, we’ve known each other for years,” came the tentative response.
“We overheard a bit of what you said in the hospital room. You said he’d never been this bad before. Does his father rape him often?” asked Jenkins.
“No!” said Jesse. “He’d tell me! Beatings, yeah, we can handle those, but this… I can’t help him with this! He goes away and I’m not there!” Jesse looked at the worker. “Why aren’t I there? Why doesn’t he see me?”
“Shh,” soothed Yates. She spoke in a calming manner, “It’s a defensive mechanism, his mind is trying to shut down. The doctors will help. And your friend will never have to go back to his parents, ever again.”
Jesse’s eyes widened, “You’re taking him away? You can’t! I love him!”
Yates filed that comment away for later study before responding, “No, no, dear. Mr. Giles has kindly offered to care for Xander.”
“Oh,” Jesse stared at his hands. “That’s… good, I guess. But…” the last word was barely audible.
“But, what? You can tell us anything, you know,” she murmured, hoping to get the boy to open up.