The Wounds Within My Heart By James
Disclaimer
If you're not of the legal age to read this story, or if you're offended by this type of material then leave now. This story may at times contain sex and romantic moments between consenting teenaged males. It also may contain scenes of Hate Speech towards people of different races, sexual orientations, disability groups and others. If you can't handle reading about that, then leave.
Please remember to donate to Nifty, as it's your donations that keep these stories and other information on the site free to the public.
Finally, if you like this story and haven't done this already. Offer to buy a moon pie for my E-mail address jamesheady1985@gmail.com. When you get it, squeeze it in your hand several times, then come back to where they are sitting and give it to them. Run away quickly after that.
Thanks to K. for more really well-done editing. I really appreciate the job you do on this story. Thank you.
Chapter Ten
Nohea
Saturday came in the form of a dark and rainy morning. When I awoke, it was after 8:00 A.M., and I got out of bed. Walking into the restroom, I relieved myself and noticing I was still tired I got back in bed. I fell back asleep quickly, and felt truly safe under the covers and knowing that I was at home for real. I was with my real family who truly loved me!
The second time I awoke, I felt the bed give a rather large shake, and I snapped awake instantly.
"Triston, he's still asleep!" our dad said struggling to whisper from the doorway.
I was glad to hear that he wasn't angry with him though.
"I'm awake," I said smiling..
Triston was on the bed with his arms gently resting on my chest as he leaned over me looking down at me. I closed my eyes for a moment, then he moved as if to jump on me. He laughed, and I opened my eyes.
"You're probably thinking that I was going to fall back asleep right?" I said stroking his hair for a moment.
"I tried to get him before he could come in here, but as you probably could tell he can sometimes be too fast," our dad said.
"He's alright," I said.
I checked the clock on my phone, and saw that it was after 11:00 A.M.
"I had planned to let you sleep for how ever long you wanted," our dad said stepping further into the room.
"It's okay," I said.
Triston moved off me, and I sat up rubbing my eyes. I moved so that my brother could sit next to me, and I motioned for our dad to sit down with us. He did so, and I put on my shirt once Triston handed it to me.
"I have to go out for a bit," our dad said. "I have to take care of a few things, but I won't be long. I was going to be leaving around 12:00 P.M. Did you have anything special you wanted to do for the day? It's still raining off and on, so our options are a bit limited."
"I'll have to think about that," I answered. "What about you Triston, what did you want to do today?"
"It's up to you," he replied.
"Cool," I said.
"Triston already had a pop tart for breakfast a little while ago," our dad said. "He'll be hungry for lunch soon I'm sure. I had thought about bringing something back. How does that sound?"
"That sounds good," Triston and I both replied.
"Good," Dad said.
We both hugged him, and he went back into his office to do a couple more things before leaving.
After I showered, Triston and I played a couple of video games he had. They were a couple of sports-related ones with one being Golf and the other being Base Ball. He didn't like many of the violent video games, and it was important to make sure that the games he played didn't have flashing lights or anything like that.
I one a couple of times on the Base Ball games, and Triston won on a turn. He won a couple of times on the Golf game, and we finished the game with me being the final winner.
After that we watched a couple of music videos on YouTube. We watched a couple of them by Heilung, and then another song started up which sounded like it was going to be from the Death Metal side of things.
"I'm not sure if you'll be into this," I said.
I didn't know if the chaotic sounds would scare Triston. Loud sounds were one thing that could cause problems for him, but sometimes it was hard to tell which ones would. Loud booming and banging noises were the ones at the top of the list most definitely that could easily send him into a total melt-down.
I moved to adjust the volume, but Triston stopped me. The song was underway now, and when I checked to see what it was the screen reader announced that it was Make Them Suffer by the Death Metal group Cannibal Corpse. I hadn't heard anything by the group until that moment, and I was starting to like what I was hearing. It was clear that Triston liked it as well.
"Sounds like you're enjoying the music," I said. "Though I don't think others would consider this music."
Triston laughed, then typed.
"It has a good sound," he replied.
"I'm glad you like it," I answered.
After we finished the song, we watched some stuff on TV. There was some cooking show that was on as we sat in the living room. Triston sat snuggled up to me with my arm around him. He seemed to be watching while his head rested slightly against my shoulder.
"I don't know what that would taste like, but it sounds totally repulsive," I said.
It was clearly some gourmet dish they were making, and I listened to see if the man and woman would say the name of what it was again. They said what it was, and it turned out to be some Guse Liver dish. They were also serving Vishiswa.
"No, hell no," I said. "I'm open to trying anything, but not that shit."
Triston was laughing now, and we kept watching to see what else they would be cooking up. That show ended with them pronouncing the food being a success.
"If you say so," I said at the TV.
The next show began, and it was two men who were making a dish of Escargot in a Garlic Lime Butter sauce. I listened as they continued with the process, then a commercial came on.
"They can stick with that shit," I said. "I'll stick to pizza, burgers wings and food that doesn't sound like it's from another planet."
Triston laughed, then hugged me. I held him for a moment then he handed me the remote.
"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," I went on.
I started looking around the stations again, then we watched a few minutes of an episode of Star Trek which was from the Next Generation Series. We were almost through it when I heard a key in the lock at the front door. It opened, and our dad called out.
"We're in here," Triston typed out.
Our dad headed our way, and he sat his keys down on the table next to the doorway that lead into where we were sitting.
"You guys look comfortable," he said. What were the two of you watching?"
I told him about all the stuff we had been watching both online, and on TV just before he came home.
"I'm glad I wasn't here for the snail shit," he replied
"You didn't miss much," I said.
After Dad hugged us, he sat on the couch on my left side which now put me in between him and Triston.
"I would have called to see what you guys wanted me to bring back for lunch, but I had to get the stuff out of the car," our dad explained. "I didn't want it sitting out in the car while it was raining out just in case."
"What stuff?" I asked.
"There's some stuff that came to the post office," he said. "I have a P.O. box there, and some packages arrived."
Our dad got up, and returned sitting a couple of boxes on the coffee table. He picked one up, and handed it to me.
"The packages are for you, but they came in my name since you're not old enough to have a credit card yet."
"Thanks," I said.
I opened the box with the assistance of our dad's pocket knife. After removing the box from within, I sat it on my lap. Once I had it opened, I removed several large-sized booklets.
"That's a note taker which is from the company Humanware," he said. "I went online to see what equipment you might need regarding your blindness. I was able to get out of Barbra that you were using a phone that spoke only the date, time and battery level. You also had a laptop that was loaned to you. When I checked with the principal of the blind school, he said that you used a note taker that they issued to you for the year while at the school. Apparently they would take possession of it at the end of each school year when you'd go home for Summer Break."
"Thank you!" I said truly touched at what our dad had done for me!
"You're welcome," he said as we hugged. "Once Barbra and the school told me that you basically had little in the way of any full-functioning assistive technology I got on the phone and rush-ordered that and a couple of other things for you.
Oh, and the note taker you have there is the Braille Note Touch. It's been out for a few years, but it's still continuing to be developed and shouldn't have any problem receiving the system updates it'll need from time-to-time."
"I really do appreciate this!" I said as he and I hugged again.
"I'm really glad you're happy," he replied.
I opened the second box, and it was another Humanware product. Our dad said that it was the Victor Reader Stream which I had checked out briefly at the blind school when one of the students had one. It played books from the two book services specifically designed for the blind. They were Bookshare.org and the National Library Service for the Blind. The device could also play books from Audible.com and had the ability to play and download podcasts and store and play music.
The third package contained a new iPhone, and our dad said that it was already set up, and was ready for making as well as receiving calls. I hugged him again, and I made sure all the materials from the boxes were cleaned up. I sat back down after that, and thanked our dad again.
"You're welcome," he answered. "They came Yesterday, but by the time I received the call we were getting dinner taken care of and it was late. I knew they would be safe at the post office until today."
"That was really a nice surprise!" I said.
"I'm glad you're happy with them," our dad said.
"Me too," I answered.
We eventually got around to deciding on food. We settled on food from a burger place about five minutes away from our house. Our dad took our orders and left to get the food. I ordered a Double Bacon cheese burger and curly fries along with a large Coke. Triston wanted the same as I got and our dad said he was going to be getting a spicy chicken sandwich, fries and a large Coke.
Once our dad returned, we ate in the kitchen and talked while enjoying our food. It was really nice to sit there with my family, and the food our dad brought back for us! The rain was really picking up outside now, and as we finished eating I was glad that we were all inside as the storm picked up speed.
After I helped our dad clean up, Triston went to his room to watch TV, and I went in to sit in the living room with our dad. He sat down on the couch where we all had been sitting before he went out to get our food. I scooted closer to him, and he put his arm around me as we sat there with everything silent at that moment. He hadn't turned on the TV yet, and it felt really nice to be there cuddled in his arms as the rain pounded down outside.
"You've been so good to me since I've been here," I said looking up at my dad. "You really have made me feel safe, protected and loved."
"I'm really glad," he replied looking into my eyes. "I love you more than anything Nohea, and I want to always keep you safe and to do everything I can to make you feel loved. You mean everything to me, and I'm so glad that you're here with me, as well as with Triston.
I also want you to know that I've always treasured you, even though you and I haven't been in each other's lives since Barbra's family took you away from me I've never stopped wanting you in my life. Also, I want you to know that though I never liked how Barbra handled things, nor how I handled my own situation I never have regretted helping to bring you into the world. Also, the things that happened between Barbra and I, I want you to know that they're not your fault. I really do want you to know that. They were things that had to do with Barbra and I and no one else."
"I do know that," I said as I hugged him a little tighter. "I don't blame myself for what all happened, and I somehow couldn't ever grow to hate or be angry with you when Barbra would try to turn me against you. I could just tell that she was lying. If nothing else she was presenting a narrative that was made up of things completely removed from their proper context. I know now what happened, and she was just a liar that cared only about herself."
"That unfortunately seems to be the case," our dad said. "All that being said though, I'm really proud of you. You're a wonderful son, and you're growing into being a really wonderful young man. You've been really nice and caring towards Triston, and I know he really loves you a lot."
"I love him too," I replied. "He's a really nice kid and a really sweet brother."
"I'm really glad you feel that way," our dad answered.
"Me too," I said.
We checked out the TV soon after, and spent the rest of the afternoon watching a couple of Science Fiction shows with Triston joining us after a while. It truly was a really nice day with us spending it together as a family!
Author's Notes
I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter. I wanted there to be some time for Nohea to spend relaxing with and getting to know his dad and brother more. I hope all of you like how I handled that and all that happened here.
There will be probably a couple more chapters until we begin Book Two. In Book Two you'll all get to see more surprises, and I think you're all going to like what happens going forward. Having said all that, I hope you're all having a good evening. I'll see you in Chapter 11.