Prodigal Son (Jensen Family #1) (10 page)

“What are you doing? Get back
into
bed,
we’ll all get punished again.” One of the
boys pleaded with him.

“Sorry guys.” he whispered
“I’m going, you didn’t see anything ok?” he slipped from the ward and began his
journey to the quad. He was halfway across the tarmac when the security lights
came on; stranding him like a deer caught in car headlights “Shit.” he cursed
as he heard his name being called. He turned his back to the school and regarded
the chain link fence, a little higher than he had imagined and topped with
barbed wire, he hesitated, how the hell had he missed the barbed wire? Running
footsteps behind him galvanised him into action, going from a standstill to a
sprint in a matter of a few paces, he hit the fence and scrambled up it,
flinging his body clear of the barbed wire he thought he had cleared the fence
until he felt the flesh on the inside of his right arm tear, the barbs ripped
into his skin and held fast causing his body to slam into the fence on the
opposite side to the boarding school. He felt his blood pour from the wounds on
his inner arms soaking his shirt and trousers then his vision began to fade, he
was vaguely aware of someone supporting his weight by grasping his legs and
raising him up while someone else shouted to call an ambulance before he passed
out.

He came to in the ambulance;
his arm heavily bandaged and elevated trying to prevent further blood loss.

“Back with us hey, what were
you thinking kid?” the paramedic asked.

“I thought the fence was
lower than it was, I forgot about the barbed wire.” he smiled weakly “Am I
going to be ok?”

“Looks like it, you may need
surgery though,
school
can’t be that bad can it?”

“It’s worse than bad.” Paul
swallowed “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

The first Monica heard of
Paul’s indiscretions was the phone call from the hospital asking for her
permission to take him into surgery. After a detailed conversation with the
doctor in charge of Paul’s case in which said doctor voiced his concerns of the
treatment the boy had been receiving at the hands of the school, he made light
of the swollen red welts on Paul’s back over the phone, preferring the child’s
parents to see them with their own eyes.

Finishing the conversation
with the doctor, Monica then dialled Michael’s private office line, something
she rarely did and had a very curt conversation with her husband telling him in
no uncertain terms that a plane had better be waiting for her at London City
Airport by the time she got there, she then told him to call Suzanne’s parents,
explain the situation and ask them to have Tessa for the night,

“When you’ve done that, you’d
better get yourself up to the hospital. This is your fault Michael, you’d
better pray that Paul is going to be alright.” she didn’t wait for his reply,
she slammed the phone down, marched out of the house and made the airport in
record time.

Paul was out of surgery but
still drowsy when Monica arrived. She got taken to the head surgeons’ office
where the extent of damage to Paul’s arm was explained to her.

“He’s going to make a full
recovery Mrs Jensen, he didn’t damage any nerves and we managed to repair the
damage to his veins and muscle, his arm is swollen however and he may
experience some tingling in his fingers for some time and he’s going to have
two rather large scars, he did lose quite a bit of blood so we are having to
transfuse him at the moment but I’ll take you to see him, he may still be
slightly groggy.” the doctor held open the door to his office and followed
Monica through.

“You mentioned he had other
injuries unrelated to his accident?” Monica asked.

“Yes, we had to cut his
uniform off him I’m afraid, he was in no fit state to remove it himself and it
was covered in blood. When we rolled him to remove his shirt we discovered that
his back is covered with deep welts consistent with being beaten, two of the
welts have actually split his skin, not badly, and we have closed those wounds
with temporary stitches, there appear to be older welts across his buttocks as
well. We have questioned the school about these wounds who deny all knowledge
of them, as yet we have been unable to ask Paul how he got them.” he opened the
door to Paul’s room. “Go on in, I’ll get his nurse and we will show you his
wounds.”

Paul was asleep, flat on his
back, the sheet pulled up under his arms, a bag of blood suspended above him
and his right arm heavily bandaged. Monica stepped up to the side of his bed
and pushed the thick black fringe from his forehead bending to kiss him there and
gaze on her son’s sleeping face. She looked up as the doctor returned with a
nurse and between them they turned the sleeping boy onto his right side.

Monica gasped when she saw
the wounds, reaching out, she tugged the sheet lower, regarding the older welts
and bruises covering Paul’s backside. “I’ve seen enough.” she stepped away “How
long until he wakes up?” she asked.

“I should be able to wake
him.” the nurse replied “He’s just drowsy from the anaesthetic.” she reached
over and lightly shook Paul’s shoulder saying his name as she did, Paul reacted
slowly, swallowing then opening his eyes “Hi” the nurse smiled “You have a
visitor.” she stepped back and allowed Monica next to the bed while she busied
herself checking his bandages and pulse and marking her findings on her chart.

Paul regarded his mother
silently, he was relieved to see her but at the same time incredibly angry that
she had left him at the school; he turned his face away from her and closed his
eyes causing both the nurse and Monica to frown.

“Paul, I know you’ve been
through a rough time sweetie, look at me, we need to talk about what happened.”
Monica spoke softly and slowly Paul turned to face her. Using his uninjured
arm, he tried to push himself into a sitting position; the nurse was at his
side in an instant helping him.

“If you start to feel dizzy
just lay back down ok?”

Paul nodded at the nurse and
gave her a weak smile then once again turned to his mother.

Monica stepped back from the
look of pure hatred her son shot at her; he’d never looked at her like that
before. Not caring that the doctor and nurse were still in the room, he took a
deep breath.

“You left us there.” he
accused.

“I had no
choice,
it wasn’t my decision to make.” Monica replied.

“You could have put your foot
down, you do it enough with Matt and me, you are after all, the one who takes
care of us most of the time.”

“I’m sorry, I wish I had
refused to let you go, I can’t say anymore than that. I’m here now,
tell
me what happened.”

“Isn’t it obvious? I was
beaten, several times, the last time put me in the infirmary, that’s when I
decided I was going to try and get home.”

“Did you do anything to
deserve punishment?” Monica asked even though she really.
didn’t
need to, she knew her son and should have taken his threat of getting expelled
from the school seriously.

Paul chuckled. “Yeah, course
I did”, his answer causing his nurse to smile.

“What exactly did you do?”

“I’m not sure you really want
to know the details Mum,” Paul answered “Some of them aren’t for your ears.”

Monica shook her head, what
was she going to do with this boy? She loved him dearly and was relieved that
he was going to be fine; she was more relieved that the look of hatred had left
his face, now he just looked tired, she bent and kissed his forehead again.

“How long before I can take
him home?” she asked the doctor.

“It’ll be a couple of days
yet Mrs Jensen, I want to make sure his arm begins to heal properly and that he
doesn’t get an infection.”

“In that case, I’d better
find a hotel and wait for your father.”

“Dad’s coming?” Paul asked
“Oh.”

“It’ll be alright, he’ll be
fine and I need him to confront the school with me when I go to get Matthew.”

“You’re taking us home?”

“Absolutely, you won’t be
going back to that place and neither will your brother after today. I suppose I
should let you rest.”

“I’ll take good care of him
Mrs Jensen.” the nurse assured her “I’m on the night shift so I’ll keep an eye
on him.”

“Thank you my dear. What is
your name, it just sounds so terribly formal to keep calling you Nurse.”

“I’m Cindy” the girl smiled.

“Well, Cindy, thank you for
your obvious concern for my son, I’ll leave him in your more than capable
hands. I’ll see you in the morning Paul, try to get some sleep.”

Monica left the hospital but
only got as far as the car park where she waited in her rented car for Michael,
she left her car as soon as she saw the dark blue Mercedes enter the car park
and waved to get her husband’s attention.

“How is he?” his first words.

“He’s going to be fine
Michael but he’s been beaten to within an inch of his life. We will have to get
Matthew out of there, today, and I want answers from the Principle about Paul’s
wounds.”

“Can I see him?”

“Not today, he’s resting, he told
me he did break some rules and did deserve to be punished but Michael, you
should see the state of his back, it looks like he’s been flogged.” her
composure broke and her voice began to tremble.

“Monica, I can only
apologise, I should have listened when you told me boarding school wasn’t a
good idea for our boys.” he wrapped his arms around his wife.

“Yes you should have and I
hope from now on you will listen to me when it comes to the welfare of our
children.”

“Without
question.”
He assured “When can we
take Paul home?”

“The doctor said a couple of
days, the staff in there are all very nice, we’ll have to find a hotel,
after
we’ve had it out with the school.”

Turning up at the boarding
school unannounced really wasn’t the norm but given the circumstances, the
faculty had been warned to look out for the Jensen’s and direct them to
Principle Baxter’s office where the best bone china was once again waiting for
them.

“Mr and Mrs Jensen, I have to
say, I wasn’t expecting to see you quite so soon.”

“I’ll bet you weren’t, tell
me why I had to hear my son was injured from the hospital and have yet to hear
from the school?” Monica waded in.

“Monica!” Michael was shocked
at his wife’s out right attack.

“No Michael, I’m not going to
sit here and let this sycophant sugar coat what has happened to Paul.”

“You’re son is no angel Mrs
Jensen.”

“I’m well aware of that and
having spoken to him I understand that he did indeed expect to get punished,
the extent of his injuries are unacceptable and I would like them explained”
Monica turned once again on the Principle.

“Surely Mr Jensen, you aren’t
going to let your wife speak to me this way?” Principle Baxter turned to
Michael, immediately undermining Monica’s authority.

“Actually, given the
circumstances, I think my wife’s tone and questions are spot on, I’m more than
happy for her to continue.” Michael replied, Monica had become somewhat
subservient over the years, nothing like the feisty Latina who had stood up to
him at the Debutants ball, he should have known that anything to do with their
children would cause her temper to stir and he liked it.

“I want answers.” Monica
demanded.

Furious at having to deal
with a woman, Principle Baxter decided not to spare any details,

“Paul began by fraternising
with the girls at the adjoining Comprehensive School which he followed swiftly
by smoking in his room, refusing to wear nightclothes and sleeping naked,
refusing to attend lessons and when we did get him to lessons, refusing to work
or take part in any way, he was rude to staff members and we finally caught him
masturbating yesterday morning, all of the aforementioned misdemeanours are
against school rules and all are punishable.”

“I agree he should have been
punished but the skin on his back has been ripped to shreds, explain that.”

“He was punished in line with
recommendations and with two other boys who received considerably more lashes
than your son, both of whom are fine and back in lessons, I would suggest that
Paul worsened his own injuries and that perhaps his lifestyle up until now has
caused him to become a little soft.”

“My son would never have
knowingly caused himself further pain.” Michael stepped in “And I cannot
believe that he would be outright rude to anyone, he simply isn’t that kind of
boy, as for sleeping naked, well, that is personal preference and, in my
opinion shouldn’t be imposed.”

“What about his repeated
fraternising with the girls and masturbation?” Principle Baxter snarled.

“He’s fourteen years old,
those things are a natural part of growing up, and surely you aren’t so old as
to remember what it was like to be a teenage boy?” Michael mocked.