The next day had risen a little late for Roland from the current events that had kept him in exhaust and worry yesterday. Seeing that the ray of the sun had came from the blinds of his window onto his eyes, it didn’t look as it phased him much, but instead he decided to pull the sheets over his head, not wanting to get up whatsoever, even though it was a school day as well. 

A couple of minutes later, Steven’s father, Mr. Noonan, had walked into Roland’s room, telling him of the time and had some news to share with him as well. [i]“Hey, Roland?”[/i] said Mr. Noonan, flicking on the boy’s bedroom light while speaking to him, [i]“It’s pretty late buddy, you need to hop out of bed. I have something to show you.”[/i]

Once Roland had heard Steven’s father, he quickly removed the sheet from his head, looking over to his doorway where Mr. Noonan was standing with a tiresome look on his face. Once Mr. Noonan walked out of his room, Roland got out of bed and left the room as well, following the man into the main room where their television set was on. On it showed a paused segment of a newscast with a headline on the bottom of a screen stating of an abused teen being hospitalized.

[i]“Steven told me that you needed to discuss something with us,”[/i] said Mr. Noonan as he took a seat onto the couch, grabbing the remote from the coffee table, [i]“And I’m certain it had to do about this girl here, right? Isn’t this the one who stayed here a couple of days ago?”[/i]

[i]“Uh…”[/i] said Roland, lost for words at the moment due to the conversation he held for yesterday to be confronted as of now unexpectedly, but agreed to talk about it while had the chance. [i]“Yes sir, it is.”[/i]

The television showed a picture of Avery and another one of her father as well, stating the current whereabouts of the both of them. Her being hospitalized, and him currently being held in prison.

[i]“Why didn’t you tell us about this sooner Roland,”[/i] said Mr. Noonan, [i]“You know we are here to help you with anything. We might not be your parents, but you can still come to us.”[/i]

[i]“N-no sir, it isn’t that I couldn’t trust you,”[/i] replied Roland, [i]“I…..made a promise……to her. S-she told not to tell anyone, otherwise it would of became worse with her and her father. I wasn’t even suppose to know.”[/i]

[i]“I see,”[/i] said Mr. Noonan, [i]“Well, it’s fine, but it isn’t fine. You have a friend right now in the hospital and the best thing for you to do is be with her and support her. I tell you what, go ahead and get ready to go.”[/i]

[i]“Huh?”[/i] said Roland, questioned to what intentions Mr. Noonan had.

[i]“I’m going to take you to the hospital to see your friend,”[/i] stated Mr. Noonan, [i]“We will talk more about everything in the car. Right now, you need to hurry and get ready, ok?”[/i]

[i]“Yes, sir,”[/i] said Roland as he hurried back to his room quickly as could to get dressed and ready to go see Avery again.