387 Plan (1/2)

**Third Person Perspective**

Wayne Atkins was tired. Beyond tired. He was running on almost no sleep for the past 36+ hours. After making sure all the boys were in their rooms and sleeping, he also wanted to go to his own bed. Yet...there was one more thing he had to do. Wayne went to his office where his wife was waiting. They shared a smile, but it felt forced.

Wayne took a seat in his chair, his wife mimicking his actions. He grabbed the landline phone and dialed, putting it on speaker.

”Hello, Wayne, Mary.” A man answered right away, almost like he knew the call was coming.

”What are your thoughts Dr. Moore?” Wayne asked, taking in a breath and holding it.

Dr. Moore sighed over the line. ”I can't be sure...but, it's safe to say that something happened. Something must have jogged his memory. That's the only thing that can explain his sudden onset of nightmares and being physically ill. If it was a cold or the flu, it would have lasted longer than 24 hours. He wouldn't just be ready to go back to school after one day off. And, you said he doesn't have any symptoms right now?”

”None. No coughing, sneezing, vomiting, or a headache. He napped until dinner. Ate his usual amount. Nothing was off.” Mary told him. ”I don't think he would fake being sick, but I've never seen a boy turn healthy so quick.”

”I agree. I'm 90% sure it was psychological. He either heard something or saw something that reminded him of his past. He said that he was with the boys right before feeling sick.”

”Do you think it was something our boys said or did?” Wayne asked.

”I'm not blaming them. Maybe something that's totally subconscious to them, really stood out to Jake. We've practically confirmed that there's a brother. It could just be related to that. Your sons are pretty close to one another so maybe it'll upset him from time to time. Who knows.”

”What can we do for him then?” Mary asked, worried.

”Just continue being there for him. One step at a time. You guys are doing great.” Dr. Moore told them. ”I've submitted my thoughts on you becoming his legal parents, and I had only good things to say. Have you heard from Doug on how the process is coming along?”

”We're in the six month waiting period for now.” Wayne told him. ”We have to wait until they exhaust all other options of finding his family and extended family. That will determine how smooth or bumpy this will be.”

The three adults spent the night discussing.

***

Going back to school on a Thursday after taking the day off yesterday, made me feel like I was on a Monday. It didn't help that the teachers were giving me the homework I missed yesterday and adding it to today's work.

I was going to start my plan of asking Noah about that Patterson guy, but he was still depressed from yesterday's game. His focus was still on baseball, but only his baseball. How he could practice more, train harder and be better. He's definitely a baseball fanatic.

It wasn't until practice started, that I realized, how much this loss affected the whole team. It was a stifling atmosphere like that loss took everything away.

Before starting warmups, Coach gathered us in a circle.

”Yesterday was close.” He started out by looking around at us. ”I know you boys. I know what you want to do. You want to find blame and either push it on yourself or onto somebody else. It's how teenagers are.” He looked to Zeke. ”Well?”

Zeke stood tall, arms crossed. ”There's no point looking at the past unless you want to learn from it.”

”Oh? And what did you learn?” Coach asked.