Unrealistic

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Eric

My fist cracks against the door. I stand on the Lynn's front porch with my bag looped over my shoulder. The slab of wood opens to reveal a sleepy Val.

"Eric, what are you doing here?" Val yawns.

"Can you get your dad for me, please Val," I sigh.

Val took hold of my free arm to drag me into the kitchen where her father was sipping on a mug of black coffee.

"Daddy, Eric's here," she announces sleepily then stumbles down the hall to her room.

"Thought you went home earlier," Mr. Lynn says.

"I did but I had to talk with my parents. Things didn't end well and I really need a place to sleep for a few nights," I cross my fingers.

"Sit down Eric tell me what happened tonight."

"They said I was spending too much time here with Be. I got really mad since, of course, they don't even know about her condition. Then dad said I could either obey his rules while under his roof or I could leave.

"I could never abandon Be, especially not now. They can't expect me to do that to her so I packed a bag and left. Now that I have I don't know what to do," I admit.

I hang my head and feel Be's dad wrap one arm around my shoulders. "Of course you can stay here, as long as you need to. I'll go get some blankets for the couch," Mr. Lynn stands, leaving me alone in the kitchen.

Just after he leaves Be enters the kitchen. She looks sickly pale and terribly exhausted.

"What are you doing back here?" she rubs her eyes with the heel of her hand.

"Had a fight with my parents, your dad said I could crash her for a little while," I explain.

"Are you alright?" she asks, looking more concerned than ever before.

"I am now that I'm out of there," I smile before changing the subject. "Are you ready to go pig shopping tomorrow?"

"Duh, I am always ready to go pig shopping!"

"Phoebe, you should be resting," her dad says from the kitchen doorway.

"Dad I don't think an extra hour of sleep is going to keep me alive longer," she rolls her eyes.

"You can't keep talking like this. You don't know how this makes me feel when you say stuff like that. You are my daughter Phoebe, and it kills me to think of you..." he can't finish the sentence. "Your things are on the couch Eric; I need a moment with my daughter if you don't mind."

I nod and unfold the blankets onto the couch. I can barely make out the sound of Be and her dad arguing about her condition. I fall asleep listening to them fighting about how to deal with Leukemia.

~~~

I am startled when I wake up; the sun is coming in from the wrong side of my room. I am temporarily lost until I recall the events from yesterday.

Be is fully dressed and siting at the kitchen table ready to go. "So you seem ready to go pig shopping?" I grin.

"Let's go!" she burst out the front door. "I got directions to the nearest pig farm; it's only an hour or so away."

We finally arrive at the pig farm where the squeals of caged pigs surrounded us. Be was fluttering from pen to pen moving from one tiny pig to the next.

I am still leaning against the fence by the farm's entrance. I don't want to help her pick out her pig, watching her is much more interesting. She lands like a butterfly flitting to the perfect flower. I amble toward her and the black and pink pig she is petting.

"Isn't she so cute?" Be's squeal outshines every pig on this farm.

"I guess the little bugger doesn't look too bad," I concede.