blood and dreams

fever

realized after I wrote this that this is literally the plot to a babysitters club book. anyways. 

Later that day, Henry and Ray were sitting next to each other quietly. Henry had calmed down from earlier, but he didn't want to be alone. 

"Am I really doing anything that bad?" Henry said, breaking the silence. 

"What do you mean?" Ray asked. He was pretty sure he knew where Henry was going with this. 

"Everyone treats me like a criminal now. I just don't think I did anything that awful." 

"You're right. You didn't do anything that bad at all." Ray said. 

"So then why is everyone acting like I offended them personally?" 

"I don't know kid. Some people are just looking for a fight." 

Henry picked at the skin around his nail. He didn't say anything for a minute. 

"Do they really think bullying me is gonna make me want to hurt less?" 

Ray tried to think about what these people's thought process could possibly be like. He couldn't even imagine it. 

"I doubt the people treating you badly really think it through first." Ray decided. 

"I just can't imagine being angry at someone for hurting themself." 

"That's cause you're a good person." Ray said, leaning against Henry a little. 

"You're like the only person on the planet who believes that." 

"Everyone else doesn't know what they're talking about. You know you're a good person, right Hen?" 

"I guess." Henry said quietly. 

Ray looked at Henry, thinking. He felt bad for him. Everyone was acting so awful to him, and he didn't even do anything to them. Ray knew Henry, and he knew he didn't do anything wrong. There was no real reason for people to treat him like this, but they did, and now Henry genuinely started to believe he's a bad person. 

"You haven't done anything to those people. They're the ones doing bad stuff to you and playing the victim. The same thing goes for your parents." Ray said finally. 

Henry felt a wave of sadness crash over him at the mention of his parents. He didn't say anything about it.  

"Are you okay?" Henry asked. 

Ray gave Henry a sad smile. 

"Yeah, I'm okay. I just wish I could fix this for you." 

Henry didn't want Ray to feel like it was his job to fix his problems. He knew Ray would feel like this no matter what he said, though.  

"You can't change what people say to me. But you've been here for me the whole time. You're doing more than you have to to fix this." Henry said. He hoped Ray understood he appreciated him. 

Ray faked a smile. He knew Henry was telling the truth, that he appreciated him, but he still felt like he should do more. He wanted to protect Henry, not that that was even possible anymore. Everyone knew, and everyone and an opinion. 

"Are you alright Hen?" Ray asked. 

Henry was zoning out now. He wasn't thinking about anything, just staring at the table. He did this a lot. 

"Yeah I'm fine." Henry said, snapping out of it. He coughed a few times. Bad timing. 

"Are you sure?" Ray said, noticing his eyes were kind of red. He put his hand to Henry's forehead. Henry pushed Ray's hand away. 

"Ray, I'm okay. Promise." Henry said.   

"Nope. Doesn't count if you leave off the I."  Ray pointed out.  

"Fine. I promise I'm okay." Henry said, laughing. 

Ray put an arm around Henry, still kind of worried. 

"And I do not believe that. But alright." Ray said. 

Henry didn't respond, but just leaned his head against Ray's shoulder, closing his eyes but not sleeping. Ray glanced down at him, slightly concerned.  

Ray hoped he was just tired. He sat there while Henry slowly fell asleep on him. It was only 5pm.  

Maybe he's just tired from going to Charlotte's house?, Ray thought. 

Ray didn't move, he didn't want to wake up Henry, especially if he wasn't feeling well. Ray noticed how warm Henry felt. He debated whether he should risk getting up to get a thermometer and possibly waking Henry up, or if he should just stay and wait for him to wake up himself, then take his temperature. But no, he could be starting to get really sick. He decided to let his worries get the best of him. 

Ray gently moved Henry off of him and layed him down on a pillow instead. He quietly walked to the bathroom to get a thermometer out of the cabinet. 

He only had a temporal thermometer. Ray knew that might not work great, but it was better than nothing. He gently pressed it to Henry's forehead and moved it back and forth. The thermometer beeped. Ray looked at the screen. 

102.5° F.