Clockwork

fifteen.

POV: Alexandria Colbin

I sat in the hospital, with Erik leaning against me. I was pretty sure he was asleep.

Whatever his parents had said earlier really shook him up, and he had barely hesitated to curl up on the uncomfortable hospital couch against me. I pretended not to notice the tears that fell.

I can't even imagine how stressful this must be for him. His younger brother was in the hospital for a problem that we couldn't figure out, and he had absolutely no support from his parents, save for financial.

I've worked out by now that his parents could probably be classified as neglectful, but obviously nothing's happening about it. The way Erik responded to the phone call was not very encouraging to cancel out that idea.

Without any warning, the overwhelming urge to jerk my head to the side ran through me, and I held my breath. I didn't want to wake up Erik. I placed my hands under his head and shoulder (which was extremely difficult to achieve), and held him while I stood up. He shifted a bit when I shuddered and huffed, but didn't wake up. I slowly laid him down completely, his head resting on the arm of the couch.

As soon as I moved my hand from his head, I gave in to the tics. They took control of me for a few seconds, but I managed to place a hand over my mouth before I whistled and woke up both him and Spencer.

The second after I had complete control over myself again, I sighed and sat down in a hard plastic chair. I pulled out my phone to update my mom, sending her a quick text to let her know that I still don't know when I'll be back, and we aren't sure what's wrong.

I had only just sent the message when Spencer stirred in his bed and whimpered a bit. I looked up from my phone to see him gazing around worriedly, his eyes stopping on Erik.

I stood up and moved to his hospital bed, where I perched on the side. "Hey, bud. How're you feeling?" I asked, and his eyes snapped to me.

"Um, good. What happened?" His voice trembled a bit, and with the oxygen mask covering his mouth as well, the words were difficult to make out.

"We're trying to figure that out right now. The *click, whistle* nurse is gonna come back any second to test something out, but they said it should *click* only take a minute."

He hummed a bit in affirmation, then reached his hand at me. "Can you hold my hand please when they do the test?"

My face softened, and I nodded. "Of course. If they let me, I'll do that."

A young nurse walked in quietly, her converse barely making a sound on the tile floor. She smiled and waved at Spencer, then turned to me.

"Are you related to him? Or willing to hang out for a bit while we do this test?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Her eyes flicked towards where Erik was laying on the small couch.

"We're not related, but I'm *click* more than willing to help out." I responded.

She nodded, and walked to the other side of the bed to clip something on Spencer's finger. She removed his oxygen mask, instead giving him a small tube that slipped under his nose.

"'Kay. I'm gonna have you stand up, slowly, and then sit back down if you feel dizzy." The nurse said to Spencer, and he nodded.

I watched as he swung his legs off of the bed and leaned forward, only to pause before standing up. Almost immediately, one of the machines started beeping like crazy, and Spencer sat down quickly on the bed. He was swaying a bit, side to side.

The nurse scribbled something down on her clipboard, and then placed a hand on Spencer's shoulder. He looked up at her, and she asked, "When did you start feeling dizzy?"

"Um, when I sat up, I was a little bit dizzy, but then I stood up on my feet, and I thought I was gonna fall again." He almost whispered.

The nurse nodded and wrote on her clipboard again, then circled something a few times. "Alright, well I'll send the doctor in to make the diagnosis, and you should be good to go!" She walked out of the room, and Spencer turned around to face me, his legs crossed in front of him.

"Do you think I'm gonna have to take medicine all the time?" He asked.

"I'm not sure, bud. We'll *click* figure it out, though."

He nodded, then looked past me. "Hi, Erik! We did a test, and the lady said we were gonna have a doctor next to do a dag-a-no-sis!"

I turned to see Erik sitting up on the couch. "A diagnosis?" He looked at me to check.

"Yeah." I laughed a little, then listened to Spencer ramble to Erik about a new Lego set that he saw on TV until the doctor came in.

"Spencer?" He asked, and the kid turned around to face the doctor. "I'm Doctor Zander; I'm gonna be your doctor for a bit. Can I see your hand for a sec?"

Spencer placed his small hand in Doctor Zander's glove-covered one, and watched carefully as the doctor unclipped the nurse's clip and put a new one on.

"Alright, now I'm gonna have you stand up again, and stay standing this time." Spencer scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up, blinking a few times. The beeping that had become more regular suddenly sped up again, but then calmed down.

I looked at Erik, confused, but he was only mimicking my expression. As I turned back to the doctor, he spoke again.

"So, we think you might have something called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS for short. Basically, for a few seconds or minutes after standing up, your heartbeat speeds up more than it should, and it can make you feel dizzy, or faint. We'll write down some of the things you can do to help."

"How can I help?" Erik spoke up.

"Buy some compression socks for him, and provide more salty foods. Spencer needs to drink more water as well. If nothing really works, we'll write him a prescription for propranolol, which slows down the heart. He would take it every morning before he stands up. But we're not there yet, just stick with the socks, water, and salt for now."

Erik nodded, and the doctor smiled, high-fived Spencer, and left. Soon enough, another nurse came in and handed us the discharge papers, removed Spencer from the wires and clips, and told us we were free to go. A candy striper walked us to the exit, and we headed outside, where my dad was waiting to drive us to Erik's house.

Y'all, I'm so sorry!! I literally got sick, and had no motivation whatsoever to write. I'll try my best to get back on schedule, but unfortunately I can't make any promises. Thanks for reading!! (1.3K reads!!)