Sin & Savior

CHAPTER 6, PART 5

She rapped abruptly on the door until—at last—he finally answered.

"It has only been two days, Alex... are you really that tired of having me around already?" she smirked, before realizing that Alex looked drained of blood, morose, and deathly ill. "H-hey, Alex... what's... what's wrong with you, bro?" she stammered, checking his head for fever with the back of her palm and fingers. Contrary to her expectations, his face hardened angrily, then flushed, and turned away from her entirely.

"I'm fine, Seraphina. What do you want?" he asked, his voice echoing out behind him into the house all up until the moment she slapped him in the back of the head.

"Alex... who the hell raised you to speak that way to your big sister? It's a rhetorical question, since I practically raised you myself," she orated boisterously and commandingly, needing him to take her into account.

"I'm sorry, Sera," he said, turning around to face her. "I just really don't feel the best today at all. I can't lie about it," he stammered, his face flushing even further as he spoke.

"What's wrong, Alexander?" she said, curling him into a ball against her chest, like something that needed to be nurtured. "You know if something is wrong, you can come tell me. You always have... I don't understand why you're being so wide-eyed and secretive with me..." she said, saddened by his distancing himself.

"I...." He said, before turning away, unable to meet her eye.

"What, Alex?" she said, insistent and earnest.

"I'm hungry, really hungry," he said, grabbing at his stomach.

She hit him firmly with a fist in his chest. "What is WRONG with you? If you told me when I called you, I would've ordered you a pizza, Alex. I know making your own meals is like Sisyphus rolling the stone uphill for you, but I promise you it's not that serious."

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"This is amazing," she said. "But... why aren't you eating, Aly?" she quipped, concern etched all across her features.

"I... look...." He said, fearful and blankly. "Sera... there's something else, and I'm embarrassed to say what," he said, turning his head away from her analytical gaze. "I...." He said, sliding out his chair, before facing her once again. "I think I need to see a doctor."

"What do you mean, Alex?" she asserted, angered now. "Tell me what's going on and stop being cryptic, right now! I'm tired of this. I know something's wrong."

He nodded, and looked down into his lap ashamed, then back up at her.

"I... Sera... it hasn't gone down for 2 days," he said, his palms in his lap, diminished and protecting the antecedent. "I can't figure out any way to solve the problem. I tried taking care of it, but...." He said, trembling quietly within the seat.

"Alex... are you... are you saying what I think you're saying?" she said, horrified.

"Yes," he nodded frenetically.

"How?!?! WHY???" she said, her voice raised, and the hairs of her neck standing on edge.

"I don't know!! It's been happening like this on and off ever since the party...." He whimpered.

"Wait... you went?!?! WAIT!!!" she shouted indiscriminately. "Rick told me the two of you fought!!? What happened, Alexander! Tell me right now. He wouldn't say a word of it, other than immediately absolving himself. I don't remember ANYTHING."

"I don't remember anything either," he said, his eyes rolling back into his skull, perusing his mental Rolodex for any inkling of information his processes could identify.

Seraphina shot her eyes toward the sky in surrender, but met with the ceiling of her family home in a terror unlike any she had ever known. The details of the party had eluded her, but one thing she'd known for sure: she felt an unfamiliar pain between her legs when she'd awakened the morning after, a quickening in her stomach, and to this day hadn't figured out the culprit behind either. One thing was certain: she needed answers, and she needed them quickly, lest this situation grow even further out of her control.

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As they rushed to the hospital, she couldn't help but feel uncertain.

"Alex... are you alright?" she said, touching his shoulder reassuringly as she witnessed his wilting frame and inconsistent posturing—afraid of what might happen to her brother.

He was barely 19 years old... what if he'd wound up infertile, or worse?

This wasn't an experience many people could ever claim they'd lived, and the anxiousness she'd felt on his behalf was threatening to swallow her whole.

"No," he said, pulling his shirt down to his knees and unzipping his pants beneath his shirt. "Please hurry, Sera," he said, the unshed tears swelling themselves into dam-breaking behemoths within his eyes. "I don't know anymore..." he said, his thoughts growing increasingly more intricate and unhinged.

"I... Sera?..." he asked, with a question curled across the hills of his mouth. "Can you... could you... you know... help me out?" he asked, equal parts disgusted, apathetic, and interested.

"Absolutely not," she assured him. "Are you out of your mind, Alexander?" she said, appalled that he could envision such a scenario, even considering his present circumstances.

"I'm sorry, Sera. Thank you. I think I'm going legitimately insane," he said, grateful she rerouted his cognition and his fear of prevalence, pain, and the uncertain future with her stern tonality. They arrived at the Urgent Care center seemingly right on time, as Seraphina was altogether unsure of whether or not her own sanity would continue stitching itself together accurately and appropriately after having been propositioned for sexual favor by her own family member. "Wait here," she said, stepping out of the vehicle and running toward the front to grab a wheelchair, her anxiety pulsating her heart against her ribcage at breakneck pace. She quietly said a prayer as she placed one foot in front of the other, laboring in every one of her steps. "Father God... protect us from the enemy, and ourselves. Please... grant me strength."

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