{might be deleting after used}
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Mullingar, Ireland
More Than 10 Years Later
"Bye Alice. Thanks for the ride home." I smiled at my friend from the outside of her van window.
"No problem, babe. Will you be able to handle him?" Alice asked worriedly.
I nodded. "Don't worry about me. See you later."
"Bye." Alice drove away.
I sighed. Truth was, I didn't know if I actually could handle him.
I jogged up the practically-dead lawn and peered in the front window. Empty beer bottles were piled up beside the recliner. He sat there, his back to me. I shook my head.
"Great. He's home," I muttered as I fondled with the medicine bottle in my hand. I shuffled over, away from the window to the corner. I leaned lazily against the wall, turning the small bottle over in my hand. The barcode read, 7 4286 2015 7. A shiver ran down my spine. 2015. I tightened my grip around the bottle. That stupid year that had to happen. The year that stopped him and I from having our first baby. Two years later and it was still fresh in my mind.
I shook it off. Easy, y/n. Get it together. I made my way around to the side of the house. Picking up a few pebbles, I threw them at one of the two windows.
A couple of minutes later, Liam managed to shove open the window. His face was pale, as usual.
"Shoot," I muttered. "Liam? Sorry, but could you drop the ladder down?"
"Sure." Liam coughed as he left the window to get the ladder. He came back with a box. "In box," Liam said just loud enough so I could hear. He was so weak that he knew he shouldn't talk much.
"That's okay. Drop it down," I urged gently.
Liam let it go and I caught it, slowing it down before I dropped it to the ground quietly. "Thanks. I'm so, so sorry."
Liam smiled and turned back to his room.
I dragged the ladder over to the other window--my window--and opened up the cardboard box. I unfolded the ladder, and gently propped it up against the wall. I went up the first two steps. It wobbled. "Easy," I whispered under my breath. I climbed up the rest of the way, stopping at the top to open my window. I stumbled inside my room, eventually pulling the ladder up. I folded it and tucked it under my bed.
I pulled the medicine out of my pocket and smiled. After tossing it up in the air and catching it, I strolled silently into Liam's room. He was lying in bed.
"I got your medicine." I opened up the box and tossed it in the garbage can.
"Recycling," Liam said quietly and I smiled.
"Of course." I picked the cardboard out of the trash and slid it into my back pocket to drop into the recycling bin later. I spun open the cap of the medicine.
"Didn't have to," Liam said, then coughed a few times.
I sat down on the bed; pouring the medicine into the cap, since Liam was afraid of spoons. "Sure I had to. It's a necessity. Just like food or water." I held the cap up to his mouth. "Open."
Liam did what he could. I tipped the cap, making the medicine flow into his mouth. He swallowed. "Bleh."
"Bad taste?" I asked, grinning.
He nodded and I laughed. "I'll be in my room. Dial if you need me."
Liam nodded again. He had a cell phone in his room, right beside his bed. It was always on the keypad, with my number typed in; when Liam pushed call, the corded phone in my room would ring to let me know that he needed something. It was easier for him than walking.
