I watched Eric as he slowly scarfed down his green jello, which looked gross, I might add. He sat down his small styrofoam cup on the mini tray in front of him, then his eyes darted up to me. "Is there a reason why you sittin' here watchin' me, all intently and shit?" He asked bluntly, his fingers tugging at the bit of hair at the bottom of his chin.
"I just wanted to give you some new information about your tests," I said, flipping through my clipboard. Since I've introduced the nerve racking news to him, he's been rather loathsome towards me - as if I was the one who got him sick.
Eric just puffed, "What is it now?"
"Well, I found out that you're strong enough to take the ART treatment." I said, reciting the words from my clipboard.
"What the fuck is that?"
"Antiretroviral therapy. It's a regimen, you have a chance of living much longer. And the chance of you spreading the virus depletes, as well as the virus itself. As you still will have the illness, it prevents any other sicknesses invading your body, like cancer and whatnot. If it agrees with your body, you'll be much healthier like you wanted, Mr. Wright."
Since just last night he was distraught, I would've espected just a little dose of joy. But no - just more hatred. "So what if it don't agree with my body?" He sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Then we're gonna put you under a different treatment, we're not just gonna give up on you, sir." I said, sliding on my gloves and grabbing a syringe.
Eric flailed his hands angrily as he talked, "All these treatments, what fuckin' treatment? Do y'all even know what y'all injectin' in us?"
"Can you just calm down? If you want to look at the information list about what's in this needle, then by all means do it." I tossed the clipboard on his legs, and continued to ready the syringe.
He skimmed over the paper then flipped through the pages, "I don't know what none of this means? What the fuck is diethlyamide? Codeine? What is this?"
I took the clipboard away then sat it on the counter. "Which arm?" Walking back over to him, staring with a blank face.
Eric just simply looked at me with a smirk, shaking his head with a small chuckle. He held out his left arm and said, "You seem straight. So I'ma stop trippin'. Y'all know I'll sue y'all asses if you fuck up."
I just simply scoffed, rubbing an alcohol soaked cotton ball on his forearm. "Yeah, okay," I grabbed my syringe, "get ready." I pressed down on the stick and watched the liquid empty into the needle that punctured Eric's skin. His eyes frantically moved from me to the needle, and the needle to me.
"This shit gon' make me fall asleep or somethin'?" He stretched his arm out, making the blood drip down his arm. I quickly went over to him with a wipe and bandage, "Stop that," I wiped away his blood. I stamped the bandage over the bleeding needle wound and he frowned. "Why the fuck would you give me this gay ass gold star?"
This guy just had to complain about everything. It was pretty funny to me. "I didn't have any more regular bandages. Chill out, foreal."
Eric was about to come back with a witty remark, but the door opened, and in came Yella with Ren. "Wassup, E?" Yella said in a rather enthusiastic lacking tone.
"Wassup? Y'all heard from Tomica?" Eric managed to say before he started coughing uncontrollably, he then finally took a sip of water that sat on the table beside him.
Ren shrugged and shook his head, "Naw, but fuck her, man. How you feelin'?"
"Shit, terrible. I just got a shot, so I'll probably be sleep in a minute. They start givin' me this new medicine, supposed to help me live longer, make me healthier or some shit." Eric said, shaking his head.
"That's great, man, shit! Why you actin' like that?" Yella almost shouted, his mood increased a little.
"If the shit don't work, then I gotta find a whole new treatment." Eric said with a monotonous voice.
"Don't think like that, shit, I'm just happy it's a possibility man." Ren playfully hit his shoulder, the 3 of them shared a chuckle. It was taboo that I had finally seen him smile since he's been in here. It's obvious that he's more open to the people he's most close with.
"But I got Bone Thug's new LP. Everybody gon' love that shit man. It's gone be huge, man," Yella said, his voice losing bass again, "You wanna hear it, man? You wanna hear it?" He sounded as if he was about to cry, "I pray that shit works man, I can't see you like this." He fought the tears, trying not to let them fall in front of us.
"I'll check it out later, just, just leave it here for me, man." Eric said in a concerning tone, his voice sounding weak as well.
Ren huffed and said, "This is bullshit, man." And stormed out of the hospital, slamming the door.
I only intently watched, I don't even think they noticed I was in there.
"Aye Yella, why don't you check on him? See if he'll be alright. Alright? I'll call you when I get outta here, alright?" Eric gave Yella a small smile, trying to dissolve the melancholic atmosphere.
Yella just shed tears, carefully placing the record tape on the small desk at the end of the bed. He walked out, holding his head in his hands, softly closing the door.
"I can't promise you that you'll end up with longevity, but I'll make it my objective to where you'll be healthy enough to where you're not spending your last days in this hospital." I said, walking over to his bedside.
Eric wiped the few tears that escaped his eyes, "This shit us fucked up, man."
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i don't like the way i ended this chapter, but i hope y'all enjoyed !
