The Truth

The Sickness

A helpless Sam is on the floor of our bathroom, he's done throwing up but he's shivering sick. "I'll bring you some water and a blankey, okay?" I say calmly. I want to get away from the vomit. I really don't want to throw up too. It's one of my fears, I absolutely hate throwing up.

"I'm so sorry about this, Colby. I tried to fight it off." I hear him say from the bathroom. Of course, he knows about my fear too.

"No, you're fine," I say, rubbing my temples. The smell of his vomit is in my nose and I stop breathing until I get into Sam's bedroom where the coffee candle is. I light it, I breathe in the nice scent and bring the candle and the blanket to the bathroom. "Here," I hand him the blanket and he wraps it around himself. I set the water down on the sink next to him. The candle is on the floor between me and the vomity toilet. Sam shakes again. He squeezes his eyes shut as another wave on nausea passes through him.

I feel so bad. It was my idea to take him to Chipotle and now he's sick off of it. I sit down next to him and lean against the wall. I put a hand out and rub his back. He leans into me and lays down on my lap. "You're going to be okay, Sam." I try to console him. He's never ever gotten sick in front of me before. I'm unsure of what to do. I kiss his sweaty forehead. Sam starts to breathe slower and shake less as he falls asleep in my lap. I slowly fall asleep too.

I dream of Sam. We are on a cruise ship and we are sharing a room together. He starts to get seasick and throws up cupcakes. Like full sized, not even chewed, cupcakes! I look at him in horror and he changes into Nyan cat and rainbows follow him everywhere. What. I wake up to Sam calling my name. Ugh I also wake with a sore neck because I slept with my head down on my chest. The candle is still burning; I look into Sam's eyes sheepishly.

"Colby, I'm going to sleep on the couch, okay?" He says, early in the morning.

"Wait" I try to get up but my damn legs fell asleep. "I'll sleep next to the couch on the floor"

"You don't have to," he says as he wraps himself up in his blanket. I shake my head. I follow him into the living room area and he tells me to sit down on the couch. I comply and he puts his head in my lap. I rub his back and stomach until he falls asleep again. I also get tired and lean my head on the couch's armrest. A couple hours later Sam shifts on top of my chest, asking for breakfast. I don't really know what would be best for him to eat with his stomach like this. What would my mom do? I get up and tuck the covers around Sam. We have PopTarts. . . but that might be too sweet for him. My mom would make me chicken noodle soup if I was sick when I was little. I look around for soup; I honestly don't think we've bought soup since we moved to LA. I trek back into the living room. Sam has his eyes closed and covers up to his chest, he's shivering. I place a hand on his chest and tell him I'll be back with chicken noodle soup and other sick-type things like a thermometer. He just nods his head and tells me he'll text me.

"Text me if you need ANYTHING!" I say as I grab my keys. "Stay here, baby." I turn on the TV for him and hand him the remote. "I'll see you later, Samuel." I ruffle his sweaty hair. I drive to the nearest Walgreens and haul ass to the cold and flu aisle. I call my mom and ask her that Sam is possibly food poisoned, with the shivers and he's sweating. She tells me that he needs something to settle his stomach, like crackers and lemon lime clear pop like Sprite.

"Should I get him some Vicks vapor Rub?" I ask her as I pass the cold and flu section.

"Is he having trouble breathing?" she asks gently.

"No, he's just cold."

"Just make sure he has blankets, Colby. When you get home, the soup will heat him up."