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Chapter 3: The Stepsister From Hell (In A Good Way)

"Hope he feels better," Natalie says before leaving.

I pushed the door shut gently behind her and sat down onto the hardwood. How was it that I knew everything that was going on in other peoples heads but never my own? I knew somewhere a guy was getting dumped by a girl who could only think about one of her exes and I knew that somewhere else someone had just lost their save file for a thesis. "Riley?"

I looked up to see Taite crouching in front of me, "what?"

"You okay?" He sat down onto the ground obviously realizing this action was much simpler than trying to balance with one hand.

"What makes you think I'm not?"

'You're pouting in front of a door and pulling on your hair' his thoughts ran through my head in his voice. "You just seem off." He replies

"I have another headache, mind getting my pills?" I glanced over at the two bottles sitting on the counter top.

"Why don't you just lay down for a bit?" He suggests softly. "You always turn to those pills, it's kinda scary."

"They help," however he did have a point. I pushed myself up into a standing position. "Maybe I'll just sleep it off this time..." I didn't need him thinking I was an addict, although at the rate I took them even I was beginning to think I was.

"So we skip class?" Though the idea was unspoken Taite knew the exact words running through my head.

"Definitely." The only accurate description I could come up with was that my skull would split at any second from the headache I had. "How you feeling?"

"I'm okay." He shrugs while using his fingers to comb through his golden hair. "A little warm..."

I had zoned out by now and was simply staring off into the distance, simply listening to the voices running through my head. "Riley," Taites voice blended with the others making it impossible to distinguish at this point. Nothing was overly distinguishable at this point.

It stayed that way for a few minute before a shriek cut through it all. The only one that actually scared me.

***

"He just kinda dropped..." Taite says awkwardly as I forced my eyes open. "Yeah, no idea why- oh he's awake, you wanna talk to him?"

I flinched away from the phone being shoved in my face as if it could hurt me more than it would by being dropped on me. "Hi?" It wasn't really supposed to be a question, however that's what it came out as. Lumpy mattress, sharps disposal container, people crying. That meant hospital. Probably emergency room by the sounds of things and the tiny room.

"What the hell happened?" Ares quizzes in her frustrated tone. "What did you do this time Riley?"

"Nothing?" That was supposed to be a question. I wasn't entirely sure I deserved to be here let alone why I would be here. Taite tightened his mouth in a sort of apologetic gesture, Ares was the stepsister from Hell, but in the good way. In the gonna be mad at you because I love you kinda deal. If she knew I was in the ER chances are so did all four of my step/biological parents.

"You promised us you would take care of yourself." A high pitched female voice flooded the speaker.

"Hi mom," I sigh.

"Don't give me that attitude Riley James." I winced at the middle name, it wasn't that it was only used in bad scenarios. I just didn't like it.

"I wasn't giving attitude Mom." I explain, looking around at the baby blue room. One wall had faded dinosaur stickers on it while the other had newer fish ones. Because apparently if a kid was here for a life or death emergency stickers would calm them down. "I just came to."

Taite plucked the phone from my hand and said something about me needing to rest before hanging up. "You owe me one."

"You called them," I point out. Heels clicked by as a nurse passed in front of the curtained doorway.

"Could you blame me?" He ran a hand through his blonde hair. "You face planted into the floor when you tried to stand! That's mildly concerning!"

"So you called an ambulance?" I ask. Fainting was fairly common, calling an ambulance for it however, wasn't in my books.

"There was blood." He paled slightly at the mention of the word. "Like a lot. You fell on your nose."

"Pretty sure I fell on more than my nose," I mumble. Quite honestly my everything ached.

"Well technically yes... But that was the worst part." His brown eyes looked me over as if to make sure I at least looked okay. "They think it was dehydration, you've been on fluids for the last hour and a half."

"Makes sense. When can I leave?" That was my main concern.

"For a med student you seem a bit too uncomfortable with a hospital, just saying."

"I'm uncomfortable when I'm the one laying on the bed with the IV in," I state. "Sorry if that's a weird concept to you." He stayed silent and began biting his nails. "How are you holding up?" I ask softly.

He looked around the room. "uh.... It's hard to say..."  Everything about him read of unease and the thoughts running through his head were simply the icing on the cake.

"Why don't you like hospitals anyways?" For the most part I had just accepted his fear with no real questions as to why it was that way.

"Something about people with the power to decide whether you live or die. It's unnerving. I've had some bad experiences with nurses." He shrugged and looked over as a doctor came in.

"How are we feeling now?" He asks me with a friendly smile as he pushed up his glasses.

"Better than I was apparently," I looked over to Taite to see him obviously paling. "Can I leave yet?"

He laughed, "just gonna ask a few questions first. Any medical conditions?"

My gaze shifted to the ceiling as I stayed laying on my back. "Sports induced asthma."

"It's his 'get out of Gym class free card'." Taite grinned while attempting to lighten the mood. It faded when the doctor shot him a glare. "I mean... Never mind..."

"That's really about it," I say softly. The classic questions followed; date of birth, name, phone number.

Afterwards we talked for awhile about just reducing stress and stuff like that. Apparently it had been a freak asthma attack, which sure, made sense. I guess... Taite had slipped out of the room mutely, staring at the screen of his phone.