STRANGE AND UNSEEN

Chapter 4

Avi chuckles and pats Chris on the shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry about it. It's fine." Avi smiles.

"This is an everyday thing." Chris shakes his head. "I quit my job as an orderly at the hospital so I could watch the guys so the other two could work. No problem, I tell them. I can handle it, I tell them. But sometimes it almost gets too hard to handle."

"Hey, if you ever need my help, Chris, I'm just right next door." Avi smiles. "I don't mind at all. I have a couple of classes a day but most of my day is free."

"I may just take you up on that offer." Chris laughs as he adjusts his baseball cap. "Most days aren't that bad but then there's days where all hell breaks loose. You see, Tim has OCD, really bad. He has his good days and he has his bad days. But I think Austin knows when Tim needs me the most because that's when he decides to freak Adam out with Mr. Biggles and then Adam is seeing spiders that aren't there or other weird stuff."

Avi walks over to the 'mail' table and picks up a pen and a piece of paper. He writes down his number and hands it to Chris.

"Here's my number. If you ever need some help, either yell out the window or call me. I'll do what I can to help." Avi smiles as he peeks into the living room.

Adam is stretched out on the couch watching 'Friends' as Tim puts away the game that Adam and Austin had been playing. Instead of just throwing everything into the box, he is making sure that every piece is in its original place and that all the cards are in perfect order.

"Aww, Tim. There is a lady bug on you." Adam giggles.

Tim draws up in a panic. "Where?" He says as he tries to look on his shoulder.

Adam smiles as he raises up and lays a finger lightly on Tim's shoulder as if he was letting the lady bug crawl on his finger.

"Isn't it cute." He ask as he holds up his finger.

"Precious." Tim smiles, breathing a sigh of relief, seeing that there was not an actual bug on him.

"They seem to get along good." Avi says with a smile.

"Oh they do. Adam is my little brother and with Tim being my boyfriend, I guess they feel like family." Chris says as he smiles at the two.

"So is Austin the problem child." Avi chuckles.

Chris laughs. "Well, it's not as much Austin as it is that stupid bear."

"Get rid of the bear." Avi shrugs.

"Oh, believe me, we've tried." Chris says, nodding his head. "Chance hid it once. And Austin just shut down. He wouldn't eat, wouldn't talk. He was like an empty shell. So Chance had to give him the bear back."

"Chris?" Tim rolls back to where Avi and Chris were talking.

"Yea, Babe." Chris says looking down at his boyfriend.

"I need your help." Tim says shyly.

"What's the matter?" Chris stoops down next to Tim's chair.

Tim glances up at Avi before whispering to Chris.

"I need to go to the bathroom." He whispers.

Chris smiles and gives him a quick kiss.

"Avi, we'll be right back." Chris chuckles as he follows Tim toward the bathroom.

Avi walks into the living room where Adam was still lounging on the couch.

"So what are you watching?" Avi smiles.

Adam looks up and smiles. He quickly sits up so that Avi can sit down.

"It's a 'Friends' marathon. You like 'Friends'?" Adam ask as Avi sits down.

"Who doesn't like "Friends'. It's hilarious." Avi grins at him.

"Who's your favorite?" Adam asks with a smile.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe Rachael?" Avi says.

Adam's smile fades a little. "Why do you like her? Because she's pretty?"

"Yea, she is pretty." Avi shrugs and looks around at Adam's blue eyes staring at him. He could see a little disappointment in his eyes.

Avi could almost read his mind. Adam was disappointed that Avi had picked a female as his favorite.

"But I also like Joey. He's got some sexy eyes." Avi smiles and nods.

"I like Joey too." Adam smiles. "He's got a nice looking body too."

"You got that right." Avi laughs.

"Where did Chris go?" Adam asks looking around.

"Uh, Tim said he needed to go to the bathroom, I think." Avi answers.

"Oh, well he can use the bathroom by himself. He just can't get to the toilet." Adam says and then chuckles. "I guess that was a little too much information."

"A little." Avi laughs.

Adam suddenly gets serious and turns to face Avi.

"I'm not crazy, Avi." Adam says as he bites on his lip.

"I never said you were, Adam." Avi says, shaking his head slightly.

"I've got a good mind. I graduated high school. It's just that.... my mind plays tricks on me and makes me see things that no one else sees. And they seem to change to meet the mood I'm in at the time." Adam explains as he plays with the hem of his jeans.

"Do you take medication for it?" Avi asks, gently brushes Adam's hair behind his ear.

"Yea, but it don't do much to help. Just like Tim and Austin's medicine don't help them either. We might could live normal lives if it did." Adam says sadly.

Avi felt a lump come up into his throat.

"The whole neighborhood thinks we're all a bunch of freaks." Adam says as tears begin to fill his blue eyes. "But they don't know anything about us. They don't know how me, Tim or Austin suffer. Avi, we can't even leave the house without neighbors staring at us like we have a plague or something."

Avi wipes a tear and glances up to see Tim in the doorway with a tear running down his cheek as he listens to Adam.

Chris stood sadly behind Tim's chair with his arms gently around Tim's neck.

The only thing Avi could think to do was to pull Adam into a hug, and hugs him tightly.

Avi feels someone sit down beside him on the couch. He looks around at a very sad looking Austin, without Mr. Biggles.

"When I was little I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up." Austin says sadly. "But I don't guess there's much hope for a crazy person to ever become a doctor."

"Did we miss something?" A voice asks from behind Chris and Tim.

Avi sees the man with the beard and glasses.

"Rob." Austin says, jumping up and running to the bearded man and throwing his arms around his neck.

"Hey, what's wrong, Kiddo." Rob asks, rubbing Austin on the back of the head as Austin cries into his shoulder.

The guy with the round face and baseball cap looks at the tears coming from Adam, Tim and Austin and the sadness in Chris's eye. "Who died?" He asks, then looks at Avi. "And who are you?"

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