Haunted

Demons

Maddox woke up the next morning feeling entirely numb. Brent's side of the bed was empty, still neatly made the way Maddox left it the day before. He knew looking at the untouched pillow next to his should make him feel all kinds of horrible things but Maddox didn't feel anything.

After a long walk with Twink and a quick breakfast, Maddox went to visit Kylie. He knew he should stay away from Wes if he was still sick but Maddox didn't want to be alone and if he went to see his mom she would definitely ask too many questions. Kylie was usually too busy thinking about herself to notice if anything was wrong with Maddox.

"Oh my god, Wes is still sick," Kylie looked exhausted when she opened the door. "I got his fever to stay down but he can only eat like 2 crackers without throwing up. I'm going out of my mind, there's nothing worse than seeing him suffer like this."

"He seems okay to me," Maddox could see Wes standing in front of the couch, his eyes focused on the TV.

"You're seeing a good moment," Kylie sighed. "I'm so glad you're here, I desperately need another adult."

"James couldn't stay home?" Maddox followed her over to sit on the couch.

"No, he's only allowed to take off a few days for Christmas and New Year's," Kylie explained. "Any other time of year it would be okay."

"Normal jobs are weird," Maddox realized. He'd never thought about what it would be like to work in an office before.

"They're really different," Kylie nodded. "But it's kind of nice, like I always know where he's going to be. He only has to travel a little and never for a very long time."

"Yeah, that must be really nice," Maddox sighed. He looked over at Wes again. Just the day before he'd been busy thinking about what it would be like when he and Brent had kids of their own. Now he wasn't sure he and Brent would actually get married let alone have kids.

"It'll be fun for you to get to travel with Brent though. Like just go all those places and not have to actually do anything, you know?"

"I guess," Maddox couldn't really imagine what it would be like to be on tour but not have to perform. Just thinking about it made him tired.

"I had fun with Mom. You'll see, it's not the same."

"I know it won't be," Maddox moved his arm as Wes came over and snuggled up to him. Kylie smiled and reached for her phone. "Do you really need another picture of me with Wes?"

"Yes," Kylie answered without even stopping to think. "I just want to remember what it's like with only him around. So he knows how special he is."

"I don't think you'll let him forget," Maddox laughed and scooped Wes up so Kylie could get a decent picture. Wes put his head on Maddox's chest.

"It's not really naptime yet," Kylie frowned, feeling Wes's forehead. "I guess I should let him sleep though."

"How do you know all this stuff? Did you just Google it?"

"All the time. I'm pretty sure I fuck it up like 95% of the time."

"Well you haven't killed him yet," Maddox laughed. Kylie rolled her eyes.

"Mom helps a lot. She seems to know everything. The rest of it I try to search online but everyone says something different so you just never know. Can I tell you a secret?"

"Of course," Maddox nodded.

"I love Wes more than anything but sometimes, like when he's sick and I'm sure I have no idea what I'm doing, I wish I were still just a normal college kid where my biggest worries were like finals and which party to go to. I mean I would never change my life but when it gets hard I start wondering how different it would be."