Plastic Flowers

Agony

That night, Eric never slept. He went between crying, burying his face into his pillow, to pacing around the room, gripping his hair and asking himself over and over again why the hell this was happening. At one point, he cleaned up the broken glass and busted picture frame that was on the floor, cutting his hand in several places in the process. He didn't bother cleaning or bandaging those cuts, he could bleed everywhere for all he cared, though they weren't deep enough to cause actual blood loss. When he finally passed out from exhaustion, it was near dawn. He slept only maybe an hour, waking up in a heavy sweat from a nightmare. He stayed in bed that whole Sunday, too sad to move, though he never went back to sleep. His mother, Liane, had attempted to get him out of bed several times, but he just groaned and told her to go away. The only thing he did that day, was called the hospital, only to be told Kyle was still in an unstable condition. He had been out of surgery, but could have to go back into surgery at any given moment, so he wasn't able to have visitors. After the brunette called, he just went back to bed, laying there, desperately wanting to sleep.

Soon, it had been 24 hours since the chubby teenager ate, and despite his mother begging him to eat something, he refused. He was constantly nauseous, just the thought of food made him feel even sicker. He called the hospital again before nightfall but was met with the same answer as before. Though Kyle had been stable for at least a few hours now, they wanted to make sure he wouldn't need to go back into surgery. No visitors yet.

Eric didn't sleep much that night either, he had fallen asleep for 30 minutes before his alarm for school went off. It was Monday. He had to go to school, even though he didn't want to. He slowly sat up, his stomach making a disgusting gurgling noise, and he suddenly gagged. The brunette let his legs fall over the edge of the bed, before slowly getting off the mattress with a small sigh. It was nearing 48 hours since he ate. His eyes were bloodshot, and there were discolored bags underneath them. He was pale, his lips red and sore from chewing at them. He looked sick, absolutely sick. His gaze was blank, almost as if he wasn't entirely present in this moment, of course, he had only maybe gotten 2 or 3 hours of sleep and hasn't eaten in 2 days almost. He slowly trudged to the bathroom, turned on the shower, and sat in the tub as the hot water rained over his back. He hugged his knees to his chest and watched the water go down the drain.

The brunette must of dozed off or something, because the door opened and his mother stepped in. "Eric, you're going to miss the bus." She said softly. He lifted his head, blinking tiredly, and nodded, but didn't say anything. He finished showering quickly, and got dressed. He didn't pay attention to the shirt he grabbed, and threw a red hoodie over it. He just put sweatpants on, not even caring if he looked like shit. He put his hat on, and pulled the hood up over it, grabbing his school bag before heading downstairs. Liane smiled at him as he walked into the living room. "Your friend is stable, hun. I just called the hospital, we can go see him after school, alright?"

Cartman seemed to perk up a little. Kyle was finally okay? He seemed relieved that he hadn't lost his friend, someone he so dearly cared about. "Okay, mom." He returned the small smile, but for some reason, he didn't feel much better. He had to see Kyle, he had to talk to him, he had to apologize. Until then, things would remain in this void of darkness that consumed Eric. "You will eat breakfast, wont you, sweetie?" His mother asked. Eric still couldn't eat, he still felt sick to his stomach. The brunette shook his head, glancing away, and shoving his hands in his hoodie pockets. "I'll eat dinner... after we come back from the hospital." He replied quietly.

Liane looked down, taking a deep breath before glancing back at her son. She was extremely worried at this point. "Alright. Have a good day at school. I love you." She replied, smiling warmly at her son. The smile from Eric's mother gave him very little comfort, normally it would of helped a great deal. But not today. "I love you too." He responded in a mumble, gripping his backpack tightly as he slipped his shoes on. He left the house, eyes to the concrete as he walked to the bus stop. He arrived just as Stan and Kenny were getting on, they looked... upset? Did they hear what happened to Kyle? Stan barely shot a glare at Eric as he approached the bus and got on.