The Beginning of The End

Chapter 19 - The Idea

THE IDEA

Carlie took a shower and changed her clothes while Luke and Johnny were downstairs. She put on sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, and just watched tv on the couch for about two hours.

The boys still hadn't come back by the time she finished Home Alone 1, so she clicked the tv off and stood up, limping into the kitchen. It was still a mess, but less dishes and more food (somewhat neatly stored away).

She groaned. Boredom was the worst. When there was something to do, she had little to no time. But when there was nothing to do, she had all day. Why did life work this way?

After staring at the kitchen for a minute, she walked into her bedroom. It was a plain room, only consisting of a full bed, a lamp, two bedside tables, and beige walls. Connected to the room was a bathroom. Good size, but bathrooms weren't very exciting.

The door opened and in walked the four boys. For what reason they all were there was unknown to Carlie, but she went out and greeted them.

"Hey, how's it going?" Johnny asked the second he saw her. He walked over and looked at her damp hair. "Shower?"

"Good and yeah. What are you all doing here?"

"We were thinking that since your first eating experience with all of us wasn't the most...pleasant...that we could go out to eat as a group at some diner close by," Luke answered, grabbing a wallet from his room. "Ready?"

An idea struck Carlie. "How far is it? Is it in the direction of the hospital place?"

"Yeah, maybe forty minutes that way. Why?"

"Uh, no reason, just wondering. Hang on, I gotta go grab something from my room."

She snatched a backpack from the closet and stuffed it with the phone that Luke forced her to have every time they left the apartment room so he could always stay in contact with her if they got separated. She packed anything else she could think of that she might need, then headed out and met the boys.

Luke raised an eyebrow. He gave her a questioning look, but turned his attention to the others. "Okay, we all ready? Carlie, you have the phone with you?"

Carlie held her breath as she took the phone out. If any of the other supplies fell out, she might be prevented from bringing them.

He nodded and she immediately jammed it back into the bag, exhaling. They all followed Luke down to the garage check-in. Carlie had been getting better with the panic attacks, and just had to close her eyes in the elevator to stop another one from coming.

"Wait! Hold up, Dr. Hanley said that she had something for Carlie! Let's go to the Medical Bay," Johnny said, turning towards the infirmary.

"And when did she tell you this?" Luke asked, narrowing his eyes at Johnny.

"The other day," he responded.

"And you are just now telling me?"

"Yup, I just now remembered."

Luke rolled his eyes, but continued anyway.

They all piled into the Medical Bay and called for the doctor. She came out and when she saw Carlie, her face lit up. "Hello! I see Johnny has brought you to me! I have good news!"

"What is it?" Carlie asked.

"Sit down and I'll show you!"

The doctor sounded so excited that the excitement rubbed off onto Carlie.

The doctor brought out a weird cast thing and set it on the bed like it explained everything. The boys' faces lit up, but Carlie just sat there, confused as ever.