Reaper's Lullaby

Lucas: Sick

  "My one regret in life is that I am not someone else."
-Woody Allen

Lucas blinked his eyes open as a wave of dizziness swept over him. His mother was the one who had woken him up, her cool hand on his cheek.

"Lucas, what's wrong? You were whimpering in your sleep," she said.

"Mom," he choked out, "I'm sick. Everything hurts."

She smoothed her hand across his sweaty forehead. "I'll take your temperature."

Lucas kicked and squirmed in the bed while she left to get the thermometer. He was unable to get comfortable in any position. Every muscle ached.

"99. Slight fever...," Sarah whispered softly to herself after taking his temperature.

"It hurts!" Lucas groaned, stretching out on the bed and hoping it would help, but the aches doubled him up again. Nothing helped. "This is the worst flu I've ever had!"

"It can't be the flu, Lucas. You would have a very high fever by now. What did you eat yesterday?"

Lucas tried to slow his racing thoughts to remember. "Um... Pop-Tart, Coke, Cheetos, and then you made spaghetti. That's it."

"Brian and I are fine so it can't be the spaghetti. Are you sure you didn't have any fruits and veggies, or any meat or cheese?"

"Mom! I fucking told you!" Lucas snapped.

Sarah looked like he'd slapped her in the face. "Why would you speak to me like that?"

"Because I'm in hell and I can't think!" he cried. "Mom, it hurts! It hurts!"

The pain was becoming almost unbearable. Tears squeezed out of his eyes as his mother took his hand and held it to her lips.

"I'm taking you with me to the hospital," she murmured.

A doctor might see the bruises on his back. A doctor might demand an explanation. Brian would find out and murder him, stuff his body into the grave he'd been forced to dig in the woods.

"No," Lucas said quickly. "I'm sorry I said that to you. I'll be okay. Just go to work."

"I can't leave you like this! I don't know how sick you might get."

"Mom, please," Lucas begged. "I'll be okay. If I get worse I'll call you."

He could feel his anger just below the surface, knew he was about to explode on her again. He just wanted to be left alone to suffer in silence without hurting her feelings.

"Okay. Make sure Nora gets your work for today."

Lucas nodded and squeezed his eyes shut. Was he dying? It felt like he was.

"Rest today. Feel better," she said as she left, closing the door behind her.

Lucas reached for his phone on the nightstand. His fingers were shaking so violently he could barely press the home button. It was seven a.m. In half an hour Nora would be here so they could walk to school together. She was always ready before him. Get up, Lucas told himself, get up get up get up. He mustered all of his strength and stood on shaking legs, then wrapped his thick comforter around his shoulders and stumbled to the bathroom across the hall. There, he vomited until he was choking, nothing left to bring up but bile. He didn't have the strength to stand again so he wrapped himself in the blanket and laid on the bathroom floor, shivering and miserable.

At exactly seven-thirty, Nora rang the doorbell. It took two whole minutes for Lucas to pull himself up and shamble downstairs to open the door for her. He still had the bed comforter wrapped around him.