Worm.

Worm. 4

Nick still struggled with normal activities. His legs still trembled when he walked and all he would eat was dirt. But he could walk better, stand better, and get back up after falling better. Alex taught him all of that.

Alex observed him. He observed how he tripped over every step he took, and how his speech was fragmented, and how he always had a lost look in his eyes. Alex tried to understand him. He couldn't. But he tried to help him as best as he could.

One morning, Alex made breakfast. Despite writing an entire cookbook/food memoir, he had no idea how to cook. But he managed to make two (2) eggs and sausages for Nick.

Nick woke up. He walked carefully down the hall and to the kitchen where he smelled food. 'Food,' Nick thought. He'd forgotten that word from eating only dirt. Alex showed him to his seat at the table. Two plates were in front of him; one with food, and the other with dirt.

He stared at the plates. The plate with food looked almost recognizable. He didn't want it. Instead, Nick ate the plate of dirt (including the plate), stood from his seat, and returned to his bedroom. He slept for the rest of the day.

This repeated until Alex ran out of eggs and Nick couldn't walk anymore. So instead, every morning, Alex brought Nick a plate of food and left it on his nightstand. He would often come back to find the plate untouched. Sometimes, Nick would leave him a message in the food, such as making a ':-)' made out of syrup on the pancakes. Alex would bring him a bowl of soup twice a day; one at noon, and one at night. He would try to feed him the soup. He would sing songs to get him excited about soup. Examples of such songs include, 'Soup on the Horizon' and 'Do You Want To (Eat Soup)'. Nick liked the songs, but not the soup.

As a result of not eating, Nick grew weaker. He wasn't able to walk like he'd been able to. He'd been making a lot of progress, but now it was going to waste. He was sad. He stayed in bed constantly. He never walked anymore. He had been gaining back some weight, but he was losing it again. He was a worm.

His friends visited him a lot. Paul would stop by and bring him cups of dirt. Just a few weeks ago, he had been the one throwing Nick's cups of dirt out the window. Julian visited and said hi to him once. Nick didn't like him because he felt like he was his replacement. And because when he came over all he could hear was Alex and Julian laughing about something in the other room. It made him wish he could walk again so he could laugh with them too.

Bob visited him the most. He came by almost everyday. He encouraged him to eat every time he saw him, but Nick often ignored the advice. He would bring him gifts to help him through his worm troubles. He gave him a sleep mask that had a customized embroidered message that read, "sweet dreams are made of dirt". Nick slept with it every night.

One gift that impacted Nick the most was a pair of crutches. They weren't just any crutches, however; they were worm crutches. Streamers hung from the handles of them. Bob had painted drawings of worms along them as well. They would help Nick walk again.

He tried them out. He stood with shaky legs and weak arms with the crutches under his arms and he held onto the lower handle. He used the crutches to take a step forward and Nick smiled to himself when he was able to move forward. Bob smiled as he watched his friend slowly step around the house with his worm crutches. The streamers waved across the halls.

"How's he doing?" Bob whispered behind his mug. Alex had invited his friend over for the day to enjoy some tea and encourage Nick to be less wormy.

"How do you think he's doing? He can barely eat, now he's stumbling around on crutches," Alex grumbled. "Next thing I know he'll be at the bottom of the stairs again, this time with those crutches."