Crush

Chapter 14

“OMG that witch.” I softly said under my breath while slowly turning around.

Sofie laid on her bed with her eyes half open and her right arm slowly reaching out for my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I quickly ran to her and hugged her. Andre and Kyla followed me shortly afterwards.

“I missed you so much! Thank God that you woke up! We were literally dying because of the lack of insanity in this room!” I softly said to Sofie.

“What…the…hell…who are you?” Sofie replied.

I looked at her, stunned. The doctors never told me of the possibility of her having amnesia…no…please…no…..

I turned around and looked at Andre and Kyla who both wore the same expression of shock and confusion on their faces like me.

“I’M JUST JOKING! CHILL OUT!” Sofie said while laughing.

“Oh Sofie. You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days, I’m sure of it.” I said while playfully punching her arm.

“Oooooooowww” She said while pouting at me. “As far as I know, I’m still confined in this hospital, and I am still in much pain, which means that all three of you,” she said while pointing to the three of us “must give me anything that I want so that my pain level would decrease. Right now, I want that Peenoot boo-tair and jelly sandwich that you’re holding.” She said pointing to the sandwich in my hand. I noticed that she stopped speaking with her French accent, but I wasn’t about to complain.

I handed it over to her and she started eating it. She finished it within 3 bites.

“That…was really good. I need like 10 more, stat.”  She said while still chewing.

Andre and Kyla handed their sandwiches while I told Sofie that I was going to run home to get her some more sandwiches.

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“Tell me again, why are you making 8 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?” my mom asked.

“For Sofie.”

“Hmm…alright then, fair enough.” My mom said, walking away.

I put the PB&J’s in 2 separate containers and put those containers in a paper bag. I opened the door of my house, got out and locked the door. I started walking down the sidewalk with 10 PB&J’s in hand when suddenly my cellphone rang.

I couldn’t answer it because my hands were full, so I decided to ignore it. I got in a jeep and within 10 minutes I arrived in the hospital.

I went inside Sofie’s room and gave to her the PB&J’S which apparently, she wasn’t in the mood for anymore. I went outside of her room and started walking down the hallway when I suddenly remembered the phone call that I ignored earlier. I checked my phone and my heart jumped a little when I saw that it was Francis’ call that I ignored. I stared at the screen for a good 3 minutes when suddenly he called me again. I quickly answered this time.

The first thing that I heard was the sound of him sobbing.

“He-hello?” he said.

“Francis…” There were so many questions that I wanted to ask him, but I decided to ask him the most important one. “Are you alright?”

“I…uh…” he said while sniffling “I just need you to come to my house right now…please, I just really need you right now. Please come as soon as possible. Please….please….please...”

“Okay, I’m on my way.” I said, running as fast as I could. I knew exactly how he felt, because that was exactly how I felt last week when I was in the midst of my loneliness and sadness while Sofie was still in an unstable condition. I knew that he needed someone, more specifically, me, to be with him right now. I had the feeling that he had a good reason for his absence, a reason that would make me want to take back the small amount of anger that I felt toward him last week because of his absence.

I arrived at Francis’ house 15 minutes later only to see him sitting on the front steps of his house who seemed absent minded. The next thing I noticed was the ambulance that was parked right next to (presumably) his family’s car. Suddenly, 4 guys carrying a man in a stretcher came out of his house, followed by a young woman who seems to be no older than 20. She nodded at my direction and got in the ambulance with the men. The ambulance drove away within seconds.  Francis’ gaze followed the ambulance until it could no longer be seen. I quickly walked over to Francis, sat down and hugged him. I knew that that was all he needed as of now. Talking would only do nothing but possibly frustrate him even further.

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Francis POV

I looked up to see Faith’s face buried on my shoulder with her arms around me. She looked up and gave me a sad and slightly confused smile. After I took some time to gather my thoughts, I explained to her what had happened.

“That was my dad who was carried out on the stretcher by those men. My sister was the woman who got in the ambulance with them. My sister asked me to not come with them because we need someone to stay at home with my mom.”

Faith began to open her mouth but I cut her off, knowing what she was going to ask next.

“My mom….she has Huntington’s Disease. It’s a genetic disorder that affects her brain cells. Her brain cells slowly degenerate which causes her to get weaker and weaker as time passes. Remember last summer when I went to Europe? I went there because of my mom. We wanted to try a treatment that could help slow down the degeneration of her brain cells. The treatment helped a bit…but not for long.” I said while shaking my head.

“Is that why you’ve been absent from school since last week?” Faith asked softly.

“Yeah….my mom’s condition got worse last week. Usually, it’s my sister who takes care of my mom, but she had a lot of exams in college that she couldn’t afford to miss so I chose to stay home from school so that I could take care of her. My dad also couldn’t do it since he had to work for the family. The funny thing is that it’s my dad who got hospitalized, and not my mom.”

“Why? What happened to your dad?”

Tears threatened to come out of my eyes. “My dad….he works really hard so that we could afford my mom’s treatments and me and my sister’s education. He works from 7am-5pm plus overtime. When he gets home, he doesn’t even rests. He takes care of my mom and lets me rest. ME! Out of the 2 of us, he’s the one who obviously deserves more rest. But he doesn’t care….he just pats me on the back and thanks me for taking care of my mom for the whole day. He barely had enough sleep, he was overworked and to make things worse, he has diabetes. If you add all of those up, that would result in a man collapsing in our living room with some froth and blood coming out of his mouth and his two kids panicking over what they should do.” I buried my face in my hands because tears were starting to pour out from my eyes.

“I wish you told me…Yes, I know that you probably didn’t want to me to worry about your problems as well but….you’re my best friend…maybe even more than just my best friend.  I could’ve helped you….I could’ve helped you and your family with your mom.” Faith said.

“I know that, but I also know what had happened to Sofie last week. If I asked you to do that, you would be just as tired as my father was. Imagine this: You would go to school till 4pm, visit Sofie and stay there till 6pm, go to my house and help me with my mom till like 9pm, or maybe even later. Then you would go home to do some homework then probably go to sleep at 1 am. I would never ask you to do that…that’s just too much to ask from you.” I said, shaking my head.

“Didn’t you hear me?” Faith asked. “You’re my best friend! I would gladly do anything for you. I would’ve been able to handle the fatigue, but your dad clearly didn’t have the strength to do so.” Suddenly, Faith stopped and stood up then said “You know what? There’s no use of us discussing about this. It’s already done. Let’s discuss something about the present or the future. How about I help you with your mom till your dad’s out of the hospital and he’s up and running again? Actually, that’s not a question, more of a “forced offer”.  Faith said with a smile while she reached out her hand.

I took her hand, stood up and pulled her to me and embraced her. 

“I guess I have no choice then. Thank you, you angel.” I whispered to her ear.

SURPRISE! @bucolic-

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