Crash and Burn

chapter 7

T Y L E R

Wow this kid is light. 

We were surprising Luke by taking him to school to see all his friends, but he just had to think we were kidnapping him and selling him on the black market. 

In all honesty, I'm kind of worried about him. I realize he was in a car crash and all, but he has a lot more anxiety now, always thinking we hate him for getting hurt. He rarely gets excited about anything anymore, I'm sure if we told him we were taking him to school he would have thrown an actual fit right then and there, then seclude himself in his room for hours. 

I came back from college for a little to be there for him, and he refuses to let me in, or anyone for that matter. I don't want to push him to do anything he is uncomfortable with, I'm trying to get him to trust me. The sad thing is we were getting a lot of improvement with him, to just regress. 

Luke was always a pretty social kid. He just attracted everyone. When I used to pick him up from school, he was always surrounded by a group of kids, as if he were celebrity. But as soon as he got into the car he'd just sort of collapse and sink into himself. When we'd get home, he'd lock up in his room until dinner time, then act as if nothing was wrong. It took a while, but I finally got mom and dad to talk to him or just do something before it was too late. He went to a therapist and was diagnosed with anxiety last year. 

After he was diagnosed, he next to never talked to us. He was always in his room. He didn't leave the room for anything besides school, at some points we had to break into his room just to make sure he was still alive. At some point, we just confronted him and he broke down saying how he didn't want to a burden. It was a whole ordeal, but it's in the past now, he's getting help, and he's opening up. But then the crash happened, and now he's back to the burdening mindset. It's not like we're just going to ignore it like last time, we're already here and we're staying.

Anyways there was going to be some sort of celebration for him, and all students and administration was going to greet him in the hallways to like have a big get well type of thing. I just pray he doesn't have a seizure, the doctor said distressing emotions could be the cause of a seizure sometimes. Although excitement is really distressing, surprise could be, right? Let a brother worry.

 We were leading him to the attendance office as if we were enrolling him, which we technically were, there's no need for him to go back to school this year since it's basically over and he was home-schooled all he needs to know. So when we take off his blindfold, he's just going to see a front desk, and get a schedule in his face. He might be let down though, I think he thinks we're just going to his favorite restaurant or something. We have a lot more in store than just a restaurant.

I looked down at Luke and he was slumped over in his wheelchair, at first I thought he was asleep, so I gently shook him shoulder. He can't be asleep when a bunch of loud teenagers scream surprise at him, that screams seizure warning. After a couple of moments, he wasn't waking up. 

"Luke, wake up" I whispered in his ear.

He wasn't that deep of a sleeper, you could wake him up just by walking outside of his door, so as to why he wasn't waking up, I had no idea, but I was getting worried. I subtly started to get more urgent, shaking his shoulder with more passion. Nothing, he was still 'asleep'.

I slowly pushed his blindfold down, and saw that his eyes were looking up at me, but he was blinking very slowly, like he was out of it. I waved my hand in front of his eyes, but he didn't even blink out of sequence. I instantly thought he was about to pass out or something, so I stopped mid step and reached out to grab Amber's shoulder without taking my eyes off of Luke. Something was really wrong.

She turned around a looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I couldn't even get the words out. What I am supposed to say? 'Our brother fell asleep, help me wake him up?' Maybe I'm being dramatic. 

I rolled my eyes internally, I'm not being dramatic about anything, Luke is legit not waking the fuck up, something is wrong. I looked at Luke one more time before looking at Amber who was still just staring at me, impatiently. I gestured down at Luke, and I saw her eyes slide down to him, before she let out a laugh as she rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe he fell asleep. Wake him up, wait put the blindfold back on properly so he can't see anything" She said turning around.

"No, Amber" I said urgently, grabbing her shoulder, "That's the thing, he isn't waking up. I've shook him, waved my hand in front of his face, everything he just looked up at me blinking blankly." 

She looked taken aback, as she slowly walked over to where I was standing to peer down at Luke. He was still blinking slowly as he looked up. Amber hesitantly shook his shoulder to no avail. I could see the panic build up in her. She looked at me with fear pooled in her eyes.

"What the heck." 

"I don't know"

"Mom, Dad" she whisper yelled. They turned around and saw all of us fussing over Luke, and Amber about to burst into tears.

"What? What is it, honey?" My mom asked, rushing over and giving Amber a hug.

I felt a hand pat my shoulder, and I looked back to see my dad with concern etched on his face and he looked down at Luke.

"Mom, Luke's not waking up." I heard Amber say, her voice strained as she tried to be strong.

My mom turned around, and squatted in front of Luke, gently grabbing his head and making him look at her.

"Okay, so he's having an absence seizure, he's going to be fine, he just needs to couple seconds. Just talk to him okay? Let him know we're here, alright?" 

"Alright"

***

Okay so. I hope you guys like this chapter. It was kind of short, but as you know I'm rewriting it, so I can't really do much unless I'm trying to change the entire set-up of the story and if I do that, updates are going to be a lot more spaced out and unfrequent, and I don't want to do that, so...

What'd you guys think? Make sure to vote and comment!

-hizzy xx