Butterflies » jarlos [HIATUS]

26: Something To Talk A-Boot

Exhausted. That was the only word that could truly describe how Carlos had been feeling for quite a while; however, it felt even more real than ever now. He had been awake for hours, but had no desire to get up any time soon. Jay had left pretty early in the morning, and Carlos had pretended to sleep to avoid getting questioned. He had hoped that lying down on his bed for so long would have an effect on his sleep, but no such luck. Each time he tried to sleep, thousands of thoughts spiralled in his head, making even the slightest of slumber absolutely impossible. Carlos laid on his back and let out a groan or frustration, bringing his hands to his face. Dude watched him for a while before jumping on the bed, lying near his leg. He started to nuzzle on it, though Carlos was quick to remove his leg, yelping in pain.

"Ow! Careful" Carlos sat up and held his ankle. Startled, Dude whimpered and jumped down. He sighed. "Sorry, boy. Come here" he patted the spot on the other side for the dog to sit. Hesitant at first, Dude seemed too happy to be on the bed again. Carlos started rubbing his ankle; it had been hours since the Tourney practice and he was still unable to out any kind of pressure on his ankle. In fact, it just seemed to hurt even more than before. He took off his sock to take a look at it; from a certain angle, it seemed to be slightly blue. Great. He had been able to hide his pain from his friends for a day, but he didn't know how long he'd be able to keep this up before he would get exposed. If ever they were to see him limp even the slightest, he was screwed. At the same time, he didn't want to worry them over something that was probably not as bad as it looked. Carlos knew that he should probably have his ankle be checked by a nurse, but part of him was iffy to do so. Nurses office had never been his favourite place. They slightly scared him, if he'd ever allow himself to admit out loud. He just wanted to avoid this place as much as he could. Maybe he could still go through his day okay. Maybe this was mostly in his head, and that the pain wasn't so bad after all. He slowly turned unfolded his leg and turned his body to make it easier to stand up. He carefully put his good foot on the floor and then the other. It barely took a second that a wave of pain rushed through his foot all the way to his knee and he yelled, immediately taking his feet off the floor. Dude looked at him with an expression that strangely looked like worry.

"Okay, so that is definitely not going to work out" he thought out loud, a hint of discouragement in his voice. He honestly had no idea how he would get through the day if he couldn't even stand on his feet properly. He started brushing his hand through his hair nervously. The day was going to be long, he could already feel it.

~~~~

The day was only halfway through, but Carlos left like it had been going on forever. In every class he attended, he slouched in his chair, staring at the clock and hoping the day would either go by faster, just so he can go back to his room and avoid walking as much as he could. Going up the stairs was literally impossible and walking through traffic was extremely painful. People did not give a care in the world for those who were injured, and more than one had stepped on his foot, not even apologizing for it either. He felt like nothing was going right, and he was wishing more and more that he had stayed in bed that morning. He had even spent his lunchtime at the library, just to make sure he wouldn't accidentally bump into one of his friends and that they would see him limping around. Luckily for him, classes were almost over. There was only one more left to go, and he would finally be able to go lie in his bed once more. Holding himself steady with the lockers, Carlos slowly made his way to his class. The pain in his ankle had only grown since the morning, and more than once had he had the desire to either scream or cry. He was almost surprised that almost no one in the halls was paying attention to the curious way he was walking. There was little time before the bell rang, so the halls were almost empty. Carlos assumed it meant that getting to class would be easier for him, but it seemed to only get harder and harder at every passing second instead. Slightly distracted for a split moment, he accidentally put his entire foot on the floor by reflex, instantly triggering the pain that came with this wrong movement. This time, he wasn't able to hold in the cry of pure agony that had been burning inside of him all day. Unable to go further, he just leaned his back against the locker and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. He had still lasted longer than he had initially anticipated but it obviously wasn't enough. He was so closer to his destination and yet he knew that he wouldn't be able to make it, at least not in time. He just sat there in the halls, watching the last few people quickly walking to their class. He brought his head back and closed his eyes; so much for going through his day okay. All he hoped was that none of his friends would spot him in this position.