Eight, Nine, Ten

[ 1 ] N I N T H

[Early January 2018]

"Ninth, honey? Are you home?"

The sudden voice broke the silence through the dark apartment. Ninth recognized it to be his mother's but he did not move nor speak in acknowledgement. He wanted her to leave him alone, his head pounding painfully and the only thing he wants as of right now was the silence his mother broke. Ninth shook as his body felt hot - too hot, and his mind could only think of sleeping as a way to escape the pain.

"Nint- Fuck! Alexander!" was that really a curse word that left his mother's mouth? His muddled mind thought weakly as he felt a cool hand cupped his cheek which made him struggle to open his eyes now, "Alexander, call Second right now!"

"M-mom?" Ninth's voice was hoarse and scratchy, his throat raw and irritable. He could only manage to keep his eyes open for a few seconds before closing them quickly.

"Alexander hurry! Ninth, stay with me honey," his mother's voice was like a soothing balm as his body unconsciously relaxed and started shaking less as she stroked his hair and cheek, "Open your eyes my boy - can you do that for me?" she cooed encouragingly.

Ninth tried to do so, opening his eyes again to meet his mother's gentle green eyes. As the pain lessen, his weak sense of smell managed to pick up a faint smell of vomit which confused him more. Did I vomit earlier? Why am I sick? What time is it anyway?

"Ok, alright. I'll keep the call on and put you on loud speaker," Ninth vaguely heard his Dad say before feeling himself be gently pulled up in a sitting position, "You with us son? Second is on his way. Here try to drink this," the cool sensation of some water gently being offered thru a glass made him turn his head a bit and gulp what he can before coughing hard, "Ok ok, good job," the water was taken away before Ninth felt someone wiping his mouth with a wet cloth.

Someone spoke again but his mind couldn't process anything anymore while the shivers came back but not as violently as before. There was some peaceful silence before he heard either his mom or dad opened the door for someone, he wanted to look but the overwhelming urge to throw up hit him in full force that he shot up and leaned to the right where a bucket was placed for him and violently threw up. He couldn't remember if he blacked out during or after vomiting though.

---

"What are we going to do? He has stopped writing, attending family dinners, talking to us and now this?! What if he had choked on his own vomit!" it was his mother's voice that once again woke Ninth up. He was in a much comfier position and place to his confusion but had no energy to question it.

"Calm down Mom. Shouting won't help Ninth right now. Let's make sure he's fine first. Why don't you and dad fill the others in as we wait for him to wake up? They've been texting non-stop and it won't help Ninth if they all suddenly budge in here,"

Huh, when did Third arrive?

"They're right Diana. Come let's make tea as we contact the others," his father's firm voice said and soon Ninth heard them leave the room. Silence returned making him relax but someone cleared his throat that stopped him from going back to sleep.

"Ninth, I know you're awake. Can you try and open your eyes for us?" This voice sounded like Second, the doctor in the family. If he was here with Third, it was highly possible that First was also here- silently sitting somewhere in the room that unnerved him. They were the busiest between them brothers but they were all here, at the same time. "Ninth, come on,"

Ninth knew he couldn't fake sleep with Second around so he struggled to open his eyes. The first person he saw was Second, sitting on the edge of the bed studying him. He still had his white coat on and his usual well kept black hair was a mess - probably from rushing. Next was Third, the giant leaning on the wall next to the bed as he silently watched Second do the talking.