B E T H A N Y
I watch in confusion as Luke doesn't get up, his chest heaving up and down.
"Oh shit" Tyler mutters as he runs over to Luke, who has his eyes clenched and is taking labored breaths.
"Guys get back." Amber commands coming over to Tyler's side, creating a wall between us and Luke.
"Cody?" Luke mutters, lifting up my heart. He isn't dead.
"Yeah man?"Cody says, his voice clear with concern.
"Run."
Tyler and Amber lean out of the way as Cody stands there, dumbfounded.
"Hu-"
He's cut off as a crutch comes flying at him. Thank God he ducked down in time or he'd be in the hospital. Cody stays crouched down for a second before barreling down the stairs and out the door, Zach on his tail, recording and laughing. The girls and James leave after them and it's soon just me and Ethan. Not to mention Luke who is still on the floor, struggling to breathe. Tyler and Amber have moved back to create their wall around him.
A cloud of awkwardness takes over us once again.
Ethan clears his throat, "Uh alright guys, see you at school tomorrow Luke."
Amber and Tyler watched with worry as Luke breathlessly whispered a good-bye. Amber was up in a second.
"Alright kids, shows over, let's get yall home." She says gently pushing us out the door.
My eyes narrow on Ethan. The kid is dead.
A M B E R
"Mom! Dad!" I yell racing up the stairs.
I don't even know what happened. I think when he fell over, he fell on his back and got the wind knocked out of him which must have triggered his asthma, and in turn trigger his anxiety because he couldn't breathe. We won't know until Luke says after he's okay, though.
Luke is hyperventilating now.
Footsteps pound up the stairs and I peer over Tyler to see mom and dad having a silent conversation. Mom gives dad a look as she runs downstairs to get Luke's anxiety medication.
Luke is down on the floor trying to sit up, but ultimately failing. Tyler grabs Luke's arms and slowly pulls him to his feet. Tyler grabs Luke's hunched over body and guides him to his room, but Luke's feet refuse to work. Tyler picks Luke up and runs to his room knowing what's about to happen that makes his panic attacks so bad.
I run after them and throw apart Luke's room in search of his inhaler. I can't find it and Luke is getting worse and worse.
He broke.
He starts off letting the smallest tears escape, then a sob, then more vigorous tears, then a heart-wrenching sob, then a full on break down. And my normally sane brother becomes a full-blown mess. He sobs into his hands trying to push Tyler off of him.
"GET OFF! GET OFF TYLER!" He cries.
"You know I can't. Tell me what's wrong. You can talk to me." Tyler says in a calming tone.
Meanwhile I've thrown apart the entire room, and I still cannot find his inhaler. I run downstairs to find mom also frantically throwing apart the medicine cabinet in search of his medicine. She throws me his inhaler and I run back upstairs to find Luke trying to get Tyler away him and dad looking close to calling 9-1-1, while he whispers reassuring words in his ear.
YOU ARE READING
Crash and Burn
Teen Fiction"Uh, my mom and I got into a car crash with an 18- wheeler, and I had an epidural hematoma, shattered my leg bone and dreams of playing football, had some seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy and I stuttered for a little while, but those have go...
