Why Don't We Sickfics

Epilepsy (Pt. 2)

"Stop the bus!" Jack screamed as he dove for the younger boy, wanting to help but unsure of what to do.

Jonah grabbed a pillow off the couch and slid it under Zach's head.

"Give him some space." Jon had pulled the bus over on the highway. "Make sure he doesn't hit his head."

Daniel had a hand clamped over his mouth as he watched, tears trickling down his face.

"What do we do?" Corbyn said, running a hand through his hair.

"Just calm down." Jon replied. "This shouldn't last long. Have any of you seen this happen before?"

No response.

Eben pulled out his phone. "I'm gonna call an ambulance."

"Wait, wait." Jon looked out the window, where cars were still rushing by on the highway. "It'll probably be easier to drive there on the bus. I'll set the GPS and we should be there soon. But we can't drive unless Zach is safe and buckled in."

Jack didn't hear a word around him, his attention captured only by Zach. It was so scary to see someone who had been smiling and laughing just an hour ago, just start having a seizure on the floor.

Zach's hand jerked towards Jack, and the older boy reached out, as if to hold the hand. Even though he knew that he shouldn't.

"Give him space." Jonah said, in an almost warning tone. "Jack! Give him space."

Jack quickly drew his hand back, turning his head to the side to cast an apologetic look at Jonah.

"No..." Jonah sighed, grabbing Jack by the shoulders and gently moving him back so he was standing farther away. "I know it's hard to watch, but he doesn't have control over himself right now. Okay? So if he hits you, that's not his fault. That's your fault for not giving him space."

Jack nodded, but in that moment emotion overwhelmed him and he felt his throat close up as a sob shook his body.

"Hey, don't cry." Corbyn pulled the boy into a hug. "Look, I'm sorry. This is scary. I get it. But we all have to be calm, for Zach. Okay?"

Jonah rubbed Jack's shoulder. "Come on. Everything's alright."

"No," Jack choked through shuddering sobs, "it's not. Zach has been on the floor for--" he sniffled-- "for so long and-- and there's nothing we can do." He let go of Corbyn's hug. "I don't get it. Why?"

Eben was starting to look a little pale. "Yeah... you're not wrong. It's been a while. Didn't you say this wasn't supposed to take that long?"

Jon looked up from his phone, where he was entering directions to the hospital. "Darn, you're right. This is a hell of a lot worse than I thought. You know what, get him on something soft. Pull his mattress out of the bunk and we're going to have to start driving now. Jonah, call the hospital and tell them we're coming."

~~~~~~

There was a stretcher waiting at a side entrance for Zach. As soon as the bus stopped, a team of medics rushed in and carried him out. He was still seizing, but it wasn't a constant shaking like the movies made it seem. It was more like... random, sudden jerks of parts of his body, at random times. But it wasn't super rapid or jerky. It was just... just hard to watch. His blinking eyes didn't look sad, or scared-- just emotionless.

They had to wait in a waiting room while the doctors worked with Zach, and only then they learned, from a phone call of his mother, that he had epilepsy.

Jack took it hard. He thought he was the person that Zach could trust with anything, but apparently not something that mattered so much that it could be the reason  behind whatever was going on with him now.