Darkness

Favors

Hi and thanks for stopping by; welcome back!

"Do you really want us to-"

"Yeah" Avi mumbled and turned to his mother, squeezed her hand lightly. "I'll be fine, Mama. I'll figure it out."

"Avriel, it's okay for us to stay for a little longer, we don't mind-"

"Mama, please" he said and let go, moved his hand up her arm and rested it on her shoulder. "I'll manage. And if not I promise to call you."

Shelly cupped her son's cheek and sighed, ran her thumb over his cheekbone. "Please do. There are precooked meals in the freezer, your pain medication for your shoulder is on the counter next to the sink and your cane is right next to the door near your shoes."

The bearded man nodded and slowly let go of his father's right biceps he had been holding onto since he got out of the car. It was his first day at home after being in the hospital for almost two weeks after a car accident that left him completely blind and with an injured shoulder that required physical therapy twice a week.

They said their goodbyes, his parents hugged him carefully and then left the apartment. When the door closed behind them Avi suddenly realized that he now had to look after himself, with Caleb gone too. He had broken up with Avi just a few days prior, after realizing that his boyfriend would now have to rely on him for almost everything until he got around on his own. Loosing Caleb right when he needed him more than ever hurt Avi badly. Not just to be his eyes but for emotional support too, now that he wasn't able to see anymore which messed with his mental health as well. He missed the brightness of the sun, the colors of flowers and the green of the trees, the blue sky. He missed- he missed his old life.

His parents had been with him for the last two weeks, they had packed their suitcase and drove to LA right after hearing about the accident. Avi had been unconscious almost immediately after the airbag hit him straight in his face and woke up almost two days later with tubes going in and out of his body, pads sticking to his chest to monitor his heart rate, a bandage around his head.

The man reached out to feel for the wall to use as a guide to get him to the couch in the living room. On the way there, while he was dragging his feet over the wooden floor and held the other hand out in front of him, he not only ran against the hip high cabinet but the coffee table too until he finally found the couch and sat down. The following weeks were going to be a challenge.

Scott's first reaction was to smile which slowly turned into a worried frown when he saw Shelly standing on his doormat. He loved Mama Kaplan as much as everyone else who knew her but her being there without Avi made it scary. "Shelly.." And when he saw Mike approaching them after parking the car he felt like he was going to be sick. Something must have happened to Avi, otherwise they wouldn't be there and now that he thought about it he realized that he haven't heard anything from the man in over two weeks now, which was rather unusual.

"Hello Scott. May we come in for a second?"

"Y-yes, yes of course. Living room is just down the hallway.." He hugged both her and Mike before he closed the door and followed them. "Can I offer you some water or something else?"

But Shelly just shook her head and gently patted the spot next to her for Scott to sit down. "We want to talk to you and...and ask you for a favor."

The baritone flopped down next to her. "Is Avi okay?"

"He is okay, yes. He was in a serious car accident two weeks ago, on Friday, and spent the time until today at the hospital. We just dropped him off at home and now that- well, Caleb ended the relationship-" she started to ramble and Mike places his hand on her knee.

"Avi lost his vision, Scott. He's blind and has an injured shoulder and he's miserable and on his own and... kind of kicked us out. We understand, he hasn't really had a single minute to himself since he woke up after the accident but he wants us to head back to Visalia and we- we aren't comfortable with the thought of him being by himself now. He can't really get around by himself, he struggles to use his cane and god knows how the cooking will go once he reheated the meals Shelly has cooked for him. There is enough cereal in the pantry and toast in the freezer, we just- he has to go to the store at some point. We know that we are asking for a lot and you are, of course, allowed to deny it but would you be able to just look after him every now and then? See how things are? You know him, he's a stubborn man and won't ask for help until it's absolutely necessary but we know that he breaks at some point and needs someone to be there for him. And we are just too far away in Visalia."

Scott was, to say the least, gobsmacked. He sat up and ran his fingers through his hair before he looked up at Shelly and Mike. Shelly's eyes were filled with tears after what her husband had just said and she covered her mouth with her hand. They both looked so tired and drained.

"O-of course. Yes." He got up and hugged the woman, gently rubbed her back while she sniffled softly. "Of course I will stop by and help out. Is his phone set up? Can he use it in case something happened?"

"Yes, he's getting better every day. He can text, call and check the news and the weather. We organized the freezer so he knows for how long to microwave the meals and Siri is taking care of the AC, everything in the apartment that could potentially hurt him or break is stowed away and the knives in the kitchen are dull enough to save him from accidentally cutting himself if he thinks about cooking for himself" Mike said and sighed softly before he reached for his keys and took off the one that belonged to Avi's apartment before he handed it over to Scott.

Scott let go and sat back down, took the key and looked at it. Hearing all that, how much his friend's life had changed in a matter of seconds, hurt him and made his heart heavy. Avi didn't deserve to be blind. He was in love with nature, loved exploring out in the wild, tried so hard to make his friends and his boyfriend happy and now lost almost everything.

"Why...why didn't you tell me about the car accident? Does Kevin now? Or Brad?"

"Brad knows. We called him three days after the crash, when Avi was strong enough to talk but...it seemed like Brad didn't really want to have a conversation with him. We haven't heard anything from him since then."

"Brad is his best friend. One of the few people Avriel is close to." The baritone felt his blood heating up slowly, beginning to boil. He was furious. "Avi needs his support now and he- he just disappears?! Why? He's still the same person, just- just without vision! That's-" he stopped and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

Both Shelly and Mike just looked at him, the man nodded and then rubbed his knees. "You're right. But that's Brad decision, Scott. We can't change it."

Mike was right. Scott sighed and nodded slowly before he looked back at the key. "I'll have an eye on Avi, you don't have to worry." He got up, walked over to the open kitchen and scribbled his number on a little sticky note, then took a box of strawberries he had picked up earlier from the farmers market and handed both to Shelly. "Here's my number, and snacks for the way home."

The woman smiled and got up, cupped his cheek before she took both. "Thank you, Scott. It means a lot to us. We will text you once we're back home and share Avi's calendar with you so you know about his physical therapy appointments. He's getting picked up so you don't have to worry about that."

Scott nodded and hugged Avi's parents again before he followed them back to the front door and watched them get into the car. "Thank you for trusting me. I'll take care of Avi."