I'm With You

Chapter 12

"I wanna run a blood test on both of you," Miguel said and Eira nodded her head without saying a word. She just watched as Miguel took out two syringes and vile to collect the blood in, along with two of the blood testing kits. They wouldn't be able to detect anything overly serious, but it would cover a wide range of things that could possibly be wrong.

"Her first." Eira breathed and Miguel nodded, drawing blood from Mackenzie through the cannula in the back of her hand, using the other opening for IV lines to be attached. He then pulled a marker out of his pocket and wrote a large 'M' on it before setting it up with the testing kit and he turned to Eira.

"Have you ever had a blood test before?" Miguel asked and Eira nodded her head.

"When I was little," Eira said.

"It doesn't hurt, I swear. Doctors are normally shit at drawing blood and leave it to the nurses because they have a gentler touch, but I'm good." Miguel assured her and Eira cracked the ghost of a smile.

"If you do say so yourself." She added, making him smile back at her and he pulled the plastic casing off of the next syringe, wiping Eira's skin in the crease of her arm, pressing down on her upper arm hard so that it would bring up her veins.

"I forgot a tourniquet. I brought literally everything but a tourniquet, I'll have to bring one tomorrow." Miguel said, more to himself than to Eira. She didn't react as he pushed the tip of the needle into her arm, starting to fill the vile with blood.

"How long until Mackenzie will be awake?" Eira asked, looking over to Mackenzie as Miguel used medical tape to keep a cotton ball in place over the hole he'd made in her arm.

"Maybe not until morning, could be longer... the longer her body is resting like this, the better, though..." Miguel said and Eira looked over at him.

"How is this better?" She questioned, watching as Miguel wrote an 'E' on her vile of blood, setting it up with the blood testing kit and he sat back on the ground to get himself comfortable.

"It means her body is fighting. It's why when someone is sick, they're very tired... it's the body trying to shut down so it can focus on fighting what's making you sick, instead of keeping you awake and doing regular things." Miguel explained.

"All I want is to know that she's okay... I don't have anything else in the world. No family, no friends, no photos, no clothes... just her." Eira said and Miguel could barely imagine what that would feel like. In a selfish way, he hoped he never had to find out what it felt like to have nothing besides a sibling and the clothes on his back. "I made a plan, you know," Eira said, looking over at him.

"A plan? For what?" He asked although he was nervous about her answer.

"If she passed away... what I'd do without her... I'd move her to the hospital, carry her there if I had to... they'd be forced to bury her then, to look after her body... then I'd... go back to the park, let myself drown in the lake." Eira recited and the matter-of-fact way that she spoke sent a shiver down Miguel's spine.

"Drown yourself?"

"It's apparently the most peaceful way to die, and it takes a while... punishment for letting Mackenzie die." Eira looked down into her lap where she was playing with her own fingers.

"It's not your fault." Miguel urged. "She's going to be okay, we're gonna get her better," Miguel said calmly, although his voice was shaky with the threat of tears. It broke his heart that she'd seriously thought so much about what would happen if Mackenzie were to pass away, she'd been sick that long that she felt like she had to create a plan. Eira didn't say anything in response to it, she was too afraid that if she opened her mouth to speak, she'd just burst out crying. "Come on, you have to eat," Miguel said, sitting cross-legged on the floor and he grabbed the McDonald's bag, but Eira was hesitant. She looked over at her little sister, running her fingers through Mackenzie's hair. "You have to look after yourself, Eira... what use are you going to be to her if you end up sick too? Or worse?" Miguel questioned, his voice soft but it was still enough to make Eira let a few tears fall. Miguel turned to look at the blood test results that had come through so far. "You have incredibly low iron in your blood... Mackenzie's is low too, but yours is a lot lower than hers because you haven't been eating. You don't have to skip meals anymore, Eira. Please, come eat?" Miguel urged and Eira hesitated more for a moment before nodding her head, but Miguel could tell how uncomfortable she was in simply agreeing to eat. It told him a lot, how good of a big sister she must be towards Mackenzie that she was so used to being selfless that an act as simple as eating was like a moral choice for her. She was an incredible person, no matter what she thought of herself.