Worth the Reward

CHAPTER 5

The school nurse was standing outside with Luke when we pulled into the circle drive, and to my relief, he looked more nettled than anything else.

Mom hopped out of the car and shared a few words with the nurse –who regarded her with wide eyes and took several tentative steps away- then quickly ushered Luke to the car. He shied away from her, making a disgusted comment about her attire before opening the door.

"Get in the car, honey. We need to get you home."

"It's just a headache," Luke said sulkily as he buckled himself in. "I'm fine."

"Well, it's better to be safe than sorry," Mom answered, a little disgruntled and Luke rolled his eyes before putting in his earbuds. He glanced at me, then crossed his arms and looked out the window. Cold shoulder. Alright. Then Mom turned to me. "Stop at your place on the way. I want you to pack everything you can and stay with us for a while."

I pursed my lips, pulling away from the school. "And how's Dad going to feel about that?"

"I don't care."

Fair enough.

"Should I be staying with you if he's sick?" I asked, looking in the rear view mirror at Luke who didn't seem to be listening to us.

"It's airborne. You'll either get it, or you won't. Only time will tell."

I grimaced. "You should really work on your bedside manner. It kind of sucks."

She scoffed, a tiny smile on her face that said, good one, but now really isn't the time for jokes.

I glanced back at Luke again to see him looking out the window before rubbing his temple and resting his head against the glass.

"Are we sure it's not just a headache?" I asked Mom softly. "He looks like he's doing okay."

"Yeah, he does now. That's how it starts. A headache, a low-grade fever, then fatigue. And then pretty soon, you're burning up. Then there's the impaired vision, the memory loss and then... the bleeding. From the eyes, nose, mouth, ears. It's like the brain just... implodes."

"How long?" My voice was terse, barely a whisper. "How long does he have?"

She scratched at the hair behind her ear, shaking her head softly. "Eight to thirty-six hours."

I felt my eyebrows shoot halfway up my forehead. Eight hours? He could be gone in as little as eight hours? What was I supposed to do with that information? It was simply something I couldn't wrap my mind around. It didn't feel real, like this was all some elaborate, fucked up joke. But as I watched Mom glance back at Luke anxiously -so drenched in blood that it looked like she'd just escaped a massacre- I knew it wasn't.

I looked at the time on the dash. Ten fifty-eight. My foot pressed a little heavier onto the accelerator pedal. There was so much we needed to do, so much I needed to tell him, and just not enough time. But there was a part of my mind that told me to enjoy this time now, when it still felt like some surreal dream, because soon enough I'd be living a nightmare.

...

"Doing okay, honey?" Mom asked Luke as I pulled into the drive.

"Just tired," he mumbled.

Fatigue, my thoughts whispered, and Mom and I shared a quick look before she turned in her seat to look back at Luke.

"Well, let's get you upstairs and you can lay down for a nap. Okay?"

He nodded.

Inside, I dropped my bags on the linoleum by the back door and then glanced around the kitchen. Nothing had changed. Same oak cabinets, same red curtains, same white walls scattered with the same varying apple décor. I could almost pretend that I was a teenager again, and that no time had passed since I'd last stood within these walls. I could almost pretend that nothing had changed. But the fact that I was here was all the proof I needed that everything had changed.