Chain Reaction 3.1.46: Duking It Out

A/N: I'm slowly working on transferring this blog to WordPress, so the chapters might not come out in their regular schedule. That, and I'm working more, making me mentally exhausted. The new Blogger UI is crap, so eventually, everything will be switched over (including the old chapters).

-----------------------------------------

Alaric

     "He did WHAT?" Kyra shrieks.

     "Shh!" I'd QUIETLY told her what happened to my cousin Mike, right after making her promise to keep it on the down low. I don't know if her moms are somewhere in the house.

     These past months, I've been doing like Kate asked and keeping Kyra from getting bummed out that her bff is hundreds of miles away. Honestly, Kyra has other friends too, but in my opinion, they're all silly little snobs that only act interested in the latest beauty product or hit movie star, stuff like that. One of them even had the gall to waltz up to me in school and ask me if she could have my cousin's phone number, him being a supermodel and all. I made up some bull-plum that he'd asked me not to do that. He hasn't, of course, but I'd assume he'd agree that I don't need to be handing out his private number.

     "Why aren't you at the hospital?" she asks.

     "What could I possibly do at the hospital? He's not even awake yet." Dad has been texting me news he's getting from Uncle Ethan. Dad's been busy with the fedora hat dude, trying to catch Mom's Uncle Logan.

      "It's kind of crazy at home with the tension level so high, so, uh, do you mind if I hang here for a few hours?" Sure, I could go hang out with Dirk, but honestly, I really just want to be with Kyra right now.

     "A few hours?"

     "Yeah."

     "My moms are at work, and..." Her voice trails off.

     "And what?"

     Her cheeks get redder.

     "Nothing," she answers quickly. Then she looks at her hands.

     Wait a minute... A slow smile lifts the corners of my mouth. Was she implying that if her moms come home from work and find us here that they'll assume we've been making out? That's crazy. Her moms love me. I mean, I assume they do. Every time they see me, they keep trying to shove food in my face--like they think I never get enough to eat.

     "So does that mean I can stay?"

     She keeps looking at her hands. "Yeah, of course you can." After an awkward pause, she attempts conversation. "I can't believe your brother would do something like that."

      I think for a minute. "Huh. You know? I don't really like thinking of him as my brother."
      "Sorry." Kyra knows all about that awful period in my life when my that scumbag was screwing my mom, and she never talked to anyone else about it. It's how I know I can trust her with telling her about what happened to Mike.
     "No worries. It's just I more view him as the exact opposite of who I want to be." I don't want anyone ever to tell me again that I'm sick in the head, like the way Kate did when she broke up with me.
     "The real you, you mean," Kyra says quietly.
     That snaps me out of my internalizing. "Huh?"
     "Don't worry about it. Let's watch a movie," she says, changing the subject.

      We watch an old, cop movie. I try to focus on it, but my thoughts are never very far from my cousin.

Darrin

     They've put Mike in a room now, so I move from one seat to another. The twins went home after they saw he was okay, each having little ones they need to care for. Mike's grandmother also went home, saying she'll be back later. So now, it's just Detective Taylor and me.

     I hear huffing and sniffing coming from the direction of Mike's bed, and I look up to see his dad finally crying. I stand up, walk over, and hug him. He wilts into me, bawling.
     "I'm so glad he's alive. I was so scared," he whispers to me.
     I know I should be grateful Mike's alive, and I am. But at the same time, I dread when he wakes up and tells me to f--k off. "He'll be okay," I tell his dad like his dad has told me over and over again. I don't know if I believe it, but it helps to say it.
     Detective Taylor nods, and we both have a seat. We're content to remain silent as we wait for Mike to wake up. They gave him something for pain in case he wakes up, but right now, the anesthesia still has him.

     Now that I'm able to pick my head up again, my eyes don't leave him. What will I do if he tells me to f--k off and go away? My leg starts shaking, bouncing up and down. I NEVER want to leave him again. I was an idiot, the biggest idiot ever made. I had the perfect person in my life, and I couldn't get over the fact that he WASN'T as perfect as I always thought of him. I'd put him on a pedestal. He killed his mother's killer. ... And now I want to kill Drake Goth. Some 'super cop' I am. I start having fantasies of all the awful things I want to do to that snake. It almost scares me that I can be filled with this much rage. The two sides of me start duking it out whether or not I'll bring him in or take him out.
     Mike stirs.

     He makes a little 'mm' noise, and his father and I both sit upright.
     "Mikey?" his dad is at the side of his bed again in seconds.
     Mike starts moving his head, making more noises.

     "Mike?" I'm at the foot of his bed.
     His noises stop; he stares at the ceiling; and he goes stiff as in pain.
     Then he starts screaming. And he starts thrashing around as if he's fighting someone off him. He's going to hurt himself!
     I run to him, and Detective Taylor backs up.
     "Get a nurse!" I yell.

    Detective Taylor runs at top speed out of the room while I desperately try to get Michael to calm down.
    "Mike! It's okay! Don't hurt yourself more! Your dad went to get a nurse! It's going to be okay!"
    "Get off me! Get off me! Get off me!" he keeps screaming. Then he grabs my throat with one hand.
    He looks at me like he wants to kill me, full of rage. I don't want to hurt him, but I have to stop him before he crushes my throat, so I reach up and pinch a pressure point as hard as I can. He screams again. I cough. "Mike." My voice sounds awful. "It's Darrin." I grab his hands, letting him move them as long as it's not going to hurt him. I cough again. Mike is strong. "Please be calm." I breathe. "Dad went to get the nurse, and they'll give you meds."
     Mike closes his eyes and tries to get me to let go of his hands. "No! No shots! No! Darrin help!"
     I almost lose it. "I'm right here, Mike. It's Darrin." I'm just too late.
     He looks at me like he finally recognizes it's me. "Darrin!" Then he jolts upright and tries to wrap his arms around me. F--k, when did he get this strong?
     Then he yelps in pain.
     "Shh. Lie back down."

     He starts crying, looking like he's finally realizing where he is and why. "No-o-o-o-o. Oh maker, no-o-o-o."
     "You're going to be okay," I tell him even though I don't really believe it, at least any time soon. I wipe his cheeks, and he slowly rests his head back.
     "What happened?"
     How do I answer that? I have no idea.
     Mike doesn't wait for an answer. "Did they try to re-attach it?" He must be feeling the incredible pain.
     I swallow. "Yes." My voice still sounds scratchy.
     He turns away from me. Then he lets out a wail. "I'm Frankenstein."
     I don't want to correct him by saying that it's Frankenstein's monster, so I let it go. Because he's not a monster. I whisper, "No, you're my beautiful Michael." At least, I hope he's still mine. I don't want to ever be without him again. I pray he remembers that we DID get back together, and I really pray he doesn't try to push me away.
     "I'm ruined."
     I don't get to reply because the nurse comes in. She asks him what his pain is on a scale of one to ten, ten being the highest. He says eight, or nine, or eight. No, nine. F--k. She gives him a shot of some kind of more powerful pain medicine and tells him it will make him sleepy.
     His eyes get droopy, and they find me in a desperate fashion. "Don't leave me." Sad relief fills me just before he passes out.
     "I won't." No. I won't. I'll be by your side for as long as I'm able. I stand next to him while the nurse does whatever it is she's doing, and his dad has a seat. When I can tell Mike's really out and not in pain, I make my way over to the sofa.

     Eight. No, nine. Don't leave me. My heart is shattering. No, I won't leave him. Darrin, help! It was like he was having a flashback, and my mind plays out the scene. They had to have drugged him, and he was wishing I'd come and help. But I was too busy going to the damn bathroom.
    Detective Taylor's arms go around me before I can slump all the way to the floor. "Come on. Get some rest. I'll wake you if he wakes up." He helps me lie down on the sofa and magically provides a pillow and blanket. And I pass out in seconds.