After what they saw and smelled no one thinks they can sleep. They had been so exhausted from the night before and all of the stuff that they dealt with that they just fell asleep when they made it home. Their bodies had given in. Everyone slept except Aaron. He stayed up all night. 48 hours in a row. He threw up all night. He tried to fix it by drinking ginger ale, water, or pedialyte. Those didn't work. He threw those back up. He eats crackers and those don't stay down. He tries not to cry because it's going to make him dehydrated. The image keeps repeating in his head. He can feel himself sweating. He tries not to wake anyone up. He brushes his teeth and washes his face thinking that it may help. He stays like that until the wee hours of the morning when he hears Lear wake up for the day.
Lear walks past the door and sees Aaron on the bathroom floor. He's concerned so he bends down next to him. He's pale and doesn't look good at all. Lear wakes up Sherry. She comes to see what's wrong. She feels his forehead and it's hot.
"Honey, how long have you been sitting here?" She asks Aaron.
"Since we got home last night"
"Oh my" She says. "Go lay down. I'm going to come help you." She says. He gets himself up and heads to his room. He fluctuates between cold and warm so he just stays without a blanket. He shivering but it's not from being cold. It's just his body's reaction to whatever is going on. Sherry comes in and checks his temperature. It's at 102. That's scary. She tells him that she's going to give him a couple of hours and if he's not better she's taking him to the hospital. He nods in agreement. He doesn't have the energy to argue. Lear comes in and checks on him. He's just sitting there. Lear feels horrible. This boy has been through so much and still can't get a break. Aaron turns over and feels his eyes get heavy and finally makes it to sleep. Lear closes his door and walks down stairs to Sherry drink her cup of coffee and getting ready to call the school to excuse Aaron's absence.
"How is he?" Sherry asks
"He's sleeping. I'm worried about him Sherry. This is the first time I'm seeing him like this and judging by the way that the others looked at him I don't think that they have either. This is a lot. While everyone was looking at the scene he turned the corner with me and threw up. He ended up crying in my arms and I have never seen that from him. It's nothing wrong with crying but it looked like it hurt him. This is not Aaron."
"I know. It's a lot. He's dehydrated. He needs to go to the doctor when he wakes up. In fact as soon as I call the school I will get him up. He came in yesterday and saw me crying and he hugged me. I could tell he was struggling then. We have to get this under control because this is traumatizing everyone." Sherry says.
"I know. I marking off the club as a crime scene and I'm going to work hard today. I think it's time to give the prison where Wendy stays, a call."
"Ok. Please be safe at work." Sherry says and gives him a kiss as he leaves. She calls the school and lets them know that Aaron will be out and he will there to pick up Mariah and Kian later on. She heads upstairs and wakes Aaron up gently. He gets up and heads out to the car. He falls back asleep in there. He feels the car jerk a little and he knows that they made it. He gets out and they sit in the waiting room until they get called back.
Everyone is worried when Aaron doesn't show up for school. They think that maybe he just stayed home after what happened last night but that's not like him. The again you never know how to react to a situation like that. Their suspicion grows a little more when Kian and Mariah are called to the office. The last time something like this happened is when they received the notes. Kian and Mariah nervously go up front but they are relieved to see their mom. She takes them out for an early dismissal. She can only legally take those two out because those are her adoptive kids. Lear would have to take Alex out. She stops and gets them lunch and takes them with her to the hospital where they go and visit Aaron.
When they get there he's sleeping. He has a drip IV bag. This is giving him the liquid that he needs. He was severely dehydrated and exhausted. On top of that he really needs a brain break. He's going through so much mentally that it's causing his body to shut down physically. Kian pulls out his homework and sits there and works in silence. Mariah calls Luke after school is out and tells him that she'll be over to help with Malaya in a second. Sherry gives her the car keys and she drives with her permit to his house. Everyone finds out about Aaron and feel horrible. He has been through so much and his calm exterior doesn't show it. They can't all be crowded up in the hospital so Kian, Alex, Roni, and Sherry stay. They know Lear can't make it because he's at work. They stay for as long as they can. He's been asleep all day so they leave out without saying bye.
Aaron wakes up in the middle of the night. He's been asleep for almost 24 hours. He panics when he sees no one around and then he remembers he's in the hospital. He relaxes and finds his phone on the tray beside him and texts Roni.
