Fight For You

Chapter Six - Friends and Lies

I stood outside of apartment 4D waiting for
Daniel to get to the door. It was taking longer than usual. I knocked again growing a little anxious.

Finally, I could hear the lock click and the door open to reveal a tired looking boy.

"Hey," he greeted glumly.

"You okay?" I asked with concern, walking in and closing the door behind me, taking in the bags underneath Daniel's eyes.

"Peachy," he replied wheeling himself back to the tv that was already playing some reality television show.

I followed him into the living room, "Are you having a hard time sleeping? Did your doctor tell you that you need to shift your limbs every couple hours to avoid clots?" I asked using the back of my hand to check the temperature of his forehead.

"I know," he replied with a twitch of annoyance.

I took the room in and noticed the boxes of takeout left all along the table. Empty candy wrappers littered the floor near where Daniel sat in front of the tv. How long had he been in the house?

"Did you eat dinner?" I questioned him an eyebrow raised at the fast food containers.

"Yeah," Daniel replied, immersed in the show he was watching.

I sighed before going around and picking up the garbage and disposing it in the trash. I may as well do something. I knew Daniel didn't need someone to tell him what to do and pushing something a little too soon was also tricky. I had to take things at his pace, which apparently was very slowly.

I washed the dishes and cleaned the counters before looking at Daniel, still stuck in the exact same spot in front of the tv.

I walked into the living room, "I think we should go out," I declared, hands on hips. How was I going to make any progress if he just watched tv all day? We needed to work our way to meeting goals and getting him to become more independent.

"I'm good," he glanced at me before focusing back on his show.

"It's either that or we start physical therapy today." He wanted to test me, I could see it in his eyes. I wanted to be his friend, but I also had a job to do and him wallowing in fast food and candy bars wasn't helping anyone.

I was about to let the topic drop because I couldn't actually drag him out of his house if he didn't want to go, though I was very tempted, when he piped up with, "Fine. Maybe I could go see a friend?"

"Sure!" I exclaimed. Of course he had friends. Of course he had a support group. "Do you have your medication just in case?" Daniel didn't need heavy doses of medicine, but he needed pain killers if the weather got too cold and his limbs froze up, or if he was having a particularly painful day. It was smart to keep them on hand.

He nodded, "Got it in here," he patted the pocket of his chair.

We left the apartment and we walked side by side and into the elevator. I was glad he was doing it on his own. It was healthy for him to try and be independent.

"Where does your friend live?" I asked pushing for the ground floor.

"He lives by East and Rosewood," he responded, glancing at his watch.

"How long have you known him?"

"What is this twenty questions?" He snapped as we got off the elevator. I held the door open for him as we left the condo complex.

"I just figured we're going to be spending a lot of time together, we may as well get to know each other a little better," I stated.

"I've known him for a bit. Solid guy," he spoke quietly as he wheeled himself to the bus stop. "So, what about you?"