A Sick Sidekick

Chapter 5

Ray's POV

What I walked in on was a sickening sight. Henry was passed out on the floor of the bathroom with a puddle of vomit next to him. What's worse? There was blood mixed in his vomit. I frantically picked him up and set him on his bed. I desperately started shaking him in attempt to wake him up. When it didn't work, I dialed that nurse's number. She gave it to me and told me to call her and let her know if something went wrong with Henry. "Hello?" She kindly greeted. "Jen, this is Ray Manchester. I just found Henry passed out in his bathroom, with vomit next to him, and it had blood in it!" I don't care how awkward that sentence sounded, I was too worried about Henry to care. "Have you checked his pulse to see how strong it is?" "No, should I?" "Yes, definitely. If it is weak, then you may want to consider bringing him to urgent care." She warned. I quickly checked Henry's pulse, and it wasn't exactly weak, but it wasn't as strong as it should be. I filled Jen in on Henry's pulse, and she asked me to check for a fever next. I grabbed a temporal thermometer, and swiped it across his forehead. 104.4. I stood frozen in shock for a moment. It was Jen speaking through the phone that brought me out of my trance. When I told her about Henry's high fever, she told me to bring it down as soon as possible. If I can't get it to go down, then I should seek medical care. She also informed me that with pneumonia, it was possible to have a little blood mixed in with, well, you know already. I quickly hung up the phone and made a mad dash to get a wet cloth for Henry's forehead. When I came back, Henry was full on shivering which concerned me even more. "Henry, I need you to try and relax." I said whilst putting the cold rag on his forehead. "Ray, my stomach hurts." Henry moaned. At least he was awake now. I quickly gave him a heating pad and watched as he smiled with the sudden comfort. It wasn't long before Henry drifted off into dreamland. While Henry was asleep, I went to go clean the mess on Henry's bathroom floor. As soon as I finished, I heard a distressed Henry calling my name. "Ray!" "I'm coming!" I ran back to Henry and found him holding his stomach. "My stomach hurts!" He moaned. I gave him another stomach relaxer in hopes of it settling his poor sore stomach for a bit. I looked at the time and realized that Henry's parents would be home soon. "Henry, I hate to tell you this, but I have to leave. Your parents will be home soon." The only thing Henry responded with was a groan. "I'm sorry Henry, I'll be back tomorrow if you want." "Yes please." I have never seen this side of Henry. Even in pain, he blocks his weak and vulnerable side, not show it. Henry really must feel bad. I gave him a pat on his head and climbed out of his window. I landed with a thud, but as usual, no harm done. I hesitantly left the Hart's house before his parents got home. I really wish that someone would stay home with him during the day. Do they realize that their son is in bed sick as a dog? I shook my head and walked back to the man cave. When I entered the main room, Charlotte was sitting on the circular couch with her arms crossed over her chest. "There you are!" She yelled. "I tried calling you several times trying to alert you that there were emergencies, but you never answered!" "Look, Charlotte, I set my phone on silent so it wouldn't disturb Henry. He really wasn't doing well today." I said with sadness in my voice. Her face went from annoyed to concerned. "What's going on with him?" "I don't really want to get into details because it's kinda gross, but he's worse than before." I stated. "Then why did you leave?!" She asked angrily. "Because his parents were going to be home soon and I technically was not invited." "Well, what all did you do for him today?" "I lowered his fever, I got him to eat a little soup, and gave him all his medication when needed." Charlotte nodded and just went on with her day. We were both so worried about Henry and knew that his parents weren't taking care of him like they should be. I hope Henry's okay right now.

Henry's POV

Ray left my house leaving me to alone in my room once more. I knew my mom will probably come to check on me one time, and then leave me alone for the rest of the night. Not because she doesn't love me or anything, it's just Piper usually takes up her attention for the rest of the night mostly because some girl named Jana Tetrazzini is bothering her on social media or something. Mom never even gets a chance to rest herself. Who's idea was it to give Piper a phone in the first place? If only they had known. I groaned as my stomach rolled with nausea. My head is pounding and I'm pretty sure you could fry an egg on my forehead with my fever being so high. I silently whimpered wishing that all this pain would just go away. I could hear Piper screaming downstairs about who knows what. All her yelling definitely did not help my headache. Suddenly my stomach lurched and I had to practically jump to get the bucket beside my bed. I squeezed my eyes shut as I spilled my stomach contents into the bucket. How could I have possibly gotten this sick? Whatever I did, I'm definitely regretting it now. When I finished I set the bucket down and laid back down. I closed my eyes in hopes of maybe that soothing my throbbing head. I wiped sweat from my brow as it was freakishly hot in here. But at the same time it was also freakishly cold in here, so I was at a loss. Man, I hate being sick! I sighed as I grabbed a tissue to wipe my irritated wet nose. I groaned in discomfort wishing I had someone here to entertain me at least for a lit bit. But the only people who cared aren't able to be here right now. I rolled over to my side hoping to ease the soreness and cramps in my stomach, but it didn't do much at all. I decided to watch a little tv for a bit hoping that maybe it could put me to sleep. I grabbed the remote from my bedside table and flipped through channels until I was satisfied with what was on. Every now and then mom would come in and check on me, but she wouldn't stay for more than a minute before she went downstairs again. Eventually I got bored and turned the tv off and flipped over on my side one more. Suddenly my mom poked her head through my door. "Henry, your father, Piper and I are going out for dinner. You need anything before we go?" "Actually I could really use some- "Mom!!!" Piper screamed. Suddenly Piper came storming into my room. "Marla unfollowed me!!" Piper's yelling was really beginning to hurt my head even more than it already was. "Piper, I will meet you in the car. We can talk about it there." "But mom- "Piper, go to the car." "Ugh! Fine!" Piper trudged out the door leaving just me and my mom in the room. "Now, what were you saying Henry?" I was about to answer before dad started yelling something. "Honey where did I leave the keys?" Mom sighed and gave me a sympathetic look as she left to go help my father. All I wanted was a cup of tea. I sighed as I curled up under the covers knowing that my mom wasn't coming back up here again. I tried to go to sleep for awhile but had no success so I went downstairs to the living room only to find that it was completely empty. My family left to go eat dinner without even saying goodbye to me. I curled up on the couch and buried myself under who knows how many blankets, and finally went to sleep for about an hour before I woke up with a hacking cough. I grabbed a tissue from the table in front of our couch, and blew my nose. I tossed the tissue to the garbage can and miraculously made it. After several failed attempts of going back to sleep, I decided to just head back up to my room for the night. When I finally made it up the stairs which felt like climbing a mountain, I collapsed in bed. Another wet hacking cough escaped my body causing my chest to rattle. I grabbed a tissue and coughed up more phlegm into it. My stomach turned telling me that some surprise attacks were coming soon. I groaned and made sure that a bucket was nearby before going to sleep.

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I jumped up from my bed, immediately grabbing the bucket beside me. It took two seconds before I was painfully retching inside it. When I was done, for some reason I looked inside of it. Not a pretty sight. I lazily set the bucket done not feeling well enough to get up and clean it again. I looked at the time and noticed that it was after eight in the morning. My parents were already at work and my sister was at school. I rolled over trying to go back to sleep, but was soon interrupted when I heard the sound of my window being opened. In slid a worried Ray. "Hey kid, why are you up? Feeling any better?" "Not really." I replied whilst grabbing a tissue to wipe my snotty nose. "You need anything?" "I guess a cup of tea would be nice." Ray nodded and went downstairs to get it made. Although it was weird that Ray just randomly showed up in my window, it was nice to have someone around now. Moments later Ray appeared with a steaming cup of tea in his hands. "Here you go." "Thanks." I croaked. I sipped at it slowly not wanting to upset my stomach anymore than it already was. Ray sat down in a nearby chair and just looking around awkwardly. I wanted to laugh, but that probably wouldn't end well with my stomach being so nauseous. "So... have you taken any medicine today?" Ray asked. "No, I just woke up." I decided not to add in the part in why I woke up. That would lead to a very awkward moment and I definitely did not want that. "I'll go get it for you. Stay here." "Where else would I go?" I asked with a hint of laughter in my voice. A couple minutes later Ray came back with a couple of pills in his hand. I quickly dry swallowed them and laid back down. "Can you sit up again for just a second so I can take your temperature?" I groaned and slowly pushed myself back up and allowed Ray to put the device in my mouth. It was a very awkward thirty seconds before the thermometer beeped. "What does it say?" I ask in hopes that it isn't as high as I think it is. "102.7" Ray replied. I groaned and put a hand to my throbbing head. "I'll go get you a wet towel for your fever, you just lay back down and try to get some sleep." Ray said. "Gladly." I threw myself back on my pillow which wasn't the smartest thing to do since now my head was hurting more. A few seconds later, Ray returned with a wet towel and placed it on my forehead. "Get some sleep kiddo." Was the last thing I heard before knocking out cold.

"Henry. Henry wake up." I sighed heavily and opened my eyes to see my mom there. Had Ray already left? Was I asleep that long? "Henry are you okay?" "Not really. I feel the same as before." I replied. "Do you want something to eat? I have some toast for you." Just the thought of food turned my stomach. "No thanks mom." I started to drift off back to sleep when mom started talking again. "Henry you really need to eat something. "I know for fact that you haven't eaten all day." "You don't know that." I said half asleep. "Henry just try eating a little bit. You don't have to eat all of it if you can't." I sighed knowing that there was no way out of this. I sat up and nibbled at my toast for a little bit. I managed to half of it before I decided I didn't want to push my luck. I gave the plate to my and she smiled. "Thank you." I hummed in response before closing my eyes to fall asleep once again. Although it was in the middle of the night that I regretted eating even half of the toast. It's going to be a long night for me.

I'm sorry it took so long for me to update!! I'm going to try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible for you guys. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!! Byeeee and stay safe!❤️