Memento Mori

Sometimes, All I Think About Is You

Wednesday, October 9

Warren

When Warren was nine, he had a babysitter named Suzie.

Suzie was cool, as cool one can be in a nine-year-old's eyes. She used to steal him cookies from the fridge and share her science fair ideas without telling his parents. It didn't take him long to get attached to her and her cool projects.

So one day when his parent's screams woke him up, he didn't understand why Suzie had a noose on her neck from what little he could see through the gap or why his parents told him to close his eyes when he was found frozen by the door.

His heart skipped a beat then too.

He remembers being curious, at the same time horrified. Why does she look like that...

Eyes open.

With pills scattered around.

No-This was Nathan. Nathan Prescott.

How long has he been like this?

The question itself scares him and he quickly calls Max. She knows what to do. Maybe she can even rewind and everything will be alright. But to his frustration, he only hears someone telling him to leave a voice message. "Come on, Max. Please, pick up. I need you."

Come on.

Come on...

"Dammit, Max!" He flings the phone at the other side of the room in annoyance, rushing in to take Nathan's limp body against his own. A cohort of something like a curse and whine leaves from his lips and he realizes it's because he's bowling over an unconscious Nathan, not finding a steady pulse when checking for it.

"Are you out of your mind!?" Warren knows Nathan can't hear him but that doesn't deter him. "Fuck you and your impulsive ass..."

The closer he comes, the more he can see the damage. Nathan's sweating for God's sake.

Shit, Warren, what were you thinking? He needed to call for an ambulance first. Leaving Nathan on the floor, he picks up the phone he threw out in the wild and frantically calls 911 for help. "Hello, what's your emergency?"

"I have a-"

"Oh my God." Someone rasps and before he can look up to see who it is, his phone is snatched from his hands. "I'm sorry. Wrong number."

"What the..." Victoria?

She looks shaken and also disturbed but unlike him, her face hardens in a second. "What are you looking at, nerd!? Quick, help him!"

"I was calling 911!"

"You can't!" He's surprised to hear the alarm in her voice. "His dad will...shit-just move him. He needs to puke all of it."

"But he might choke! I'm not a professional." Warren cries out. What was so bad about calling for an emergency? What if he mistreats him or something goes wrong.

He will never be able to forgive himself.

"Either you roll him over or I will." She threatens with tears in her eyes. He wants to argue more but if this is what it takes...

Right.

Warren rolls Nathan into his back, checking if he was choking or not where Victoria manages to bring a piece of a bag filled with ice to cool down his temperature. He can't imagine what one must have to go through to decide this way of leaving. But why? He thought Nathan was getting better. They were helping, weren't they?