St. Bill

Chapter 6

(Dipper pov)

I sit on the steps outside the school waiting for Bill. I check the time on my phone, getting an uneasy feeling. It's been a half hour since school ended, he's usually here the minute that school is over and done with for the day.

Standing up I put my phone in my pocket as I walk through the town going to Bill's house, freezing slightly seeing that his front door is slightly ajar. Gulping nervously I slowly push it open.

"Bill? Are you here?"

It feels like everything stops as I step into his living room. I see him collapsed on the floor, clutching an old jewelry box and blood pooling around his head.

I run over to him, rolling him on his back and see that the blood is coming from his one eye that he always keeps bandaged, blood having the bandage completely soaked. I gently take the bandage off and gasp in horror what I see.

His entire eye is gone, it's just an empty socket with blood pooling out of it and old scars around the eye socket.

Not having time to wait for an ambulance I wrap my arms around his torso from behind dragging him outside and manage to put him in the back of his car. I get his keys from his pocket before I jump in the driver's seat, speeding through town trying to not panic and scream.

What was going on? Why was he bleeding so much? What the fuck happened to his eye?

I park in the part of the hospital meant for ambulances and a doctor comes out. "You can't park here."

"I-I know but I need help!"

Once he sees Bill he gets some other doctors and they put him on a stretcher and wheel him inside. I park the car properly before following them inside.

I watch in horror as they try to make his eye socket stop bleeding, tears silently pouring down his face. They wheel him out of the emergency room and when I try to follow another doctor stops me.

"No no, where are they taking him? Bill!"

I try to push past the doctor but two other doctors force me to go to the waiting room.

I sit in a chair with my knees pulled to my chest, tears still silently streaming down my face as I weakly try to wipe Bill's blood off of my hand and onto the chair instead.

I don't know how long I wait there but it feels like forever. "Hey...." I glance up as my mom takes a seat next to me. "You know, you're very brave. He probably wouldn't have made it if you hadn't brought him here yourself."

"......what happened to his eye? Why is it just an empty socket?"

"I don't know, whatever the cause it seemed like it happened a long time ago."

"He's worn a bandage over it since we first met him."

"Did he ever mention what may have caused it?"

".....once....he briefly mentioned about not wanting to go to war when he was 16 and have bullets whizzing past his ears....I think he shared more than he meant to trying to use a metaphor.....I thought he was dead when I saw him like that."

"You saved his life."

"Why was it bleeding so much? If the injury was old why was it bleeding so much?"

"Usually after such an injury, a person is supposed to have regular visits to the hospital to make sure nothing is wrong. It seems Bill hasn't been to a hospital in a very long time. It got infected and that caused an aneurysm."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"The doctors have him fixed up. He just needs some time and then he'll be okay." She wraps her arm around me pulling me close to her and I lean into the embrace.

.............................

Next Day

I stand in front of my class, giving my report on the saint I chose.

"I chose Saint Wiilliam of Rochester, the patron saint of adopted children. As a young man, William let a 'wild and misspent youth' which meant gambling, womanizing, drinking, and other things considerded inapropiate-"

"Why did you choose Saint William?" Brother Crespi interrupts me.

"Well, he found a baby in a church and adopted it. Named him David. And then years later, when they went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land David killed William. He clubbed him from the back of the head then slit his throat and robbed the body."

"Ouch. Okay, didn't see that coming."

"All the other saints looked...I don't know, too "saintly" I guess. I choose William because I find the story a lot more interesting. "

"What does "saintly" mean to you?"

"I don't know. I don't really believe in saints and all this stuff. It seems to me that William is only a saint because he was killed by the boy he adopted. People get killed all the time nowdays and they don't become saints."

"So you don't think saints live among us?"

"I don't know any."

"Thank you, Dipper." I take my seat as Crespi goes to the front of the room. "Despite Dipper's criticism, I believe that there are saints all around us. They might not be recognized as such by religions, but they are as important to today's society as the saints in your textbooks. That is why you all are going to research someone of your choosing and present them at an assembly in a few weeks, explaining why this person deserves to be a saint."

.....................................

I walk home and see Pyronica sitting on the steps of Bill's house. I stop at the still broken fence. "Are you looking for Bill?" I ask her.

"Yes. Where is he? His car is here."

"He's at the hospital."

"Doing what?"

"Trying not to die. Yesterday, he was passed out on the floor of the living room surrounded by blood. He almost died." She goes silent at this.

"......can you come see him with me? I don't want to go alone."

"Sure."

We get in Bill's car and I drive us to the hospital again. We step in and my mom makes her way over to me. "Mason, who's this?"

"This is Pyronica, she lives with Bill....sometimes....I think. She wanted to come see him."

"His room is right this way." My mom leads us down the hall before turning to Pyronica. "How do you know Bill?"

"We've known each other since we were teenagers. He lets me crash at his place from time to time."

We walk into Bill's hospital room and he's asleep, a new bandage wrapped around his eye socket. I look up at my mom. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's just been sleeping on and off."

I look at Pyronica as she taps me on the shoulder. "You have dollar for vending machine?"

"Sure." I hand her two dollars just in case she needs more than one and she walks out of the room. My mom waits for her to be out of ear shot.

"Is the baby Bill's?"

"I don't think so. He told me she was his sort of sister.

"I have other work to do but just stick around until my shift ends." She gives my shoulder a squeeze before she leaves.

"About time she left."

I jump slightly as I look at Bill, his one eye open looking right at me, a slight smirk on his face. "You're awake?" I sit in the chair next to his bed.

"I've been awake for a while. Just like to pretend to sleep so the doctors will stop poking and prodding me. I overheard that you drove me here yourself? In my car?"

"Yeah. Sorry I just....I thought you were dying. I didn't think I had time to wait for an ambulance."

"You did good kid. Thank you." I smile slightly as I hold his hand.