Hope «h.s.»

Twelve.

Chapter 12:

I was suddenly woken up by a loud yell followed by a breathless one. It was no doubt Rene. I rubbed my eyes and scolded myself for falling asleep. It was now dark outside and she hasn't eaten dinner, which is not good for a sick body. That was probably why she's calling. She's hungry. It's not emergency, I tell myself.

But I still ran into her room and turned on the light. Her eyes closed immediately and it looked like she in pain.

"What's wrong Rene?"

She hesitantly lifted her clammy hand onto her damp forehead. Her face was so pale, resembling a ghost. I began to worry.

"I'm," her voice came out jagged and in a whisper. "I feel like I am going to puke or faint."

Then it was my turn for my face to turn white. What do I do? My mind scrambled with possible things to do. But I settled on one. A thermometer. I needed to know how bad this was. Not even remembering if we had one, I ran into the houses only bathroom. I dug into all of the miscellaneous drawers under the vanity for one and possibly some medicine.

C'mon. C'mon. C'mon.

Finally!

I rushed back into Rene's room triumphantly with only a thermometer.

"Here. Open your mouth," I said lightly and she followed through. I sat by her side as the few minutes went by. She closed her eyes in pure pain. I had no idea what she was feeling, and it scared me.

I took the metal out of her mouth and held it up to the light. My jaw dropped as I read her temperature. 103...

"Oh my gosh Rene!" I said. "You have to take medicine. You are at 103! This can not get worse because..." I fumbled with my words. "I have to get dad. I don't know what else to do!" My voice sounded hysteric.

A cautious nod came from Rene in response. "Where is he?" she croaked out.

"At a bar..."

Her pale face visibly sunk. "I think I'm going to..."

I jumped off of her bed just in time as her stomach contents flew over her bed sheets. I looked away. I heard her puke again and again before I realized I should get Rene her a bucket.

Remains kept spilling out of her mouth continuously so I had to settle with her room's trash can.

"Go get dad," she said quietly, wiping her mouth as she finished her session. "I'll be fine until you come back."

I wanted so badly to refuse her command, but as she clenched her stomach and tried to give a half smile, I knew what I had to do. Dad could get her to a doctor and get medicine; I could not.

There was no point in calling him, he never answered his phone when out. But I tried anyways. To my pleasure a loud ringing came from the kitchen. Grabbing my phone for safety purposes, I headed out the door.

I silently cursed to myself when I saw that the driveway was empty. Dad for once in his life took the car. I had to walk. I quickly slide on my tennis shoes and my winter coat to face the winter weather since I had been inside all day.

Walking at night down my road was probably the most scary thing imaginable. It could be comparable to a inner city street, which it basically was. Plus I was alone. The only person I knew on my street was our goofy neighbor, Jim. Other than that, my father told both Rene and I to stay away from them. This was the exact reason why I didn't want anyone to know where I came from. It was embarrassing living next to and in a neighborhood with such a bad rep.