Stroke

A Friend in Need

Mark was Jinyoung's best friend, mostly because Mark was the person he could tolerate the most. For a pretty brown-haired boy, he was alright. However this week, Mark was not alright. The boy didn't talk much to begin with (it was understandable that he didn't want to speak to the garbage that littered his high school), but now it was as if he didn't talk even when he want to.

"Geez, use your mouth kid," the lunch lady had once scolded him after he had pointed to what he wanted. His face first mirrored the anger that Jinyoung was radiating towards the woman, but it soon turned to mild sadness as he walked to their lunch table. His friend gave the lady one more glare, which was returned, before going to with Mark to eat.

Another thing was that he seemed off just walking in general. Jinyoung noticed he would be teetering a bit, although it was probably only picked up by him; others mistook it for Mark trying to walk with swag and simply ignored it. Jinyoung got worried and asked if Mark was okay a few times, but he only responded with, "Yeah I'm fine" and "I'm probably just on my period." That last line made Jr. laugh the first time, but only the first time. Mark would never tell of what was on his mind, and this time was no exception.

Thursday was when Junior worried most. While walking outside with Jinyoung to go to lunch, Mark had walked into a pole, hard, and was now on the ground. Jinyoung was walking slightly in front of him when he heard a big bang and swiveled around to find a dazed Mark on the ground.

"OMG Mark what happened??! How'd you get down there??!! Are you okay? Where does it hurt?" Mark just stared out while Jinyoung checked his body parts and was now brushing over his bruised head. Mark winced.

"Good God," Junior said in a hushed voice, and upon hearing his voice thick with concern, Mark brought his hands to his face and curled into a ball. His body was racked with silent sobs, and Jinyoung held him tightly from the back, whispering soft nothings into Mark's ear.

"Shhh, it's okay, it's okay. I'm right here, okay? I got you; it's alright." After a couple of minutes, Mark stopped crying and was now slowly getting hold of his breath. Jinyoung knew the embarrassment must've kicked in by now; kids walking to their classes gave weird looks, perverted girls giggled at the two, and his best friend had just seen him cry. Then there was the fact that Mark was older, and although his hands had come down from his face earlier, they went back up to cover his rosy cheeks.

Junior sensed the older boy's nervousness and got up to walk to the other side of Mark, now facing him. Mark moved his fingers a tiny bit in curiosity, and Jinyoung gave him a goofy smile.

"Hey," he cooed, smiling. Mark blushed even more now but removed his hands.

"H-hey..."

"You wanna tell me what's wrong?" Mark didn't, but nodded anyway.

"M-my eyes. For a second... I couldn't see." He looked up to see Jinyoung with the saddest and most worried expression he's ever seen on him. He realized he must've looked pretty bad himself, considering the tears were starting again.

"J-Jinyoung, I don't know what's happening to me." Mark began to breathe quicker.

"I don't know what to do, I-I just... I just..."

"Let's get you up first; we're going to the nurse." Junior's face had turned serious. Mark slowly prepared to get up, but Jinyoung bent down and gestured to get on his back. It had felt like they'd been there for forever, but Junior's watch implied that they'd only been there for 15 minutes.

As Jinyoung was walking while carrying Mark, he said, "At least we can skip that horrible thing called World History." Mark chuckled, and the two talked like that all the way to the nurse's office. By the third security guard that asked why they were walking like that and skipping class and such, Mark had rested his head on Jinyoung's shoulder as he complained of a headache.

"How often do you have headaches like this?" Jinyoung asked.

"The question is, when don't I have one?" Mark just buried his face deeper in Jinyoung's shoulder.

"Hey!" he laughed, "that tickles, stop it! Plus we're here so don't get comfortable." Jinyoung grunted for emphasis, and Mark smiled.

When they entered, the nurse got up and smiled sweetly. "What brings you two here?"

"Um," Jinyoung started, "my friend, Mark Tuan is having a little trouble, can you check him out?" She nodded, and Jinyoung let Mark slide slowly from his back.

Instead of landing on his feet like Jinyoung thought he would, Mark fell on all the way on the floor and was sprawled out slightly on his side. Both Jinyoung and the nurse rushed to his side, and they immediately noticed the drooping of Mark's face. The nurse muttered something incomprehensible urgently and dialed a number, most likely for the ambulance.

"Mark," the Jinyoung spoke cautiously, "do you know what's happening to you right now. Mark tried to speak, but his speech was slurred. Jinyoung made something like, No, I would've told you if I did. He suddenly made a face at how he sounded, which was just as pitiful as he sounded. One eye was completely shut, only one side of his mouth responded when he tried to move it, limbs sprawled out on the floor of the nurse's office.

Jinyoung felt so conflicted; more so because he knew what was happening to his friend. He had gone over the nervous system in Medical thoroughly enough and wished he could've realised sooner that his friend was having a stroke.