Pen Pal Project [Alex Gaskarth]

Chapter Ten

Februay 16th

I'd been at the hospital for six days now.

There was no change with Charlia, only with the fact that her temperature would shoot up and then drop right back down again.

It was terrifying. Jake went back to campus every night and I stayed over with Charlia.

It was slowly becoming a routine for us. so was just sitting in silence. Twice a nurse had suggested we take a day out, get our bearings but both of us simply looked at her and she made no comment after the second time.

But today, I wanted to talk to Jake, I wanted to hear about her from his point of view.

"Hey Jake." I acknowledged him as he entered the room at nine am.

"Morning Alex. Any change?" I shook my head.

"Nothing yet. She's been stable for the night." A look of relief swept his face which matched the tone of my voice. Knowing that she'd survived one night without any drastic change meant that there was hope. She was going to get better.

"Geeze, the last time I felt like this was when she cracked her head open after falling over." He grumbled and without realising, I chuckled.

"So she was accident prone then?"

"Very. There was one time when she was five, we had this competition on who could do the best move on a trampoline."

"I can already guess what happens next." I grinned and for the first time since I saw him, Jake laughed.

"Yeah, but listen to the story first. What happened was that Charlia was last to go on, so when she did her moves, she did it so spectacularly that when she did the front flip, she was a bit too enthusiastic about it. It resulted her in doing another front flip in the air before landing on the floor, breaking both of her wrists."

Even though I wasn't watching it, I could just picture it and I flinched.

"Ouch. What happened?"

"She went to the hospital, they put her in casts and when she got back, she was presented with the prize because she was so graceful as she fell off." We both started laughing.

"I can just picture her pouting because she's got broken bones only to smile when she realises that because of breaking her bones, she won the competition."

"Trust me, she was like the Cheshire cat. It was adorable."

"Any other stories?" I grinned and Jake paused, clearly thinking about the times he's had with Charlia.

"There was one time when she was ten, she had a bowling birthday party. Her fingers got trapped in the ball as she threw it and snapped three of her fingers. It was the first time she swore after hearing an argument from one of the older kids."

"I can bet that Rosie wasn't too impressed?"

"Actually, it was our other careworker, Jim who was concerned that she had sworn. Rosie was in helping her whilst laughing at the fact that such a young girl had sworn."

As he recounted the stories of her childhood, it left us both smiling, a nice change from the mood that had constantly been present, never really overwhelming but always there.

"You know, ever since she sent the first letter, after getting your reply, she could barely shut up about how excited she was." This caught me by surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, she wouldn't shut up about how she felt with a new friend. I guess, at one point I felt jealous because she probably confided more to you than she has to me." His shoulders were hunched forward and it hit me how much he cared for her. If anyone didn't know their backgrounds, I'm pretty sure they could be mistaken for being sister and brother.