Cipher | ✓

[24]

Turning his head in unconscious despair, his body thrashed through the three layers of fleece blankets on his bed.

He'd earlier been diagnosed with the chills all afternoon and after his mom had layered the third blanket on top of the first two, he'd finally been able to settle and fall into a semi-comfortable sleep.

Now his eyebrows faltered, his nose scrunched in discomfort, and his lips twitched in what seemed to be a nightmare as his palms clutched the blue satin sheets beneath him.

Completely senseless to the world, his lips opened and his tongue met the roof of his mouth.

"Lane"

"Lane," he whispered in repetition.

Giving a frustrated grunt, not knowing he had, his clammy hands met the top of his head where sweat gathered and before he could feel the excruciating pain, he was pulling as hard as he could.

His calloused fingers intertwined with his golden locks, first pulling until the pain became too much, then twisting to give some leeway.

"Lane, Lane, Lane" he mumbled, biting his chapped bottom lip though sleep was still consuming him.

Shifting his feet was the last of his episode because he shot up into a sitting position, his chest convulsing almost violently. Never had he felt his chest so tight and constricted like someone was sitting upon it and weighed two hundred pounds.

Giving a cough that matched that of a smoker and a shake of the shoulders, he settled back into bed, ignoring the sweat covered sheets that lay beneath him as sleep again took over.

666

Morning came within the next few hours and as the sun rose over the horizon, streaming in through the countless glass windows, Pattie was up to check on her son who had suffered from a terrible fever the night before.

"Colt?" She questioned, knocking lightly on his bedroom door.

When she got no response, she thought of maybe leaving him to sleep, since it was dawn. Taking a few steps down the hall, she was almost around the next corner when she heard an unearthly thump from what sounded like Colter's room.

Listening again just in case she had imagined it, she waited, although no sound seemed to occur.

Retreating backwards, her slumped fist found the panels of Colter's door and she knocked again.

"Colter, honey?" Taking a deep breath, she grasped the handle and slowly inched the door open.

"Oh, Good. You're up," her electric orbs peered at the broad naked back of her son. He was sat up on the edge of the bed as if he was sitting in a chair.

"I didn't think you'd be awake so early after such a rough night," she laughed lightly, fully entering the bedroom as she began walking around the messy bed to face him. "Do you want anything for break-"

All the oxygen was suddenly knocked from her lungs as she took in the sight of her son. She thought maybe he hadn't been responding because he still didn't feel well, but as she took in his face, her mind instantly suggested the hospital.

"Colter..." She whispered. He still hadn't acknowledged her presence.

Taking in his appearance in fear, Pattie noticed his perfect stability, not even his chest hinted at rising and falling. The sockets of his eyes seemed abyssal and darker than normal but not like the average person's would when they lacked sleep. Even the natural dirt color of his irises was missing with something close to black replacing it.

"Colter, you're starting to scare me" she continued, making an attempt to stand closer to him.

With no response given at all, not even a blink, Pattie waved her hand quickly in front of his face trying desperately to snap him out of whatever trance.

Still, with no movement in the room but herself, Pattie tried to follow his empty stare which only seemed to go out the window. She knew his stare out the window could lead to a whole bunch of things, so she quickly let go of the idea of trying to figure out what had his attention. Walking the short distance to the window, she lightly yanked on the connected string causing the wooden blinds to close completely.

Though this caused the room to darken even more, Pattie's heart rate only increased when she looked back to Colter to see he hadn't moved an inch. He still sat on the side of the bed, his fists clenching the edge as well, while his gaze made it seem as if he could still see out the window.

Something was seriously wrong and her son was acting like something out of a horror movie; something she was too scared to accept. His breathing was minimal and he seemed to respond to nothing.

Maybe it was the fever acting on his behalf...maybe he'd stayed up all night and now his body was doing something similar to shutting down.

Taking a deep breath and doing the Sign of the Cross over her chest, Pattie sat on the edge of the bed and reached her hand over to grasp Colter's arm but immediately pulled back when she felt the freezing temperature of her son's skin against her own.

"That's it, Colter!" Pattie was in hysterics now, not caring if she was disturbing the eerie silence he bathed in.

"We're going to the hospital." She heaved a single sob as she stood from the bed.

And just like that, something clicked.

"No, I'm fine." He mumbled out, his gaze finally lifting from the window to his mother's face. She stood gaping at him as she noticed his breathing was finally in tact, he was actually blinking, and he was finally responding.

"I'm fine" he repeated, as if she hadn't heard him the first time.

"You're not fine," her voice was sad yet strict. "You had a fever last night way above average and not even twelve hours later do you literally resemble the temperature of ice."

"How did you even get in here?" He ignored her tone of voice as he stood from the bed to face the other side of the room where the door was propped open.

"What do you mean how did I get in here?" Pattie was not only offended, but feeling rejected and hurt. Never had Colter been so strange acting and rude when he was sick, he was always open to his mother showing him affection and even early into the morning he had allowed her to bring him countless blankets and hot soup to try and warm him up.

"I had the door locked," he interjected. "I locked it last night before I went to sleep," he sighed, looking to his mother who held a worried look. Her lips were in a firm, straight line and her eyes were losing their happiness before he could make up for what he said.

"No, you didn't Colter. I checked on you twice after you went to bed and your door was cracked the whole time." She explained, the frown lines from her worrying furrowing even deeper.

Again for the second time that day, Colter coughed. His cough as strong as someone with lung cancer with the harshness of it. It made his eyes water and his head throb with how bad he was coughing, and soon it became so bad he began to openly gag.

"Lets go." His mother's voice was back to being stern, something he had never heard from her though he knew it was probably from concern more than anything.

"I'm fine, Mom" he tried to reassure her again, pushing her arms away as she heaved him from the cool bedroom floor.

"I'll be damned if I watch you suffer"