Mortal

Chapter 22

"Shadow, wake up!"

I don't want to budge. I've been depressed, just like Phareth, but today, I just don't want to move at all. My emotions are unbearable today.

Skylight bites my shirt, and pulls me out of bed.

"C'mon, you told me to wake you up today! You left the window open so I could come in and wake you."

I finally sit up, and remember the day before.

In three months, Phareth hasn't left his bed at all, not even to shower. I've decided that today, I'm going to make him, even if I have to drag him to the bathroom and bathe him myself.

The thought of having to do that makes me very uncomfortable.

I don't even get changed out of my pajamas, because I know my clothes are going to get soaked anyway. There is no way Phareth will ever willingly go along with this.
Skylight follows me as I walk to Phareth's room. He's heavy, so I might need her to help me drag him in case he refuses to get up.

I open his door. Inside, there are dirty clothes all over the floor. The trash can is filled with soiled tissues that he used to blow his nose and wipe his tears every time he cried about Tsareth. The atmosphere is just depressing. I can feel how sad he is, too. It feels like someone is squeezing my chest so hard that it aches.

I walk over to Phareth, and shake him to wake him up.

"Go away," he says.

I sigh.

"Phareth, you haven't left your room in three months, and you smell terrible. I'm going to make you take a shower."

He doesn't move.

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way," I say.

He still has no reaction.

I turn to Skylight.

"Alright, pull him out of bed," I say.

Skylight complies almost too happily. She bites Phareth's shirt, and pulls him to the floor. He doesn't react much. The only thing he does is sigh. His face is full of sadness.

"Skylight, help me drag him to the bathroom."

She bites his shoe, in an attempt to drag him. She accidentally pulls it off.

"Ew! It reeks!"

I pull off his other shoe. It smells so bad that I can't even describe it. I might describe it as rotten cheese, maybe.

"We probably have to throw these shoes away," I say.

Skylight helps me to drag Phareth to the bathroom. I close the door, and walk over to Phareth. I pull his shirt off, and turn on the shower. While it warms up, I get a towel, and a rag ready. I place all these on the sink, next to the shower.

Phareth just sits with his back against the glass door of the shower. His hair is all matted, and his eyes are dim from crying so much. His dim eyes seem to be the equivalent of red eyes to a mortal when they cry, and his back is all crusty from laying in his own vomit after drinking so much alcohol. He smells almost as bad as his shoes did. His hair is now all shaggy from lack of trimming and washing.

Skylight helps me push him into the shower. I don't feel comfortable enough to take off his pants, of course, so I decide scrub the upper half of his body for now. I pour some shampoo onto my hands, and begin scrubbing his hair. It feels all icky. It almost makes me sick.

After about ten minutes of scrubbing, I let the shower wash off all the soap.

"Shadow, why are you doing this?" asks Phareth.
I take the rag, and pour some body wash on it.