the half of it

chapter seven

grayson woke up to the sound of people rustling around in his room, three voices overlapped each other as they scurried around the room.

"should we wake him up?" a voice grayson recognized as aaron spoke a little louder.

"yeah it's nearly 10 mom" a familiar voice pricked graysons ears, a voice he hadn't heard in over three months.

grayson opened his eyes as his mom was just about by his bed, she cracked a huge smile and gave him a kiss on the top of his head.

all grayson cared about in that moment was the man standing at the foot of his bed, wearing jeans and a signature flannel.

"cameron!" graysons older brother, who graduated two years ago and was studying film at NYU.

"hey dude, long time no see" cameron couldn't help but stare at his younger brother, he just couldn't recognize him.

he looked sick, sicker than he had three months ago. graysons cheeks were sunken in and his cheekbones were pointy. heavy eye bags pulled him down, he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks.

his mom had told him to fly in, that grayson wasn't doing good but he didn't expect this. if he had looked worse a week ago cameron didn't even know how he was alive.

"bang any professors yet?" grayson joked, earning a slap on the shoulder from his mother but cameron couldn't have been happier to know that grayson was still in there.

"nah they're all old dudes" cameron sat down on graysons bed, still not used to the fact that grayson had no legs to speak of.

"what else did you expect?" grayson teased as aaron stepped in to help him sit up, cameron hadn't even noticed he was trying.

"i thought there would be at least one young, hot, fresh out of school professor" cameron sighed sarcastically as his mom plopped down in one of the chairs.

"breakfast" a nurse knocked on the door and let herself in, holding two pieces of toast, eggs, and a cup of juice.

cameron got off the bed and took the tray from the nurse, swinging out the table attached to the bed and setting it down in front of grayson.

aaron knew exactly what to do without grayson even asking, he moved the food around and handed a piece of toast to grayson who gripped it tightly and started to eat.

it was a vast improvement from three months ago, the doctors said that grayson would get most of his function back but cameron didn't expect it to happen this quickly.

"dude that's awesome" cameron couldn't hold in his excitement at his brothers progress, smiling so wide you would think his ears were about to fall off.

"thanks" grayson muttered as aaron opened a couple pill bottles and put 6 pills onto a tray while holding a glass of water.

"how long are you staying for?" grayson asked when he gulped down the pills, it was nice having his brother around.

"until next semester starts, about a month and a half" cameron smiled to make it seem more uplifting but he could tell grayson was hoping for better news.

"hey, let's go for a stroll" cameron jumped up from the chair, grabbing graysons wheelchair from the corner of the room and wheeling it beside the bed.

"i don't know if that's a good idea" their mom chirped from across the room, cameron knew that his mom didn't trust him with grayson alone yet.

"i'll come too, three's a party" aaron seemed to sense that and got up out of his chair, silently following grayson with his hand and giving a little push when he needed it.

"let's get this show on the road" cameron shouted as he grabbed the handles of graysons wheelchair, pushing him about a twenty feet until aaron nudged him in the side.

"let him try, help if he needs it" aaron whispered into cameron's ear and he immediately felt bad. he should have known that grayson would want to push himself, he had always been independent.

cameron eased off the handles and grayson put his hands on the rims, pushing himself a little slower than before but still keeping good pace.

"if he starts shaking, step in" aaron whispered again, silently giving a tour of the new grayson to his brother.

"cafeteria or gift shop?" cameron asked as they got into the elevator, his fingers hovering over the buttons.

"cafeteria" aaron says, always in the back of his mind thinking about grayson. the more he eats the faster he'll get to come home.

cameron noticed when they got off the elevator that grayson was pushing slower, his forearm vibrating as he pushed the wheels forward.

silently he stepped in, grayson took his hands of the rims and tucked them into the sleeves of his sweater trying to hide the fact that his fingers were turning into fists involuntarily.

"you guys find a table, i'll go get food" cameron moves out of the way so aaron could grab the handles, nodding as he pushed grayson over to a table.

"hey grayson, you good man?" aaron asked when he saw his brother getting paler, his eyes darting quickly back and forth.

"yeah" grayson just nodded, overwhelmed by the amount of people in the cafeteria that he all felt were staring at him.

cameron was walking over to the table and from ten feet away he could see grayson slightly panicking, the way he hugged his arms closer to him and kept his hair in front of his face.

he put the tray down on the table and passed out three poutines. aaron opened the cardboard box, the weird kind with the folding tabs and quickly switched his open one with graysons.

grayson didn't notice, distant rumbling of train tracks was slowly taking over his mind. his vision was going dark as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"cameron, take him to the family bathroom. i'll be right behind you" aaron said to cameron as his oldest brother just looked around without a clue what to do.

cameron jumped up, his heart practically beating out of his chest as he grabbed the handles to graysons wheelchair and slipped as best as he could through the crowd toward the bathrooms.

aaron followed close behind, passing them once they got to the bathrooms and opening the door for them. grayson was lost by this point, tears streaming silently down his face as his breathing only got faster and faster.

"you're safe grayson, you're here with cameron and i" aaron rubbed graysons back as he talked into his ear.

cameron just stood there without a clue what to do, he knew this was a panic attack from what his mother told him but he never actually witnessed one.

"breathe with me grayson, in and out" aaron took deep breaths and eventually grayson started doing them with him.

"i'm sorry" grayson said when his breathing returned to semi-normal.

"you have nothing to be sorry for" cameron said as he pushed grayson out into the hallway, heading straight back to his room. that was enough adventure for the day.