Hold me...no? That's fine by me

Chapter 9

After he and Thomas split, Patton finally arrived at home and immediately played the video again.

The front door clicked open as Patton's parents came in quietly, giving Patton the longest glare in a while, which was only 3 seconds long.

Feeling their stares, Patton unclipped the VHS tape from the TV. He hung his head low as he shuffled his feet away out of the room. Patton's parents didn't like him in the room.

His room was the smallest one there, though, it had everything he needed in there.

He felt a freezing shiver travel through his spine as he touched the floor with his bare feet. Patton sighed as he crouched down to sit on this mattress on the floor.

~~~

It was the weekend today.

Luckily, down the road, there was a library. It was intentional built near the school so students could go there afterschool do their work since they didn't have a library in the school.

Quickly, Patton threw something on and headed out without a word. He brought some cash in case he felt like snacking on something in a cafè nearby.

Greeting some librarians, he walked straight to the computers and logged in using his school email. He could also do some homework while he's at it.

Clicking on google, Patton searched up: 'what is sensory Sensory Neurone Deficiency Disease?' He clicked search and there was a string of websites shown up. Though, it was only one page worth.

There was a wikipedia article on it, that's usually reliable so Patton clicked on it.

"Sensory Neurone Deficiency Disease is a genetic disease. This disease is usually tested for directly after birth. Unfortunately, the test aren't advanced enough to be able to detect the disease before birth.

SNDD is usually described as extreme skin hunger, but in this circumstances, it literally eats away at the person's muscle after a select amount of time - similar to starvation.

Symptoms:
- Seperation anxiety
- Heightened anxiety
- Feeling hungry all the time
- Stomache aches
- Weak muscles

There are ways to deal with this disorder:
- Over eating can prevent starvation (not advised)
- Frequent physical contact
- A drug that is still in testing called SNDD-20IO2

Most professionals know that if a person with this disorder has daily physical contact, they will live a relatively normal life"

His heart stung with a sense of betrayal as his mind slumped back to the thought of his parents. His parentd knew this...yet they ignored it.

Did they want him to die?

Should he die?

"Hey Patton!" Someone called from behind him, tapping his shoulder lightly.

Patton turned to Thomas as the kid in question loomed over his shoulder to look at the screen, "What are ya looking at?"

Again, Thomas turned paler than a sheet of paper. "Thomas? Are you alright? You keep looking so pale around me?"

Thomas' eyes turned to the side, before an awkward chuckled forced it's way into daylight, "Heh, why the sudden interest in SNDD?"

"Um... I was just curious..." Patton cautiously picked out his words as he spoke to Thomas. They weren't friends but if he slipped up, who knows what would happen? How would he look at him everyday?

"Um....Thomas?" Patton mumbled as Thomas took a seat at the computer next to him.

"Yes?" Thomas replied, entering his username. He might as well do homework while he's there as well.

"Um.... How would you react if...your parents lied to ypu your whole life about a disorder you have and then....um...ignored you as well?" Patton asked Thomas, trying to not seem suspicious at all.

Thomas' eye gazed at Patton like he was someone he'd seen before. Like deja vu. His voice softened to a level Patton hadn't heard in his life before, "I would...leave...if there's nothing for me with my parents...why would I stay?"

"Mhm," Patton replied back. Leaving the two in silence as they did their work.

End Of Chapter.