Fear Me

Chapter 4

Luke was unconscious for all of five minutes, but it was enough for the panic in my chest to begin bubbling over. I fought back tears threatening to leak from the corners of my eyes with all my might. As Luke stirred I felt the air rush out of my lungs in a rather soothing release.

"Is he g'ne?" Luke asked. His eyes were screwed shut.

"Yeah, how are you feeling?"

Luke shrugged. I didn't pressure him for an answer. "'m tir'd". His words were slurring together so that I had to strain my ears to understand him.

I was wracking my brain for the answer. There was a nagging in my mind warning me to consider Luke's condition. I knew head injuries were dangerous, but I, for some reason, couldn't recall what to do about one.

"Can you hold on for a minute? Don't go to sleep yet," I said softly. "Here, sit up"

Luke managed to half lean against the wall while I supported his weak form. I examined the deep purple bruise that ran down one half of his face, gently running my fingers along it. 

"Do you remember what happened?"

"They're sick, he came d'wn an' hit m'" I figured that was the most coherent sentence I could get out of him.

"Okay Luke, just stay awake, please". Half of me was terrified if I let him sleep, he wouldn't wake up. The other half didn't want to be alone, caring for the only three people I ever cared about. "Just stay sitting up on your own. I need to check on those two" I said, hitching my thumb over my shoulder. 

Luke didn't respond. I shifted so that I knelt beside Ricky. I assessed what I could about his current state. While his breathing was still labored with a slight consistent wheeze, I was pleased to find that he did feel a bit cooler that before. As for Jake, he was the same as before.

"'Lex?" It was so soft that I almost missed it.

"Hmm?" I answered slightly distracted.

"Jake" Luke whispered.

"What about Jake?" I gritted my teeth, trying to push down the impatience building inside me.

"You needa clean h'm"

I looked over my shoulder at Luke who had slumped all the way down the wall and was basically laying down. I was worried because he was making no sense at all. I was about to just brush it off, but Luke lifted a shaking finger and pointed Jake's arm. Realization struck hard. I would have preferred to bang my head through a wall in this moment because of course I had forgotten of the third problem we needed to deal with. 

I lifted myself from the floor and trudged to the bathroom. Cleaning Jake, as Luke had put it, was the number one priority at the moment.  

I wet a corner of a towel in warm water from the sink. It was the best I could do. I needed to take a deep breath before stepping out of the bathroom. The situation on the other end of the room was overwhelming. Two sick brothers, and two injured brothers out of my three family members. Just another day in the basement.

I finally stepped back out. To keep Luke awake and coherent, I gave him the job of dabbing away at Jake's arm. My excuse to him was that I needed to check the damage down to his head, but really I just wasn't ready to face the reality of what Jake did to himself...on more than one occasion too. 

After about fifteen more minutes, Luke was beginning to snap out of his daze. He was at least forming more complete sentences. Ricky seemed to be sleeping soundly for the first time all day and his fever was rapidly decreasing. Jake was asleep, but he seemed restless. It was beginning to look manageable. 

Once I was sure that all of my brothers were at least somewhat stable, I allowed myself to shut my eyes. The plan was to take a small nap, but that hope was crushed when Ricky elbowed me in the ribs. I sat up gasping.

"What the hell was that for?" I turned, hoping he could see the daggers in my eyes. I was met with the wildest grins.

"You've just been sleeping for a long time and I was kinda curious"

"About what?" I asked, still trying to catch my breath.

"Luke's face. What happened last night? I musta been really out of it" Ricky looked down.

"Yeah, kinda. You guys were both bad last night," I said. I stole a look at Jake and was pleased to see the color had returned to his face. 

"Well, what did I miss?"Ricky grinned again as he propped himself up on his elbows. He knew I couldn't resist.

"Well, you and Jake were so bad that Luke tried to get dad to help us out..."

Ricky laughed. I didn't see what could possibly be funny about any aspect of the situation. "No, c'mon Alex, what really happened?" I just starred at him. Ricky caught on after more than a few moments of silence floated by. "Oh."

"Can I finish now?" I didn't wait for him to answer. I went on and explained the scene from last night. Retelling it was difficult, but Ricky was going to have to find out at some point. He just sat there for a while after.

Finally he broke the silence. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Sometimes I had a hard time understanding what was going through his mind.

"That I wasn't there to help you guys"

I almost took it as my turn to laugh, except I knew Ricky was being dead serious. Instead I shrugged, taking the safest route.

"Is there anything to eat? I'm starving,"Ricky said. I was glad for the change of subject.

"Yeah, you didn't eat anything yesterday so there's some bread and peanut butter left over and then breakfast should be here by now," I answered. I was guessing based on the light filtering into the room.

Ricky got up, dragging his feet as he reached the loaf of bread. There were two slices left and about half a jar of peanut butter left. As he was coming back toward me, something Luke said yesterday popped into my mind.

"Hey Ricky?"

"Mhm?" he mumbled through a mouth full of food.

"Has Luke mentioned getting out of here to you recently?" 

Ricky nodded, his mouth glued shut by the excessive amounts of peanut butter he insisted on using. I waited for him to finish chewing. "Yeah, all the time, why?"

"He just mentioned it yesterday, and well, I think he's right," I said. I gestured to the still unconscious Luke and Jake on the ground next to us.

"He's working on it," Ricky said, grinning at me. 

A/N OKKK not my best, but here we go