The Boy With The Skull Tattoo 18+ (DISCONTINUED)

17. Are You Doing Okay?

Dedicated to Aggressively because she deserves this dedication. I'd like to return the favor and I'm glad you made my cover for "BOXER BOY" was your current cover. I've never been so excited when I seen it as your cover ;D. Anyways I was writing this and it reminded me of you. Thank you so much grrrll! 

(DREW)

"Drew?" Said Willy sitting up in the hospital bed. The nurse was changing the IV bags that connected to a silver pole. Intravenous therapy was slowly making his breathing slow down. I can hear his struggle for air when the nurse lowered down the bed.

The way I looked at him I could feel the infusion of the liquid substances flowing directly in his veins. The nurse walked out the room as the automatic doors closed behind her. I was sitting in a gray plastic chair just across the bed. The window by me creaked open as a blue jay appeared and balanced it's little body on the window payne watching me, immovable. Its pitch black eyes looked back at me. As I was about to open my mouth and greet the poor birdy, it already flew away into the sunset. I watched its wings flap into the ombre sky.

"Will-" I said but he cuts me off.

"Drew I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"This. Especially a trip to the hospital. You should be out there exploring and doing fun things," he coughed a little and licked his drying lips. "Your a young man now Drew. You can survive this without me." Before I can let him continue his brief speech, he hushed me ordering me to come forward to him. I looked at his arms. They were fat and chubby but they were warm, warm enough for me to rub my hand down his heated arm and capture the intense rush of cool coming from the palm of his hands.

"You should go home." I couldn't believe the words that came out his mouth.

"I'm sorry. . . What?"

"You heard me Drew," his grip tightened on my hand. "Besides they need you more than I do."

"Don't say that. I-"

"You listen to me kid. The only thing I'll ever regret in my life is not being able to see you again before I die. I hate myself for walking out on you guys. . .but I'll hate myself even more If I didn't get to see my Drewy again."

"I'm not leaving!"

"Drew don't punish yourself. You've done enough. You've been here for me for the past couple of days. You've done enough, anything better than I could ask for."

"But Willy-" my eyes began stinging as I was trying to hold back a tear from falling down my heated cheeks.

"They're worried about you Drew!"

"No ones worried just let me---"

"Drew they're worried about you. Don't risk your life like this"

"I risked everything when I came on the plane to come see you. I don't care about them right now. I came to see you and I'm not leaving." The nurse must have heard my aggressive tone and walked in on us with a clipboard in her hands.

"Is everything alright?" She lowered her glasses at the bridge of her nose.

"Yes!" Willy and I said at the same time. He smiled struggling to keep his eyes on the nurse.

"Doctor Bertrand said that visiting hours is over. He said after Willy gets his treatment you can stop by in the morning."

I turned around to look at Willy.

"Is that okay?" The nurse questioned me returning her gaze back at Willy as she walks towards him checking on his heart rate.

"Yea. .I was just leaving." I walked out without a care of saying goodbye to Willy. Sure I was worried for him and hoped he'll get better but honestly the way he told me to just leave Paris made me panic. I didn't know whether to shout, scream, or cry. I have too much bottled up emotions. I couldn't chose which one I wanted to feel.

I walked out of the hospital. Its freezing cold outside and I remembered Ellah, my mom, Lonnie, and my friends back home while I began walking away looking back at the hospital from a distance. Either way Willy was right, but he's still my dad and I just wanted to spend much more time with him before I go home. I didn't check in back into the hotel. I was outside all day in the cool air of Paris. I watched tourists take photographs of the gorgeous French environment everywhere I turned.

The sun was setting really fast as the indigo blue skies turned to dark. I reached into my pockets and remembered I left my cellphone at home. Luckily, I had left over change from the night before. I headed to a local payphone. The memories of the most important people in my family jumped in my head like cars on cable. I was staring at the phone trying to decide what to do first.

I began thinking so hard that the only choice I had to make was call my relatives back at home.

Call Angie? No, mom would go on and on about things.

Call Lonnie? No because he'll tell me to drop and give him fifty for not telling him a damn thing.

Call your friends? Maybe later.

How about Ellah? My mind just knows exactly how to play tricks on me. She's the only person I told about the 'business trip'. I miss her so much. Her annoying laughs, annoying screams, and yells when she dislikes something I did. I miss her cursing me out most of the time.

I miss that little voice of hers too.

I looked at the machine and stared at the font carved onto the number diagram. I looked at the numbers. Three, four, then seven. The area codes of Ellah's cell phone number. I was hoping she'd answer but no one picked up. Not a single answer.

"Hey it's Ellah. Sorry I can't pick up right now. I'm super busy at the moment or my phone died and I can't get to you as fast as I can because I'm far, far away from Phone-Charger-Land. . .I know that was pretty stupid but just leave a home girl your message and I'll get to ya when I can. Muah! Hugs & Kisses."

I softly rolled my eyes and placed the phone back on the lever of the payphone. The person I wanted to talk to the most didn't answer my calls at all. Instead I decided to dial the house number. No one picked up either. The answering machine came up. I didn't want to hang up on that one either but when she'd come home she might want to hear my voice. I've been gone for quite sometime, I know she misses me.

"Ellah it's me," I said. "I was just checking up on you. I Hope your doing okay. I'm doing okay. Is mom and dad okay? Well I'm having fun here you know. It's going well so you don't need to worry about me," I laughed thinking about her facial expression when she hears this. "Besides I might get a promotion," I wanted to sound realistic as possible. "But anyway I'm fine. I should get going. I'll see you when I come home Ellah Belle." I hung up, walked away from the payphone, and realized how much I was pretending to be happy when really, internally, I feel really depressed.