Phil's Kid

Ch-81-Sick-?

. . .

We all started hanging out some more, me, Karter, Lindsey, Richard, even Noah most of the time. We would facetime or call at night, the others talked about playing Minecraft, but said they would wait till I get better to play. I told them they could play without me, but they're my friends and refused.

Karter gave me a paper with their parent's number on it and I gave it to my parents. It took a couple of days till I could get any news out of my parents about if we were going to be switching schools or not. The news I got wasn't of any help.

"We're working on it, trying to get Karter's parents to agree."

Why won't their parents agree?

.   .   .

"Hey, Karter! How was your last class?" I asked waking up to Karter outside the school building. "Oh-uh, it was ok." Later said rubbing their elbow. "Does your elbow still hurt?" I asked. "Huh?" Karter asked to supersede. "Remember you said you hit it on a desk?" I tried remembering Karter how they hurt it. "O-oh, yeah, it's better." Karter forced a smile at me.

Why do you need to force a smile at me? "Karter, if anything is going on, you know you can talk to me about it, right?" I hope Karter is ok. Karter nodded their head. I was going to press more but got interrupted.

"Katie!" I heard someone yell.

"Looks like my dad is here," Karter said walking up to a grey truck. The man in the front seat leaned out the window and smiled at us. "Katie how was your day?" Katie?

"It was a good day." Karter mumbled. "Hmm?" Karter's dad hummed. "It was good." Karter smiled up at their dad. Another fake smile.

"And who's this friend of yours?" Their dad looked at my smile wavering. "I'm Alex, nice to meet you, sir." I said politely. He frowned at me.

"Katie, let's get in the car and talk." Karter's dad said sternly. "Alright, dad." Karter kept their smile on. "By Alex see you tomorrow." Karter said then climbed into the truck.

While Karter was climbing into the truck there dad leaned out of the window again. "I know what you're up to." He whispered at me. Then when Karter was in the car he drove away.
What was that all about?

. . .

When I got home I tried texting Karter but got no response, they didn't even read my text messages. Maybe they were just embarrassed? Or something about that name their dad called them.

I should stop worrying, Karter said they would see me tomorrow at school. I can just ask then, and if they don't want to talk about it I won't push it.

. . .

"By Alex see you tomorrow." Karter said then climbed into the truck.

I didn't see Karter the next day.

When I got home I tried texting Karter, but no response.
I tried calling them, no response.
That doesn't mean I'm giving up.

. . .

I sat on my bed patiently waiting for Karter to call back. Even if they were sick they would text me. Wait. Mom and dad have their parent's numbers, they can ask why Karter didn't go to school today.

I ran downstairs, my phone still ringing in my hand. I was about to knock on dad's office door when I got stopped. "He's working right now." I heard mom say from the living room. How did she see?

I walked over to the living room and say next to her. Mom turned her body to face me. "What's wrong? Why do you look so worried?" She asked me.

"Can you ask Karter's parents why they didn't go to school today?" I asked. "I've tried texting I've tried calling." I help up my phone that was still ringing. "I'm just worried that something might have happened. They might be sick but you can ask their parents that right? But what if Karter isn't sick, what if-"

I was pulled into a hug. "There's no need to cry." Mom whispered into my ear. I brought my hand up to my cheap and realized I was crying. "I-I'm just worried." I mumbled into the hug. "That's alright, it's ok to worry for your friends." We broke the hug and I rested my back on the couch.

Mom grabbed her phone laying next to her and started typing. "I just texted their parents." Mom said turning off her phone. "I'm sure Karter is fine, they're probably just sick." I nodded at her. She's right I was probably just overreacting.

My phone stopped ringing. I sighed sadly and grabbed it. I placed my thing over the power button ready to turn it off and wait for Karter's parents to reply. I froze when I looked at my phone.

A ding came from mom's hands. "Oh look, someone already texted back." Mom said. "There mother said that Karter is fine and was just sick to-"

ᴀ̶͙̩̪͓̼͂̑̌̕̕͝ʜ̷̧̟̣̯̦̦̱̪̟͐̿̾͛̿̎͝͝!̴̰̀́͗̈́̚͝͝͠

I gripped my phone tightly. It didn't stop rining because someone didn't pick up, it stopped because someone picked up.

ᴘ̷̧͈̜̩̤̩̑̈͠ʟ̸̢̦̱̦̱̫̮̅͊͒ᴇ̶͖̗͚̼͈̤̎́̀̇̾ͅᴀ̴̠̮͇̣̩͈͖͙̼̏̆̀͝ͅꜱ̶͚̱̯̔ᴇ̶̢̞̹̳͋͋̈͆̈́̏̔͘.̴̟̀

The voice on the other end was glitching in and out, but I recognized it too well.

I turned to look at mom who was staring at my phone, just as surprised and scared as me.

"Karter." I could just barely whisper.

. . .