[[COMPLETED+EDITED]]
A dirty blonde haired boy, Clay, is just starting his junior year of college, and it's pretty stressful for him. His mom lost her job, and his dad is working very late shifts to afford for his family to live. On top of all of it...
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Blue. Bright, gleaming blue. The first thing I saw was blue. I remembered basically nothing, except that my name was George and I had no idea where I was. My arms and head ached like hell, and I felt my face with my hand. There were bandages there. Why? I don't know. One of my eyes was just black. I couldn't see anything out of it. I looked over to my right, out of my good eye, and saw an IV drip above me. I saw it attached to my wrist, which explained the bandages there too. Beyond the IV drip was a familiar black head of hair. I couldn't remember who it was, but then they turned around and realized it was Nick. I was horrified. I had no idea he got bullied too. He looked at me with tired, hurt eyes. I smiled as happily as I could, which wasn't much. I just felt so weak and tired even though I had probably been asleep for hours. "George." Nick whispered. I saw that he had a sort of tube in his nose leading behind him. "What happened to you?" I whispered back. "Clay went berserk at the dumbasses who were bullying you, and ended up going berserk on me, as well." Nick wheezed. "What did he do?" I asked. "Well- I had no idea Clay was that strong, but he ended up puncturing my lung, so..." Nick trailed off in a coughing fit, and he disappeared behind one or two doctors. I was terrified. I was here for a reason I didn't know, I had gotten very badly hurt for a reason I didn't know, or how it happened, my friend was doing even worse than me, and everything was just bad. The only thing I wanted right then was Clay. Without him, I wasn't happy, ever. Suddenly I began feeling really dizzy, and my heart began to palpitate. This wasn't normal. I started hyperventilating and everything around me went blurry. This went on for about a minute before I completely blacked out. Again.
When I woke up, it was almost like a replay of when I woke up the first time, except Nick didn't turn around and talk to me. It looked like he was asleep, which wasn't surprising considering the condition he was in. I sat up, looking around as if I was searching for something. I saw my phone on a table next to my bed, and I turned it on to see messages from Clay. I didn't remember getting his number, but then again, I had forgotten most things when I woke up the first time. They said something about him starting chemo to help him with his cancer, which made me happy, but my eye was too tired to see most of the words. My other eye was still black, and I still felt paralyzed. I hated it. I messaged Clay back saying that I was really happy for him, and he answered instantly with a message asking me if I could be with him during some of his chemo rounds, and I said I would. I put my phone down with a sigh of relief. He liked me back. I had no idea I was gay. Maybe I was. Maybe I wasn't. Who cares? Not me. I texted him asking when his first round was, and he said it was next week. I was sure I'd be able to leave then. I then set my phone back on the table, suddenly feeling exhausted. I soon dropped off to sleep again, smiling as I knew Clay was happy again. I was happy again.
. . .
A few hours later, I woke up, and I looked past the IV next to me to see if Nick was awake, but he wasn't. He was in fact, gone. I didn't know him as well as I knew Clay, but I was still worried. I sat up immediately, trying to get up to look for him, but I couldn't. My legs were still numb and paralyzed, so I got a nurse's attention from across the room. "Hey, George. What's up?" she said. "Where's Nick?" I asked anxiously. "He was there and now he's gone." "Nick?" the nurse looked confused. "The boy who was next to me over there." I motioned to my right. "He's my friend." "Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry. Nick isn't doing well at all. He had to go into the ICU. I'm really sorry." she said grimly. "No! Please say you're kidding!" I exclaimed. "I'm so sorry, sweetie, I'm not kidding." she said. "No!!" I yelled, beginning to hyperventilate again. "Calm down, George. He'll be okay." the nurse said, gently holding my shoulder and stroking my hair. I took deep breaths to stop myself from having another panic attack. One was enough. "How about you go outside for a little bit? To get some fresh air?" she asked. "Yes please." I answered. I tried to get up, but it was as if I was paralyzed still. "Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry, I didn't mention. Your spine got bruised when you got hurt, so you won't be walking for a little bit." the nurse said softly, driving a wheelchair over to my bed. I nodded slowly, and let her lift me into the wheelchair. I was still in my clothes from when I last remembered being at school, for some reason. I didn't complain, though. It was better than wearing one of those awful hospital gowns. When the nurse had wheeled me to a door leading outside to a beautiful green garden, I asked her to stop moving me. Someone else was there, on a bench, staring into the sky. I told the nurse that I could take it from there, and she nodded and stood by the door to wait for me. I slowly wheeled myself over to the person on the bench, and recognized him as Clay. "Clay?" I said quietly. I got his attention, and he looked at me in slight shock. "Hey, George. Are you okay?" he asked. "I'm alright, just a bit dazed. What about you? I know that finding out you have to start chemo is scary." I smiled. "I'm a bit-" Clay paused as he hit his knee. "I'm a bit daunted.." he hit the bench this time. I held his hand to calm him, and he grasped my hand gently. "It's just terrifying, you know? Like, it's that bad that you have to start doing medical drugs." he finally explained. "I understand fully." I said softly. "How do you understand?" Clay asked. I sighed. "Clay, I survived cancer."
