Adopted

Chapter 3 : Withdrawal

Chapter 3

Morning...

Riker POV

I felt off. No. I felt more than off. I felt so weird inside. It was a bad kind of weird. My heart felt like it was racing, and wouldn't stop. I was sweating, shaking, and I felt like I was going to throw up. My head hurt pretty bad too, and I could barely focus on Ell talking to me.

"Riker, did you hear me?" Ell asked.

"What? No... Sorry."

"I said, maybe we should get started on our chores."

"But Mr.Mark hasn't come to wake us up yet."

"I know."

I rolled over in bed, wrapping my arms over my chest.

"Riker, are you ok?"

"No, I'm not..."

"What's wrong?"

"I think I'm addicted to the pills."

"Yeah, that's not totally obvious."

"No, but now that I didn't take one... I don't know what's happening to me. It feels like I'm dying."

"You're not dying. I think they call this withdrawal. Your body isn't used to not having the pills, so now you feel, as you said, like you're dying. But you're not. Before you got here, one of the kids on my floor was smoking, and they wouldn't let him smoke anymore, and he went through what you're going through, except it was a lot worse."

"My chest hurts..."

"Explain."

"It feels tight, and like I can't breathe."

"Just relax, ok? You're going to be fine. Turn onto your back, and just breathe."

I turned myself, and closed my eyes. My head hurts so bad!

I heard the door open, but I didn't open my eyes.

"Well, look who's up early," Mr.Mark said.

"Riker doesn't feel good."

"Well then he needs to suck it up and do chores."

"But he doesn't feel good!"

"Do you think when I don't feel good I just sit around and do nothing all day? No! I have responsibilities! And so do you two."

I curled into a ball, and turned onto my side. My heart was racing again, and it felt like I couldn't breathe, even though I was practically hyperventilating.

"I want you guys downstairs for breakfast in 10 minutes."

I heard the door get shut.

"Come on, Riker. We get breakfast. You don't want to go hungry."

Ell pulled me up so I was sitting. I felt really dizzy and nauseous.

"No... Leave me..." I said, laying down again.

"I'm not leaving you! What if you get in trouble!? He said he wanted us downstairs for breakfast. He said he wanted us. Not me. Us."

He pulled me up again. The room was spinning this time.

"Come on. I'll help you stand up."

He got me into a standing position. I took one step, and fell flat on my face.

"Ow..."

"Come on. You can make it."

He helped me stand again, and held onto me. I took another step, and my knees almost gave out, but Ell managed to keep me up.

"Alright, new plan. Hold on tight."

"What? Whoa!"

Ell had picked me up over his shoulder. He carried me downstairs, and set me down in one of the kitchen chairs. I had to hold onto the side of the table to keep myself from falling over. I was so dizzy.

Mr.Mark handed us each a bowl of cereal, and then left the room.

"I can hardly see what I'm doing..." I mumbled.

"Oh... You're not wearing glasses. That's part of the problem. I'll go get them for you."

"Thanks..."

I stuck my spoon in the bowl. I couldn't see if I had anything on it or not, but I felt weight on the spoon. I tried to bring it to my mouth, but somehow instead, it went down the front of my shirt. And it was cold!

"Here's your... Why is your shirt wet?"

"I got milk on it..."

My glasses were pushed onto my face, and I could see. Everything was still spinning a little bit, but it was a little better.

I was able to successfully eat my breakfast. After we both finished, we did the dishes together.

Ell helped me up the stairs again, and I got dressed, only falling over twice in the bathroom. But I was ok.

"Do you feel ok enough to do chores?" Ell asked.

"Sort of..."

"Alright. Let's go."

I wasn't as ok as I thought, and I ended up falling down the stairs hard.

"Ow..."

"Rik, you ok?" Ell asked, running down.

"Ugh..."

"Alright, come on. You're going back to bed."

He picked me up in his arms, and laid me down in bed.

"But what about chores!? I don't want to get punished!"

"I'll do them. You need to rest, ok?"

I sighed.

"Fine..."

"Are you ok? From falling down the stairs, I mean?"

"Yeah, I think so... My head still hurts a little, and I think my headache is worse. But I'm ok..."

"Alright... I'm going to go work on our chores. I'll come up and check on you though. Ok?"

"Yeah. Thanks Ell."

"No problem."

I smiled slightly as Ell left. He's so nice to me. We need to do something about living here though. Everything is too strict, and I don't like it! This isn't what a home should be!