Fighting for a Life

Part Eleven:

Part Eleven:

Alex came in not even a minute after Zach had left, raising his eyebrows at me as I told him to move his hair away from his ears.

There was nothing in or on Alex's ears and just the same old tattoo as always behind it.

Sighing, I wondered exactly what Zach had meant before realizing there were now two Alex's in this house, the real one and the cardboard one.

"Alex, hand me your cardboard cut-out please."

Alex grinned his dirty little grin, winking at me. "If you want to see me in my undies, you just have to ask."

I blushed bright red before trying to glare at him, only it didn't work, but the perverted man walked over and got me the piece of cardboard anyways. I purposely avoided his lower region on the picture and forced myself to look at the ears instead. On the ears rested a pair of dainty emerald and gold earrings that perfectly matched my other jewelry.

Alex took all the cut-outs after I'd taken the earrings out of his ears, and set them up in the corner of my room, right where I could see them every morning when I got up.

I felt like such a pervert when my eyes stuck on Alex's underwear, but it just all looked so good, he looked so amazing.

It seemed today was going to be full of me blushing.

The boys had stayed with me during the morning, however they did have a bit of a party to attend first with their families and then with their friends. I would be going to neither party, as I couldn't be around so many people and all that alcohol without feeling peer-pressured to drink it.

Instead, they had a nurse coming to check on me at about seven pm to make sure I didn't need anything and the rest of the time was mine.

So once the house was picked up, the boys wished me a Merry Christmas and went to go visit their respective families while I laid in bed, wishing I had a family that I could also visit for the holidays.

***

Another month passed by and each day I got weaker, but I took pride in the fact that I had outlived another expiration date. Less and less the boys left the house, making me feel guilty for taking away their lives and soon enough, we had to have a nurse practically living in our house but still it was nice.

I rarely left my room, so instead we played board games or video games, but mostly I slept. No matter how often I slept nor how long, I was always tired again the moment I woke up. There was no doubt left in my mind that I was dying, and no doubt in anyone's mind that it would be sooner rather than later.

It wasn't until I couldn't even walk to the bathroom by myself did I finally break underneath it all.

"Hey, don't cry Elliot," Alex muttered as he sat on my bed, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his chest.

My frail shoulders felt like glass under his leanly muscled arms and I shook with the force of my sobs as everything came crashing down around me.

I was going to die, I wouldn't see Alex or Jack, Rian or Zach anymore, they wouldn't be there with me anymore and I'd never be able to be there for them either.

"I-I don't want to die, Alex, I don't want to leave you guys, I need you," I stuttered, talking into his shirt as I buried my face into his chest. My fingers tangled themselves into the fabric of his shirt as he held me even tighter.

"I know.. I'm so sorry Elliot, I'd do anything for this to not be you, I'd do anything to make this better."

We stayed like that long after my tears and shaking had stopped, until it was passed dinner time and Jack came stomping into the room complaining that he was starving. Alex let go of me, looking into my eyes as he silently asked if I would be all right, and though I nodded, I knew I couldn't be any further from truth.

Alex and Jack helped me into my wheelchair and then, naturally, proceeded to fight over who would get to push me around. While they were arguing, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Gripping the wheels of the chair and moving myself out of the room, I smiled and wondered how long it'd take them to realize I was already gone.

During dinner, though I didn't eat much, I made a lot of the conversation just to make sure nothing got awkward.

"I want to go to the mall, I feel like shopping, who wants to go with me?" Alex stared at me as if wondering if I was serious or not, while Zach and Rian both immediately shook their heads 'no' signalling that they most certainly didn't want to go shopping with me.

"You're not supposed to go into crowded places, El, maybe we should just go online shopping?"

Pursing my lips, I glared at Alex and folded my arms over my chest, perfectly ready to throw a fit in order to get my way. A month I'd been stuck inside, laying in bed and doing nothing but playing games. I needed to get out of this house and do something semi-productive.

"I want to go shopping, c'mon Alex, I've been stuck here for weeks doing absolutely nothing, I just need to do something; anything, please."

"Maybe we should call your doctor and see what he thinks.."

"Alex! Please," I pleaded, drawing out the 'please' about eight seconds longer than it actually needed to be. I watched as thoughts floated across Alex's eyes before his shoulders finally sagged, giving in to my begging.

I grinned, the first smile I'd had in days, and clapped excitedly. I could see the instant effect it had on everyone, I finally smiled and showed excitement, and everyone else smiled because of it. The room seemed to be rid of all its previous anxiety and depression.

"We'll go tomorrow, all right?" I nodded, a bubble of excitement forming inside my body at the prospect of getting out of the house.

***

When I woke up the next morning, I felt more exhausted than I was used to and as I tried to manuever myself into my wheelchair, I ran out of breath quickly. My lungs ached and my throat was sore, my hands shook terribly and I was ready to collapse back into my bed.

I pushed through all of that, resisting the intense urge to cough for fear of someone hearing me and changing their mind about going to the mall. I knew I was getting sick, but I didn't want to let that stop me.

This would probably be my last chance to get out of the house and I was going to take it.

I rolled over to my closet, quickly selecting a bright yellow sun dress as it would be the easiet to put on and as I looked out the window, I noticed snow on the ground so I grabbed a blanket off my bed to cover my legs.

I grabbed a yellow beanie and stuffed my hair up into it quickly, making sure my ears were covered as well and then rolled myself out into the kitchen, where I could smell bacon cooking.

Jack and Alex were the only two there, but they were both dressed with beanies on, two pairs of sunglasses on the table so I knew they'd both be going with me to the mall and were ready to hide themselves from paparazzi as well as fans. Hopefully it would just be us three, and I wouldn't have to worry about anyone recognizing them.

I grinned as I grabbed a piece of greasy bacon off of a plate piled high with it. I hadn't had anything greasy in well over a week, as my doctor insisted I only eat the healthiest of meals. Usually my nuse would cook meals for me, because Alex nor Jack were very healthy eaters and therefore didn't know how to make healthy meals. There idea of healthy? Sprinkle covered caramel apples.

"Well you slept late today," Alex joked, as I looked over at the clock and saw it was only nine am.

"Well you woke up super early," I retorted, fighting against the tickle at the back of my throat that demanded I cough.

"Anyways, can you get me a glass of juice, pleeeease?"

With a glass of orange juice in front of me and another piece of bacon in my hands, I sat back in my chair quietly, counting down the minutes until we could leave.