LUCY
As the sun rises, early in silence on Saturday, so do I. Except not with the golden glow the sun emits; rather, I feel awful.
I haven't felt this ill and run down in ages: my head is burning, hot to touch and clammy, yet my body is freezing and shivers run intermittently through my limbs. My body aches with tiredness and pleads me to go back to sleep, I've never felt this extreme desire to succumb to fatigue before. The only emotion I feel I can project right now is breaking down and crying.
But I can't.
I have to do some more homework that the bully has made me do. The eighth grade homework is hard, but doable, it's just the sheer amount of it on top of my own grade homework. And the only way I can get it done by Monday is to do a good chunk this morning before anyone else wakes up.
I hate lying, I'm so tired and stressed, and now, me being ill is probably the result. I sigh and sip from my glass of water before getting out of bed over to our desk space. For an hour or so, I work quietly, although I struggle to focus on the academia as my body struggles to function. The shivers keep reminding me, and I feel numb in despair.
As I concentrate on a hard physics question, my head spinning with dizziness, Darcy suddenly wakes and gets up.
"Morning, Lu!" She smiles and comes over to me, oblivious.
I don't answer as every ounce of energy is on this question.
"Lu, are you ok?" She says and places a hand on my shoulder. I can sense her big eyes, identical to mine, staring at the back of my head.
With my back to her, I shake my head no, and hot tears start to rush down my cheeks. I let out a cough and choked sob, and I hear Darcy's sharp intake of breath. Emotions run through me, I'm ill, angry, sad, and just feel absolutely dreadful.
"Oh Lu, what's wrong?" She hugs me, squeezing me tight and a sense of comfort from the girl who shared my mother's womb with me, warms over me. "Lu, your freezing and your head is burning up! I need to go get Luke, stay there, don't move," her arms leave mine and I hear her footsteps quickly retreating out of the room.
The dizziness feeling only intensifies and I sob, burying my head in my hands, my body involuntarily shaking with shivers. I crumple down in my desk chair, dropping my pencil to the floor.
LUKE
"LUKE! LEO!" Darcy rushes into the living room and jumps onto me, blocking the tv screen.
"Hey hey, what's wrong?" I ask, holding her so she doesn't fall back. "That's a loud voice in the morning-"
My sister interrupts me in a tone of urgency: "-Lucy, she's really ill!"
"What is it?" Leo jumps up and Darcy gets up and I follow them both quickly.
"Fever, hot and cold, I think," she speaks with eleven year old wisdom. "Hurry!" She jogs up the staircase and we follow hastily, really concerned at the welfare of the littlest Walker.
The sight makes my heart ache, Lucy is tucked into a ball, crying and shaking on her desk chair.
"Oh Lu," I immediately walk over to her and crouch down, wrapping my arms tightly around her and kissing her head. Her skin is cold to touch, shaking violently, yet her head is burning hot, when I kiss her. She chokes on a couple of sobs, wrapping her little arms around my neck, crying endlessly.
"Baby, I think you've got a fever," I gently pick her up, and I sit on her bed with Leo next to us.
"Shh," I say as she keeps crying, "Lu it's ok," I rock her gently but she doesn't stop crying into my shoulder.
Something's not quite right - Lucy's had fever before and she wasn't upset like this. Her whole body is slumped against mine, in defeat.
"Lu, what's wrong?" I prompt.
"N-nothing," she sobs, responding a little too quickly.
"Something's wrong, why are you worked up, it's not just because your ill is it?" Leo says. "I can tell," he gently talks to her.
"Come on baby girl, you can tell us anything," I tell her, rubbing circles on her back.
"N-no," Lucy hiccups and carries on crying, her head in my chest. I cup one of my hands on her head and stroke her clammy hair back.
"Lucy please tell us what's wrong," Darcy says and looks on worriedly.
"What's all this? Why's Lucy bear all upset eh?" Tom comes into the room, and crouches down in front of us.
Harry follows too, and watches on, slinging an arm around Darcy.
"Those are some big sad eyes, huh, why the tears?" Tom comes closer and Lucy turns to look at him. "Can I take her?" He mumbles to me. I nod.
He gently wraps his arms around her and she lets him pick her up and cuddle her tight against him. I can still hear her sobs even though their muffled against his chest.
"She's burning up," he says, stroking Lucy's hair.
"A fever I think, but there's something more she's not telling us, she's got herself worked up," I reply.
"Tell us what's wrong," he says softly.
"N-no," Lucy mumbles, still crying.
"Why not?" Leo pushes.
Nothing.
"Let's go downstairs and get Lu some meds, that's my first priority right now," I say and get up.
Everyone walks downstairs into the kitchen, Tom sits Lucy on the breakfast bar and stays with her while I get her medicine.
LUCY
Leo gives me the medicine, and I take it immediately, still crying, feeling completely exhausted.
He takes me into the living room without a word and he puts me on his lap, everyone comes in and Luke sits next to us.
"Right Lucy, I want you to tell us what's wrong," Luke says, he looks slightly stern so I guess I'm gonna have to tell them. "No more 'no's', this is serious. I want to know what's got you this upset."
But, the bully said I was gonna be dead! I can't tell him.
"I-I want to te-tell you, b-but I can't!" I cry.
"C'mon, we've got you, just tell us," Tom says.
Leo rubs circles in my back, reassuring me at Tom's words.
I take a deep breath.
"Come on, you can say it," Harry encourages.
"After school on the first day, on Thursday, I was walking to history on my own, when I was suddenly pulled into the girls toilets..."
I tell them everything, the slaps, the threats, the amount of homework, the bullying, everything. The story is disjointed and long as I keep crying out at parts in between. Leo keeps a warm hold of me all the time and rubs circles in my back comfortingly.
As I tell them, Leo stiffens underneath me as well, and all the boys look very angry, especially Luke and Tom. Darcy has silent tears in her eyes. Luke asks a few questions of his own to clarify any gaps and I can tell although he's trying to stay calm, his body language suggests otherwise.
I finish after Luke's last question. Silence.
"THAT *****!" Tom yells angrily, I jump in Leo's lap.
"TOM! Not in front of the twins!" Luke speaks firmly.
DARCY
-Three hours later-
After Lucy told us everything, Tom, Leo and Luke got really angry.
Luke and Leo are going to go into the school on Monday and hopefully sort everything out - I hope the girl will get what she deserves.
Right now, Lucy is sleeping on the couch, on Harry, she's got a high fever still. My brothers said if it doesn't go down by tomorrow, they'll take her to the doctors.
Tom, Luke and Leo are talking in the kitchen, probably about the whole incident.
I'm doing my homework in my room.
All is at peace, for now.
Edited - 02/08/21