Living with a Heartache

Alex’s POV

I didn’t know why but I felt like bursting out into tears when Brian offered to give me a hug. Although his hug thing could have been a joke, I just needed that hug and a shoulder to rest my heavy head when Patrick turned his back on me. But I didn’t, you know. I wanted to save my first opposite-gender-loving-hugging for someone who really liked me. And of course with me returning the feelings.

So I walked away, I wasn’t as affected as this when I heard about the divorce. I felt like as if I was forcefully ripped into two, by my best friend nonetheless. But if Patrick wanted me to leave him alone, then I guess I would do that. I mean, I had to face the truth; my life wasn’t as bad as Patrick’s. I mean, there was once when Patrick was 12 when his dad locked him up in the bathroom because Patrick talked back to him. I didn’t see Patrick for 2 days until I saw him again, he looked half-starved. It turned out that his dad pushed pizza under the door for him only during dinner.

Anyway, I knew I had to stop feeding those negative images to my brain because I was slowly starting to lose my appetite. During our break I wasn’t touching my food at all, Jessica was looking at me push my food with my plastic fork up and down my plate.

“Hey, does this sudden loss of appetite have to do with Patrick?” Jessica asked gently as she touched my shoulder. I sighed and shoved a tiny spoon of my stewed vegetables and rice into my mouth. I couldn’t feel my tongue for a moment as I chewed. My head felt inflated and my stomach lurched. I held it in, I knew these spells would leave in a moment. I did it just for the sake of making Jessica feel that I could eat and wasn’t revolting at the sight of pure humanity.

“Hey you gonna eat that?” asked Steve (Jessica’s boyfriend) as he spontaneously shoveled a spoon of my food into his mouth. Jessica turned to swat his hand away, but I shook his head. Seeing how Steven could see how much I didn’t want my food, I wasn’t sure why Jessica wanted me to eat.

“It’s okay, I’m not really in the mood,” I muttered and pushed my plate away. Steven just shrugged and just continued pushing food into my mouth. Jessica got the hint that I didn’t feel like talking and started talking to other people leaving me in my misery.

The rest of the school day just circled around me in this swampy, murky way. I was so lost, I kept going in and out of focus during classes, even Math. I loved math, something was wrong. Not only did my head spin ever so continually, I felt slightly sick to my stomach. I think I’d go home straight after school, tell mum or something.

Brian’s POV

The bell rang. That’s when I saw Alex trudging slowly towards my class. She looked as indignant as ever, or so I thought. As she neared me, I tried to ignore the loud chorus of whoops coming from the guys in the class; I also noticed that Alex seemed a little pale. Her hair was matted to her face and her shirt wrinkly, it looked as if she had scrunched up her hands into fists while grabbing her shirt.

“Hey Brian,” she rasped. I couldn’t help what came out of my mouth.

“Jeez, Alex. You sound as if a truck ran over your vocal cords,”

“I’m wondering so myself,” she joked and for a moment she smiled a little. But as quick as the smile lasted, she went straight back to business.

“I’m gonna go home straight okay, not feeling so well,” she rasped some more. I had to strain my ears to hear her. I guess she assumed that a guy with such high intelligence like me had already memorized the route back to her house; she was damn right.

“Erh, cool, feel better okay?” I said. She nodded meekly and went on her way. I couldn’t help think that everything with Alex seemed to coincide. Like the split of her parents, the split with her and Patrick, and her falling sick all happened over a span of 2 days. Seems like the writer of this story intended to make this as painful as it seemed.

Alex’s POV

“Hey mum,” I hollered, which wasn’t very loud, as I stepped into the house. I felt worse, the insides of my mouth felt like old parchment.

“Hi Honey!” Mum quipped; it set me wondering if the divorce yesterday had really sank in yet. Apparently not because Mum was in the mood to cook her famous Pasta. I smelt the simmering of the pasta sauce infused with lots of caramelized garlic. I could hear the delicious slicing of the knife into the Ham that Mum was cutting up. The musty pasta smell drifted me from my half-zombie like state and I suddenly felt hungry.

I grabbed a loaf of bread from the kitchen and was greeted with a cheerful smile by Mum as she pointed out that it was freshly out from the oven from our neighbors. Maybe it was their way of condolence after knowing about the divorce- I couldn’t help think. I loitered in the dining room for a little while, and putting my back pack down before taking a nibble into my bread.

Once I bit into my bread, I shocked at how bitter and sour it tasted in my mouth. It was revolting, and my stomach turned. I couldn’t help it; I rushed to the sink and puked all the contents of my stomach out. Immediately all the chopping and frying ceased in the kitchen and it was slowly filled with the nauseating smell of my vomit.

“Oh god, Alex, are you alright?” I felt my mum’s warm wrinkly hands touch my cheek. I suddenly realized that I was sweating and it was really warm in the kitchen. I turned on the sink and washed whatever was in there down the drain, and my appetite flew out of the window.

“Did you eat anything wrong in school today?”

“No, I didn’t eat anything,”

“Jeez honey, are you alright. You’re really pale, do you need something to eat?” I shook my head numbly. My stomach was hammering and it felt like something was going to come up. Without warning, I vomited again. I could vaguely see Mum wince as I puked yet another set of content out.

“I think its stomach flu. Go upstairs and get some rest. I’ll run down to the store and get you some Chicken Soup, and probably some lime juice to ease the nauseasness. Brian’s coming home by himself I presume,” I nodded, and was bustled upstairs by mum who told me to get comfy and get some sleep.

And I did exactly that for 2 hours I think.

Brian’s POV

I rang the bell and was greeted by Alex’s mum who seemed a little flustered. It was six thirty, and the sun painted the sky a radiant pink today.

“Hi Mam’” I greeted.

“Call me Jenny, boy. Now hurry in. Alex is a little sick, she vomited 6 times from the span of when she came home to now,” I felt my eyes widen at that, I blinked twice to make sure I heard that correctly.

“Is she alright?”

“Dialed my colleagues up, they said maybe it’s a bad case of the stomach flu. She won’t eat anything, it just comes right back up again. I tried feeding her some Chicken Soup, she ate that but half an hour later she vomited it out all again. She’s not usually like that, I was just wondering, did anything happen which could have caused this?” Jenny asked. I blinked once, Jenny was Alex’s mother she did have a right to know what happened to Patrick and Alex, so I just told her.

“She and Patrick had a, um. I wouldn’t call it little, but they had a fight today in school. Out. In the open,” I stammered, I didn’t really know how to break the news to Alex’s own mother. She looked taken aback, and her mouthed dropped down, but she closed them up again. She mouthed a silent ‘Oh’ before beckoning me in for dinner.

I finished it quickly, but Jenny makes good spaghetti. I had no time no describe and savour the taste because I wanted to see exactly how sick Alex was. Something about her being sick triggered a little sympathy in me. Maybe I could help. So I bounded upstairs into the room to see her propped up against the bed looking, well. Like a freak was the least I could say.

Her lips had receded to the colour of white, and she was unbearably pale. She still managed a little twist of her lips as I walked her.

“Hey, you okay?” I asked, settling my stuff down. Then I proceeded to sit by her side of the bed. To my surprise, she gave a raspy grunt and heaved me to the very tip of the bed.

“Wouldn’t want you to catch what I’m having,” she mused, I could barely recognize her voice. It was low and nasally, if she were to go an octave higher I wouldn’t be able to hear her at all.

“You doubt my superior body it seems to me,” I tried cracking some humor but she just threw a pillow at me.

“Okay, I was joking jock. I don’t like you touching into my personal space. My bubble, you know. The threshold whereby my patience is contained?” She retorted. But through her stubborn tone I caught a glimpse of her mouth sliding upwards. Which is good, laughter is the best medicine for the ill. I sighed and got off her bed.

“Oh Alex, flu hasn’t affected you the least bit. You’re still a damned lime,” I replied, enjoying our little spit. I was met with silence, I turned around only to see Alex with her head suddenly drooping downwards, dangling as if on a little thin piece of thread.

Panic rushed through my veins; maybe she had choked on her vomit and died.

“Alex?” There was no reply.

I edged closer to her bed, she made no obvious movements. My heart stammered against my chest as I jabbed her on her arm. There wasn’t a stir in her body.

Panicking, I didn’t want her to die, or maybe end up in the hospital. As a true guy, I was supposed to look over the darling lady I was supposed to look after. Plus, she was a likeable person, and her attractiveness shone out of her and it was different than other girls. I brushed those distracting thoughts away as I echoed her name again. All I was met with was a rustle of her hair from my breath. Then I did a double take, because our faces were just inches away.

I jerked her limp arm up to check for her pulse. (I took a 2 hour course of first aid, so I’m good, so far.) It was strong, but slow. I had no idea what that meant. Only that she was alive. I didn’t know what to do, I just sat there staring at her.

It was so quiet all of a sudden, when her hand suddenly gripped mine. I jumped, alarmed. She was supposed to be dead.

She looked at me with a twinkle in her eye.

“I may be a lime Brian o Brian, but you are a complete dick head, leaving me to die just like that?”

In shock, and slight anger, I thwacked Alex in her head, causing her to guffaw out loud.

“Nice laugh,”

“Shut up dick head,” she commented in between her laughs. Then she fell silent again, as I turned my back and walked towards my side of the room.

“Alex, are you joking? Twice in a row? You think I’m such an idiot huh,” I commented, throwing her a side glance from behind my shoulder. But she was out of her bed and in the toilet. I wondered how she got the energy to make it there.

Just to make sure she didn’t hit herself or anything, I followed her into the toilet.

Poor thing, puking her cookies in there.

Alex’s POV

The bile burned my lungs and tears surged up my eyes due to the pain. Everything I hurled up was transparent, all liquid and acid. I was surprised why I didn’t see blood from my stomach due to the acid burning a hole in them already. I wasn’t sure if Brian was watching out from me, but I think he was because I heard him knock against the door.

“Alex…” he trailed off. I didn’t really want to reply him, I felt so sick and sorry for myself. But I couldn’t because I had to buck up, I needed to get ready for the turmoil coming up with my parents and Patrick. Lost in my thoughts, I realized that I had stopped vomiting. I turned on the flush, and started to walk to the sink when I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me. My vision blurred and my knees started to buckle.

Somewhere in my sub-conscious mind I heard someone, probably Brian rush into the loo and caught me before I fell.

“Alex, alex, are you okay?” He breathed as both his hands came in contact with my falling body. I didn’t reply him because I was suddenly shrouded with blackness and the last thing I felt was Brian’s cool skin pressing against my limbs as he got me out of the toilet. Or so it seemed as the highest possibility, if not what was he doing. Hugging me while I lay unconscious in the toilet?

After that thought, I really blacked out.