Lies
1
“Did you take your medicine?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have your emergency inhaler?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I'll pick you up at noon.”
“Okay.” Gabe suppressed a cough and his mother drove away. He turned and started toward the high school, trying not to cough though it became more difficult with every step. The monster in his chest roared and scratched at his lungs, until it was impossible to keep it in. He buried his face in the crook of his elbow and coughed until his throat was dry and he was gagging. When the monster sunk back down, he took large gasps of air, filling his lungs as much as the monster would allow him. He put a hand on his chest, as if that would help quell the monster's anger.
“Are you okay?” a girl asked him as her friends watched from closer to the door.
“Yeah, I'm fine,” he smiled.
“Oh, okay, just wanted to check!”
He could feel the monster laugh. She doesn't care, it said. She just did it to show off for to her girlfriend. Just like how your mother shows off to her friends. Anyone who cares about you is lying.
Gabe knew he should go to the bathroom, get his inhaler out, make the monster shut up, but he couldn't. He'd let the monster win today, let the monster squeeze all of the air out of him and leave him on the floor, gasping and dying, drowning on dry land.
He took a breath of the sweet, late-summer air and walked into the high school, willing to let that be his last taste of freedom.
“Yes.”
“Do you have your emergency inhaler?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I'll pick you up at noon.”
“Okay.” Gabe suppressed a cough and his mother drove away. He turned and started toward the high school, trying not to cough though it became more difficult with every step. The monster in his chest roared and scratched at his lungs, until it was impossible to keep it in. He buried his face in the crook of his elbow and coughed until his throat was dry and he was gagging. When the monster sunk back down, he took large gasps of air, filling his lungs as much as the monster would allow him. He put a hand on his chest, as if that would help quell the monster's anger.
“Are you okay?” a girl asked him as her friends watched from closer to the door.
“Yeah, I'm fine,” he smiled.
“Oh, okay, just wanted to check!”
He could feel the monster laugh. She doesn't care, it said. She just did it to show off for to her girlfriend. Just like how your mother shows off to her friends. Anyone who cares about you is lying.
Gabe knew he should go to the bathroom, get his inhaler out, make the monster shut up, but he couldn't. He'd let the monster win today, let the monster squeeze all of the air out of him and leave him on the floor, gasping and dying, drowning on dry land.
He took a breath of the sweet, late-summer air and walked into the high school, willing to let that be his last taste of freedom.