Tales of the Underground: Blinded - 20. A Fever's Break

That night I could barely sleep. Every now and again I would wake up, heart racing, palms sweat, and anxiety through the goddamn roof. Something was coming…a storm…I could feel it. I don’t know when, I don’t know what…but something…it’s coming.

“CY!” Aaron shouted standing over me “Would you please just wake the hell up already?” I felt sweat covering me as the world slowly started spinning, I tried to get up but before I knew it my stomach rejected everything I had eaten that night. Luckily Aaron was able to jump back and avoid the…well…mess. “Really?!” he frustratedly yelped “It’s 5 am!”

“Boys” Walter exhaustedly called out “Is everything alright?”

“No” Aaron groaned in a loud voice “Cy threw up!”

I heard some muffled talking from down the hall before finally our door slowly swung open. “Aaron why don’t you get sleep in the guest room?” Nancy instructed, taking a good look at the carpet then me “What hurts?”

“Nothin” I exhaled still feeling a bit woozy.

“Riley!” she reprimanded walking closer “What’s the matter?”

“Nothin!” I repeated out of stubbornness

She took a closer look before reaching out and laying her hand on my forehead. I tried to pull away, but Nancy was in full mama bear mode, and nothing was stopping her. “You’re warm.” She analyzed with a quick shake of her head “Sit still, I’m going to go get wet towels, ice, cleaner and paper towels.”

“I can clean it myself.” I moaned, barely able to sit up.

“Riley lay down!” she demanded heading towards the door “You’re not getting out of bed until I say so!” I tried my hardest to pull myself out of bed and clean it up before she could get back, but I couldn’t find the strength…no matter how hard I pushed, how hard I tried to get up, I just couldn’t. “Just relax” she comforted walking back in the room, arms full of supplies “Here these will help clean out your mouth” she offered, handing me a few cubes of ice “and don’t you dare give me that look!”.

I let out another long groan before following her directions, and watching her carefully clean up the mess. “I can clean it!” I insisted, watching her go to work over a mess I had made.

She shook her head and threw me a wet towel she had brought in “Put this on your head, and stop saying stupid things.” She dismissed, focusing on getting the room as clean as possible “You’ve had a long night, you need rest.” When she was finally satisfied with how the carpet looked she pulled over Aaron’s desk chair and sat at the head of my bed “Here drink this.” She instructed once more, handing me a small measuring cup full of a thick red liquid.

“No” I growled, turning away.

“Riley Walker!” She reprimanded “Stop being such a baby, and let me help you.”

“I don need your help!” I grumbled, still not turning back “I can take care of myself.”

“I don’t care if you can.” She continued, not letting up “You’re my foster son, and pretty soon you’ll be my adopted son, if you’re sick, well, I’m going to take care of you! End of story…so fight me like you’re 5 or man up and act like you’re the 16 year old you’re a week away from being!”

“Whatever!” I reluctantly yelped finally gathering together enough energy to sit up “What is it?”

“Tylenol.” She instructed, pushing out the small cup “It’ll bring down the fever.” I let out a long groan before taking the small measuring cup from her hands and downing the thick red liquid. “See now that wasn’t so hard was it?” I flashed her a stone cold look, but kept my silence, knowing I was much better off not saying anything.

I’m not sure what happened next…I’m not sure if I stayed up for a few more minutes…for a few more hours…or for a few more seconds…all I know is that when I woke up I felt even more sick than I did the night before! I slowly looked back to my side and to my surprise Nancy was still sitting there, fast asleep in the desk chair next to me. I took a few seconds to observe her before realizing that she had spent there night there…watching over me, making sure I was safe.

“Nancy” I let out in a soft voice “Nancy, wake up.”

She slowly shook her head as she woke up, but the second she saw me she snapped right back into mom mode “Good morning dear, is everything okay?”

“I’m good” I lied with a barely audible voice “You didn have to spen the night here.”

“I wanted to.” She comforted “besides I’d be up all night worried about you anyway, better to be making sure you’re safe than just lying in bed with my eyes open!”

“But why?” I weakly forced out, too tired to keep my eyes fully open.

She let out a soft sigh before reaching over and taking the old wet towel off my forehead “Because I love you Cy.” She answered, not even thinking too much about her words. I shook my head and attempted to turn on my side “I’m sorry if that caught you of guard…but you need to hear it, you are loved Riley Walker.”

I went to yell at her…to get her to stop, but before I could the world started spinning faster and faster. “Ughhhh” I let out not able to manage anything else.

“Are you going to throw up again?” she quickly checked, grabbing a small trashcan from next to her.

“Nah” I let out “Jus not in the mood to hear shit like that.”

She lightly laughed before laying her hand on my forehead “It doesn’t matter what you’re in the mood for! We all need to know we’re loved!” she shook her head and finally removed her hand “You’re burning up, do you think you can make it do a doctor today?”

“No” I stubbornly exhaled, closing my eyes in hopes it would slow down the spinning.

“We need to go at some point today. There’s no telling what this could be, I don’t even know the last time you had a physical!” She worriedly instructed, not letting up.

“whatever” I grunted “Jus let me get sleep now…we can handle all that later.”

She let out another sigh, but let me sleep for a few more hours. Eventually she broke me down and dragged me out of the house to the Dr.’s. She really was worried…she really does care, I mean, her actions have always showed it, but she stayed up all night watching over me! In fact I don’t even think she slept while I was napping! I heard people say that moms are like super heroes, but I never truly believed it…well not to this scale! Even at the Dr.’s office…she was just so relentless; the Dr. could barely even get a word out! She berated him with question after question, until finally he got out that I had strep throat, and that I need to take pills and lay in bed and blah blah blah. The rest of the day was like a blur, Nancy waited on me hand and foot, making sure I was okay. The next day I woke up feeling like crap, I mean I kinda felt better, but still crap.

“You have a visitor” Nancy smiled as she creaked open the door to the bedroom I had been camped out in nearly all of yesterday, and for most of today.

“I don’t want no visitors!” I frustratedly clicked, knowing I was still too tired to deal with anyone.

“Not even me?” A voice I was becoming far too familiar with called out “You’ve missed the past 2 practices now! You’re going to get rusty!”

“Especially not you.” I spit, turning on my side so he couldn’t see how tired and sweaty I was.

I heard some light footsteps followed by a chair being pulled out of the nearby desk “Uh oh, someone’s grumpy.”

“Man what’d you think I was gonna be like!” I grumbled with a frown “Every time I stand up the damn world spins.”

“Believe it or not the world keeps on spinning whether you’re sitting or standing.” He teased with a small laugh.

“Carter!” I groaned “Jus go.”

“You’re gonna hurt my feelings!” he teased, understanding where I was coming from “Come on, I just want to see you.”

“Well here you see me.” I exhaled, still not turning around.

“No I don’t, I want to see those nice brown eyes of yours.” He pestered, keeping on my case.

I let out a long groan, but still didn’t turn around “You so annoyin”

“Good! I love to bother you.” He giggled “If I knew taking you to the bulls game would make you sick I never would’ve brought you!”

“That’s not what got me sick.” I protested, pulling the covers over me tighter.

“I don’t know, I think it did.” He bothered, trying to see if I would take the bait.

“Nah stop, it’s all this stress” I whined finally opening up again “I can’t take it no more, it’s like every day there’s some new shit I gotta deal with.”

“Like what?” he encouraged, knowing venting is just as healing as medicine.

I bit my tongue and tried to wait him out, but after a minute or two passed, I knew he had me in his trap“I don know man, this relationship, my adoption, the team…my birth father won’t even take the time to meet me.”

“Oh…” Carter let out thinking over his next few words “maybe he’s busy?”

“He’s in jail, he’s got nothin but time.” I confessed, mind still aching about the situation.

“Then screw him.” Carter shrugged as if it was nothing.

“Forget it, it’s not like you could get it.” I bit, angrier at the situation than him.

“You’re right, I can’t relate to that at all…but I still didn’t expect to ever see you rely on your birth parents.” He egged on “Guess I don’t know you as…”

“I aint relyin on him, I…”

“Really, because you’re up here so upset you’re sick.” Carter interrupted with a shrug.

“Am not.” I scowled.

“Are too!” he teased with a laugh. A few seconds of silence passed before I suddenly felt the weight of his hand rest on my side “You know you’re better off without him, you know you don’t need him…and I know you want to know him, I know you want him to be something better, something real…but he’s not, he’s just another dead beat dad.” I let out a deep breath as his words hit me “So that means it’s up to you to break that pattern, it’s up to you to make him eat shit on everything he’s done, but you can’t do that if you’re tied up in bed sick all day!” He gently began to rub my arm “You’re Riley walker, you don’t need anyone…I know it’s hard but you’ll survive it. The rest of the stress…well don’t worry. The James’ will make sure your adoption gets done as soon as possible, and me…I’ll always be here for you, if you’re worried about our relationship…if it’s stressing you out, just tell me what’s wrong, and we can work on it.”

“Well the first problem is you don go away when I say to.” I softly teased as I felt a smile growing on my face.

“Alright alright” he laughed “I’ll let you get some rest, are you coming to school tomorrow?”

“That’s the plan.” I exhaled, as I heard him get up and take a few steps away “and Carter” I let out, finally turning over before he could get to the door “thanks.”

“For...” he led, finally getting a good look at me.

“comin to see me” I shyly admitted, as our eyes connected.

He lightly blushed and shook his head “Anytime.” He smiled quietly shutting the door behind him

Seeing Carter turned out to be exactly what I needed. I slept like a baby that night, and even though I still woke up feeling kinda shitty, I found the motivation to go to school anyway. It’s funny, I never figured I would find any similarities between gang life and high school, but here’s a big one…they both jump on you the second they sense weakness. Teacher’s didn’t seem to care that I was in court on Friday, or that I was throwing up all Monday…and Owen, well he didn’t lay off for a single second.

“Are you sure you were sick?” he taunted in his normal uppity tone “It sounds like you ran away…I mean not here Friday, or Monday? Did you take a weekend trip back down to that slum you came from?”

“I was with him Saturday.” Carter proudly interrupted, before I had the chance to get at Owen “He’s been around all weekend.”

“Yeah trust me.” Aaron sighed “He threw up all over our room.”

I glanced over to him and shook my head “Man you got your own room for a few days, I don know why you complainin.”

“Because it still smells like sweat, and puke in there!” Aaron yelped, giving the lunch table a little too much information.

“Okay okay!” Noah exclaimed, trying not to lose his appetite “Next subject!”

“Okay, where were you Friday then?” Owen continued, avoiding the table’s attitude towards him “There’s no possible way you were sick for that long.”

“None of ya business.” I dismissed in a growl.

“I knew you visited the southside.” He quietly murmured under his breath, trying to bait someone into giving him the answer.

I looked over to Aaron worried he would bite, but before I knew it I heard Carter begin to speak “He was in court, starting his adoption.” Before I could even click my teeth, Carter knew he had messed up “Sorry Cy, but he needs to grow up, and stop seeing you for who you were. He’s getting adopted; he’s one of us now.”

Owen let out a cocky laugh and shook his head “You positive this is what you want?” he provoked “I mean once those papers are finalized there’s not going back.” I bit my lip as he pressured harder “No deciding you don’t want this anymore, no stealing, no drugs, no prostitutes…all of it gone.”

I snarled my lip and went to speak but Noah quickly poked his head up “Relax, he’s one of us, he doesn’t need any of that stuff anymore.” He let out; standing up to Owen for the first time I had ever seen.

“Whatever” Owen dismissed with a roll of his eyes. He pushed his tray forward; done with his food, and got up from the long square table “You can put lipstick on a pig…” he faded off grabbing his bag and wandering away.

“The fuck that’s supposed to mean?” I angrily shouted, but before I could get up Carter and Aaron grabbed onto both sides of me.

“Mr. Walker, that’s a warning, no foul language.” One of the teachers on lunch duty reprimanded.

“It means that we can try and make you fancy, but you’ll never actually be fancy.” Noah explained, not fully understanding my words.

I shrugged both sets of hands off of me and rested back in my seat “Shut up Noah” I spit, pushing my food around.

“Don’t listen to him, it’s not like…”

“You too Carter.” I lashed out “How many times I gotta say to keep quiet before you do?”

“Well sorry, but you wanted to get under his skin didn’t you?” he led with a devious smile; I rolled my eyes knowing where he was going with it “You’re welcome.” He finished, smile still spread across his face.

“That’s not the point.” I grumbled “I tol you and Noah cause I trust you, but I guess I was wrong.”

Carter shook his head, knowing full well I would get over it by time practice started. Sure enough the second I stepped onto that court whatever anger I had left inside from lunch blew away the second I saw those hazel eyes. His normal smile crossed his light pink face as he caught me staring, and instantly hit me with an “I knew it” kind of look…God I hate when he’s right. Coach let me start off practice just like everyone else, but as the minutes ticked by whatever has been bothering me these past few days seemed to come back. Instead of participating I stood by with one of the assistant coaches and worked on dribbling, while they made sure I stayed hydrated. Every now and again Carter would glance over and see how I was doing, an act that slowly made him lose focus. He began to take dumb shots, or turn over the ball…something that wasn’t like him at all.

“Williams!” One of the assistant coaches shouted “Get focused or get off the court!” Carter took one last glance towards me, before shaking it off and doing his best to focus, but I could tell his mind was with me. He seemed to string together a set of nice moves, and plays before his play once more began to drop.

“That’s it Williams!” Coach Murray shouted, as his play slowly slipped once more. “Off the court, I can’t have one of my starters’ half assing it all practice! Take your stuff and go!”

“But Coach…” he began, starting to grow flustered.

“Off my court!” Coach repeated, starting to get angrier and angrier “Before I make you run until you look as pale as Cy! In fact, take him with you! Both of you get your shit together, and come back tomorrow ready to work!”

“Yes coach” I exhaled, as Carter frustratedly walked by without saying anything. I quickly followed him into the locker room, but was once more met with silence as he thought everything over. “Oooo you got us in trouble” I teased in an effort to get him to lighten up, but he angrily ripped his backpack out of his locker and led us both to his car. “Damn, this is kinda hot.” I continued forcing a smile on my own face.

“Shut up Riley.” He mumbled, slamming the driver’s side door behind him.

“Nuh-uh I’m supposed to be mad at you, you don get to be mad at me.” I argued, remembering what happened at lunch.

“I’m not mad at you.” He muttered “I work my ass off for 3 years…3 years! I have one bad day, and it’s “get the hell off my court”” He snapped as his voice began to raise “It’s not his court, it’s my court! I poured my blood, sweat and tears into it every single day!”

“You were pretty bad today.” I shrugged, being completely honest with him “You can’t…”

“I don’t want to hear it!” He angrily interrupted “Who’s side are you on here?”

“Yours’” I let out loud enough to grab his attention “but you sucked today, you was reckless, and irresponsible. How’s that look to the rest of the team? What if he let you get away with that? What’s that show to everyone on the bench?” He quietly grumbled to himself, but didn’t bother to form a full sentence “Worst of all, you let me be the reason. You can’t jus get distracted cause I ain’t feelin well. What everytime I’m off you gonna shit the bed outta concern?”

“That’s not what happened.” He lied, starting to drive faster and faster.

“Oh yeah?” I provoked “Cause I caught your eyes my way a few times, and now we both kicked out cause of it.”

“Oh so it’s my fault?” he yelped.

“Yeah…”

“Are you serious right now Riley?” He interrupted, not letting me finish.

“Yeah…” I repeated “It is your fault. You’re the leader on the team. You supposed to be the one who shows us how to act. Man the fuck up, and don let a little bit of worry stop you, you gonna blow a lot of good things for yourself that way.”

“Since when are you the voice of reason?” he clicked, half pissed, half starting to see my side.

“I don know” I shrugged “I guess when you start slackin I pick it up, and when I slack you pick it up.”

“So I was really that bad today?” he sighed, pulling into the long familiar driveway.

“You were ass.” I confessed with a laugh “Next time, don worry bout what I’m doin, I’ll be fine.”

“I just didn’t want them to push you so hard you got hurt.” He confessed “You should’ve just skipped practice.”

“You know I can’t do that.” I shook with a smile “I feel fine, I jus need some sleep.”

He looked me up and down, but I could still see some concern in his eye “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s jus strep” I giggled “A good night’s sleep and it’ll be done by tomorrow.”

He nodded as a smile finally crossed his face “Look at us…”

“Don’t” I groaned, knowing what was coming.

“We’re growing up so much.” He giggled “We had our first real fight!”

“What you talkin bout” I dismissed finally opening the door “We fight all the time.”

“Okay, but I’ve never actually been mad at you before.” He smiled, watching me grab my bag.

I shook my head as our eyes connected “oh so fights only count when you get mad?”

“Yup” he laughed watching me slam his door.

“Spoiled brat!” I shouted as he rolled down his window.

“Hood rat!” He spit back, smile growing “Hey wait! What are you doing tomorrow night?”

“Home visit.” I shrugged as I dug into my pocket for the keys “Why?”

“I thought you could come hang out for a while after practice, but I guess your adoption is more important than me.” He taunted in a laugh.

“Jus slightly” I teased back, finally getting a hold of my keys “but then again I’m doin it for you.”

“No, you’re not!” he chuckled, but as I kept silent and walking through the front door I swear I could hear the surprise on his face “You are!”

“Jus slightly” I repeated as I slammed the door behind me. It’s been a long weekend, but the petition for adoption, the Bull’s game…getting sick, they changed me. As the fever finally broke so did my view on this place. For the better or worse I’m changing…for the better or worse.