Episode 3: Sedation

Goodness, I cannot believe my eyes. I feel paralyzed, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to breath. But I mustn’t pass out too. Alexis comes running towards me and pulls at my arm. Relieved she says:’ Oh thank goodness you’re here Collin, you have no idea how glad I am to see you!’ She pulls me towards Zander and still holding my right arm in a pleading and crying manner asks me if Zander is okay.

I put my hand on his chest to feel his heartbeat. It’s beating rapidly. Alexis seems very worried. ‘Do you know what happened to him?’ Alexis shakes her head:’ No, all I saw was these two boys running away from Zander. Do you think they did this?’

‘I think they punched them in the stomach, and that’s why he’s bleeding from his mouth’. Alexis kneels next to Zander, coughing and waking up. ‘Let’s take him to the school nurse. She should still be here. She usually has problems with her car. Let’s hope she’s still here’. We both agree and carry Zander on our shoulders as we all walk together towards the parking lot. On the way Zander fully awakens. ‘Hey, are you okay?’ asked Alexis. Zander, coughing a bit then says in a shaky voice:’ I’m not sure. I feel like I’m my dad when he’s drunk, ha-ha’. ‘Shuuu’, hushes Alexis. ‘Don’t talk too much’.

‘Yeah Zander, now is not the time to tell us these things’. Zander, acting like he is drunk then says: ‘You can’t tell me to shush, I want to tell you then I’ll just tell you. ‘We’re here Alexis, do you see nurse Sara?’ Alexis: ‘That’s her car over there, but where is she?’ Zander then spots her behind her car, drinking from a wine bottle: ‘Isn’t that her over there?’ Alexis: ‘Good eye Zander’. We walk towards nurse Sara, who notices our footsteps and puts away the wine bottle quickly and then stands up. ‘Oh my- what happened?’

‘Zander was punc-‘. Alexis then interrupts me and says: ‘Zander started coughing blood in the middle of the hall’. ‘What did you do to yourself Zander?’ asked nurse Sara in an adult worrying like way. ‘The janitor already locked the school infirmary, so let’s take you to the clinic of a friend of mine. We’ll help you there, okay Zander?’

‘Fine with me’.

After a quiet drive to the clinic, Zander was being taken care of by nurse Sara and her friend the doctor. He seemed more like her boyfriend then just a “friend”. Zander, enjoying the attention since he doesn’t really get any from his parent. Alexis is sitting quietly, reading the magazines. I wonder what’s she’s thinking about right now.

‘Hey Alexis, what are you thinking about?’ I just want to ask her, but I don’t. Instead, I ask: ‘What are you reading?’ She then looks up and shows me the cover of the magazine and says: ‘You know, girl stuff you wouldn’t understand’. ‘Try me’ I said. ‘Hmm, okay, It’s about why we girls like to overthink things and say no when we mean to say yes or say yes when we mean to say no and stuff like that’. I respond: ‘Oh that sounds more like something guys should read, girls already know why they do those things, right?’

‘You have a point there, which makes me want to ask you this question’. ‘Okay, what is it?’, I ask. Alexis then asks: ‘Do YOU know why girls like me tend to overthink situation and say no when we mean to say yes etcetera?’ I then tell her: ‘Actually I do, otherwise I would not be friends with two of those girls right now’. ‘You usually overthink things because you want to have moments that are perfect, or when you worry about something or someone you overthink things that could happen because you want to be able to prevent certain situations from happening’. ‘The reason you say yes when you want to say no and when you say no when you mean to say yes, is because you want us guys to figure out what you feel’. ‘Sort of like a test if we guys truly love you are truly care, because if we did, we would know when you mean yes when you say no and when you mean no when you say yes’.

‘. . . . . I’m speechless, that’s not what it says in the magazine, but you’re answer seems more true than that of in the magazine’. ‘I didn’t realize you were so philosophical Collin, you’re amazing’. ‘Djee, thanks, uh, Alexis’, I say as my face starts to turn a little red from hearing Alexis compliment me in way she has never really done before. Nurse Sara comes walking through the door from the doctor’s office and then walks towards us. ‘Zander is fine now, you can go see him while I call his parents to take him home’.

‘Really, he can go home?’, asked Alexis who thought Zander had to stay here to recover. ‘Yes, really Alexis dear, go on ahead, he’s waiting for you two’. Alexis goes in with a sense of euphoria, probably because she’s happy she overreacted in her mind. ‘Aren’t you coming?’, said Alexis. ‘No, I’ll head home first’.

As I walk towards the main entrance to exit, a feeling emerges that I have forgotten something. I can’t seem to remember what it was, but I do remember that forgetting it would have consequences. I guess it wasn’t that important or else I would have remembered it. I think I’ll drop by Emily her place on the way home to be the first to tell her what happened.

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