Chapter 5

“Pearl, sweetie, are you okay hon?” I heard voices behind me,

hon?… Mom and dad? I turned around and yeah there they were with a super worried look, I ran to them and hugged them.

“It's okay dearie everything would be fine”

Mrs. Davis?, mom?, I and Angelou said at the same time, oh my babies, she said as she walked to us and started checking us all over,

“mooom, am not a baby anymore” Angelou whined, and we all chuckled.

“Okay, let's go see Xeric” mom said, how did she know? I thought, oh, how could I forget this is one of moms hospital. We walked into Xeric’s ward and when I saw Xeric I started crying again, he was lying lifelessly on the bed with an oxygen mask on his face and drips were also attached to his body, he looked so pitiful, but he was still hot [;-)].

“Brother wake up, please don’t keep me waiting, bro, elder brother talk to me, I will call you elder brother, I won’t disturb you again, I promise, I will be obedient, I will always wake up early too just open your eyes or move any part of your body Xeric” I cried, but he just remained still, I was still crying when mom held my hands,

“let's go home honey, you would come back tomorrow”,

“I don’t want to go home mom, I don't want to, I want to stay with Xeric”,

“but you have to go to school tomorrow, hon”,

“no, mom, I just want to stay with Xeric”. Dad came back from the doctor's office and called mom out and after a while Angelou entered the ward and carried me on his shoulder all of a sudden, the heck, put me down, put me down now, I screamed and kicked him, but it was futile, he carried me to the car where my dad was waiting and put me inside, dad drove of immediately with me still crying and struggling to break free from Angelou’s arm while he just patted my hair and I soon calmed down, we drove home and Angelou took me to my room, I went to the bathroom, took a bath, changed out of my uniform and sat on a sofa in my room, nah princess you have to sleep its 12:30am already, Angelou said as he dragged me and tucked me in bed while singing some funny sounding lullaby, I looked at him and saw that he was totally sapped and tired, so I pretended to sleep, he stayed there for a while longer before finally going out and my eyes snapped open, I couldn’t sleep a wink till the next morning, I took my bath and dressed up in casuals before going downstairs.

“you aren’t going to school dressed like that, are you?” dad asked as he eyed my dressing,

“no, am not going, I wanna go see Xeric,” I replied,

“you have to go to school dear, then you’ll come see Xeric after school okay?” dad said, and I sighed, I went back upstairs and changed into my uniforms. Angelou took me to school, and we faced detention and one week of community service for hacking into the school system (actually it's suspension penalty for that kind of offense but because it was for emergency their punishment were less) and the security men almost lost their job for carelessness. Times seems to pass so slowly today, I couldn’t wait for school to be over so I could see Xeric, I felt someone staring at me, I turned my head to see who it was, and it was Skylar, she looked so gloomy It looked like she wanted to say something but was deciding against it, that was not my freaking problem, so I minded my business.

 Finally, school was over, I didn’t wait a second longer and grabbed Angelou’s hand and dashed out of the classroom, the ride on the way to the hospital was too quiet and uncomfortable.

“am sorry” I muttered, breaking the silence and Angelou gave me a confused look,

“for what princess?” “for everything and for putting you in trouble, if not for me, you wouldn’t have to face detention and two weeks of community service(Angelou took all the blame for Pearl and had insisted they use his laptop yesterday to lessen Pearl's punishment)”, he parked the car after hearing my statement,

“seriously Pearl, you just managed to piss me off” Angelou scoffed,

“what!, why?, I was just apologizing”,

“tell me Pearl, what do you think I am to you, I am your freaking bestest friend, if that even exist, I am like your brother and so am I to Xeric too, we have been together since the day we were born, and you still treat me like a stranger who needs sorry, and thank you for everything, Xeric and you would do more than this if I were in Xeric’s position, and you know that, I already felt guilty for not being able to do enough, and you just made me even more guilty, I don’t know what you think Pearl but you and Xeric are my best friend and you both mean the world to me, there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you, I love you guys so much, so please don’t do this again pearl, it breaks my heart so much.”

this was the first time Angelou talked so much, a teardrop slide down my cheeks without me even knowing,

“am sorry Angelou, am sorry, you mean the world to me too, I just felt concerned, am sorry” I said and sobbed, Angelou pulled me into his arms and hugged me while stroking my hair

“it's okay princess, I know, it's okay,” I looked up at him and realized he looks even more horrible than I did, he had thick black circle under his bloodshot red eyes and his hair were very messy, how come I didn’t notice,

“Angelou, is that you?” I asked playfully,

“yes princess it's me” he replied playfully too,

“good gracious, I thought it was Angie panda” I joked,

“aah, you think am not handsome again” Angelou said and blinked his eyes dramatically,

“nope, I think you are a cute panda” I replied.

“okay princess, come with Angie panda to see Xeric” Angelou joked and we both laughed.

We got to the hospital and walked straight to Xeric’s ward. He hasn't woken up yet, and I still don’t know what happened to him. Mom was sleeping beside him looking so tired and haggard, she was still in her suits from yesterday, I could tell she hadn’t gone home at all, I doubt she had eaten breakfast talk more lunch but ……where is dad. I was about to wake mom up when Mrs. Davis entered the ward.

“oh, you are both here, thank goodness, you should persuade your mom to go home” Mrs. Davis said relieved to see us, she woke mom and gave her the food she prepared for her, we were able to talk to mom, and she agreed to go home and freshen up while I, Angelou and Mrs. Davis stay with Xeric, ‘Xeric, oh Xeric, say something today please, talk to me, Xeric!!!’.

Three days has passed and Xeric still isn't awake, everything was going on normally except for the worried and always expectant mood of I and Angelou’s household and also Skylar!, talking of Skylar, she's not her usual vibrant and playful self, she looked so doom and gloom that I felt pity for her, I wonder what's wrong with her, I swallowed my pride and decided to have a nice talk with her,

“hey Skylar…… Skylar! Skylar!!, SKY-LAR!!!” I shook her and she flinched,

“Aaahh, you scared me” she said as she held her chest,

“sorry didn’t mean to, I called your name twice, but you were so not in space, are you okay?”,

“yes, yes, am fine”,

“are you sure?, you’ve been kinda down lately”,

“ah yes, am totally fine, just a little sick”,

“oh, okay” I was about to head back to my seat when she grabbed my hands

“excuse me ?”,

“what of Xeric” she asked,

“what about him?” I asked back,

“I haven’t seen him in school for a while”,

“it's nothing”, I replied and turned away,

“can…..can you take me to him please ?”,

“no, no way, why would I want to do that, what's your relationship with him?”,

“that… is kinda complicated, please pearl, please” she begged me with a puppy eyes,

“that doesn’t work on me and there is no way in hell I would do that besides stop acting like we are friends” I said angrily and turned to go again,

“I can help him, don’t you want him back”, I paused in my steps

“what do you just say?” I asked without looking back, “I said I can help him, he is in a coma right, I can bring him back”,

“how do you know about that”,

“well, I’ll explain later, are you taking me to him or not?”,

“are you sure Skylar, are you?, if I find out you are lying, imma fking tear you limb to limb”,

“yes I promise”.

As bizarre as it sounds, I didn’t care about it, I only had Xeric on my mind, so I brought her to him, but not without first asking Angelou, who agreed even though he wasn’t totally comfortable with the idea. When we got to Xeric’s ward mother wasn’t there, she probably just step out to buy something, tears welled up in my eye looking at his vegetative state, but before they could fall I heard Skylar sob, as sad as I was, I couldn’t help but think like; what the hell!!!, why is she crying like a wife coming to see her half dead beloved husband. She walked closer to him and I could see……wait what!, Xeric finger moved , what in the name of heck is going on, I was still trying to settle from the weird stuffs when……she leaned in and kissed him before biting his neck, WHAT!!!, that was my brother’s first kiss, I dragged her away from him and slapped her twice,

“are you crazy, why did you kiss……” I trailed off as I saw Xeric’s body shaking violently, I grabbed her collar tightly, “what the fk did you do to him, Doctor!, Doctor!!”,

“chillax Pearl, don’t call the doctor I have played my part now it's time for you to play yours”,

“what part?, are you mad?, And why shouldn’t I call the doctor” I screamed at her “the doctors can't do anything about this, go and talk to him, he loves you very much, he will listen to you and fight to survive for you”.

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