Chapter 6 : A Tricky Predicament
Upon hearing that, Jose began to weigh his pros and cons, but stopped the moment he caught sight of Drew's brows beginning to furrow out of the corner of his eyes. He agreed albeit grumbled under his breath about 'troublesome teenage girls' even though he was not that much older than his new house mate.
If anyone deserved respect, it was his older brother. Drew knew when he needed to step in, when to support and when to respect Jose's space to let him do his own thing.
"I need to get her to the hospital. She's getting worse but still refuses to go." Drew told him.
"Then let's just drag her there? We are two able bodied men and she's one limp noodle right now. What's stopping us?" Jose laid out the facts and shrugged carelessly.
Drew looked at Jose like he had just heard the stupidest thing he had heard in a while.
"The public's opinion is what! Do you want us to have to take a trip to the police station for reportedly kidnapping a minor?" The older of the two refuted with a hand rubbing his forehead in exasperation.
Jose groaned, this would only be entertaining if he was back in his room watching this scene unfold while snacking on warm salted caramel popcorn he could be getting from the counter right now. Then again, he doesn't want a dead person in their house. He had settled in quite comfortably here and would hate to have to move.
A phone ringing multiple times in the background caught Jose's attention. He felt around for his phone before finding it in his jogger pants pocket. He followed the sound of the ringing and found a dark blue covered phone on the kitchen table. It was Skyler's. Must have left it outside earlier. His thin lips broke into a mischievous grin as he showed Drew her ringing phone.
"Don't-" Drew tried to stop him.
"Hello?" Jose answered, ducking nonchalantly under his brother's attempt to snatch the phone from him.
On the other side of the line, Xavier did a double-take at the number he had dialed. Sure enough, it was Skyler's number. Who in Merlin's beard was this guy answering his bestie's phone? Furthermore the dude on the line sounded quite similar to the guy he had met at the funeral.
Xavier slowly tried to recall if Skyler had told him anything about this and calmed himself before asking.
"Uh, is Skyler there? I was hoping to speak to her."
"She's possibly dead or refuses to let us into her room. Any ideas?"
"What!? Dead??" He paused, "Us?"
Drew snatched the phone from Jose at that moment.
"Sorry we'll tell her you called later. Have a nice day." He ended the call swiftly before Xavier could have a chance to protest and smacked the back of his younger brother's head for choosing to go against him.
"Ow." The younger male grunted in pain.
Meanwhile, Xavier could only stand frozen in the middle of his room. He was pretty sure he heard two different male voices on the line. Had his childhood friend gotten kidnapped? Xavier did not know what he should do, aside from wait and hope to hear an update from them. But what if they didn't and were in fact kidnappers? Do kidnappers pick up phones? Well of course they do, they needed a bargaining tool after all. He tried to call again and paced around his room not sure what to do.
Meanwhile, Drew, left with no other option, told Jose to ring up a locksmith. He was determined to get Skyler to the hospital as soon as possible. No one was getting brain damage under his watch.
The locksmith got to them within 10 minutes of their call as she had been nearby on another call. She got to work quickly and opened the door within the next 5 minutes.
Upon opening the door, an awfully sickly-looking Skyler was passed out on the floor with one hand clenched in a navy silk blanket. It showed a stark contrast against her eerily pale skin that usually held a healthy tan. The locksmith stood stunned at the revelation of the pale girl. Drew handed the locksmith cash as per their agreement and nudged her out of the way. The locksmith, breaking out of her shock, left quickly to avoid getting unnecessarily pulled into their private affairs.
'Told yea. Limp noodle.' Jose muttered under his breath.
Drew quickly moved to her side to check her pulse and Jose aided him swiftly under his orders. Together, they carried her to Drew's white SUV. Even though the younger male appeared on the slimmer side than the average male population his age, Jose managed to lift the lifeless teen easily. He could barely believe how light she weighed, it felt abnormal and explained why Drew was so determined to get her to a hospital. They placed her in the backseat and buckled her in with her leaning against Jose as he held her firmly as instructed by his older brother all the way to the hospital. Drew with his quick thinking and immaculate ways had already notified them of their arrival ahead of time.
Skyler was quickly admitted into the system and sent for diagnosis. When they were done, she was diagnosed with anemia, severe gastric, malnutrition and influenza. There also appeared to be something else, but they were unsure what it was just yet. They made it clear that she was not to be left alone and needed constant monitoring for the moment. Jose had left for home after seeing the girl checked in and settled into a bed. Drew stayed back to watch over the teen, he made sure she was okay before leaving for home as well only to return the next day and repeat.
During this period, Skyler stayed unconscious throughout and only awoke on the 3rd day of her inpatient stay. She appeared listless and uncaring when she first awoke, but slowly began to respond after that day. She gave up refusing treatment quickly as she only got sedated when she did. She begrudgingly accepted what was done, was done. No point fighting it.
She was however, extremely grateful to Drew for keeping her phone charged so she could call a worried Xavier, who was on the verge of calling the police, the same day she had woken up, just to let him know she was fine before ending the call quickly. She did not want her childhood friend to know where she was, she did not want to see him, at least for now. Usually he would be the first one to know everything, but right now she needed him to stay away so she could settle her feelings and just stabilize herself emotionally and physically.
After a week spent at the hospital with Skyler drifting in and out of consciousness, they came to the conclusion that she had a condition called Narcolepsy most likely she already had it since birth but was triggered due to the sudden trauma she had gone through recently. After prescribing her suppressants to help aid her excessive daytime sleepiness, they set an appointment for her to return for a check up to see how well the medications were working.
"It will be especially crucial during the time of your period." Drew told her as Skyler stared at him speechless. He reminded her of her father.
"I'm a doctor." He stated matter of factly.
Skyler said nothing, looking almost bored aside from the slight twitch in the corner of her left brow.
"Ready to get out of the hospital?" Drew asked with a hand on her forehead out of habit to check for any fevers.
Skyler nodded albeit feeling sleepy. She could not wait to leave the hospital. She preferred the privacy of having her own room then that of the shared space in the hospital where one could disturb her peace at any given moment and invade her personal space.
They checked out that night and Drew drove them back to his place. Once they got there, Skyler went straight to her room and noticed the lock on her door had been removed.
"It's for your safety, Skyler. Like it or not, I am now your temporary guardian, meaning I'm in charge of your well-being. So please cooperate with me and help me help you, ok?" Drew told her straight when he found her staring at the missing lock on her bedroom's door.
She sighed guessing she deserved it after the last stunt she pulled on him. He had taken care of her so far without any weird moves so she decided not to pursue the matter. That did not mean she would not show her displeasure though.
"Thanks," she said shortly before slamming the door behind her in his face.
Jose came up behind Drew and patted his back as a form of sarcastic encouragement. Drew shrugged his hand off and glared at him.
"You'll be helping me, like it or not." Drew told his younger brother.
"Oh don't worry. I definitely will help." Jose smirked.
Drew turned fully to face Jose who was standing to his left and gave him a weird look. What was he up to now? The bad feeling about Jose's smirk was left aside for now as he got ready to cook a meal for the 3 of them.
When the meal was ready, he called everyone to the dining table. Skyler came but had to stop multiple times. Eventually, she was lifted to the dining table by an impatient Jose who had been eyeing the food.
"Jose?" Skyler stared at him, stunned.
"Hi!" He simply greeted her.
She turned to look at Drew as Jose placed her down gently on a dining chair under Drew's watchful eyes. The older male simply shrugged.
"Jose here, as you know, is a resident here. He is 2 years older than you and goes to the same school." Drew introduced.
Skyler had so many questions but decided not to question any further and attempted to eat the porridge set before her. It took a few tries but she could eventually stomach a few bites of it, enough to take her medication.
The first few weeks living with her new condition, Skyler found herself struggling to do simple things like getting out of bed, going out for a stroll and being motivated to do things she knew she would want to do, or rather too sleepy to do anything. Her senses were in a state of limbo between sleep and awake. It was an extremely frustrating feeling, especially when she wanted to do things like practice dancing. It was also embarrassing as she was constantly watched over by either Drew or Jose.
She found it impossibly difficult to come to terms with her current predicament.
It was late at night, she stood in the back garden of the house under the storm letting it pelt down on her, trying to wake herself from this irritable feeling of fog obscuring her mind. It worked for a bit, but soon she felt herself losing control of her own muscles and the edges of her vision began to darken. The weight of her condition and the need for constant supervision weighed heavily on her. Deep down, she understood that it was necessary for her recovery but it was none the less frustrating and extremely worrisome. She had googled it and saw that there was no cure for Narcolepsy aside from doing her best to manage it well.
Drew walked over to her, getting drenched himself. He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him.
"Skyler… We'll find a way through this." He looked her in the eyes even though she looked out of focus.
Under the pouring rain, it was hard to tell if she was crying. Either way, Drew pulled her into a hug wishing with all his heart that he could find a way to help her.