The next day, I was done puking but Lizzy and mom wouldn’t let me go back to school. I wanted to see my friends but I was still running a slight fever. “Seamus Fitzpatrick you sit down right now!” Lizzy shouted as she came in my room and saw me trying to sneak out of the window.

I pouted and sat back down on my bed. She slammed my window shut and crossed her arms. “You are to stay in bed young man!” I rolled my eyes. “Yes ma’am,” I said sarcastically.

She watched me as I pulled out my phone and started to text. “Who are you texting?” she asked suspiciously. “Richie. I want to see if he’s sick. Now get out of my room.” “I’m coming back and if you’re gone, I will drag you back here by your toes and chain you to the damn bed!”

Lizzy left my room and I could hear her footsteps going down the stairs. I pulled out my iPod and listened to As You Wish by Alesana.

“Will you forgive what I’ve done?”

I let out a sigh.

What was Alex going to say? What was Addie going to say? What was I going to do? What was going to happen to PacMan? If he did make it, what would Cliff do? What did the future hold? Death? Happiness? As if.

Bored, I grabbed an old yearbook. I liked flipping through the yearbooks and laughing at how we all used to be. I flipped open to a page where Cliff and PacMan had their arms slung around each other, grinning easily at the camera when they were 5. There was a picture of Richie giving me a piggy back ride at recess.

I dug around under my bed until I found the old photo album dad had given me as a present for my 10th birthday. Memories from school and home. I opened it and found the picture I had been hoping to see.

PacMan carrying me bridal style, both of us laughing at age 9. Dad was in the background with a smile on his face.

I shoved it all back under my bed and dropped my face into my hands. PacMan. He didn’t deserve this. I deserved it. It was my fault this was happening to him. Poor guy. All he ever wanted was for others to be happy and now he was dying for it.

I fell asleep and felt myself being woken up sometime later. I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at Lizzy.

She had tears in her eyes.

I sat up instantly. Had Josh done something? I would kill him if he had made my sister cry. “What?” I asked, immediately alert. She sat next to me and wrapped her arms around me. “What’s going on?!” I cried.

She sniffed and leaned back to look my in the eyes. “Well…you know how the stomach bug is going around?” I nodded slowly. “Yea.” “And how when someone who’s hurt gets sick, it makes it harder to get better?”

My eyes widened.

“N-No,” I whispered. “NO!” She wiped her eyes. “I’m so sorry Shame,” she said quietly. “God dammit!” I shrieked. “What the hell did Paxton do to deserve this?!”

Lizzy took a deep breath. “Seamus…they don’t think he’ll make it. He’s already having trouble breathing and now he’s throwing up. And he’s throwing up blood and whatever food they’ve managed into him.”

“You’re lying!” I yelled, desperately searching for a way out of the nightmarish reality being forced into my brain.

More tears entered her eyes. Those were the words I had screamed when the cops had told us their theory about dad.

I got out of bed and stormed downstairs. “Shame! Come back!” Lizzy cried. “Josh! Josh stop him!”

Josh hurried over and grabbed me before I could get out the front door. “Let me go!” I cried as he forced me into the living room. Lizzy came downstairs and blocked the doorway. Josh held me tightly as mom came in, looking sad. “Seamus, you can’t run away every time someone tells you something you don’t like to hear.”

“SHUT UP YOU CHEATING WHORE!” I screamed.

She looked shocked. “Y-You will not speak to me in that tone young man!” she said sternly. “You cheated on my dad!” I cried angrily. “You said it yourself Seamus! He’s gone!” she yelled back, tears in her eyes.

No. Mom had never admitted that before. Never. Even if she knew it was true, she refused to say it to us. To say it was to make it true. I was almost speechless. “No,” I whispered. “You’re wrong.” She let a tear roll down her cheek. “Seamus, you said it. You said that he’s gone.”

I shook my head violently. “No I didn’t.” I was so confused. “Seamus?” Lizzy spoke gently. They way you speak to a frightened or dying animal. “What?” I asked. She bit her lip. “Seamus, dad isn’t coming back. Alright?” I shook my head. “Yes he is.”

They all exchanged looks like I was crazy. I wasn’t crazy. Was I? Mom slowly walked towards me and I cringed away. Josh looked down at me. “You’re hurting me,” I whispered. He released my arms where bruises in the shape of his fingers were forming. “Oh shit! Sorry Shame!” he cried.

I slowly backed away from Josh and mom. Lizzy was looking at me oddly. Why? “Dr. Holst?” mom said to Lizzy. Lizzy nodded. Huh? What about him? “Josh…please?” Lizzy asked. He nodded.

Josh grabbed me again and I began to panic. “No! Let me go!” I cried in fear. What was going on? What were they doing to me?

They got me into the car and drove me to the Holst’s house. Josh carried me inside. “Alex?” I asked. She was sitting at the table looking bored as her dad and Dr. Holst talked.

“Seamus?” she said in surprise. “Seamus? What’s wrong?” Dr. Holst asked. “Take him to the living room Josh,” Lizzy said.

Josh carried me away.

***Alex’s POV***

I watched as the guy, Josh, carried Seamus away. What was going on? “He…well, we don’t know. One minute he’s incredibly angry and the next he’s scared and confused. It’s almost like he snapped. We were talking about my dad,” Lizzy explained.

“Like, he went crazy?” I asked in confusion. Lizzy bit her lip but then nodded. “Yea. It’s almost like he went crazy. Is that normal when cooping with situations like this?” Dr. Holst looked thoughtful. “I’ve seen it before. He probably convinced his mind that his father is coming back. It’s not good. You need to gently break it to him.”

“Can I do it?”

I covered my mouth.

They all looked at me. “Maybe you should. He might listen to you,” Lizzy said at last. I awkwardly stood up and hurried into the living room.

Seamus was curled up on the couch and shaking. He looked up at me. “I’ll be in the kitchen. Call if you need me,” the Josh guy said before leaving.

“Hey Seamus,” I said and sat next to him. He slowly uncurled and looked at me. Ohmigosh his eyes were so beautiful. I carefully held his hand and looked into his eyes, almost getting too lost in them to speak.

“Seamus, where is your dad?” I asked, speaking gently. “He’s away. He’s coming back soon,” he said. I shook my head. “No Seamus. He’s gone. Your dad is gone,” I whispered. He shook his head. “No he’s not!” he cried desperately. “He can’t be gone! I need him!”

He was so vulnerable. It was out of character for him. It broke my heart to watch. “We need you Seamus. You can’t loose yourself.” I gently pressed my lips to his. Lizzy came running in, cell phone in hand, looking panicked and I hurriedly pulled away from Seamus. She had tears flooding her eyes. “What?” Seamus and I asked together.

“Paxton! Oh god!” 

A.N- This chapter sucks, because I was experimenting with character personalities when I wrote it. So...yea :)