We finally stopped running and Arson laughed, leaning against a wall on some sort of building.
"What a rush!" he said, still laughing.
"What are you talking about?! You have asthma and you go running around like that!"
He smiled at me but started coughing a little. He kept coughing and wheezed, taking out his inhaler. He sucked it in but he was still wheezing and coughing and started to slide down the side of the building.
"Arson!"
He was wheezing horribly and was shaking, his hand unable to take the inhaler to his mouth. I grabbed the inhaler and tried to help him out but he was too scared now, making his wheezing worse. He was gulping for air, trying to breathe, clenching his chest. He tried to cough for air but he was too far along in the attack and I began to panic.
"What do I do? Arson?! How can I help? Do I need call somebody?! I'll go and-"
Arson grabbed my ankle and looked up at me, shaking. I knelt next to him and threw his arm over my neck, lifting his body up. It was shaking and his other arm was shaking, wanting to clutch his chest but unable to do so.
"You have to show me where you live... What's Chandler's number?" Arson was making strange sounds and I stopped walking, looking at him. "Arson? You have to give me something."
I leaned him against me and then reached into his pocket, grabbing his phone. I looked in his contacts and found Chandler's number, dialing it.
"Arson, you know that I'm in the middle of-"
"It's not Arson, it's me, Jane."
"Jane?"
"The one who took Arson to the hospital."
Arson coughed horribly and started almost choking, trying to breathe.
"Oh... what's the noise?"
"It's Arson. He was chased by a former gang member and now he's having an attack. I've tried to get him to take his inhaler but he's freaking out now and he's just not cooperating. What do I do? He can't walk and it's getting worse."
"Where are you?"
"By Ladeen Square."
"I'll be there in a moment."
"But what do I do?!"
"Calm down, first of all. Second, the inhaler isn't going to work. Just try and calm him down because he does get very scared. Make him sit down and try to be calm."
I looked over at Arson and he was clutching his chest, no noise coming from him, but he was looking off into space.
"Um... he's not making a sound."
"Shit... Call an ambulance. Make him breathe. You have to get him to breathe but call an ambulance or he's going to die. I'll be there in a moment."
I ended the call with shaking fingers and whacked Arson on the back. He gulped like he had drowned in a pool of water and was breathing for air. I dialed the ambulance and we went to the hospital.

***************************

I waited for Chandler to come as the doctors rushed to get Arson back to normal and breathing correctly. Chandler came in and stood beside me.
"Thank you... How is he?"
"Well, he didn't lose consciousness but he's not doing very good."
"What exactly did you guys do?"
"We were in the park and a former gang member came and started trouble. He punched the guy and then we had to run away because he was about to come after us. Then he started having an attack."
"I can't believe he did that." He said, sighing and putting his hand on his forehead. "What an idiot... And you! You knew he was asthmatic!"
"I know that! He's the one that took off running. I couldn't stop him and I'm not very cultured in asthma, you know." I growled.
"Sorry... okay... I'm just worried. He's had these for such a long time..."
I nodded and Arson walked out of the room, looking tired and haggard. He smiled a little and looked at Chandler and walked over to him. He put his head on his shoulder and Chandler sighed, patting him on the back.
"Come on, let's go. You, come with me."
"I have a name, you know."
"Jan or something?"
"Jane... It's Jane..." I grumbled.

*****************

I followed Chandler in his car to his dorm. I helped Arson out and we went to the university. Chandler took out his keys and unlocked the door.
"Put him on that bed over there."
"Are you alright?" I asked as I walked him over to the bed.
"I feel a bit dizzy..." he said softly as I laid him down. He moaned a little. "Chandler, my arm hurts."
"You need to lay down if you say you're dizzy. You can't take anything because of the ipratropium."
"The doctors never said that." Arson argued.
"Well, the doctors aren't here and you're in my care. We don't know what Lortab and ipratropium will do if they mix. You could die."
Arson sighed as Chandler got a big blanket and covered him with it.
"Here's your inhaler. Now stay put because I have to have a little talk with Jane."
Arson narrowed his eyes but gave a salute, seething when his arm moved a little.
Chandler grabbed my arm and walked me down to the little café that was on the first floor of the dorms.

********************

"You hungry?" he asked as he purchased a muffin from the counter.
"No, I just ate."
He nodded and handed the lady his money. He walked over to a table and sat down so I followed him, assuming he wanted me to follow him. I was afraid that he was going to get all weird on me but he unwrapped the muffin and bit into the top of it.
"Are you dating my brother?"
"Me? Not that I'm aware of. He asked to take a walk in the park or whatever so..."
"You're the first person besides that dumb gang he was in that he's shown any interest in. My brother and I haven't had the best of lives. Our parents died when I was twelve and he was ten. He was really never the same after that, going into a horrible depression. You mentioned before that I should guard him better considering I am his guardian. As bad as it seems when I say this, when Arson picked up a bottle of beer once and got a little tipsy, I saw that he opened up. It was the first time in years that he had looked anything like the way he was before. In happiness and for fear that there may be nothing else, I decided that that was best for him."
"Getting drunk was good for him?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Like I said, I know it sounds absurd but you never saw him the way I did. He was finally acting like his old self and I thought 'why ruin a good thing'? But I wasn't expecting the gang... That's when things got complicated and I realized that I had lost my grip on something I thought I had a hold on. He was slipping through my fingers and soon, I lost him completely. I was only good enough as the person who could save him if he had an attack."
"I don't understand what you're trying to tell me, Chandler."
Chandler took the paper off the muffin and stuffed half of it in his mouth.
"He might not have asked you out, but you don't understand how grateful he is to you. If he quit that gang like you say and that this is the result of it, then whatever he pursues with you, I wish you all the best. This is first time that he actually made any effort to better himself."
"Can I ask why if he has asthma he's in a gang? And if his asthma is as bad as what I've seen..."
"The reason it's so bad is because he was born prematurely. It's a little on the chronic side than most people. As for why he was in the gang, it has to do with when he was little. The kids at school used to provoke his asthma, liking to watch him gasp like a fish and laughing at him. There were horribly cruel kids at our school and one day, he decided that he would be the most lethal asthmatic out there. They didn't call him the Asthmatic Attacker for nothing on the street."
I laughed a little and Chandler smiled a real smile at me.
"I will admit that I'm not the best guardian in the world. People believe me to be strange and overwhelmed with my scientific studies, but this is all I have. Our parents left both me and Arson money for us to go through college and make something of ourselves. I hope that one day I'll discover something amazing... Because of that, I put my own brother in the back of my mind and forget about him sometimes. But I couldn't ignore when he asked for you as soon as he woke up. He's never taken an interest in other people until now."
"You're not saying I'm the magic one here, are you?" I said, making a face.
"I'm just saying your kindness, as cliché as it seems, changed him. Something about you gave him something to strive for. I'm just saying, for his sake, please don't make it a short time thing. He needs someone like you who is logical and headstrong to push him in the right direction."
"Um... okay... This conversation went from confusing to more confusing. I don't know what I did but I'm just going to accept what you've been saying as a big thank you and head on my way. I have terms to study for."
I got up and started to head out when Chandler grabbed my arm.
"Jane, I need to warn you about something."
"Okay."
"When Arson sets his ways, he sets them all the way. If he's decided to hang out with you now, he will do everything he can to make that so. Just fair warning just in case he comes in the middle of the night."
"In the middle of the night?"
"I never said he stopped drinking."
"If he's taking Lortab, he shouldn't be touching alcohol." I said with a frown. "A scientist like you should know that."
"Of course he's not now but still..."
I nodded, not really sure what had just been said here but I guess it was Chandler's 'blessing' for me. Whatever that meant.