15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

He said, “I’ll be fine, Lily,” and then he started to make his pallet on the
floor. I told him to wait there and then I went to the kitchen and poured him a
glass of water. I found some medicine in the cabinet. It was flu medicine and I
wasn’t even sure if that’s what was wrong with him, but I made him take some
anyway.
He laid there on the floor, curled up into a ball, when, about half an hour
later he said, “Lily? I think I’m gonna need a trash can.”
I jumped up and grabbed the trash can from under my desk and knelt down
in front of him. As soon as I set it down, he hunched over it and started
throwing up.
God, I felt bad for him. Being so sick and not having a bathroom or a bed
or a house or a mother. All he had was me and I didn’t even know what to do
for him.
When he was finished, I made him drink some water and then I told him to
get on the bed. He refused, but I wasn’t having it. I put the trash can on the
floor next to the bed and made him move to the bed.
He was so hot and shaking so bad I was just scared to leave him on the
floor. I laid down next to him and every hour for the next six hours he
continued getting sick. I kept having to take the trash can to the bathroom to
empty it out. I’m not gonna lie, it was gross. The grossest night I’ve ever had,
but what else could I do? He needed me to help him and I was all he had.
When it came time for him to leave my room this morning, I told him to go
back to his house and I’d be over to check on him before school. I’m surprised he
even had the energy to crawl out of my window. I left the trash can next to my
bed and waited for my mom to come wake me up. When she did, she saw the
trash can and immediately held her hand to my forehead. “Lily, are you okay?”
I groaned and shook my head. “No. I was up all night sick. I think it’s over
now, but I haven’t slept.”
She picked up the trash can and told me to stay in bed, that she’d call the
school and let them know I wasn’t coming. After she left for work, I went and
got Atlas and told him he could stay with me at the house all day. He was still
getting sick, so I let him use my room to sleep. I’d check on him every half hour
or so and finally around lunch he stopped throwing up. He went and took a
shower and then I made him some soup.
He was too tired to even eat it. I got a blanket and we both sat down on the
couch and covered up together. I don’t know when I started feeling comfortable
enough to snuggle up to him, but it just felt right. A few minutes later, he