Only the Heart Knows Why

Nine: Rescue

(Characters belong to me and Azathoia. Please read his version “Only the Heart Knows Why, Quax’s Days”… Have a nice day.)

“Mmm…” My eyes open when I hear an annoying ringing fill my room. I sit up and look around, wondering what the hell is making so much noise, and then I find it… My phone is sitting next to my pillow. When the hell did that get there? I pick it up and answer it groggily. “Ugh, hello? Who the hell is this?” I’m not in the mood for being pleasant right now.

“Hey,” whispers the voice on the other end. “It’s Quax…”

Him, huh? “How the hell did you get my number?”

“I, uh… don’t remember…”

I start to wake up a little bit more, but I still feel sleepy. “.. You dropped by and left my phone here, didn’t you?” I yawn, wanting to get back to sleep.

“Yeah… Some guy took it…”

“Some guy?” I shake my head and try to focus more. There’s something… not right about this. Why would he suddenly call me in the middle of the night? And his voice… “Nevermind. What the fuck is wrong with you? You sound horrible.”

He hesitates a bit before answering me. “Well… I wasn’t feeling well.. So I took some pills.”

“Uh huh… you should get some sleep then, dude.”

“No, wait… Please.. don’t leave…” My blood starts to go cold. Something is definitely wrong here.

“…Okay, what did you do?”

There is a long pause and I don’t think he’s going to answer, but then he does. “… I think I took too many…”

“Fuuuuck.” How could he have been so stupid?! “Can’t you wake up your folks for this?”

My concern only grows with the next thing he says. “My dad will kill me if I do… He already pushed me down the stairs earlier…”

“He what?” If I wasn’t fully awake before, I definitely am now.

“He pushed me down the stairs… the ones to the basement…”

I jump out of bed and walk out of my room. “Alright, where are you?”

A short pause. “I don’t know…” I hear him cough something up and I shiver. “I think I’m in my room…”

“Would I even be able to get in?” I’m pretty sure his front door would be locked.

After yet another pause, he sounds like he’s on the verge of breaking down. “I’m sorry I called you.” I can hear him start crying. “I don’t want to die…” There’s nothing I can say to that, and I hesitate a moment before grabbing Aledren’s car keys. As I am heading out the front door, Quax says something else. “… Maybe it’s best I do.”

I glare in front of me and try not to shout into the phone. “Listen to me, alright? You won’t die. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Do not give up, Quaxillion.” I open the driver side door and climb in, shutting it behind me and neglecting the seat belt.

“Hehe.. You remembered my name… I guess that’s why I love you…”

I just look at the phone a moment. He must be losing it now. I put it back to my ear to tell him, “Just stay awake, alright?” I then start the engine and pull out onto the road, the radio coming to life as I start driving to get him.

He doesn’t say anything for a while, but when he does it’s something rather random. “What color is the sky of Mars?”

I blink in confusion. “What?”

“.. I see purple and silver checks…”

He’s getting weirder. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but keep talking.”

“Ugh.” I hear a thump sound, and then Quax’s voice saying, “Walls hurt…”

“Quax, why are you walking?” I question him, then have to turn quick to avoid a collision with another vehicle. They honk at me but I could care less about what they’d want to say to me.

“I need some water…”

“I’m almost there,” I assure him. “Could you meet me outside your house?”

“Are you gonna leave me if I say no..?” Leave him?

“What do you mean? If you can’t get outside, I’ll fucking break in and get you.” And I do mean it.

“Alright, alright,” he says, probably realizing that I really fucking did mean it. “I’ll meet you…”

“Good. Now…” I turn sharply into the driveway and slam on the brakes, putting it in park before opening my door and getting out. “I dunno, just keep talking.”

“… About what?” and then I see him open his door and fall against the wall.

I swiftly put my phone in my pocket and run over to him. “Quax… are you awake?” I look down at him. He’s actually wearing pants for once, but no shirt. At least he has socks on, I guess.

“Yeah…” He looks so weak and helpless. I never would have imagined seeing him in such a state. I was always so used to him being weird and wearing all those skirts. He always seemed so unique, but now…

I reach for him. “Okay,” I say, picking him up. Oh my god, he’s so light. How much does he eat?? I carry him over to the car and set him down a moment to open the passenger side door. I carefully put him inside and then shut the door, running back over to my side and climbing back in again, closing my door as soon as I’m seated, and I put the car into reverse to pull out of the yard, then I start going down the road again. “Now, talk about something, anything, just stay awake.”

“Mm…” I glance over to see him rest his head on the door. “I just wanna sleep…”

“Not yet!” I immediately regret shouting at him. Shouting would only make this worse…

“Why not?” he asks after a moment.

“Because…” I think of something. “I want you to talk.”

“.. What about?”

“Uhh…” Think of something, come on think! “What was the best day you ever had?”

“The day my dad got arrested…”

I nod to myself lightly. “What happened?”

“He got drunk at a bar and spent the night with the police… My mom let me stay up and watch Letterman.”

I can’t help the small laugh that escapes me. Letterman, huh? “When was that? … Whoa,” I suddenly notice that I’m about to miss a turn so I jerk the steering wheel, making a really sharp left turn. Oh, fuck, I’m sure he didn’t like that. “Sorry about that…”

“Ugh…” I hope I didn’t just lessen his chances of surviving. “A couple of months ago…”

“What do you hope to do in the future?” I ask him then as I start to speed up. “Have any career plans?”

“I just wanna get away…”

I frown knowingly as the familiar feeling settles in. “I know that feeling well…”

Quax doesn’t say anything else for awhile. I’m about to ask him if he’s still awake when he finally says, “He locked me out…”

“When?”

“On Tuesday… after work…”

Tuesday… that was some crappy weather. “Hm…” I glance at our surroundings and turn onto the next street. “Where’d you go?”

“I was gonna see you,” he tells me after a little bit, “but you were mad at me…”

It hurts to realize how much I actually hurt him. Quietly, I say the only thing I can. “I would have helped…”

“… I met some guy in an alley…”

I can feel myself getting tense now. Guys and alleys never mix well. “And what did he do?”

“… The stories about finding drunk guys in the middle of the night… they’re all true.”

My hands clench the wheel tightly, so much that my knuckles actually start to go white. No one deserved that. I ignore the red lights as we go passed them now, seeing the hospital coming up. “We’re almost there.”

He’s quiet until he whispers to me, “Where are we going?”

“The hospital.”

“No, please…” Is he begging? “They’ll call my parents…”

I pull up by the building and turn to Quax after cutting the engine. “Just… just go ahead and sleep now, Quax. You’ll be safe. I promise.”

“Don’t tell them,” he begs again. “Please…”

“Don’t worry.” I just look at him. “Just sleep for now.”

He slowly leans back and closes his eyes then. I wait a couple minutes to make sure he’s asleep, then get out of the car, closing the door behind me. I walk around to his side and pull his door open, taking him out and into my arms, and I kick the door shut. Then I let out a breath and start carrying him to the hospital, starting to dread what will be waiting for me at home later, but for now all that matters is Quax, and getting the doctors to save his life.