“Let me go find Eli,” Kailey said as she held out her hand for me to give her the keys. I handed them to her, and she let herself into the house while her boyfriend and I hauled the clothes inside.
The bags were so full I wondered if Alan had ordered the whole store. When Ricky and I dropped the clothes on the counter with a huff, Gabriela was by our side instantly. She began rummaging through the items with eagerness.
Gabi held up a pink blouse in her hands. "Cute!"
"Has Eli been okay?" I asked as I ignored how she held the blouse to my chest and imagined me in it.
She put down the top and bit her bottom lip nervously. "I asked him if he needed anything, but he barely responded to me. He’s been watching TV in the guest room."
I rubbed my hand on my sister's shoulder in comfort. "Thanks for watching out for him."
"I was going to whether you wanted me to or not," Gabriela said steadily, her eyelashes fluttering as she blinked.
Ricky tapped his finger on the counter repeatedly as his breaths came out with force. "Are your parents going to let him stay with you? If not then he can stay with me, my parents won’t have a problem with it. I think he would want to stay with you, though. Maybe he can alternate?"
Eli’s best friend's mind was clearly wracked with rapid thoughts running through it. The way his eyes focused blurrily on the counter showed that he was deep in thought. He wastrying to come up with solutions to the new problem at hand and it was overwhelming him.
“Hey,” I said, causing his eyes to jerk up at mine. “We’ll get it figured out, Eli won’t…”
I trailed off when I heard the loud sound of running footsteps from up the stairs. Ricky and I’s heads whipped around in a sharp motion to be met with Kailey's panicked face staring at us all.
"You guys have to see this!” her voice cracked as she shouted. “I…I don’t know what to do.”
The blood drained from my face when I saw the pure terror on Kailey’s. Once she had gotten our attention she ran back to where she came from as fast as she could, leaving no time for questions from us.
All thoughts went out of the window as my legs took off. Ricky was right behind me as we rushed up the stairs, and I heard questions from Gabriela but I was not listening to them.
I searched through each bedroom for Kailey and Eli. The lump in my throat was rising as I tore through doors like my life depended on it. There were only five rooms in the upstairs of my house, but right now it felt like I opened fifty doors that led into the abyss.
It wasn’t until I stumbled past the bathroom that I spotted them. Kailey’s hand was gripping the sink as tears streamed down her face. I eyed her nervously as I tried to understand why she was standing frozen in the bathroom. Where wasmyEli?
It took me following her frozen gaze to spot him.
There was Elias, body slumped and head draped over the toilet bowl. I couldn’t tell if he was conscious or not and his entire body being limp raised major concern. I practically slid over to him on my knees. My head cupped the back of his head as my arm wrapped around his body to make him lean on me.
Eli’s skin was clammy, cold, and his eyes were barely open. My mind forced me into thinking the worst until I saw the faint rise and fall of his chest. His breaths were shallow and irregular, but they were there.
Ricky stood idle in the doorway with a blank stare. It was like his body was glitched, he couldn’t move, speak, or feel anything. Then, to my surprise, he left the room. I did not have the time to wonder why instead of taking action to help his friend, Ricky chose to flee.
No, my priority was the broken boy lying in my arms.
"Call an ambulance,” I said hoarsely. When Kailey made no moves, my voice grew louder. “Hurry, Kailey!”
That was enough to shock Kailey back into reality. With shaky hands she dialed the number and put the phone up to her ear. "Hello? My…my friend isn’t okay. I don’t know what happened, but he’s barely awake and we don’t know what to do!”
I inhaled deeply to try and calm the pounding in my chest. When I did, I was hit with the strong stench of liquor that I had not noticed before. The smell was so large that one would think he had bathed in it. Maybe that was just because my face was so close to his and the tension of the moment was exaggerating it in my head. Regardless, he reeked of alcohol.
“His breath smells like…” I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Kailey eye’s hardened, I did not need to spell it out for her. We both understood what was happening.
I caressed my hand against Eli's cheek as Kailey spoke with the operator. His skin was cold to the touch, it was like he had ice pressed against him. I tapped his face a couple of times to keep him awake and it caused his eyes to grow wider. Eli let out a faint groan as his hand found mine.
"Hi." A faint smile formed as he watched me and struggled to speak. The grin on his face was genuine despite how terrible the circumstances.
"Hi, mi amor," I whispered, my voice wavering as I felt tears starting to swell in my eyes. I blinked them away and stayed strong. “Why’d you do this, Eli? I told you we were going to get through it. Didn’t I?”
Eli’s body squirmed in my arms, and I adjusted positions to keep him comfortable. I knew he wouldn't respond to anything I was saying, he probably wasn’t even comprehending it. Still, I had to try.
Kailey's breath hitched. "Yes, yes he's more awake now. Keep him awake, Javier."
