Chapter 1
Tiredness takes over my form as I feel her wrap her arms around me, "Will you should come to bed, your exhausted and you feel warm"she says to me, "I'm fine"I say wearily, "you're not, now come to bed"she says grabbing my arm. She helps me from the chair and gently guides me to the bathroom. She sits me on the toilet and starts to run a shower, "Caroline you don't have to do this"I say, "yes I do, you deserve to be taken care of, you take care of Cesar and your father all the time, let someone care for you for a change"She says. I let her help me into the shower and I let the hot water run over my body. It feels good, relaxing, and I start to realize maybe I need this, maybe I need to be cared for. I get out after a bit and she helps me dry off and get into pajamas. Then she grabs the thermometer and takes me to bed. I lay down and get under the covers once there and she sits me up and takes my temperature. "103, Will baby that's not good, that's high, I'm thinking I can get the fever down myself but if it's not down in 2 hours we're going to the ER"she says, "OK, there's Tylenol in my bag "I say tiredly.
She leaves the room and after a few minutes comes back with a glass of water and pills. She gives them to me and I swallow them with water and I lay down. She sits down beside me and rubs my temples and shoulders, "baby your really tense"she says as I grimace, "I know, I've just been stressed"I say, "well try to relax ok"she says. I relax and eventually fall asleep as she puts a wet cloth across my forehead. I don't know how long I sleep but when I wake up I feel worse than I did before. Caroline is there and I feel her stir as she realizes I'm awake, "shh, you awake, what's wrong"she asks, "I feel sick"I say scrambling out of the covers and barely making it to the bathroom. I throw up into the toilet as she rubs my back and I eventually finish and lean back into her. "You're burning up again, it's time to go to an ER, what happened to your leg"she asks gently leaning me against the wall and taking a look at it. "Remember I fell when we went hiking the other day into that ravine, I cut my leg up, I thought it was fine and I left it alone after we cleaned it up"I say. "yeah, why didn't you get it checked out like you said you would"she asks running her fingers through my hair, "I got busy"I say, "of course you did, you always do"she says.
She helps me get up and I lean against her as we go downstairs and she leaves a note on the front table. Then we go out to the car and I get in the passenger seat, laying my head against the window. I start to remember what happened as I fall asleep.
I feel dirt run through my fingers as I struggle to keep a hold of the edge of the ravine, "shit, shit"I say as I lose my grip and fall all the way down. After a never ending drop to the bottom, I get there and I realize I'm bleeding, mainly my hands and my leg. I hear a voice, Caroline's, and foot steps, Cesars, as they approach the ravine. "Will what happened"she yells down to me, "I fell, I'm going to try and get up"I say getting on my knees and then to my feet. I find a tree and somehow manage to climb the branches until I can't anymore, I'm too tired. Then Cesar helps me by grabbing my arm and putting me on his back til we're at the top. By this point I'm winded and tired, as she hands me a bottle of water and then kneels down and rolls up my pants leg. It's bad I can tell by the way she grimaces, "Cesar, get the first aid kit out of my bag"she signs, "yes"he signs. He gets it and then she proceeds to clean up my leg, "damn,ouch"I say she wipes my leg with a alcohol wipe and once it stops bleeding wraps it in gauze and tapes it. Then she helps me up and we start to hike out, and of course it starts to rain. We get to the car and I climb into the passenger seat, and then we pull off into the storm.