"Robert? Robert… Get up"
Like a floodgate opening, waves of blinding pain come crashing down on Robert Chase's frail body. Beads of sweat produce on his fair forehead and his breathing speeds up. A near death experience every morning gets old fast.
"I have your pills, here" soothes Cindy, the morning ritual becoming muscle memory. Chase's shaking hand reaches up to grab the ever increasing fistful of pills from his sister's hand and throws them into his mouth. Instant relief allows him to sit up slowly in the dim, damp and dingy apartment he was barely able to procure with the little money he had. Cindy looks so out of place, he thought. Her fair skin and arctic smile illuminated the room better than the solitary, shade-less flickering lightbulb could. Honey hair that tickled her waist hid the clock until she bent down to pick up the glass of water she brought daily. Eight forty-seven.
"You're going to be late, sis. What are you doing still hanging around here?" he mewed weakly, brushing his golden forelock out of his topaz eyes.
"You had another nightmare. I wasn't sure if I should've woken you or not…" Chase sighed apologetically. "It's getting worse, Robert! You take more pills every day and you're in more and more pain… You cry at night and you've lost loads of weight… I'm scared"
"Cindy, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about anything except for school. As long as you wake me up every morning, I'll study, get my degree, get paid and we'll leave this shit hole, ok?"
She crinkles her nose indignantly whilst the blonde Australian climbs to his shaking legs. "The meds are clearly not working anymore… Please can you go to the doctors and get your meds adjusted?"
"Cindy, I don't need them adjusted." Everything goes black and he grabs the cold wall until his vision fades in and the ground stops swirling. "D-dad is a good doctor and he knew what he was doing when he gave me the scrip. They do work! W-would you rather be able to eat every night or have me be chugging a pricier pill that does the same thing?"
Cindy gets up from her perfectly poised kneeling position and elegantly glides towards him, taking his waist and walking him back towards the moulting sofa. "I'd rather you not be in excruciating pain every single morning…"
Chase's vision is now fully restored and Cindy's concerned expression fills his heart with guilt. "I'm not." How does she do that? Ginormous cerulean marbles exude sorrow above shocking white teeth nibbling rosebud lips designed to force out an apology. Cindy always knew how to get what she wanted and all she had to do was make the face. "Ugh. Ok. My exam is this morning- I'll get that out of the way and then make an appointment this afternoon, happy?"
"Ecstatic." Wrapping her slender arms around his neck- all Chase can think is how much he already hates today. Even the prospect makes his skin crawl; well, at least he got a hug out of it…
"Oh my god eight fifty-two, get out and go to school already!" She smirks in mock disapproval and leaves promptly not bothering to lock the door- after all, who'd rob this dump?