~*~GENE~*~
"F-Finny," I stammered out his name. He glared, balancing all his weight on his good leg while he shifted the crutches under his armpits. "Phineas," I amended, "please, let me help you."
"You've helped enough," he grunted, pushing himself forward. His eyes sat like two, glowing emeralds atop his sallow cheeks. They sparkled with what looked like tears, but he looked away before I could be sure.
I swallowed around the lump in my throat and managed to choke out, "You shouldn't be up longer than you need to be. You're too weak-" His eyes turned onto me in an instant, and I knew I'd said the wrong thing.
"Whose fault is it Gene?! Whose fault is it that I'm stuck like this? Crippled!" The word stung my face, and I burned all over. I dropped to my knees, never too proud to beg. He threw his crutches down with such force that they bounced and skidded across the carpet. His face became shocked with a sudden white as he struggled to hold himself upright. He couldn't. He started to lower himself down, to save a little face, but even that was too much of an effort. He dropped onto the edge of his cot and it capsized, dropping him unceremoniously onto the floor. It was demeaning for him, I knew, but it would be worse if I helped. My desperate apologies rose like bile in my throat, but I swallowed them down and made myself look away. This moment seemed too personal. Even for me, his best friend. No, not that. What were we, now that I'd ruined his life, stolen all of his dreams?
"That's fitting," Finny croaked after few minutes, "down on your knees." My head whipped back to him, and I started to stand.
"No. Stay there." His voice had an edge to it that I didn't even know he was capable of.
The moon was a thick, white orb in the darkening sky and sleep massaged seductively at my temples, but I stayed there on my knees. Even when my thighs began to cramp and I suddenly got shin-splints, I didn't even shift to alleviate the discomfort.
Sometime during the night I gave in to sleep and now awoke with a start. A small quilt rolled off of my shoulders to the floor. I looked up just in time to see Phineas flop back onto his bed.
"Finny?" I chanced calling out his name, and prepared myself for the bitter reply.
"Go to bed, Gene," he yawned. "You're going to owe me big tomorrow." I couldn't help but smile, a slow, goofy looking thing that carried me through the night and into the morning. I was forgiven.
