Author's Note:
Alright! So just a little trigger warning, there is some graphic description of burns in here, but it's really brief. I just thought I should warn you. Alright, carry on.
After realizing that Zack was having a little freak out, Melissa and Milo turned their bikes around to go calm him down. Milo pulled a paper bag out of his backpack for Zack to hyperventilate into, and after a few minutes they were on their own way home, or at least to Milo's house; because Lard World was so far away, everyone's parents agreed that they it was okay for them to go by themselves if they didn't each try to go home alone in the dark, hence the sleepover that they were going to be having. By the time that they had biked up to their neighborhood, the sun had started to set, so it was probably a good call.
"Hey, kids, did you have a good time at Lard World?" Mrs. Murphy asked as they kids came in from the garage.
"Yes, mam." Melissa and Zack chimed.
"Thanks for letting us go on our own, Mom." Milo said as he pried the crazed raccoon off the legs of his shorts and let it out a window. (It's a long story, don't ask)
"It was no problem, you all are plenty responsible and you made a good a case for yourselves." Yeah, there was a lot of begging involved in getting this trip planned. "I made some snacks for you, if you want some."
"What you got?" Zack asked, peaking over at the counter. Perched there was a plate of tasty looking smores. "Cool, smores."
"Thanks, Mom, can we take these up to my room?" Milo asked as he grabbed the plate of treats, looking up at his mother with what could only be described as a doe-eyed look.
"Sure, just so long as you bring the plate back." All the kids grinned before dashing away and up the stairs. "No running!"
…Just a few minutes later…
"I still can't believe you convinced your dad to let you stay the night here." Zack said as he swallowed a bit of smore.
"Zack, I've stayed the night here plenty of times." Melissa rolled her eyes. "I even stayed the night here with you a month or two back for that Dr. Zone marathon."
"Yeah, and I surprised that he let you do it then too. Your dad is really protective."
"Yeah, well, Dad trusts me." Melissa crossed her arms with a look of confidence that was immediately squished by the dual looks of disbelief. "Plus, he has Milo's dad give the place a full inspection each time I'm going to stay the night."
"Well that's silly, Dad inspects the house every week." Milo snorted, waving a hand at the idea that his house was anything safe.
"Speaking of your dad, should we call and warn him about the raccoon you let out in the backyard?" Melissa asked, arching her head like she was going to try to look out the window. Just as she said, as if by magic, but more likely by Murphy's law, there was a crash and shout downstairs.
"I think he knows." Milo frowned, pressing his lips together as shouts from his father to get the raccoon repellent were heard through the floor. Opps.
"Well, that happened…" Zack sighed, before looking to the side like he was think of something. "So, have you really been struck by lightning twice? And on your birthday both times?"
"Yeah, and I've got some really cool scars from it to, want to see?" Milo grinned, already lifting the hem of his shirt, just a little too eager to show off his old wounds, before Melissa stopped him.
"Woah, Milo, keep your shirt on." She said as she grabbed his hands and put them at his sides. "Maybe we can just tell him about what happened."
"Yeah, it seems like a neat story… or two stories, technically." Zack leaned back, preparing himself mentally for what he was about to here.
"Alright, then-" Melissa started before Zack interrupted.
"Wait, you're telling the story?"
"Do you really want Milo overexplaining what it felt like to be struck by lightning?" Melissa asked flatly, with an equally as flat look on her face.
"No."
"Alright, then, the first time was when we were six, or when Milo turning seven, I guess…" Melissa started, wiggling her fingers around to signal the ripple effect.
"Hello, Mr. Chase, thanks for bringing Melissa over. Milo hasn't had anybody over for a birthday in two years." Mr. Murphy greeted as he opened the door.
"Do I want to know why?"
"No." Martin sighed before looking down at Melissa, who was grinning up at him. "Hey, Melissa, you ready to have some fun? Milo is really excited to have you over."
"Yes, sir." Melissa nodded, then she quickly dashed past his legs into the house.
"Hey, Melissa, Milo is getting ready in his bedroom." Sara said as Melissa ran by her in the living room.
"Thanks." She smiled, giving her a wave before climbing up the stairs like some sort of precious orange monkey, because it's somehow faster than just running up them. "Milo!" Melissa shouted as she approached his room. Milo popped out of his room, wearing a pair of bright purple swim shorts and an off-white t-shirt.
"Melissa, where's your bathing suit? "Milo asked, looking at her dress, puzzled.
"Under my clothes, silly. Are you ready to play?" She asked as they headed back towards the stairs. "Oh, and happy birthday, how does it feel to be seven now? Is it awesome? I bet it's awesome."
"It's fine, I guess." Milo shrugged before brightening up. "Mom set up a slip'n'slide and sprinklers… but, uh," Milo frowned. "just so you know, the stuff is probably going to break. Also, we can't have those hotdogs I promised. The grill still hasn't re-entered the atmospe- atmosphere since it entered orbit this summer, and the oven exploded yesterday and the repair man can't be here until tomorrow."
"That's okay, we got chips and stuff, right? Plus, I brought movies for us to watch after the hose pops." Melissa smiled, patting her backpack.
"Awesome." Milo grinned as they finished walking down the stairs and the both made a dash for the backyard.
Luckily enough it seemed to be a light day for Murphy's Law, Milo had only fallen over a few times, a tree branch fell off the tree but it missed the two children entirely, and the sprinklers only got jammed three times; so Milo and Melissa just got to have fun for a while. They played sprinkler tag, which had then dissolved into just regular tag, and had a contest to see who could slide down the slip-n-slide fastest. It was one of best birthdays Milo had so far, especially considering last year's birthday festivities had ended with a small asteroid crashing into their backyard and making the back wall of their house collapse. But after around an hour and a half, Melissa started to get bored. She looked up in the sky and saw some scary looking clouds.
"Hey, Milo, can we go inside and watch movies now?" Melissa asked, absentmindedly using her toes to plugs some of the sprinklers holes. "It looks like it's going to rain."
"Sure, can I just do the slip-n-slide a few more times?" He asked, pointing towards the object in question.
"Okay, I'm going to go inside." Melissa smiled, trotting into the house. After getting dressed and going back into the living room, she suddenly heard the sound thunder and a shout.
"And that's what happened the first time." Melissa smiled as she finished the story.
"Wait, what happened after that?" Zack asked, eyes wide. "You can't just give me all the that backstory and then just stop at the climax!"
"Oh, fine, Mister Picky."
Melissa, Sara, and Mr. and Mrs. Murphy ran out into the backyard at the sound of the scream. Milo's blood curdling screams could be heard throughout the house and probably the next few houses over. When Melissa arrived in the backyard, Milo's family had already gathered around him. He was writhing around on ground, letting out pain shouts as his face screwed up in pain, desperate not to let his upper back touch the ground. Melissa felt panic swell up in her tiny chest. She had never heard Milo scream like that before, whenever he got a scrap or a cut he might yelp at the most. How badly was he hurt?
"What happened?" Melissa asked, running up to the group just as Mr. Murphy picked up Milo.
"Milo was struck by lightning, we've got to go to the hospital." He gasped, running out the back gate towards the car.
"Come on, sweetie, we've got to hurry." Mrs. Murphy said, grabbing her and Sara's hands and dragging them off quickly after her husband. They quickly climbed in the car and Milo was laid down between Sara and Melissa in the middle seat, his head on Sara's lap and his feet on Melissa's.
"Shouldn't we call an ambulance?" Melissa squeaked as Mr. Murphy torn out of the drive way. She was scared, Milo was still crying and squirming, his dad was speeding down the street- her heart was beating so hard she could feel it in her teeth.
"I can get there faster."
Melissa nodded before looking over at Milo. His sister was stroking his head and whispering comforting words to him. Suddenly, Milo turned onto his side to get the pressure of is back and Melissa saw it. The back of his shirt was in tatters from the lightning strike, burnt around the edges, revealing the terrible result of the strike. Milo had deep burns branching across his back like roots, in some parts they were so deep that you could see the fatty layer of the skin. The area around the deeper burns were an angry red and already blistering. It was disgusting, there was some char around the edges- the smell-
"Melissa, don't look at them." Sara said, jarring her out of the trance she hadn't realized she had been in.
"Right." Melissa gulped before joining Sara in trying to comfort Milo.
By the time they got to the hospital the car was missing two hubcaps and had a considerable dent in the front, but they got there in one piece. Milo was rushed off, and the Murphys and Melissa were sentenced to the waiting room while Milo was being treated.
"I better call your father to come get you, I'm sorry this happened. I hope you and Milo had a good time." Mr. Murphy said, taking out his phone, only for Melissa to whine and try to smack it out of his hands.
"Nooooo! Don't call Daddy, I want to see what happens to Milo." Melissa wailed, yanking on his sleeve. "I wanna make sure he is okay."
"Melissa…"
"Pllleeeaaassseee. If you send me home, I'll be worried about Milo, and then I'll cry. I'll cry all night and worry about Milo." Melissa argued, still tugging on the sleeve.
"Alright, but I at least need to tell him where you at, alright?"
"Alright."
It only took thirty minutes, but Milo's doctor came out and explained that yes, Milo was struck by lightning, but luckily it was a glancing blow, so to speak, so there wasn't any internal damage, only some intense third and second degree burns on his back. It would take a while, but it'd heal up. He also had some electrolyte imbalances that they were treating with meds. They were given permission to see Milo and off they went. They couldn't get there faster, they were all incredibly worried about Milo, this was the big accident to happen in awhile, certainty the first major one to happen with Melissa around. As such, Melissa was rushing ahead of them to Milo's room on her short, little legs. When Melissa opened the door to Milo's room, she saw him lying in bed on his side, sort of pale and had a few IVs in his arm, his eyes were closed.
"Daddy, they've given me a bunch of medicine this time." Milo said, having heard people enter the room, but when he opened his eyes he saw Melissa walking towards him, his family lagging behind. "Melissa?"
"Hey, Milo, are you okay?" Melissa smiled, walking up to his bed.
"I'm okay… My face is itchy from medicine." Milo said, smiling a little, before frowning and looking down at his cot. "You've come to say goodbye, haven't you?"
"What?" She asked, confused, but behind her Milo's parents and sister were cringing, knowing exactly what he meant.
"You came to say goodbye, that you think I'm really nice, but you can't play with me anymore, because I'm dangerous. You don't want to be struck by lightning, or fall out trees, or get attacked by wild animals. It's not you, it's me." Milo mumbled, closing his eyes. "It's okay, I understand." It wasn't okay, but he did understand. Things were quiet for second.
*thwump*
"Ow! Why!?" Milo whined, rubbing that Melissa had thumped him.
"Don't say stupid stuff like that." Melissa scolded before smiling at him. "Of course, I still want to be your friend, you goose. You're the bestest friend I've ever had."
"Really?" Milo smiled, eyes twinkling at the idea.
"Really really." Melissa said, ruffling his hair with a grin.
"We should watch Shrek when I get out of the hospital." Milo suggested with a big, doofy grin and Melissa laughed.
"Awwwhhhh." Zack said, clasping his hands in front of his chest, his tone joking. "That was so sweet."
"We were little kids, we didn't have any sense of mushiness." Melissa rolled her eyes.
"Did you really think that Melissa was going to abandon you like that?"
"Well, it had happened a few times before." Milo looked up the ceiling, doing the math in his head. "There was four times when I was three, two times when I was four, two times when I was five, and three times when I was six, then I met Melissa."
"After that he mostly hung around me, but it still happened six more times." Melissa shrugged a shoulder. "I normally set them straight, though, so they don't treat Milo bad."
"What, really?"
"Yeah, you know that kid Tommy?"
"The one who's afraid of you?" Zack asked and Melissa gave a nod. "Oh… Ohhhhh."
"I tell Melissa she doesn't have to, but she never listens." Milo said, giving Melissa a slightly sassy look, earning him a punch in the shoulder.
"Just because you don't want to confront your bullies doesn't mean I can't do it for you."
"But did you have to make him cry like tha-"
"Alright, why don't we just move on to the story about the second lightning strike?" Zack laughed, doing awkward jazz hands, in an attempt to keep Milo and Melissa from bickering. "But maybe with a little less set up this time."
"We can start when we were almost done playing in the park." Milo suggested, and Melissa nodded in agreement.
"Right, so when he was turning nine Milo's parents had brought us to the park to play and have a picnic." She started.
"Tag!" Milo said, giving Melissa the slightest of taps on the arm as a tag and bolting in the other direction. After the first few times that Melissa had tagged him just as soon as he touched her, Milo learned to be quick. It was starting to drizzle slightly, and so they could feel the slight prickles of the rain on their skin, but they didn't seem to care. They were far too busy burning off that picnic they just had. If the juice and cookies that were in the picnic itself hadn't been enough to get them all sugared up, that ice-cream that they had gotten from that cart certainly did the trick. The pair were two blazing balls of energy.
"Get back here!" Melissa called, giving her friend chase. Then, out of the blue a Frisbee flew out of nowhere and smacked Milo in the head.
"Ow!" Milo shouted tumbling to ground, Melissa rushing to his side.
"Milo, are you okay?" Melissa asked, leaning over her fallen friend. Milo rubbed his head and peaking open an eye at her.
"I'm fine, but maybe we can go back to the blanket? I'm getting tired of tag, that's the fourth time I've been hit by flying sports equipment." Milo sighed as Melissa helped off the ground, before he picked up the Frisbee and tossing it back in the direction it came from.
"At least it wasn't a soccer ball this time."
"There is always that." Milo giggled, giving his head on last rub in some sort of attempt to ward off the soreness.
"Right… Race you to the blanket!" Melissa hollered, darting off to towards the blanket, where the rest of the Murphys were sitting.
"No fair!" Milo shouted as he gave chase, but he was still laughing, and so was Melissa, but then-
BOOOOMMMM!
There was a loud crashing-banging type sound and flash, Melissa turned around. Milo was laying still on the ground, a memory of a birthday past came to mind and almost instantly Melissa put the pieces together. Milo had been struck by lightning again. Her heart skipped a beat.
"Milo!" She screamed, running over to his side. "Mr. Murphy! Mrs. Murphy! Help!" They were already most of the way there when Melissa noticed something that made her panic rise even more. "He's not breathing!"
Martin was his son's side, searching for a pulse, and Bridgette was already calling the ambulance while Sara looked on. Melissa heard the older Murphy man murmur something along the line of 'respiratory arrest' before started to perform CPR. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, this was a lot different than last time. Her dad always told her that CPR was for emergency situations, when someone was dying, did that mean Milo was dying? Martin looked up at her for a second.
"Melissa, don't look, don't watch this." Martin gasped out quickly before giving Milo two breathes.
Melissa turned around, but she was listening, she could hear him muttering words of encouragement to Milo, as if to egg him into breathing. After a little under a minute, though it felt infinitely longer, a sigh of relief was heard. She peeked around as saw that Milo was breathing again. What happened next, the ambulance coming, the trip the hospital, the calling off her father to tell him that Milo had been struck by lightning again, the waiting, all seemed to fly by, but also go by slow. It didn't really make any sense, but it was like things were moving too fast around her, but she was in molasses. She didn't know what to do. Milo got hurt a lot, a lot a lot, they were just in the hospital two weeks ago, because the back tires on Milo's bike exploded and he had tumbled down a hill, but it was never this bad. It wasn't even this scary the last time he was struck by lightning. It had been loud and chaotic, but it was leagues better than this. And then the doctor came.
"Back again already, Murphys?" The doctor tried to joke. The joke was not received well. "Right, Milo is fine. We got him stabilized and then he regained consciousness, the lightning caused respiratory arrest and some burns on his shoulder, he has some numbness in his hands and feet, but that could go away. We can release him in a few hours and he is waiting for you all in the Murphy Suite."
"Thank you, doctor." Martin said as the ladies all rushed off towards the suite.
"Hey, guys." Milo greeted as the group entered the room, they were all by his side pretty quickly.
"Don't scare us like that, Milo." Bridgette said, smoothing down some the stray hairs on his head.
"I'll try, but can't promise anything." Milo answered honestly, before looking over at Melissa. "Are you okay?"
"Am I okay?" Melissa blinked owlishly. "You were the one struck by lightning."
"I get hurt like this all the time, you don't normally see the worse of it. I want to make sure you're not traumatized." Milo shrugged his good shoulder.
"Worry about yourself, I don't need any." Melissa smiled, poking him on the side of the head. "So, is this better or worse than the time that you snapped your ankle running from those tigers?"
"Better, I was unconscious during the worse part." Milo smiled back. "Plus, I've got more cool scars from this, which is made extra cool by the fact that lightning rarely leaves burns, but I got them both times. Pretty cool, huh?"
"Oh, the coolest." Melissa rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. Milo was so weird sometimes.
"Man, that was intense." Zach blinked at the pair.
"Oh, it was much scarier than the first time." Milo nodded. "I actually sustained some nerve damage from that one, I still can't feel three of the toes on my left foot."
"Really?"
"Yeah, but the scars for the first time are much cooler, wanna see?" Milo once again lifted the hem of his shirt, but Melissa and Zach both lowered his hands.
"No, that's okay." Zach chuckled, looking between Milo and Melissa. "You two have been really close for a while now, huh?"
"You bet." Melissa said, wrapping an arm around Milo's shoulder, an action that Milo immediately reciprocated.
"But don't worry, Zach, you're a part of the group now to."
"Yeah, get on over here." Melissa laughed, pulling him into their little hug. They stayed that way for a few seconds before Milo piped up.
"Hey, guys, want to watch Shrek?"
Melissa and Zach burst into laughter.
Author's Note:
Yeeeeaahhhh, I rushed this one, big time, but I finished it. Took a while but I finally got around to it. Did you like it? Do you have a favorite line? Let me know in a review or something.