I Heard there was a Secret Chord
When Austin's eyes opened, the clock on the nightstand read 2:33 a.m. As he lay in bed, he tried to figure out what caused him to wake up. Quickly giving up to the exhaustion that was taking its toll on his body, Austin rolled over on his mattress. Suddenly, pain radiated throughout his entire body and a whimper escaped his lips. Now wide awake from the pain, Austin began to assess himself. He was sweating buckets and his sheets were soaked. Despite being covered in sweat, he was freezing. However, the main thing Austin noticed about himself was how weak he felt. He desperately wanted to get up and get another blanket to warm up but Austin could barely lift his arms. Giving up on that idea quickly, Austin let his eye lids close and tried to get some sleep while praying that he felt better in the morning.
What felt like five seconds since he had closed his eyes, a pounding noise from the door drew Austin from a restful sleep. Now the clock on the nightstand read 7:30 a.m. Memories of the horrible night flooded his mind about the weakness and pain. So he decided to check himself over again. Austin still felt very weak and cold but he wasn't sweating. After considering all of this, he chose to take this as a good sign.
His mother's voice pulled him from his assessment. "Austin! Get up, it's time for school," rang out Mimi's cheerful voice. His mother always woke him with a cheerful voice saying it would help him have a good day. She had done this since he was a child and he had to admit it worked most days. Today though, her voice sounded strained against his ears and he realized that his ears were clogged. When he tried to answer, Austin found that he couldn't speak. After clearing his throat multiple times, quietly so his mother wouldn't hear, he managed out the word "okay" just loud enough for her to hear.
Austin's homemade remedy of throat clearing didn't work because his mother's voice came again, this time filled with worry. "Austin, are you okay? Your voice sounds really bad. Are you sick?" she rambled. Austin heard her twisting the door knob and thanked whoever was listening that he had remembered to lock his door the night before.
Forcing himself into a sitting position and stretching to try and make his body feel normal again, Austin answered his mother, "I'm fine, Mom, just tired from staying up late!" he managed out. He was pleasantly surprised that his voice sounded better than it had earlier but noticed what felt like a big weight in his chest radiating pain.
Apparently, his mother bought the lie though as her tone went from concern to cheerful once again as she said, "Get ready then or you'll be late" and then walked away from his door.
Austin waited until the footsteps fully faded before he made the decision to get out bed. Moving all the way to the edge first, Austin swung his feet to the floor and pushed himself up. Standing was difficult for Austin because he still felt so weak and the weight in his chest was growing more painful.
Taking a deep breath, Austin made his way to the bathroom. He turned on the shower and stripped out of his clothes. While he was waiting for the water to get hot, he looked in the mirror. The man in the mirror looked different than usual. This guy was pale and has dark circles under his eyes. He was also hunched over and breathing heavily.
Turning away in disgust, Austin stepped into the steamy shower. He sat there for a few minutes letting the hot water run down his body. The hot water helped Austin's muscles relax and he was already starting to feel better. After standing in bliss for a few minutes, Austin washed his hair and body and cut off the water.
With a slight spring in his step from the shower, Austin made his way to the bedroom and got dressed in blue jeans and a yellow short-sleeve button up t-shirt. He slid on yellow high-tops to match, grabbed his white jacket, and then headed down stairs.
When he rounded the hallway into the kitchen, the smell of pancakes hit his nose. Usually, Austin's mouth would start watering at the smell of his favorite meal. But today, he couldn't help but feel nauseous and unconsciously put his hand over his stomach. He was about to slip out of the back to avoid his mother but she entered the kitchen before he could make his move.
With the same enthusiastic voice she had used earlier she said "Austin your breakfast is on the table! I made your favorite!"
Forcing a fake smile, Austin thanked her and sat down at the table. She put four pancakes on his plate and lathered them in butter and syrup. Austin grabbed his stomach once again and struggled not to turn up his nose.
Austin sent up a prayer that his mother would leave the kitchen but there was no such luck as she started cleaning up while, unsubtly trying to watch him out of the corner of her eye. He knew that this was another test to see if he was really okay and that she wouldn't be satisfied until he had eaten.
Picking up his fork, Austin cut into his pancakes. "Don't throw up. Don't throw up," Austin kept repeating in his mind. Finally, he held his breath and scooped up a piece into his mouth. Still holding his breath, he chewed and swallowed quickly. Austin breathed out a sigh of relief when he was done and glanced up at his mother. She had once again bought the act he was putting on because she put the last dish away and came over and kissed him on the cheek.
"I'm off to work, Austin, don't be late for school. Bye, love you!" she told him with a smile on her face and then left out the door. Austin heard her start her car and pull out the driveway. He stayed extremely still until he couldn't hear the engine anymore. Once the sound faded he bolted from the chair and ran to the bathroom. Austin fell to his knees over the toilet and his stomach emptied itself. His dinner last night and the bite of pancake he had for breakfast were all being forced out of his body. When it was over, Austin laid his head on the floor. He was shaking due to the strain of puking up everything he had eaten and he was sweating badly. The porcelain was cool against his forehead and it provided a small relief against the agony. As Austin breathed through the rest of the quivers, he closed his eyes. He just felt so weak. He reasoned with himself that he would rest for a minute before going to school and let his breathing even out.
A ringing noise pulled Austin from sleep. He opened his eyes slowly and took in his surroundings. Toilet, sink, and shower he noticed as he finally put together that he was in the bathroom. Another ringing noise sounded and Austin realized that it was his cell phone in his pocket. He slowly sat up on the floor but was immediately met with dizziness. Austin shut his eyes quickly and willed the dizziness to go away. Memories of this morning flooded back to him as he realized he must have fallen asleep for longer than he wanted to.
Another ring from his phone sounded and Austin opened his eyes. The dizziness had subsided and Austin was able to reach down into his pocket to retrieve his phone. As he held his phone he noticed that his hands still had a slight tremor and it took him three times to press the button to answer the call.
"Austin!" Ally's voice shouted through the speaker with worry, "Where are you? It's almost 10." Austin pulled the phone from his ear. Ally was speaking very loudly and there was a ringing noise in his ears. When she was finished rambling, he cautiously put the phone back to his ear.
"Ally" he tried to say but his voice wasn't working again. He repeated the same technique as earlier of clearing his throat and tried again. "Ally, I'm fine. I accidently fell back asleep after my mom left this morning. I'm coming to school right now," he finished a little winded.
"See you in a bit, Austin!" She said and then hung up. That was just like Ally to be worried but he was just glad that she hadn't noticed anything was off about him. Wait. What time did she say it was again? Austin looked back down at his phone and realized that it was 9:50.
Crap. Now he was sick and late. Austin had to make it to school before 10:15 or else they would call his mother and tell her he was absent today. He shot up from the floor quickly but was met with black spots in his eyes. Leaning on the sink he closed his eyes and willed the spots to go away.
After a few deep breaths, Austin opened his eyes and thankfully the black spots had subsided. He went about his routine of brushing his teeth but took things slower than normally. Finally, he took one last glance at his phone and concluded that if he left now then he could make it to school on time.
Heading out to his silver truck, Austin mentally prepared to make the 10 minute trek to school.
The drive wasn't too bad. Austin focused on his driving and made sure to drive slowly. When he pulled into the parking lot, Austin reached over and pulled out some ibuprofen. He swallowed four pills to attempt to make it through the day.
Whatever was going on with him wasn't concerning to Austin. People get sick all of the time. He knew he wasn't dying so all he had to do was make it through today. Austin was sure he would be feeling better tomorrow. There wasn't a need to worry anyone. He was getting ready to turn eighteen in a few weeks and he could take care of himself. With that, Austin took a deep breath and made his way into the school.
When he finally arrived to his classroom, which was senior history, he was completely drained and out of breath. The ibuprofen was helping stop his head from pounding but it did nothing for his energy. Austin took his seat beside Ally and tried to get his breathing back to normal.
Ally turned and looked at him with concern. He loved the way she was always concerned with everyone else. He also loved the way her eyebrows furrowed together when she was worried. In fact, he loved a lot of things about Ally. Ever since he and Ally had performed on stage together he began to have true feelings for her. Of course she didn't know that but Austin was content with keeping his feelings a secret until the time was right.
Looking at Ally almost made the trip to school worth it. Almost. Austin still felt pretty terrible and he wished he had brought his ibuprofen in with him.
Ally opened her mouth to say something and Austin knew he was in for an earful. She could see right past his façade. Luckily for him, the teacher began the lesson for the day, saving Austin from the questioning.
Things were still looking up for Austin as all they were doing today was watching a history movie about World War I. Austin tried to concentrate on the movie and ignore Ally's glances to him every five minutes. However, ten minutes into the movie and Austin put his head on his hand. His headache was returning and he had no medicine. If he could just make it through this class then he could slip out to his car and grab his ibuprofen.
Austin looked back to the screen. He listened to the narrator but his eyes were slowly closing. Maybe if he just closed his eyes again his headache would go away. It was too late to reason with himself because Austin soon fell asleep.
Austin awoke to his body shaking. "Oh no, not again," he said in his mind as he thought he had the shakes again. But a voice pulled him out of his thoughts. It wasn't Ally's sweet song voice but a rough man's voice. Austin finally placed it as his history teacher's voice.
"Austin Moon!" Mr. Richards's voice boomed out. Austin flinched from the loud noise and realized his headache was now worse than ever and the shaking and loud noises didn't help.
Finally, Austin opened his eyes. Mr. Richards stopped shaking him and settled on glaring. "Austin, falling asleep in my class is unacceptable. That'll be detention for you this afternoon," Mr. Richards said in an angry voice and walked away.
The bell rang and Ally looked over to him with pity on her face. "I'm sorry, Austin, I tried waking you but you were sound asleep," she said softly.
"It's okay, thanks for trying to help, Ally," Austin said giving her a small smile.
"I'll see you at lunch," Ally said getting up. Before she left she bent over and kissed his cheek. Then she stood back up and her eyebrows furrowed again.
"Hey, you seem kind of warm," she said and reached her hand up to check again.
Before she could touch him, Austin dogged her and stood up. "That's just because I'm still embarrassed from being called out by Mr. Richards," he said with a laugh.
Ally clearly didn't believe him based on the look on her face but the warning bell signaled and they both had to get to their next class. Luckily Austin didn't have any of his friends in his next class so he could relax a bit.
Unfortunately, because he had got caught up talking to Ally, Austin didn't have time to run out to his truck and grab his medicine. "Oh well," he sighed and made his way to math class.
Austin sat down in his seat right as the bell rang. For class today, they were taking notes on a new concept. He got out his notebook and pen and tried to concentrate on the teacher.
About halfway through the lesson, all of the numbers started to blend together. Austin's headache was worsening trying to make sense of everything and he was starting to feel nauseous again. Giving up on math class today, Austin settled for doodling all over his notes and wondering how he was going to get through lunch.
Trish, Dez, Ally, and him all had lunch together and Ally was already suspicious from feeling how warm he was earlier. Austin also knew he couldn't make it through lunch pretending to eat like he had for breakfast in front on his mom. He knew he would throw up if he tried to eat anything. Austin decided he just had to skip lunch. All that was left for the day was lunch and then gym, which he had with Dez. While he loved his best friend, Dez wasn't one to catch on to things so Austin figured he would be safe. "Besides," he thought, "Spending lunch period in his truck didn't seem that bad."
Just after Austin settled his mind, the bell rang. Austin quickly gathered up his things and went out in the hallway. He was looking for Trish. She had the class right next to him but he knew she always left as soon as the bell rang so she could get down to lunch. As Austin left the classroom, he spotted Trish's zebra print backpack and ran to catch up with her.
"Trish!" he said out of breath already and grabbed her shoulder.
"Oh hey Austin, ready for lunch?" she asked with a smile.
"Actually no I have to go to Mr. Richards's room. I fell asleep in class and he gave me detention this afternoon. I was going to go by and see if I could get out of it. Will you tell Ally and Des?" he finished trying not to wheeze.
"Yeah sure. See you this afternoon at Sonic Boom," Trish said and then walked off.
Glad that Trish bought the lie, Austin sagged against the lockers in relief. Now he just had to make it out to his truck and rest for the lunch period.
Pushing off the lockers, Austin slowly made his way out to his truck. He hopped in and leaned his head down on the steering wheel and just breathed. At this point, Austin was ready to give up and go home. He really felt terrible and trying to hide it from everyone was making it worse. He just didn't want anyone to worry. It was probably just a bad cold he had and there was no need for anyone to waste their time worrying over him and a cold.
Austin moved and stretched across the seats. He really wanted to close his eyes but he knew he would fall asleep. Austin took out his phone and set an alarm. There was still twenty minutes left of lunch so Austin knew he could sleep for a few minutes to try and hopefully it would get him through the rest of the day. Finally, he set down his phone and closed his eyes.
After what felt like seconds, Austin's came back around to the sound of his alarm going off. He reached over to turn it off and let out a sigh. One more class period and then he could go home and sleep this sickness off. Pushing himself up, Austin grabbed his bag and headed back to the school.
Halfway to the gym, Austin realized that he had forgotten to take his ibuprofen. Glancing at the clock, he knew there was no time to run back out and get it if he wanted to make it to gym class on time. Sighing for what seemed like the hundredth time today, Austin went into the locker room to change.
The smell of the locker room made his stomach churn. The air was a mix of sweat, body spray, and dirty socks. Austin tried to ignore it and get changed into his gym uniform. He had just finished putting on his sneakers when his mouth started to water. Knowing what was going to happen next, Austin ran to the bathroom. He knelt down over the toilet and started dry heaving. There was nothing in his stomach to throw up except stomach acid.
When he was finally done, Austin sat back on the floor. He was sweating again and an energy he had from the nap in his truck was gone. Wiping his watering eyes, Austin stood up, flushed the toilet, and exited the stall. He was going to the water fountain to rinse his mouth out when he ran straight into Dez.
"Austin! There you are, I haven't seen you all day! Trish said you were trying to get out of detention. Well I have some great ideas to help you like a zebra stampede, a hot air balloon race …" Dez continued to ramble. Austin zooned out when Dez started listening and started looking for the water fountain. He was really extremely thirsty.
"… and even a replica of the Eiffel Tower," Dez finally finished with a smile as they got to the water fountain. Before Austin could get a sip of water, Dez put his hand on Austin's shoulder. "Hey your eyes are watery, are you okay, man?" Dez said with concern hinting his voice.
No, Austin thought. Dez wasn't supposed to notice these things. In fact, he never has noticed. When Austin was little, he had appendicitis and showed all of the symptoms. He even told Dez that he felt awful and Dez still didn't notice. It wasn't until a week later when Austin was in the hospital having his appendix taken out that Dez finally noticed something off. Now he was noticing Austin's eyes were watering.
"Uh…. Yeah … Uh …" Austin stumbled to come up with an answer. Coming up with something on the spot was never Austin's strong suit. But this was his best friend and he knew his best friend would believe anything.
"Yeah. Mr. Richards let me out of detention if I cut up his onion for his sandwich and I guess my eyes are still watery," Austin said in a rushed breath. It was the stupidest lie he had ever told and no one would believe him.
Apparently though, "no one" did not include his best friend as Dez completely bought the lie. "Oh you should wear sunglasses next time," said Dez. "Will do, buddy," said Austin and he leaned back down to get some water. But again, before he could drink, he felt Dez's hand on his shoulder and he looked up.
"I forgot to tell you but coach wants us in the gym now because he's starting," Dez said and pushed Austin towards the gym.
"One more hour," thought Austin as he entered the gym. He just hoped coach wouldn't make them do anything strenuous.
Austin figured he must have not hoped hard enough because they were doing stations today. Basketball, sit-ups, soccer, pull-ups, and sprints. Austin let out a groan when he saw the list of rotations for the day. Maybe he could just take it easier than usual and he would be okay.
Luckily, the basketball station was just played on one hoop so Austin didn't have to do much running. He was able to move around some and shoot every once in a while. "So far, so good," though Austin as he passed the ball to Dez.
When the whistle blew, Austin and Dez went to their next station. Since the coach was the only one in the gym watching them today, Austin kept his sit ups to a minimum and only went hard when the coach was looking. As he stood up to go to the next station, Austin felt a wave of dizziness hit him and he stumbled back. However, luck was once again on his side as Dez came and slapped him on the back, catching Austin before he fell and giving him enough leverage to get his balance. Austin shook his head and walked over to the next station.
Soccer was about the same as basketball and Austin was glad to have a little break before they went to the pull-up station. The group he was in stood in a line and tried to do as many pull ups as they could. Austin was last in line waving back and forth on his feet. When it was finally his turn on the pull up bar, he was a little nervous. Normally pull ups were easy for Austin and he could do quite a few. But as Austin put up his arms, he knew he wouldn't have the strength to pull himself up today. He was just about to jump and try to push through it when he heard the whistle blow signaling the switch to their last station.
"One more station," Austin thought. He was extremely glad this was their last station and then he could get some water and go home. Unfortunately, this station was sprints and the coach was going to watch them the whole time.
Austin heard the timer go off and he took off sprinting. He tried to keep his eye on the coach, hoping the coach would go away and he could slow down but it looks like his luck had run out. Austin started to breath heavily and the dizziness was worse.
"Pick it up, Moon!" Austin heard the coach yell out. If Austin could just get some water and rest he might be able to finish this station but they still had three minutes left.
Austin made a turn as he was sprinting and black spots started appearing in his vision. Through the black spots, he saw Dez running to him before he gave up and let the darkness take him.
When Austin awoke, he was extremely confused. He tried to remember what happened. The day's events started rushing back to him from waking up sick, sleeping in his truck, and lastly passing out on the gym floor when he was running.
Austin groaned and rolled over. When he opened his eyes he realized that he was in his room on his bed. He sat up and looked around. Everything looked normal but Austin couldn't remember how he had gotten home. He shivered and wrapped the blanket tight around him. There were voices coming from down stairs and he tried to make out who they were. Austin thought about getting up and sneaking down stairs but his body thought otherwise as he still felt very weak.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps come up the stairs. Austin eyed the door as it creaked open quietly and Ally's head came into view. Her eyes found his and she smiled.
"Austin you're awake," Ally said quietly and moved over to the bed, "How are you feeling?" she asked.
Austin tried to speak but couldn't. He was so thirsty and brought his hand to his mouth in a drinking motion.
"Oh let me get you some water," Ally said and walked into the bathroom. A minute later she returned with a glass filled with water and handed it to him. "Don't gulp it, just sip" she said sternly.
He obeyed and sipped on the water. As the water ran down his throat he felt much better. When he had enough to drink, Ally took the glass and set it on the nightstand.
"What happened?" he asked hoarsely, "How did I get here?"
"You passed out in gym class. Dez and coach brought you to the nurse and she called your mom. Your mom took you home and called the doctor and he came to check you out. Dez found me after school and told me and we've been here since," she finished.
"Oh great," thought Austin. Here he was trying not to make a big deal out being sick and he passes out in front of everyone. Now his mom, Ally, Dez, probably Trish, and the whole school probably knew he was sick.
Sensing his annoyance Ally continued, "Austin when you're sick you should tell someone. I know you're upset about having everyone know but when it comes to your health than that's more important," she lectured.
Austin puffed in annoyance. "It wasn't that big of a deal. It's just a bad cold so there wasn't any need to have anyone worry or waste their time on me," he finally let out his true feelings.
"No Austin, you don't have a cold. You have pneumonia," she said softly and then frowned.
His heart dropped. Pneumonia. Austin didn't think his sickness was that bad. It wasn't life threatening or anything but he definitely shouldn't have pushed himself today like he did. His thoughts were interrupted by Ally saying "And you are worth worrying about Austin. If something worse would have happened to you I wouldn't know what to do." She had tears in her eyes that were threatening to fall and she turned away.
At this moment, Austin felt worse than he had all day. Seeing Ally upset because of him was worse than any pneumonia. He reached out and lightly brushed her hair behind her ear.
"Ally I'm really sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't think it was that bad," he let out truthfully.
"You don't have to act tough in front of me, Austin. Let me know when you have a problem so I can help you. You will never be an inconvenience to me. I promise," she said turning back to him.
"I know, Ally. Thank you for being here," he said rubbing his finger along her cheek.
"I don't know what I would do without you, Austin. You mean so much to me and if something happened before I got the chance to tell you how I feel …" she stopped and sucked in a breath and turned away. Austin could see her cheeks reddening.
"How do you feel, Ally?" he pushed.
Ally took a deep breath and said, "Well I really you, Austin. Like more than a friend. It's okay if you don't feel the same but seeing you sick just made me really want to tell you," she finished and turned away.
Austin's heart was beating fast. Ally had just confessed her feelings to him and he was ecstatic that she felt the same way as him.
Lost in his thoughts he saw Ally stand up. "Anyway sorry for pouring that on you when you're sick. It's okay you don't feel the same so let's just forget it ever happened," she said looking disappointed and hurt.
He realized he was so lost in his thoughts about Ally returning his feelings that he had forgotten to answer her earlier.
"Wait, Ally," he said and reached out to grab her hand. Ally sat back down on the bed but still refused to look at him. Austin reached back up to her face and turned her head so that she was looking at him.
"Ally, I have liked you for the past year. Everything about me is better when you're around. I just didn't want to say anything in case you didn't feel the same way," he said with a smile.
She returned his smile. Despite feeling tired and weak he wanted to kiss her badly. Austin sat up more and started to lean forward. Ally also leaned in and closed her eyes.
Right as he was about to capture her lips his throat became scratchy. He quickly turned away to the side and coughed.
When he was finished, Austin looked back towards Ally embarrassed and hoped she wouldn't be mad. But when he looked at her face she was still smiling, although her eyes were filled with worry.
"How about we take a rain check on that kiss until you're not sick?" she jokingly asked.
He laughed and said "Deal. It'll give me a good incentive to get better faster," and then yawned.
"I'll let you get some rest and come back tomorrow to check on you," she said and stood up.
"Okay, thanks," Austin managed out but his eyes were already closing and he slid back down under the covers.
Austin was just about to fall asleep when he felt soft lips against his forehead. Then he heard her footsteps fade away.
Despite being really sick and in pain all day. Austin wouldn't have changed this day at all and he finally fell asleep with the feeling of content for the first time today.
-END-
Maybe a little drug out. Maybe a little factually incorrect. Maybe a lot of unnecessary agony. But I haven't written in years so I just wanted to write again. Thanks for sticking with it. Please Review! Love you all!
-Softballchick77