CHAPTER I
Warren's POV
I'd just got in from school and really needed a drink. Coach had pushed us hard that day out on the track. But…it was Friday! And my best friend was coming to sleep over for the weekend. She was just the greatest; we'd sit up half the night giggling away to ourselves as though no one else mattered, and when she was around, nothing did matter.
The cold juice ran down my throat as beads of sweat dripped down my red cheeks. Then the front door slammed.
"Anyone home?" my dad's voice came as he trailed through into the large kitchen where I was standing. His arms were filled with files and papers. Looks like we weren't going swimming after all.
"Got a packed weekend again, Dad?" I asked him, feeling so irritated that work came first yet again. Just one weekend with my friend where I wanted us to go out somewhere, not be stuck in the house all day like hermits. I mean, I saw her a lot as it was anyway. Most weeks her mom would invite me around for dinner. I just hated the fact we went to different schools. Me and Hannah had met only last year when dad took me into his office and one of his new staff happened to be Hannah's dad. And guess who was sat beside him?
"Looks like it, son," Dad replied, dropping his pile onto the large kitchen table, nearly knocking mom's new crystal vase over.
"Okay," I sighed and walked down the hall towards the stairs. My cat, Snowball, came racing down the stairs suddenly. "Stupid cat!" I wailed as he knocked into my legs. Why did I call a black cat Snowball? I had a tendency of doing that, calling pets and people the most obscure names which usually meant the opposite of some attribution about them. Dad always said I had a quick wit for a twelve year old.
Carrying my book bag, I ascended the stairs slowly, keeping my head low. Why did Dad ALWAYS have to work? He was the boss, surely he could just get some of his staff to take care of things while he was taking me and Hannah swimming. He always did this every weekend when he'd planned to do something with me. Half the time, mom ended up taking me out grocery shopping. "I remember when you were little and you'd sit in the seat in the trolley," she'd always tell me, ruffling my curly hair as though I was still five.
My room was exactly how I'd left it that morning; the small fold down bed was in the corner especially for Hannah. I'd been so excited about her coming over that I'd dragged it out the cupboard as soon as I woke up. We only got to do stuff like this maybe once a month and see each other for dinner once a week. We'd usually laugh on the phone though for hours and send e-mails to one another.
XxxxxxxX
Mom got home around six that night after going to visit one of her old college friends she'd known for years.
"How was school, sweetheart?" she asked me as I sat on one of the tall chairs at the kitchen counter, watching her cook our dinner which consisted of roast chicken.
"It was okay," I replied irritably as I kept watching the fingers on the clock. Hannah would be here at seven, so I had about twenty minutes left of pure boredom.
"Just okay?" Mom asked again, dragging the chicken out the oven and putting on some special glaze. I never knew what she put on our food sometimes, but it sure smelled and tasted delicious. "Why does your father never put this in when I ask him to?" she suddenly asked, sighing. "It's going to take at least another hour to cook through."
"I'm glad I'm not going to get married anytime soon," I told her, giggling, but at the same time actually meaning it. The only person I'd ever consider marrying was Hannah. We'd even promised each other at one point that we'd only marry each other. All the girls in my classes at school weren't at all like her, for one they didn't have that English accent which I loved. I'd never known anyone from England before meeting her and at first I found it funny listening to her talk. Even the way she said my name was amusing.
"Do you want to start laying the table, Warren?" Mom asked, pulling another tray out of the oven which was full of roast potatoes. Oh man, my stomach was really grumbling now for some of Mom's good home-cooked food.
I took out all the cutlery from the kitchen draw and took it over to the table, putting a set out on each place mat. Just as I lay out the last set, the doorbell rung. "I'll get it!" I shouted and raced through into the long hallway, almost skidding over on the tiles.
"Hey," I said, gasping for breath as I opened the door and saw Hannah and her dad standing by the door. I could feel myself blushing.
"Hiya," she said, smiling and put her arms around me quickly. "I've missed you."
"Do you want to come in for a drink?" Dad asked Hannah's dad.
"Yeah, okay," her dad replied and came inside.
Me and Hannah soon hit the stairs and ran off up them, taking her bag of clothes up with us. I suddenly noticed an itch on my back. "Hey, can you scratch my back for me?" I asked Hannah as she dropped her bag on the guest bed.
"Okay," she said happily in that usual tone of hers and stood behind me, raking my back. The itching was really intense and seemed to get stronger the more she scratched.
"Can you do it harder?" I asked, wriggling around. It was deep in my shoulder blades now. Her nails dug hard through my sweater, grinding into my skin.
"I don't want to hurt you," she said, stopping.
"Don't worry. You won't," I reassured her and closed my eyes, revelling in the scratching.
XxxxxxxX
Even over dinner, my back was still murder, itching away. I began grinding my back up against the seat. Dad soon cut me a pair of eyes across the table, signalling for me to stop.
"What's the matter, honey?" Mom asked, dropping her fork and rubbing my arm. Hannah kept silent and just watched me, smiling weakly.
"My back is itching, that's all," I said simply, trying to fight away that constant nuisance which just would not die down.
"Have you changed laundry powder?" Dad suggested, still eating away. "That tends to bring people out in rashes."
"Come here, honey. Let me take a look," Mom told me, standing up from the table and pulling up my sweater. I blushed hard as I noticed Hannah watching and looking at my bare chest. I could have died. I know I was twelve, but I could still get embarrassed around girls. Mom seemed to think that the embarrassment only starts when you're a teenager, and anyway, I was two months off being thirteen. I felt Mom dig her fingers into my back, pressing.
"Mom, don't. Please," I begged, pulling away.
"Well, I can't see anything. Why don't you take your sweater off and get some air to yourself," Mom suggested.
"I'll be okay," I grimaced, both at her suggestion and the intense itching which was still making my whole back feel like it was on fire.
"Warren, stop being sulky and just do what your mother tells you," Dad snapped across the table at me.
XxxxxxxX
After dinner, I went to my room with Hannah where we put on my PlayStation, but my back was still itching. It wasn't quite as bad as it had been earlier, but it was still pretty rough. We played a few games for a while, being a little more silent than usual. I don't know why by Hannah seemed different tonight. Something seemed wrong with her and it was really bothering me.
"Are you okay?" I asked her, putting my controller down on the carpet and facing her, cross legged. She just looked back at me, smiling and then putting her head down.
"I'm fine," she replied, but I knew she wasn't. As if her answer sparked something, I felt a throb suddenly fill my upper back. I groaned loudly, falling over onto the carpet.
"Warren, are you alright?" I heard her call, her voice growing more blurry.
The pain grew intense, extremely intense, slowly spreading throughout my entire back, but it was worst in my shoulder blades. It literally felt like something was trying to force its way out of me.
"I'll get your mom," she said again, getting up.
"No! Please, just stay with me," I begged her, grabbing her arm tightly. "Don't go." I didn't want anyone, just her. If something was happening to me, I didn't want Mom or Dad. They'd just want to drag me up to the hospital and I really didn't want that. I curled into a ball and felt tears spill down my cheeks as the pain grew hotter.
Hannah got to her knees and pulled up my sweater, gasping suddenly. "Oh my God. What's wrong?" I snapped. I knew something was bad and my insides curled, tightening suddenly and making me feel like puking.
"There's lumps on your back. Two big ones," she cried out. "We really should get your mom."
"Please, no!" I shouted again. "Help me up." I needed to see what she was on about. Lumps? What the hell was happening to me? I cried harder as she pulled me up, the pain soaring straight through my body, making me buckle at the knees. But she held me up tightly. Even though she was a year younger than me and was a girl, she was pretty strong.
To coin the phrase 'Mirrors never lie' was an understatement. Big fat tears dripped down my cheeks quicker as I looked into the bathroom mirror, horrified at what I saw. It was literally like something out of a horror movie. There on my shoulder blades were two huge, ugly, red lumps. Hannah just stared at me, her green eyes wide in shock.
"Don't tell anyone about this. Please!" I said, crying harder, catching hold of her shoulders. "Please. I don't want to go to hospital and have an operation, I just want to be normal…," I kept on.
"I won't, I promise," she told me, putting her arm around my neck and hugging me. "You're my best friend and that's what friends do. Ugh…oh…" she said suddenly, pulling her arm from around me quickly.
"What? What is it?" I asked frantically, turning around and viewing my back in the mirror. There, bright red, was blood dripping from the lumps. Small puncture wounds had formed as the lumps seemed to break the skin.
"Hang on a minute," she told me and raced to the medical cabinet in the corner of our large bathroom. Her hands moved about quickly, pushing bottles aside as she shoved everything on the floor. "Here, I'll put this on." She was holding a large roll of bandages in her hand.
"What you gonna do with that?" I asked, sweating like a pig. I knew full well what she was going to do with it, not like she was going to stuff it in my mouth or something to gag me.
"Put it around your shoulders. Stop the pressure," she explained. This was the girl who wanted more than anything to be a Veterinarian. That meant she'd be putting bandages on cats and dogs all day. "Hold up your arms."
I listened to her and followed her instruction, trusting her. I felt the warm bandage wrap around the top of my back and chest. "Is this gonna work?" I asked naively.
"I don't know, but we'll soon find out."
XxxxxxxX
The pain was still sharp as I lay in bed, resting on my stomach. Hannah glanced at me from the corner of the room. I sure loved her sometimes. Out of all the friends I had, she was the only one I could trust with my deepest secrets. No one else could compare to her.
"Hey," she whispered over to me. "If you need anything in the night, just wake me up. Kay?"
I smiled to myself, appreciating her all the more. "Yeah, thanks."
Lights were always out at ten and it annoyed me because even on weekends, and, like now, when Hannah was round, I couldn't stay up. "It's for you own good, honey," Mom would say. "You need your rest." What crap! Most of the time I kept a flashlight under my pillow so I could read my comics under the covers. Then I'd wind up dreaming about Superman, wondering what it'd be like to fly and be a superhero. That life must have been the best. No school, no homework, just flying around all day kicking bad guy's asses and having everyone love you for it. That was the life I yearned for.
