Chapter 6 - Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

No, this chapter is not what you think it's about--Sorry all you heavy romance fans. Call the title ironic.

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Otto woke up slowly. Now that he was a teenager, getting out of bed had become a chore. Rarely did he not feel tired, even if he woke up at Noon on weekends. It was about 9:00 according to Amy's alarm clock. She was still asleep but there was a note at the foot of his sleeping bag. He reached forward to grab it.

Hey Otto

I just left for work. I should be back sometime this evening. I figured that you two would be OK alone since you're teenagers and since I know you and your father well. You're like a son to me and a brother to Amy. Thanks so much for coming to see her. If anything happens, please call me. If you can't get a hold of me, leave a message with the secretary and if it's really bad, call 911.

Otto was really amazed that her father trusted him so much. It made him feel proud that he was respected for something else other than sports.

Suddenly Amy began to stir. She moaned as she turned and opened her eyes. "Otto?" she whispered. He turned and walked over as if his name were a command. "I don't feel so good." she murmured.

A confused Otto asked, "What do you mean?" After all, he didn't know what she meant by that.

"I feel weaker than usual and my lungs feel heavy," she complained. Now Otto was scared. What was wrong with her? She wasn't like that last night. He was on the verge of panicing, but then something took over his judgement. All of a sudden, he didn't feel helpless. "I'm 13 years old; I can handle this," he thought. He went to the bathroom and searched for a thermometer. He had never taken a temperature before, but he figured it would be a good time to learn how. Thankfully, they had a digital thermometer, which would make the job a little easier. After he brought it to her and took the reading, he became concerned. The reading was 101 degrees. Yep, she definitely had a fever. But what else did she have?

"Has this ever happened before?" Otto asked. To his relief, she nodded her head. "Because I've lost most of my white blood cells due to chemo, I get sick often. I've had pneumonia a few times and I think this is the same thing. I need to rest."

"OK. Anything I can get you?"

"I need my medicines from the kitchen. There's also a bottle of antibiotics down there. If you could get one of those and a glass of water as well I'd appreciate it."

"Sure thing," Otto replied as he smiled faintly. With that, he quickly ran downstairs and grabbed her medicines. When he went to get the water from the fridge, he noticed a carton of eggs. Suddenly he had an idea. Whenever he had the flu or some other illness where he didn't feel like eating anything heavy, Ray would resort to cooking scrambled eggs (although it took him a while to realize this--pineapple soup didn't go down so smoothly).

Otto went back upstairs with her medicines. As she took them, he offered to cook scrambled eggs for the two of them. She was very surprised at his offer, and although she wasn't sure if she could stand to eat, she didn't feel like declining his offer. "Sure," she stated.

Otto returned to the kitchen and began searching for what he would need. He found a pan, a bowl, some pepper, a carton of milk, and of course, the eggs. Thankfully, he had had some experience with the griddle at the Shore Shack. Sure, his finished product didn't look as professional as his father's would have been, but his recipe (which he also learned from Ray) didn't fail him. "They taste right," he thought as he sampled the eggs. He then divided the eggs on to two plates, poured himself a glass of orange juice, and then, grabbing a folding snack table from the dining room, returned to Amy's room.

"These are great," Amy commented as she took a bite. "When did you learn to cook like this?"

"Uh, it's nothing. This is what I get for having the Shack as my second home." She smiled and laughed, making Otto feel a lot better about her condition.

"You're so sweet," she added. "It's almost like we were supposed to meet in the way that we did. I know this is funny, but none of this would have ever happened if you hadn't teased me."

"Uh, I guess." He didn't know how to respond. "I know I said this before, but that was sort of coerced by my dad. I'm sorry for making fun of you. After getting to know you, I regretted it terribly."

"Oh, that was so long ago. I forgive you,"

Right after breakfast, Otto went to take a shower and to change into his normal clothes. When he got out, he noticed that Amy wasn't in her bed. Curiously he began to look for her around the house and finally found her lying on the couch. "I wanted to move somewhere else," she assured him.

They sat down and watched TV for a while. Otto noticed that she was shivering, so he took the blanket from a nearby chair and wrapped it around her, placing his hand around her back and pulled her closer to his body so he could warm her up. When she continued to shiver, Otto asked if there was something else he could do for her. She said to turn on the family's gas fireplace. He was a little confused as to why she was asking him to do this when it was sixty degrees outside, with the inside temperature not being much warmer than that. Despite his doubts, he did exactly as she told him, finding the switch and lighting the fire. He then returned to his place by Amy.

"I'm sorry I'm boring you by making you sit here with me. I wish I could take you out and show you around."

"That's OK, Amy," he assured her. "I don't mind. I'm here only for you."

In no time, Otto began to sweat from the heat, even in his t-shirt and shorts; Amy didn't seem to be reacting in the same way, and she had a lot more covering her body. They finally found a movie on a cable channel and began to watch intently. After a while, she fell asleep on Otto's shoulder. He smiled and stroked what was left of her hair. His smile quickly faded when he touched her forehead; still very warm, he noticed. This was not good for her, he felt. He too began to feel tired and eventually fell asleep next to her on the couch.

When Amy's father returned home from work, he saw the two cuddled on the couch, fast asleep. He smiled at the scene and went to grab a camera. Although Amy didn't look so well, he couldn't resist the moment. Otto heard the sound of a camera advancing a roll of film. A few seconds later, he stirred and opened his eyes. He carefully put Amy's head on a pillow and got up. Now that she was asleep, he figured that he needed to find out more on the disease. He had seen the computer room during the house tour and he quietly went upstairs to find it. Thankfully, the computer had a broadband Internet connection, so he could sign on without tying up the phone line.

Once online, Otto found a search engine and looked up "leukemia." He read on, paying particular attention to treatment options. While many sites listed info on experimental treatments, there were only three main options he saw: chemotherapy, radiation, and bone-marrow transplantation. He knew that she had been receiving chemo and radiation but that their success had been questionable in Amy's case. As for a bone marrow transplant, she had said that nobody in her family was a perfect match and that database searches had yet to find a donor. Otto did not understand why they had not been successful in finding a donor yet. "How hard can it be?" he wondered. Then he found the truth: donors and recipients must have almost exact blood proteins, a match that is usually very difficult to find. The news hit Otto very hard: it was very likely that Amy would never find a match. She would probably die some time down the road; exactly when was unknown. However, given her current condition, Otto was afraid that her weakened immune system wouldn't be able to fight the current infection.

After walking to the bathroom to wipe off his tears, Otto went downstairs to see Amy and to eat dinner with her and her father. That night, Otto couldn't stop thinking about the "worst-case scenario" facing Amy. He woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat. He had a nightmare about the day his mother died. He could not imagine the pain that Dani Rocket or Amy faced, and he thought that a broken leg was painful.

Although Otto's normal slogan was "Nothing's impossible for Rocket Boy," he felt that this time he might have been defeated. He did the only thing he could think of. He got out of his sleeping bag and walked to the window. He then looked up at the stars and whispered:

"Mom, I know you're watching me from up there. I know I've wanted a lot in my life, especially when it comes to winning. Now that I look back, I see that those were terrible things to want. The only thing I want now is that you please help Amy get better. I swear I'll never look at life again the same way if she just gets over this. Please, Mom, I need you more than ever right now."

By the time he had finished, tears returned to his eyes. He returned to his sleeping bag and cried himself to sleep.

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What does Amy have? What will tomorrow bring in her ordeal? Will Otto be able to stay strong? Did Dani hear Otto's plea and will she help?

Well, I do remember that Amy and Otto spent several days together before anything happened. However, I'm not going to stretch it out too much as I don't remember exactly what they did all that time. I think I'll add some action starting in the next chapter.