Serenity stood staring out the window. The sky was growing dusk but no stars were out to shine. Joey lay on his back staring up at the window, he coughed quietly and Serenity sighed to herself. She had stood at this very window when she came to see Joey that morning: Tea, Yugi and Tristan were all already there before her mom dropped her off. Serenity had asked if she wanted to come in with her but she had things to take care of, and she knew that Joey would be ok, so Serenity went by herself.
"Room 13."
She looked down at the note she'd written then up at the room on the fifth floor of the community memorial hospital of Domino City. She took in a deep breath and opened the door. Her first sight was of the hospital bed, but it was empty. She frowned and opened the door further, she was relieved to find Joey sitting on the examination table with a doctor in front of him staring down his throat. Yugi, Tea and Tristan were all standing behind him. Joey was coughing terribly and holding his neck as if he were choking. The doctor put a thermometer in his mouth and it revealed a 104 plus temperature. He then listened to Joey's heart. Serenity stood next to the group and Tristan turned to her.
"Hey Serenity."
"How is he?"
"They haven't said anything yet, they're just examining him now." Tristan turned back to the doctor as he removed the thermometer from Joey's hacking mouth and felt under his chin. "But so far from what we've seen, things can't be good."
"I agree." Yugi sighed. "This looks nothing like heat exoustion, this looks serious."
"Do you think he could be really sick?" Serenity turned to Tea, but she just stared silently over at the poor ill blonde. Serenity sighed and looked at the floor.
"I'll have to go run a diagnostic on my findings." The doctor turned around. "I shall return in about a half an hour, until then you can all visit. You don't need to worry about catching anything, from what things look like, it's not going to be anything contagious."
"Heh, that's good." Tristan joked as the doctor left. He turned to Joey, "You really are a sicko."
"Hey, shut up." Joey whispered very raspy, his cough sounded rattling.
"Oh Joey." Serenity grew teary eyed.
"Sis." Joey was shocked. "What are you doing here?"
"How could I not come big brother? You're sick, I was worried. And after all, you were there for me when I was in the hospital, I'll be here for you as long as it takes."
Joey smirked, "Well don't get too comfortable then, cause I won't be here very long." Joey tried to laugh but it only resulted in a coughing fit. He keeled at the waist, one hand wrapped around his midriff and the other cupped over his mouth.
"Joey." Serenity started to cry and Joey stopped to look up at her.
"Don't cry sis, I'll be ok." Joey closed his eyes and put a hand on his head, he was getting dizzy, like he'd gotten a massive head rush from standing up way too fast.
"Whoa man, are you ok?" Tristan asked.
Yugi stepped forward, "Do you have a headache?"
Joey shook his head to try and get it strait together, "It's getting blurry, my vision."
"Quick, lay down." Tea ran over and pushed him down gently.
"No, get him to the bed." Tristan rushed over and helped her get Joey to his bed to lie down. They covered him with the blanket but he was shivering and shaking violently.
"What's wrong with him?" Yugi gasped.
"Is it the fever?" Tea felt his forehead.
"I dunno, but it looks like he's seizing!" Tristan growled.
"Call a doctor in here, quick!" Serenity picked up the room phone, and within minutes another doctor ran into the room.
"Stay back, please!" The doctor pushed them all back, Serenity ended back up against the window. The doctor tried to restrain the thrashing teenager until finally the spell ended, rendering him unconscious once again. The doctor sighed with relief and wiped his brow.
Joey's doctor rushed in, "What happened, is everything ok?"
"He just broke out of a seizure." The other doc panted.
"Oh dear." Joey's doctor read the diagnostic. "This is not good." He showed it to the doctor.
"Oh gosh." He looked up at the group of kids. "I've, got to go on my rounds." He left.
Serenity approached Joey's doctor, "Sir, is there anything we can do to help him?"
"This is a very serious case, I'm afraid. We haven't had anything this serious in over a year, we haven't seen this exact condition in over a decade. Back then we had no means of medication, but last month a testing product came onto the market. If we try it, and it works, he could be out before the weekend is over."
"Please do anything you can, you just can't let my brother die."
"Don't worry mam, we'll do everything within our power that we can." The doctor began to write on a form. "Now I'll need to get in contact with his guardian to fill out insurance forms."
"Oh." Serenity bit her lip, it was that 'i' word again. "I'm afraid our dad doesn't have any…"
"Oh."
"Please, is there anything we can do? We'll pay for it ourselves, please!" Serenity grabbed his lab coat.
The doctor sighed, "I would really like to help, but without insurance we can't give him medication, but if you come up with a hundred dollars, we can keep him here and monitor his condition for as long as we can."
"Yes, of course, thank you." Serenity put her hands together and bowed graciously.
"How are we going to get a hundred dollars?" Tristan asked.
"Yugi, how about your grandpa?" Tea turned to him.
"I'm sure he'd be glad to help us, after all, he knows Joey very well." Yugi went over to the phone and after explaining the situation, Grandpa Motto was more than willing to help young Wheeler. Yugi explained everything to the doctor.
"I know this is against regulation, but this case is extremely serious, and we haven't been able to test the medication yet, so if we administer this as a 'guinea pig' state, we could be able to cure him for free." The doctor explained.
"He could be a barnyard pig for all he cares, just get him healthy man!" Tristan cried.
"I'll ask if you can keep an eye on him while I go along with my other patients." The doctor said as he injected the iv into Joey's left arm. "If anything in his condition changes, page me immediately by pushing two and nine on the phone."
"We will sir, thank you." Tea nodded as the doctor left. They all turned back to the sleeping Joey. "Well, until then, we'll just keep ourselves occupied in here until anything happens."
"Ok, alright." Yugi and Tristan nodded. Serenity sighed and looked out the window, she wished up at the cloudless sky, hoping and praying that this would work and Joey would end up ok.
"Hey, sis?" Joey called over.
"Hu, what?" Serenity turned around and sighed. Her memories again, it was all so deja vu it was starting to confuse her. "Poor guinea pig, the medication didn't work, if anything, it could've harmed you."
"Say what now?" Joey raised an eyebrow. The medication had left Joey unconscious the whole day, he had no recollection of anything that had transpired.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like my lungs are led balloons full of water, my throat must be cracked and bleeding, my head is spinning from the constant change from fever to chill, and my body is still to weak from the pain to move."
"Wow." Serenity sighed, yea, no change any better, if anything just to worse. "I'm sorry."
"Would you stop with that?" Joey growled.
"The first day you were here, they asked to test out a new drug on you to see if it would help."
"Oh. And, I take it, that it didn't work?"
Serenity nodded sadly, "I would've done anything. You were willing to do everything and anything to be by my side when I was in the hospital, and it got me through, I only wish I could do the same for you. You even dared to see mom again, after a decade."
"Yea, mom." Joey turned away. "She didn't seem any different, and yet you said it was a hell hole living with her. How was that?"
"That," Serenity looked back to the dark night window, "is something I've never told anybody before. I've kept it all locked up inside until now."
"If you start to cry, don't feel bad. I've got a shoulder here for you to cry on." Serenity turned around and saw Joey smile and tap his shoulder. Serenity nodded and came over, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to him and rested her chin on his shoulder. "It was so surreal at first, but then again, I was too young to understand it all anyway…"
Flashback
It had been about a year since Cher and Bob got their divorce. Cher was very depressed, her life had gotten harder. She and Serenity moved to a small apartment and they had to make due with very little because it was hard for Cher to find and maintain a good job of any sorts. Serenity went hungry many days but she didn't complain, she got free lunch at school so she filled up on days when there would be no dinner. She knew how hard her mom was working to take care of them both, she was left exousted, and it was breaking her down. Finally, she did have an actual breakdown. She went crazy, and the possible half empty bottle of tequila she clung in her hand was partially to blame. She broke almost everything in the house, including her daughter, both in body and in spirit. Serenity was too young to understand why mommy had gone crazy, when she tried to help her, to go and ask her to stop, Cher saw her as 'in the way' and struck her. That sure snapped her out of it. Serenity slumped crying on the floor, Cher bent down.
"Honey I'm so sorry, are you ok?"
"Leave me alone!" Serenity shoved her off and continued to sob. Cher was heartbroken.
After that, things only seemed to get worse. Finding no luck in the work world, Cher finally met somebody who luckily had a good paying job. Serenity didn't know what a dealer was, she figured it had to do something with farmers, considering how much grass and flour he carried around to sell and deliver. Cher was a different woman because of that man as well. She seemed to disown her daughter as a smokin biker chick. Serenity was in elementary school by now and a little older than when the whole mess began. Everything was forcing her to see the world in a different way, to grow up quickly, to become mature at a younger age. This new man who some called a Mack, by any other name, came to be known as Ray the lover, changer of her mother and wrecker of her life.
"Mom?" Serenity asked her mom one day as she sat on the couch watching tv. "I'm hungry."
"Here." Cher handed her something.
Serenity looked at it, "But that's one of daddy's Nick Teen sticks." Of course she had no idea what nicotine was.
"Hey deal with it or shut up." Cher shoved her, causing her to fall onto the coffee table, spilling her mom's coffee energy drink. Cher stood up, "You little ass wad!"
"Momma no I'm sorry, please!" Serenity fell backwards onto her bottom.
"You dam bitch! That cost mommy nearly ten dollars!" Cher slapped her across the face.
"Momma." Serenity started to cry, the whisper of beer off Cher's breath was overwhelming her small daughter, who still was to scared and confused to understand.
"I said shut the fuck up!" Cher growled. "Now go to your room and don't come out until school time tomorrow, and I aint driving you! You can walk."
"What about dinner?"
"Naughty little wenches like you don't deserve food, you're eating me and Ray out of house and home, you junior home wrecker."
Serenity ran off crying and ran into Ray. She gasped as he looked down at her, "Hey pint sized. Speaking of which, I need you to hold and deliver something for me."
"I have to go to my room." Serenity tried desperately to pass this man.
"Oh no you don't, I'll have a talk with mommy but first you have to do something with me."
Serenity looked up at him. Mom was mad with her, and even though she didn't like this man, mommy did and he seemed to be the only one able to talk some sense into her. Serenity nodded, "Ok."
"Pint sized, carry this." Ray slipped a pint into her pocket. "Now I want you to go to the street corner where we saw that box of puppies. Do you remember that?"
"Yea, you didn't get me one."
"I'll think about it if you just do what I say, ok?" Serenity nodded and Ray continued. "Good. Now I want you to give this to a guy named Raphel, tell him this is courtesy of Mack's best. Got it?"
"Yes sir."
"Good, now go, cause Ray-Ray gotta do some target practice." Ray walked off.
Serenity cringed, the last target practice he had, he used all of her dolls as hit disks. But Serenity did as she was told, only to hope that Ray would possibly quell the fire within his lover. Serenity walked down the main street, looking for the place she'd seen the puppies last week. She thought to herself, Ray's job paid for all of their things and mom was happy, maybe that should be enough to make her happy, even though her life was miserable. Not paying attention, she walked into somebody.
"Hey watch it kid." He growled.
Serenity looked up, she was at the spot, "Cues me sir, are you, Raphel?"
"No, but he sent me, so what's it to ya?"
Serenity pulled out the small bag, "Pint sized, Mack's best."
Raphel's man smirked and grabbed it, "Eh, best twenty bucks I ever spent."
'Ok.' Serenity backed up and ran off, her job was done, now it was time for her to go home. She looked in the window when she got to her house, she saw Ray and her mom hugging and kissing like animals. She decided to go around the back door to not bother them. Once inside, she snuck to her room. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and then a lot of commotion was and screaming, so she crept out into the hall and gasped when she saw a bunch of police officers attacking Ray, and Cher on the floor.
"Stop this, what is the meaning of… what's going on here!?" She wailed.
The lead cop turned to her, "We caught him peddling narcotics through a seven year old, we caught her in the act at main street moments ago. We followed her here to finally apprehend this man. We've been on his trail for months."
Cher turned to him, "You're a…."
"It was that hard to figure?" Ray struggled in the cuffs. "Look at how I live my life, I'm not a relater, how else would a fugitive have so much cash and be gone so long some days, yet be off so much time other days." He saw Serenity. "You, you set me up! I told you Raphel, I told you Raphel!" He struggled to tackle her but the cops held him back. She gasped in fear but they dragged him out the door. "I'll swear you son of a bitch I will hunt you down and rip your heart out, now no, ah, get back here you, stop, cut, stop it!"
"Don't worry, he won't be out for a long time, if ever." The cop assured and left. Cher sat in shock on the floor.
Serenity crawled over, "Momma?"
Cher blinked, "How could I have been so blind…" She looked at her hands, then felt her face. "My god, what have I become?" Finally awakened with her eyes open right side up, she gasped and turned to her daughter. "My god." She hugged her. "Serenity, what have I done… I'm so sorry." She wept bitterly.
Serenity smiled softly, "It's ok momma, he's gone now."
Cher looked at her, "I promise you everything will be ok from now on. I'll get a real job myself, I'll try so hard to make things work for us, you'll see, I'll make it better, I'll do it right this time, I promise."
Serenity's eyes watered, "You don't have to worry about me mom, I'll be fine."
"Oh my little girl." Cher wept again and held her tightly, Serenity couldn't help but cry too.
End flashback
Joey stared blankly at his weeping sister, "Are you… kidding me?"
"No." Serenity looked up, her eyes shaking. "I'm dead serious it's all true."
"It just seems so unreal, like out of a movie or something…"
"I told you."
"Sis, I…" Joey looked at her. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea."
"It's ok. You didn't see mom during the ugly times. But it wasn't long before she fixed it all, soon she got a job, we got a big apartment and things went great after that. Until…"
Joey blinked, "Until, what?"
"My eyes."
"Your eyes?"
"Yes." Serenity sighed. "It makes sense now, dad's smoking and drinking, the environment I grew up in when mom was with Ray…. our ceiling was made from asbestos, our paint was led based, the lighting was poor. I was so young, no wonder it had such a hard effect on me so soon as I got older."
"But, you're fine now, they took care of that all."
"Oh yes, no I'm fine now." Serenity smiled over at him. "You never stop to think about it, putting all the pieces of your past together."
"I wonder then." Joey coughed harshly. "If that would explain where I am as well."
Serenity frowned, "I imagine life with dad must've been horrid."
Joey smirked, "Please, mom changed, dad staid the same through it all. I'm glad I went to live with dad, I would've killed myself if he treated you how he treated me."
Serenity blinked curiously over at him, "How had he treated you?"
"Had, sis? Heh, there was never a time he stopped…"
"I can't judge until I hear your story. I told you mine, now you tell me yours."
3. Opening Life Behind Closed Doors