Julie's POV
I awoke to the sound of my neighbor mowing the lawn next door and gentle snoring across from me. I had fallen asleep on the couch and someone had taken care to bury me in several blankets when I had fallen asleep. I noticed that across from me even though there wouldn't be any room for us had he been solid, Luke slept. He looked peaceful so I tried to sit up and get a better look but my head began to pound so I laid back down. I wasn't left alone for long though, Alex was it? had poofed in and silently gave me an ice pack for my head while Reggie adjusted my blankets. Reggie whispered before poofing back to wherever they had come from, "We'll check on you in twenty minutes and if you're up to it we'll get you food, try rest and let the ice pack do its magic!"
Alex gently stroked Luke's hair off of his forehead before poofing also. The care these guys had for each other was so cute, and towards me was amazing. It was everything I had been dreaming about and wishing for my entire life. I just wasn't expecting three gorgeous guys to be my angels.
Twenty minutes later, my head had stopped spinning and Luke began to stir this time when I tried sitting up but Alex and Reggie had already poofed off and came back with Mc Donald's in their hands. "I don't know whats in here but it looked heavy so pick what you like I guess" said Reggie passing over the massive bag.
"This is a latte with salted caramel sauce and chocolate sprinkles on top with marshmallows. I don't know why someone would drink this but it looked good so here you go" said Alex as he passed me my crazy drink.
Hearing all the commotion Luke began to rub his eyes and sit up, from the looks of things he wasn't a morning person, he took one look at everything and decided to roll back over and go back to sleep. Reggie pulled the blankets up and over his shoulders and I began pulling things out to assess what was there. There were pancakes, a chicken Mc muffin, a bacon and egg mc muffin, a few BLT bagels and eight hash browns. I began starting on the chicken mc muffin with a few hash browns when Luke sat up and gave me the most concerned look he could.
"Please don't eat all of that, you will be sick Julie and trust me, it's worse coming back up than going down!"
I nearly choked but he was right, it wasn't an experience worth having. I managed to eat my chicken Mc muffin and half a hash brown which was more than I was expecting. Having regular eating habits was definitely expanding my stomach.
"Guys where is my father? Why didn't he find me and wake me up this morning?" I asked thinking he normally would have had me scrubbing the floors by now. "We'll he did try to get up to your room this morning however he was interrupted by three different phone calls which called him out of the house" said Alex while he fidgeted with his hands.
"Wow, it's been forever since I got to just sleep in, what time is it?" I asked around a yawn which turned into a few sneezes.
Immediately Luke sat up to try to feel my forehead forgetting that he was a ghost and started cursing under his breath.
"Julie, you might be sick!" he said.
Alex rolled his eyes and poofed off coming back a second later with a thermometer that you held to your head and pressed a button to read the temperature. He gave it to Luke who immediately began reading my temperature. I sneezed a few more times and Reggie offered me a few tissues.
Reggie was leaning over Luke to see what the thermometer read and said "Yeah Julie you have a fever, you're definitely sick, what symptoms do you have?"
"I'm sorry, i'll be better soon, just let me sleep?" I said looking down and feeling guilty.
"Hey don't do that Julie, you're allowed to be sick, there's nothing wrong with that, it's a normal part of life" said Luke trying to lift my face up to look him in the eyes.
"I'm sorry, you're right, I just am so used to being told off for being sick, um I feel really cold and my throat hurts a little" I said.
Immediately Alex pulled off all but one of the blankets and then poofed off to come back with some hot lemon and honey tea.
"You can't let your body over heat as it's already too hot, your body naturally spikes up your internal temperature to fight off a cold as the bad bacteria cant survive if your body temperature is just a few degrees warmer. But if you stay under all of that you will overheat and that would be bad, you need to rest and drink plenty of fluids" said Alex in a very motherly way which made me smile. I noticed the way Luke was smiling at Alex like he had just saved his puppy, these guys were like brothers the way they supported each other.
Reggie rested a hand above my shoulder for a moment before he poofed and came back with a humidifier.
"We can put this on also but we just have to make sure your temperature stays stable as this can heat up the garage" Reggie said as he busied himself pulling the humidifier out of the box and turning it on after filling it with water and turning off the heater.
"Julie, do you have any medicine at all that I can get for you? Are you allergic to anything?" asked Luke.
"I was never allowed medicine so I'm not sure if I am, I guess just try kid stuff and see what happens?"
"Wait, you weren't allowed medicine? How many times have you been sick before?" asked Luke with a murderous dark look on his face.
"I've been sick countless times, whenever I was sick I was just given more work to do and told that it would help me get better, usually scrubbing the floors, washing the house from the outside, stuff like that" I said looking down at my fingers again already knowing where this was going to go.
Luke surprisingly didn't say anything, he just left a hand on top of my fidgeting ones while Alex and Reggie poofed around the world bringing in a TV for us to watch movies, lots of fluid options and cans of chicken soup. I needed to use the washroom though and tried standing but immediately sat down with a mix of dizziness and pain. I tried to hide the pain on my face but Luke saw it.
"What's wrong? What's the matter?" he asked. "I just feel dizzy, that's all, I need to use the washroom" I said.
Luke didn't buy it though, his eyes could see there was something else wrong but after a few minutes of sitting up I tried again and successfully got to the bathroom that was in the garage. He followed closely behind and stayed outside while I did my thing. The moment I pulled down my jeans I realized two things, one I had really bad rashes all along my body from being left in wet clothes last night for more than several hours and two, the lashes that were along my back and thighs were starting to go green which meant they were infected. I managed to use the washroom and pull up my pants again and started to rationalize a plan except that I didn't have one. Eventually Luke knocked on the door and asked if he could come in. It was a little tight but there was enough room. "Show me Julie," he said. I took one look at his face and realized I couldn't argue or talk my way out of it. I turned around and pulled up my top for him to see my back. He was able to pull it all the way up and get a good look then he pulled it down again. "You need to see a doctor, today" he whispered.
"No, they wont let me go home if they see what you just saw" I pleaded.
"By right they have to treat you, you can go in anonymously, I'll find a place".
"I have no money, how will I get there?" I asked.
"We're ghosts, we'll make it happen just please say yes, I don't wanna force you to go Julie but I really think you should, your dad is busy today so please let's take advantage of this. If that infection gets worse it could be life threatening and you know it" he begged with his eyes.
After a long moment I agreed since just standing was beginning to hurt. He tried to kiss my forehead before poofing out and I wiped my eyes before making my way back to the couch.
He was already sitting there googling clinics off of my phone and setting up an appointment. Reggie and Alex were still oblivious to what was happening.
"Alex, can you go to Julie's room and get her some fresh clothes please, a loose shirt and sweats and stuff. Reggie, can you rob a bank of about two hundred dollars please, nothing big that any one would be in trouble for okay just enough to get what we need done" commanded Luke as he started setting up an appointment and ordering a taxi off of my phone with some new app he downloaded. For someone who was from the past, he was very fast at picking up on technology. The boys did as asked with no questions while I just sat on the couch next to Luke observing what he was doing. "They need you to answer a few basic questions like your gender, how old you are and if you have any allergies and if you're pregnant" he said as he passed me the phone, I quickly filled them out then passed it back to him. Alex came back with clean underwear, socks and clothes as well as a loose cardigan to go over my tank top and began giving me a worried look as he began to piece two and two together. I took the clothes and got changed in the changing room or at least tried to, it was hard to lift things up over my head or to bend down. Eventually Luke poofed in after knocking and asking if I needed help. Anyone else this would have been awkward but he had already seen me naked and at my worst moment in life so I took his help gratefully. Something I had noticed though is even though he had seen it all, he still tried to not look when dressing me. He chucked the bra back into the pile of clothes though deciding that would be too painful to wear over the infected lashes that were on my back.
Luke helped me put on my socks, pants and shoes and pull them up so I didn't have to bend too much. Once dressed we headed outside to wait for the taxi that was due to arrive in five minutes. I felt a little vulnerable just wearing a cardigan with no bra and a tank top which Luke quickly picked up on and gave me one of his black hoodies that Reggie had found while we were sleeping in the loft. I traded him the cardigan and he poofed that back to who knows where. "Are you guys all coming with me on the taxi ride?" I asked "Nah, I'm staying back here if that's okay, I wanna keep tabs on your sadistic father to make sure he doesn't notice that you're gone and if he does to keep tabs on where he goes looking for you in case he starts driving around town. Alex and Luke will go with you though just maybe don't talk in front of any one to them as they might think you're crazy" he said laughing at the last part.
"That's a good point and thank you Reggie, thanks all of you, I don't know what I would have done if you guys hadn't poofed into my life when you did" I said, taking the time to look each of them in the eyes.
A few minutes later, the taxi pulled up and I sat in the back closing the door behind me while Alex and Luke poofed in, Luke in the back with me and Alex in front. We needed to act normal. We drove for twenty minutes and it was a struggle to keep quiet with Luke and Alex recalling memories of places they had played at as we passed them but eventually we arrived, I paid and tipped the driver and walked into a gray building for my appointment. It was in a mall on the third floor but thankfully there were elevators. Once inside the cozy section it felt warm and safe with lots of comfy chairs to sit in and wait. The walls were a soft blue and there was a fish tank in a corner with some toys for children to play with. I filled out a similar form when I arrived using my serial number from my cell phone as my name as I didn't want any way for this to be tracked back to me. I handed it back to the lady behind the reception desk and waited patiently.
Alex paced back and forth while Luke sat quietly with me with his hand resting just next to my hand on the arm chair. I had never thought about going to a place like this and realized that maybe I should have a few years ago to make sure if I had any infections they were cared for correctly after numerous activities. I remembered having a rod injected into my arm at thirteen to prevent myself getting pregnant, that was an interesting time, my father had to lie that he wanted it in to help with my periods as they had been so irregular. That was before sessions had started in the basement so naive me went along with it not seeing what my father truly intended.
Eventually my number was called and I followed the nurse to a private room with Luke closely behind me, Alex opted to stand guard in the lobby which I was fine with. It was already awkward enough having a cute boy I hardly knew take charge of my life but I came to realize that he took his oath very seriously of not leaving me alone.
I was led to a comfortable looking chair and indicated to sit down in it, Luke sat in the one next to me and resumed his position of resting his hand near mine on my arm chair. "So miss, how can I help you today, I understand that you don't want any details to be public and we will honor that, can you show me what seems to be the problem?"
I took a deep breath and turned around and began lifting up my top and picked a spot on the wall to stare at while tears began to swell in my eyes. Luke stood up too and tried to cup my face which didn't help.
The nurse took a sharp intake of breath then said "I see, is it okay if I pull down your pants to see the rest? I need to be able to assess the damage but if at any point you don't feel comfortable please speak up and I'll stop and step away. What was done to you was horrible and I don't want to come in the way of you needing help".
I nodded and helped her ease my pants down while Luke locked eyes with me. This boy was seriously beginning to make my heart flutter in ways it never had before. It was still a mystery that he could care so much for someone like me.
The nurse finished her examination then asked if I could lay face down on her bench so she could apply some cream to help with the infection. Before she began though she asked a question that surprised me.
"I know you want to remain anonymous and that is fine, however if you want, I can take photos and when you are ready to take the person who did this to you to jail I can pass them over to the court as evidence of what was done to you? Also I can give you information on some safe houses out there that are open to youth 24/7 where you can come, spend the night in a clean bed or just hang out in a safe place to do your homework or hang with the other kids. No one will ask for your details, and most of the kids there use a fake name. Occasionally there are kids from the same school but part of being able to go to these houses is just signing a contract before entering that you won't pass information you've seen about another individual at your school to anyone so that these places can remain a safe place. What do you think?"
I thought about it for a minute then nodded my head. "That sounds like a good idea to all of it, I'm not ready to take the person to court yet but that is a good idea if i ever want to and having a safe house to just do my homework would be amazing also" I said. I looked over at Luke and he was smiling with tears streaming down his eyes. I guess they didn't have anything like this when he was alive and I remembered him saying he was homeless for a few months before he passed.
She dressed the lashes and gave me some antibiotics with instructions to eat with food and to apply cream and new bandages every two days, if there was no one I trusted I was welcome to come back and ask her to do it. Then the nurse asked me if I was sexually harassed. I couldn't look her in the eye but she was very kind about it.
"Hey it's not your fault, you have done the best thing by coming here and been brave enough to ask for help. Let me run some tests, I'll have to get you to lay down unfortunately on your lashes so I can do an examination and then I'll have the results in the next few days. I would love it if you could come back in on Wednesday, I know it's a school day but I'm able to pull you out of school for this without anyone knowing. It's a deal we have with the schools as you aren't the first girl to walk through my doors who normally can only come in when their parents are out. At least if you're getting pulled out of school it will be less of a risk. We will have it set up as a private dance tutorial, how does that sound? You look like a dancer. That way your peers won't suspect anything. I'll send a taxi to come pick you up and take you back to your school so just make your way to the office and I'll have the driver waiting for you there, how does that sound?" she asked. "That sounds amazing, thank you so much!" I said with tears threatening to fall. She passed me a few tissues and once I was composed enough she sent me away with a full dose of antibiotics to take as well as some cough medicine for my cold that was coming on and fresh bandages with my cream. Once safely out of the room and on our way back to Alex, Luke whispered "You need to eat Julie, it's been a while and you're looking weak, i'll check on Reggie to make sure your dad isn't home and looking for you and I'll meet you back in the food court". I nodded and watched him poof away.
I made my way to the reception desk to pay and the receptionist gave me a nice smile.
"Hey love, you don't owe us anything, this is a free clinic, we accept donations but we understand that children or young adults don't have access to a lot of money but often need medical help so that's why we run this clinic and have the option to come in and be treated completely anonymously. I was shocked so I added a twenty anyway as a donation, I would have added more but it might be a little suspicious if a sixteen year old had a hundred dollars in cash on her.
I made my way slowly to the elevator with Alex closely behind me and he pressed the button to go down for me. "Are you okay? You look like you're crashing Julie" he said with a worried look on his face.
"I just need to eat, is all" I whispered.
We got to the bottom floor and I saw the worried look that Alex and Luke exchanged. I managed to make my way to the salad bar and paid for a salmon steak salad with cranberries, blue goat cheese, lettuce and tomato with candied walnuts on top. It was glorious and just what I needed. Luke watched me eat with puppy dog eyes which made me smile, I had to be careful though as people were already looking my way wondering why I was walking so slow. Once I had finished eating, I ordered a smoothie to drink on the way out at Luke's request and made my way to the taxi stand.
I was beginning to feel anxious as I neared home to the unknown but Luke constantly poofed back and forth and confirmed that my dad was indeed still out. Once the taxi had left, I made my way inside the garage where a glass of water was given to me and I took my medicine with it. It was about two in the afternoon so Luke poofed in my homework and I tried to do some of it. I was never very good at homework as I was always exhausted but today I could barely make out the questions. Eventually Reggie took my homework out of my hands and told me to watch some TV and that he would help me later. He went to a desk to look over what was asked and what I had done. I hoped he didn't do it for me as my teachers would never believe that. I was alright at English but every other subject I was failing.
Alex had chosen the live action Beauty and the Beast but I couldn't complain, I was already beginning to drift off to sleep again in my corner of the couch and from the looks of it Luke was also. As I drifted off into a peaceful sleep I felt someone shift their weight on the couch and wrap a blanket over my shoulders, check my temperature then went back to their side of the couch. I fell asleep with a soft smile on my face knowing who that was.
