Happy Easter to all of you and thank you so much for all of your wonderful reviews :) I'm so happy that you like this story. First of all I'm going to give out a BIG shout to Alice ( my beta reader and friend) who once again helped me. Thank you sweetie, I owe you :) And second; here comes the next chapter. Enjoy, swenglish.
To Hell and Back - Chapter 3
Even though I'm a special agent and am trained to function in all kinds of situations and environments I still can't decide whether being in this tent is one of the worse sleeping arrangements I've experienced. And that's not saying much since I have had real drinking riots with my college buddies in the past. The main reason for my discomfort is one slightly esoteric physicist!
His snoring could quite literally wake the dead!
The fact that it's warm and stuffy in the tent doesn't help either and I'm surprised that Charlie is sleeping through all this noise. He must be really tired. Normally he is the guy that spends the night tossing and turning, unable to sleep while I'm the one that falls asleep the minute my head hits the pillow.
Lying in my sleeping bag I'm starting to think that maybe this whole trip wasn't such a good idea. I like being with my brother and Larry, don't get me wrong, but the professor sawing wood to beat the band and occasionally talking in his sleep can be a bit too much even for the most well-trained guy.
It isn't just the sleeping arrangements that have me concerned on this trip. Even though Charlie is apparently sleeping restfully there is something about him that has me a bit worried. He has been much too quiet this whole evening, especially since I know how much he has looked forward to this trip. The fact that he, the guy who can stay up the whole night, wants to go to bed before 10 pm takes concern about him to the edge of alarm.
I hope he isn't coming down with some bug since we're here in the middle of nowhere and hiking back the way we came would be a strenuous exercise even for the most fit.
I have no idea when I fell asleep, but suddenly I was awakened by a strange noise outside the tent. It sounded as if someone was trying to get in and my protective side instinctively kicked in. Still not fully awake I grabbed the flashlight, since it was pitch black in the tent. I thought I could either use it as a weapon or to scare the intruder away. Being in the business; I've heard about muggers taking these trails and robbing innocent hikers and there was no doubt that I would do my best to protect my travel companions if things came to that.
Sitting up I watched how the zipper slowly opened and immediately I lit the flashlight shining it towards the intruder, hoping to blind him.
"Freeze!" I yelled, out of reflex and the person in the tent opening flinched and I swear jumped ten feet in the air.
"Oh Shit!" Charlie's pale face looked like a deer in headlights and he breathed rapidly as if I had scared the crap out of him.
"Charlie!" I called out; annoyed that it was only him. "What are you doing out in the middle of the night?"
"What am I doing?" he asked, his voice raising a notch. "What am I doing? What are you doing might be a better question." Flinching from the bright light he went on. "Can you turn off that thing, it hurts my eyes."
"Oh sorry."
I held the flashlight away; careful not to wake Larry up and to be honest I was a bit surprised that he kept on snoring even through the ruckus that I had just made. Watching Charlie crawl back to his sleeping bag I asked once again, "What were you doing out this late?"
A sigh could be heard. "I had to pee."
"Oh."
Normally I wouldn't doubt my brother; at least not all the time, but there was something in his posture that made me think that there could be more than met the eye going on here. To be honest he looked all pale and sick and I didn't like the way he guarded his arm as if it hurt. Charlie pulled his sleeping bag up to his neck and the rolled to his side, first away from me only to immediately roll back wincing.
"You all right?" Now I really had to know. That sting on his arm seemed to really hurt him and mentally I decided that the first thing I would do when the sun rose was to take a look on that arm.
"Yeah…I'm fine."
Charlie's tone was mixed between exhausted and whiny and being an older brother I came to recognize it as being his "I'm-not-feeling-well-but-I'm-not-letting-you-in-to-what's-wrong" voice.
"You're sure?"
"Mmm..." He yawned loudly. "I'm just really tired." He closed his eyes. "g'night Don."
"Okay, Buddy, try to get some sleep then; we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Goodnight."
God I'm starting to sound like Dad. All I got back was a grunt and soon it was quiet again; that is if you didn't count Larry's snoring.
The next time I woke up it was a different sound. Instead of snoring there was moaning and whimpering and this time it wasn't coming from Larry.
Turning to my left I watched my little brother tossing restlessly in his sleeping bag. He appeared to be asleep but then with Charlie you never knew. He had a way of pretending to be unattainable whenever he didn't want to be disturbed. What I knew however was that he didn't look too comfortable and putting my hand on his shoulder, to calm him down, I noticed how clammy he felt.
"Crap!" The last thing we needed was one of us to be sick. Feeling sure that the reason for Charlie's sudden illness was exhaustion after working too hard on the case; I cursed myself for not realising that what my little brother needed was rest rather than running around in the hills.
I don't know if the reason for what happened was because I had woke my brother up but the next thing I heard was a weak mumble. "Oh God… Not now… Not again."
Fumbling with his sleeping bag it looked as if he was in an awful hurry. Quickly he darted towards the tent opening, crawling out.
Surprised over this sudden unexpected action I called out, "Charlie, you Okay?" When I received no answer I followed him out the tent and watched him half run in a hunched way over to the bushes and I knew what was about to happen before I reached him.
Wincing, I listened to Charlie throwing up violently on the ground. My stomach ached when I saw how the cramps seemed to wrack his body and I felt the need to comfort him the best I could. "Hey, Buddy, you okay?"
The minute I uttered those words I could've mentally slapped my head. Of course he wasn't okay. He was puking his guts out for crying out loud.
All I got was a groan.
Steadying him as he wavered I mumbled soothingly, "Just try to relax."
Charlie was violently shivering and I placed a comforting hand on his shaking shoulder. "That's it, let it all out. You'll feel better soon."
Charlie said nothing. In fact he was very quiet if you didn't count the heaving. Putting his hands on his knees he spat several times into the dirt below him. When the worst of the bout was over I asked, "That wasn't the first time tonight, was it?"
He shook his head, eyes closed. "No, my stomach has been really upset."
Charlie was now shaking like a leaf and even though I'm not the most emotional man I still felt the urge to give him a hug. Feeling like crap was never easy, no matter how old you were and being sick in the middle of nowhere, on a trip that was suppose to be the best of the year, had to be the worst.
Holding my brother I felt him start to go slack and for a second I feared that he was about to pass out, the parlour on his skin; deathly white.
"I think I need to sit down."
Not wasting any time I helped him to sit on the rock and then hunched down beside him. "Are you feeling better now?"
"I'm sorry."
Surprised I asked, "You're sorry? Sorry for what?"
"For…for messing things up again." he said, his voice barely a whisper.
This made me feel a sudden ache in my heart. "Dude you didn't mess things up. You can't help it if you're sick." "I'm not sick." Charlie looked up; his pale face staring back at me. Cold sweat plastered his curly hair to his forehead and there was traces of sweat as well as tears on his face.
"Yeah, Buddy, you're just yakking in the middle of the night for fun right?" It beats me why he tries to act as if everything is peachy when we have colourful evidence that it's quiet the opposite.
"I think it was something I ate."
This time I couldn't hold back a snort. "Yeah right!" Charlie sighed, and then looked away. He knew I was referring to the fact that he'd barely eaten anything since we'd left home. That combined with being much too quiet for my liking, which in Charlie's case means that he doesn't talk non stop about math, had me a tad concerned. The dawn had begun to break and I noticed how sick he looked in the pale light from the sun that started to peek up toward the horizon.
Feeling that I had to know what was wrong with my little brother I asked bluntly, "Charlie, why have you been so quiet all day? I thought you were excited about going on this trip?"
He looked hurt. "I was; I am."
"Then what is it?"
"I don't know." Charlie cradled his head in his hands. "I'm feeling a bit crummy." He sighed.
"You think it can be nerves? You know it's not uncommon that after a gruesome and hard case like this last one was that the body starts to react. You can begin to feel sick as if you were battling the flu." I paused. "It happens to a lot of us, especially when we were rookies."
Charlie shrugged. "Maybe…maybe not. Maybe I'm just imagining things. I'm probably just exhausted." Closing his eyes he mumbled, "I really don't know."
It was as if his thoughts were jumbled and the words didn't make much sense to me at all.
Feeling badly that I had been so harsh with my comments earlier on; I patted on his arm in a comforting way.
"Come on, Buddy; let's get back to the tent. It looks as if you can use all the sleep you can get."
A loud gasp was all I got back and Charlie instantly cradled his arm as if it hurt like a son of a bitch. Frowning I asked, "Your arm that sore?" When there was no immediate response and he just sat there staring I moved to take a look at what was hurting him when he shrugged away.
"Don't." The tone was firm.
Startled over this unexpected action I frowned.
"Charlie if your arm hurts that badly I need to take a look at it. What if it's infected?" I said, feeling my big brother genes kick in big time.
"It's not infected." With dull eyes Charlie looked up at me. "It's just a sting and those can hurt something terrible." He paused as if it was too hard to talk. "Besides you said it yourself earlier … wasp stings hurt but they are rarely dangerous."
Damn. He was right. Earlier on in the car I told him that wasp stings were not normally all that bad. I think I even mentioned that I thought he was a wuss for complaining about a small sting that didn't even show. Now it was time for me to regret those words.
"I know what I said," I started, "but that was long before you started to show these weird symptoms." I motioned towards his swollen arm. "Maybe we should go back, get a doctor to look at it?"
Knowing my little brother I awaited a total riot or at least an objection. Instead he stood up and brushed the dirt off his sweatpants.
"You don't have to take care of me. I'm an adult and I can manage on my own." Walking towards the tent he went on, "I'm fine and now that the nausea has eased up I'm sure that all I need is a good night's sleep." He paused for a second; a tight smile appeared on his lips. "And Don?
I frowned, worried over what my little brother was driving at.
"What?" "We're not turning back." With those words he disappeared from my sight.
With a mixture of concern and confusion I watched this scene take place. One minute he'd puked his guts out ready to topple over and the next acted as if everything was all fine and dandy. I shook my head; this was not the Charlie I knew.
Even if it was still very early I couldn't get my body to cooperate and the thought of sleeping at that point seemed so far away. Sitting outside on a rock, watching the sun rise over the mountains so many thoughts popped into my head; most of them concerned Charlie. Having a brother like Charlie had never been simple. There were times when I had wished he would just go away, that's how annoying he was. I hated the way he made me feel when he acted so differently from the other kids on the block. I longed to have a brother that I could do something fun with. Okay the age difference was painfully big, and with jealous eyes I watched how Joseph, my best friend used to teach his little brother to wrestle and to play baseball while mine just wanted to sit down and talk about math problems.
Honestly I think it wasn't until he started to consult for us, a few months back, that I started to feel respect for his work. Then I got to see Charlie in a different environment where he didn't look like a nerd and it made me feel good inside. For the first time I could actually feel proud of my little brother and what he'd accomplished.
Looking up into the sky I noticed how the sun rose over the horizon and the orange yellow colours looked simply beautiful. I've never been much of a sensitive guy, that was an area that was usually left for Charlie, but looking at this scenery I couldn't help but feel gratitude.
Gratitude for how I'm able to spend time with my little brother and his best friend. Gratitude for how a new day was dawning and that the previous nights problems would be swept away.
Hopefully this day would turn out much better than the last…I doubted it, but then a guy can always hope; can't he?