Despite my best efforts, Mom managed to keep me in the dark on Barley's condition over the next couple of days.

All I knew is that she had taken him. His van was still in the driveway.

The door was left unlocked, so I went inside. I'd done so a few times already. I'm not quite sure why, but it just made me feel like he was still around.

It still smelled bad in there, though.

Mom left the house, just as I was climbing out.

"Hey, Ian. I'm gonna go pick up a few groceries," she said.

"Okay," I said.

"I think that you should come with me."

"Why?" I asked.

"It might distract you for a while."

"I don't need to be distracted," I said. "I need answers!"

"About what?" Mom asked.

"Barley, of course!" I said.

"Ian, you just need to have a little more patience…"

"I'VE BEEN HAVING PATIENCE!" I shouted. "But I can't be patient aymore! You can't just tell me that Barley is in the hospital, and not expect me to have questions!"

I don't know how she did it, but Mom eventually convinced me to come along.

"This is a few groceries?" I asked, as Mom threw the last bag onto my lap.

"Shut up!" she said.

The drive home was mostly silent.

"So… what's on your mind now?" Mom asked.

"Today at school, one of the kids said that I had a big nose. I don't have a big nose, do I?"

"No! Your nose is the perfect size."

I didn't come out for dinner that evening. Actually, I'm not sure if there even was dinner.

At some point, I wanted to ask Mom something, but she was talking on the phone for a long time.

And now, I can't even remember what I wanted to say.

At 3:00 AM, I got hungry and decided to sneak downstairs for a snack.

I wasn't very sneaky. I made a lot of noise and bumped into everything.

Mom caught me with my hand deep into the bag of shredded cheese.

"Uh… neigh?" I said.

"No," she said.

Then, she took a pot out from the cabinet.

"Are you going to hit me with that?" I asked.

"NO" she said. "Why would I do that?"

We had macaroni and cheese at 4 AM.

Ha, that's something Barley would do, I thought,

Oh, no. I was thinking about him again. But I just couldn't stop myself.

"Do you want to visit him?"

"Huh?"

"Tomorrow after school."

"C-can I? Really?"

"Yes, and I think he'd like to see you."

Well, this was progress!

Of course, staying up late at night turned out to be a terrible idea.

"So, yeah… I overslept and was late for school," I said.

"Too bad I wasn't there," Barley laughed. "I would've jumped onto your bed to wake you up!"

He didn't look much different, aside from not wearing his usual clothes. Well, there was also the tired look in his eyes, but that had been there for weeks.

Maybe he could come back home soon?

What was even wrong with him in the first place?
So many questions, but I couldn't seem to get any words out.

I'd been in this hospital before, when I was younger, but only for a short time.

That was when I'd fallen down the stairs and gotten hurt pretty badly. Apparently, Mom did not appreciate the "No Barley Allowed" sign on my door. Younger me thought that it would be a great idea to chase her down the stairs when she went to throw it away. Younger me was very wrong.

"Is it scary to be here?" I finally blurted out.

"What? Nooo… of course not!" Barley said, laughing nervously. "Barley Lightfoot never gets scared!"

"What happened to you, anyways?" I asked. "Why are you here?"

"So… how much longer do you think you'll be here?" Mom interrupted him, just as he was about to respond.

"I don't know. Another day or two?" Barley said.

I wanted him to be home right now.

As I was trying to fall asleep that night, I heard Mom and Colt talking about me.

"And I thought he was the good kid…"

"He is a good kid! Both of them are!"

I tried not to listen.

"…just a little mischievous…"

"I don't want two troublemakers! One is bad enough!"

"Ian's not a troublemaker! He's just stressed…"

"Careful, Ian! If you jump on the bed, you might break it!"

I should've listened.

I was jumping on the bed before school the next day. I don't know why.

"Ha! That's impossible! I'm just a skinny little boy!" I laughed. "Unlike Barley…

"Are you calling him fat?" Mom asked.

"Well, he's umm… uh… really…" I said.

"He's just slightly chunky!" Mom said.

"Whee!"

I jumped harder.

The bed broke, and I fell down to the ground!

"Oh, no!" Mom said. "My poor baby! Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" I said. "But now my bed is broken…"

"I told you that would happen!" Mom said.

"Now what?" I asked.

"You need to get to school, or you'll be late!" Mom said. "We'll sort this out later."

It was a long day at school.

"Boy! I can't wait to lie down!" I said. "Oh, that's right. My bed is broken…"

"Well, you can just use Barley's bed!" Mom said.

"Uh… what?" I asked. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah!" said Mom. "He's going to be gone for a while. He won't miss it."

My heart dropped. I was hoping that it would just be a quick trip in and out.

"Uh… do I have to?" I asked. That idea just seemed wrong.

"Well, unless you want to sleep on the floor," Mom said. "You're the one who broke your bed. I'm not buying you a new one."

I had a better plan.

I was going to run away from home.

I got into the van.

Driving was still a bit scary, but I'd done it a few times now. Of course, that was always with Barley. Not alone.

But I didn't care. I felt like I could do anything and not care about the consequences. Nothing mattered to me. Not until Barley was better and back home.