The glowing neon light finally went out late that night leaving the apartment in darkness, the only light coming from the near full moon outside. Or, from what little was poking out from behind the dark clouds. Shadows played over the walls as Rubix lay in bed, having woken up. He looked around the dark room. He was thirsty, but he didn't want to get out of bed in case he got into trouble. Then again … He doubted he'd get into trouble here.
He sat up on the edge of the bed, wondering what he should do. He was really thirsty.
Gathering up all his courage he got out of bed and moved to the bathroom, but his glass wasn't in there. His daddy must have left it upstairs. He slowly moved to the stairs and listened. He could hear Deidre snoring softly, and he knew Kristen and daddy didn't snore, still he heard nothing else from upstairs, and no lights were on so …. They must all be asleep.
Quietly as he could he moved up the stairs on all fours, sneaking until he reached the top. If he could make it to the kitchen. But there was something by the sink. A shadow. He couldn't tell what it was and froze, hearing a light thudding noise every so often. What was it? Rubix moved around the living room towards the bed but then realized it was his daddy sitting against the sink cupboard, staring straight ahead.
"Dada?" He asked quietly, slowly moving towards his father. What was he … Rubix paused a few feet away from him. Was this what he meant by him acting weird? It certainly was strange. "Dada?" He asked again quietly. Why wasn't he responding? He wanted to move to him, but his dad had said if he was acting weird to get Kristen. But …. He glanced at the bed, his finger in his mouth. Kristen was sleeping. And it was all dark out. He didn't think she'd be happy to be woken up in the middle of the night. "Dada?" He asked again taking a step forward and and jumped when Edward looked at him, light from the moon reflecting off his eyes, and something reflective in his hand.
Rubix paused. He'd never seen his dada look like that before … Not at him anyway … He ran over to the bed, but Edward didn't move. His eyes went back to the middle of the room again, as if he was watching something. He went to the bed and crawled up. "Kisten." He said. "Kisten wake up pease." He said shaking her shoulder.
Kristen mumbled something and rolled over in her sleep, putting an arm around Deidre, who didn't so much as move.
Rubix looked at his dad again, who he now couldn't see past the island. Was he still there? Did he move? Was this what they meant by emergency? He shook Kristen's shoulder again. "Kisten, dada acty weowd!" He said, shaking her harder. "Kisten, dada acty weowd! Up! Up!" He said before hitting her arm hard with both hands.
"Hmm?" Kristen's eyes blinked open, looking up at a frightened Rubix, as her brain pieced together his words to figure out what he was saying. "Dad's acting weird?" Kristen repeated, suddenly more alert. She shook Deidre's arm to wake her.
Deidre groaned and shoved her head under her pillow. "Five more minutes." She said before she heard the quiet thudding noise coming from the corner of the kitchen. What was that? She groggily opened her eyes and saw Rubix kneeling on the bed. "What's going on?"
"I think Edward's having an episode," Kristen whispered. "We need to get Rubix out of here and then see if we can calm him down."
Deidre snapped a light on and looked around, not seeing Edward anywhere but suddenly on full alert. "Rubix, you know how to get down to Granda's right?" She asked, quietly moving to the door. Rubix nodded. "Okay you run down, don't stop, and bang on the door until they let you in! Okay? Can you do that for me?" She asked opening the front door, Rubix nodded again, glancing back at where his daddy was sitting. "Good … Tell them to stay in the apartment, and lock the door, don't let anyone but me or Kristen in, okay?" She doubted he'd be able to remember all that, but whatever he could remember would help.
He was confused, but he was starting to get even scareder. He climbed off the bed and ran down the hall, carefully moving down the stairs and towards Marian's apartment.
Kristen stood up, still unable to see exactly what Edward was doing on the floor behind the kitchen island, but putting herself between the door and the direction of the sound until Rubix was out. "Edward," she said, in a cautious voice. "How are you feeling?" He'd told her he had taken his medicine … Had he been lying? Why would he lie about that? Or had he taken his medicine, and somehow made it worse?
Edward didn't respond, just kept stabbing the knife into the wooden floor, the wood splitting, a hole forming from the blade. He didn't look confused, or lost as he had the last time he just looked …. Blank.
"Edward," Kristen repeated, walking over to where she could see him, though still keeping her distance. Her eyes widened slightly as he came into view, and she saw him just stabbing the floor again and again. "I think you need to put the knife down," she said, as firmly as she could.
When Edward didn't respond Deidre moved slightly closer, moving slowly. "Edward?" She asked quietly. "Edward, please put the knife down."
Nothing. It was like he couldn't see or hear them. Kristen traded an uneasy glance with Deidre, before slowly putting a hand on Edward's wrist, her other hand carefully taking the knife's handle and pulling it away from him.
Edward didn't even respond to her removing the knife from his hand, didn't even look at her. Deidre moved to his other side. "Ed?" She asked. He blinked for the first time since they came near him, but still did not respond. "Ed please look at me."
Kristen moved away and set the knife aside, well out of Edward's reach, before returning to him, and gently shaking his shoulder. "Edward," she said firmly. "Edward, can you look at us please?"
Edward still didn't respond at all though now it looked like he was quietly muttering to himself, though what he was saying wasn't audible enough for them to hear.
"What are you seeing Ed?" Deidre asked, sitting down beside him, her hand going to his face to rub his cheek. He jumped when she touched him and glanced at her before he looked around confused. Why was he in the kitchen? He was … No he couldn't have been …
"Edward?" Kristen said softly, taking his hand in hers. "Do you remember what was happening? How you got here?"
Edward shook his head slowly, not sure what to say. He looked confused more than anything. He'd gone to bed, that much he knew … But how did he get out of bed without waking Deidre or Kristen, he'd fallen asleep between them.
"Did you take your medicine?" Kristen asked quietly. Though he might be too out of it to remember right now.
Edward thought a moment before he shook his head. "No." He said quietly. He said he did but … He hadn't. The bottle was in the bathroom on the sink.
Kristen traded glances with Deidre, and then put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Why?" she asked quietly.
"You went through all the trouble of getting them," Deidre said, watching his face, trying to understand. "Did something bother you about taking them?"
"I just …" Edward stopped a moment. It sounded silly when he actually went to voice it. "I don't know what it'll do to me."
"Oh, Edward," Kristen said, putting her arms around him. "If you're worried about something that much … You know you can talk to us about it, right?"
"Yeah," Deidre said, hugging him too. "And we'd monitor you for how it affects you. Worst case scenario, you can wait for it to wear off, and it'll be out of your system again."
"And what if that happens and I come back worse than ever?" He asked. "We still haven't figured out what's causing all this."
"No," Kristen said quietly. "And I really, really hope this doctor does more in the future to try to help sort through things and figure it out. It bothers me that he hasn't too, but … We need to do something, don't we? Things can't just keep going the way they have been."
"We're here with you," Deidre reassured him. "So if it has any weird side effects, or makes you worse, we'll be on the lookout for it. We won't let anything bad happen to you. But nothing the doctor prescribed you is going to do anything permanent to you, either good or bad. Worst case scenario, we keep an eye on you until it's out of your system, and then try to figure out something else instead. You're going to be okay."
"You don't know that." He said. "If this doesn't work … Promise me we'll sit down. Reevaluate everything that happened again … Find something that's triggering all this. There has to be something."
Deidre nodded. "Of course."
"I think we should do that anyway," Kristen said. "Even if the medication works perfectly … It'll be better if we can figure out what keeps bringing this on."
Edward nodded then something occurred to him. "Where's Rubix?" He asked. Deidre and Kristen looked at each other a moment before Deidre answered.
"We sent him downstairs to Marian's." She said. "Will you two be okay if I go get him?"
"Yeah, we'll be okay," Kristen said, before standing and offering Edward a hand up. Edward didn't accept her hand but stood up shakily. He'd scared them enough that Rubix had to go running down to Marian's? He didn't think it would happen this soon. They'd just put that plan into shape that night. He hadn't even talked to Ben and Marian yet. God, what must they think right now?
When Deidre returned with Rubix, he looked at his dad, though his face was hidden behind his arm, his head buried in Deidre's neck.
"Dada okay now?" He asked. "Feow better?"
"Better than he was," Kristen reassured him, going over to Deidre to give Rubix a hug. "You did exactly the right thing, waking me and Deidre up so we could help him, and then going to Marian's. You are such a brave boy."
"I'm going to get this little one back to bed," Deidre said.
"Deeda, thirsty," he said, telling her why he'd come upstairs to begin with.
"Your thirsty?" she asked, sounding shocked, though it was clearly dramatic. "Okay, let's get you some water?"
"Meowk?" He asked hopefully.
Deidre looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "You know you're not allowed during the night … But … I think tonight we can make an exception," she said. "But I'm heating it up for you."
Kristen smiled slightly at Rubix. "I think he's earned it," she said. "Though you be sure and tell Deidre thank you, okay Rubix?"
"Okay Kisten!" He said as Deidre carried him over to the counter and put him down on the edge, her hand staying on him as she prepared a pot of milk to heat up on the stove like her own mother used to for her.
Kristen went over to where Edward was now sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down morosely at the pill bottle, and she sat down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm scared." He said opening the bottle. It shouldn't be that big of a deal. They were supposed to make him better right? What ever was happening scared him to … It was just a matter of which scared him more. He took a pill out of the bottle and placed the jar in the drawer of the side dresser, locking it so that Rubix couldn't get into it. He picked up the glass of water he'd left on the side dresser the night before and stared down at the pill.
"I know," Kristen said quietly, leaning in and kissing Edward on the cheek. She was scared too. What if it affected him badly, ended up making him more miserable than before? "If you don't like how it affects you, you can always stop taking it, and we'll be here to help you figure out something else," she promised. But they had to try something. Things had long since gotten out of hand.
Before Edward could think of it anymore he took the pill and chased it down with some water. That was it then … All he could do was wait to see what happened. He watched as Deidre lifted Rubix and his glass of milk off the counter and Ed stood and walked over.
"Hey bud." He paused when Rubix buried his face in Deidre's neck away from him. He'd never done that before. His chest started to hurt when he realized Rubix was afraid of him. He didn't blame the kid … He didn't know what he did but … He certainly frightened him.
"Rubix …" Kristen said gently, seeing the look on Edward's face when Rubix turned away from him. She went over and put a comforting hand on Rubix's back. "It's alright," she assured him. "Dada's back to normal now."
Rubix didn't look at him still and muttered a whiny "Wanna go bed."
"It's okay … It's late. He's tired." Edward said stepping away and moving back to the bed. Deidre took Rubix downstairs, tucking him into bed.
"He's had a rough night," Kristen said, smoothing back Edward's hair. "I'm sure he'll be okay in the morning."
"Maybe …" He said as Deidre came back up.
"I told Marian that Rubix was sleeping with you two, we heard someone on the fire escape so we had him run downstairs." Deidre explained. She didn't know if they wanted Marian and Ben to know yet.
Kristen nodded. "Good thinking," she said. She ran a hand over Edward's back. "Do you think you'll be able to get some sleep?"
"Yeah … I'll try anyway. I'm sorry." He said as Deidre came back over to the bed and climbed into bed on the other side. She reached over to Ed and rubbed her hand over his side.
"It's okay … You didn't do anything." Deidre said.
"This isn't your fault," Kristen agreed, putting an arm around him and holding him. "It's going to be okay. We'll all get through this together."