Some Poisonous Reptile

(Day 126: Saturday Afternoon)

"Mal," Evie tries to reason, "Ben is innocent in this."

"Maybe," Mal counters as she stares out at the tourney field. "But Chad sure as hell knew what he was doing."

"You just learned the guidelines yesterday," Evie reminds her. "If you use magic to get revenge on him—"

"Oh, stop worrying," Mal interrupts. "I'm not stupid." She looks at the group below them and notices the blond girl with the blue Gatorade, "Hey. Ponytail." She turns around, and Mal points to it, "Are you going to drink that?"

"I was going to," she unsurely states.

Mal takes a five dollar bill from her pocket and hands it to her, "How about now?" and with that the exchange is made and Mal grins.

Evie sighs, "What are you doing?"

Mal opens the bottle and begins to spit in it, "He's going to pay one way or another."

Doug watches as she continues, "Isn't this a little… I don't know… petty for you?"

"No," Evie frowns. "It really isn't." She puts a hand on her arm, "Mal. Have you even done this before?"

"No, but it'll work," she answers.

"But, Mal," Evie comments. "What if it works too well. What if he suffocates?"

She raises her eyebrows, "Then it looks like this temporary solution would become a permanent one instead."

When Mal stands Evie takes her hand, "M. Please. Don't do this."

"Sorry, Eves," she evenly responds, "but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do."

They watch Mal shake up the bottle, before she walks down the bleachers and Doug questions, "What's she doing?"

Evie stays quiet as she watches Mal chat up Chad, opening the bottle before handing it to him, "Just… You'll see."

Down by the benches Chad stops before taking the first drink, "Why are you being nice to me again?"

Mal gives him a look, "Not everything's about you, Chad. It just so happens that my friends are on your team and sooo I would just like to make sure the weakest link isn't going to completely mess them up, like the hog you are."

Chad nods, "Okay." before he smiles. "Thanks for the drink."

When Mal leaves and Chad sits back on the bench Carlos comments, "What was that?"

"Something about me hogging the ball and her wanting me to make sure I'm at my best," Chad answers before gulping down the drink. "It's going to be a good game."

"Yeah," Carlos slowly says as he eyes Chad over.

He turns to him, "What?"

Carlos shakes his head, "Nothing."

Chad gives him a look, "You think I'm stupid for taking that drink."

"I didn't say that," he quickly defends.

"Okay. Look," Chad tries to reason. "Don't you think if it was so important for me to drink the drink that she'd been nicer so that I'd be more likely to take it?"

"No," Carlos immediately asserts. "I don't think that at all."

Chad laughs, "Okay, but I drank it and I'm fine." before he raises his arms. "So, everything is fine."

He gives him a look, "You're high."

"On spirit," Chad shouts. "Wup, wup."

After the rest of the team mimics him Carlos places a hand to his head and sighs, "Look. Chad."

"That's Prince Chad to you," he interrupts.

Carlos gives a look, "You've crossed Mal several times now. Aren't you worried?"

"Look." Chad places a hand on his shoulder, "So long as Mal wants to stay in this country and suck up to Ben's family, she won't hurt me."

"You sure about that?" his pitch raises in unsureness. "I mean, she's Mal."

Before Chad can speak the coach shouts, "Game is starting. Get into position." and the team stands from their seats; however, after Chad pushes himself up from the bench he immediately falls to the ground.

Coach Jenkins yells, "Chad. You alright?" and when he doesn't respond he hurries over to him. "Hey." He kneels down, "Are you okay?"

Chad looks up in the stands, noticing Mal's smirk, before his eyes shift down, "I can't feel my legs."

"Can you sit up?" he questions, and Chad lifts himself up, scooting back to lean on the bench. "Hold on. I'll call emergency services for you."

"No," Chad shakes his head. "My parents are here. They can take me."

The coach nods, "I'll get them for you."

"Oh, God," Doug says as he watches Chad's parents pace down the stands in worry. "Mal. What did you do?"

"What are you talking about?" Mal counters. "I had nothing to do with this. Clearly, Chad was attacked my some poisonous reptile." She looks over and sees his stress, "Would you calm down. He's just going to miss the game. He'll be fine."

When Chad's parents enter the hospital room he complains, "What took you so long?"

"Just a little paper work," his dad explains, before he and Chad's mom sits next to him.

She asks, "How are you doing?"

It takes Chad a minute to say, "I really hate this nightgown."

"Well, they gave you a blanket," his mom notices. "That's something."

Chad brings a hand to his face, as he feels the tears leave his eyes, "Why me? God, why did this have to happen to me?"

It takes a moment for his dad to say, "God works in mysterious ways."

"The world can be a cruel place," his mom agrees, "but everything happens for a reason. You've just got to believe."

After a minute of Chad's continuing crying his dad softly asks, "Did they find where the snake bite was?"

Chad shakes his head, "It wasn't a snake." and he puts his hand down. "They couldn't find it."

"We shouldn't rule it out," his mom comments. "You were paralyzed. It had to have been something."

Chad looks at them, "Why weren't you here. You could have done the paper work in here. You could have been here, and you weren't."

"We had to give the information to the receptionist," his mom explains, and then she notices him look away. "Sweetie. I know how you must be feeling, but—"

"No," Chad asserts. "You don't know anything." He shakes his head, "I was here, and you weren't, and…" His eyes shift down.

"You're right," she accepts. "One of us should have stayed with you."

"You're damn right." Chad glances between them, "You should've been."

There's a knock at the door, and when Chad looks he sees the blond nurse with rectangular glasses, "The first scan came back."

Chad hesitates, "What is it?"

She closes the door before facing him, "There was no trace of snake venom in your system." before she looks at his parents. "However, a steroid was found."

His dad frowns at him, "Chad?"

Chad's mouth slightly gapes, "It's not what you think. I just took some cortisone for my ankle before the game."

His eyebrows raise, "You mean, that sprain you got before Christmas?"

It takes a moment for Chad to say, "It still hurts."

His mom's eyes widen, "Sweetie. Why didn't you tell us?"

Chad glances down, "Tourney was starting up." before he pauses. "I didn't want to leave Ben alone, and then when he left those new guys came in and…" He faces her, "Jay is like a frickin' acrobat. If I get benched he's going to take my spot."

"If the pain has persisted for this long," the nurse inputs, "then it's more likely to be a fracture than a sprain." They look over and her, and her blue eyes meets Chad's, "If you don't stay off your ankle until it heals, then you risk your ability to play competitively at all."

"No," Chad's eyes widen.

"Don't worry," she reassures. "If we get you checked out now and if it is a fracture, then so long as you rest you should be back to playing in a matter of weeks."

"School will be ending in weeks," Chad disbelieves.

"Sweetie," his mother says.

"In the meantime," the nurse continues, "I will get toxicology to run some more screenings to see if we can find anything else."

"So, the cortisone didn't do this to him?" his dad makes sure.

"It is unlikely," she nods.

After his parents take a breath of relief Chad comments, "I'm actually feeling better now. Like, I can feel my upper thigh, so that test probably isn't necessary."

"We still don't know what caused this," the nurse informs. "We need to find out."

Chad takes a moment, "In that case." before he faces her. "There is something else you will find." He turns to his parents, "I would use the cortisone for the field, but my ankle would hurt a lot more afterwards. So, I convinced Dr. Hoffman to get me a prescription to even that pain out."

"Can you tell me the name?" the nurse asks.

Chad looks at her, "I don't remember it right now, but it's probably an opioid."

The nurse nods, "I'll make sure that's taken into account." before she looks between them all. "Opioids can be addictive. How have you been handling them?"

Chad's quiet for a moment, "All I know is that every time I stop them my ankle hurts worse than before."

"We can probably get the medicine's name from your doctor, but we may still need to know the dose you were taking."

"And you're asking me?" Chad questions.

"We won't be able to get your x-ray until your paralysis has either been solved or has worn off," she explains. "It's likely you will need to stay the night." Chad groans in annoyance. "I'm going to need you to tell me the dose you take."

Chad's eyebrows raise, "As needed."

"And how much is that usually?"

"It varies," he bypasses, and she gives him a look. "This is stupid. My script is in my dorm at school. If it's just for one night, can't I just have someone get it for me?"

The nurse frowns, clipboard in her arms, "The hospital is liable for any and all medications you take while under our supervision. I'm afraid we can't allow that."

"Sweetie," his mom sighs. "Just tell her."

Chad glances at his parents before facing her, slowly shaking his head, "In the morning and at night, and after tourney practice in the afternoon… a couple pills, I guess."

She nods before facing his parents, "Withdrawal symptoms can happen even for short-term users of this type of medicine. It's important that after his ankle injury is taken care of that he isn't taken directly off of the prescription. I highly recommend that he sets up a schedule with his doctor to help him wean himself off of it."

His mom nods, "Okay."

The nurse smiles, "See you in a bit."

"It's afternoon," Chad yells after her; however, the door shuts before his sentence finishes, and he stares up at the ceiling.

"She's going to need to know the right medication first," his mom comments.

"Yeah." Chad sighs, "I know."

- Still no new comments. I was reminded that it's the holiday season, so I'll try not to get too paranoid... Also, at least one person (possibly a couple) unfollowed the story; however, then I realized that with how often I've been posting I'm probably spamming you with notifications, so I'm trying not to take that personally.

-Posted: 12/15/2018