Chapter 15

Riker POV

I turned around and saw a giant spider web with a spider right in the center of it. I jumped backwards, lost my footing, and fell off the dock.

I couldn't touch the bottom, so I was treading water when I came back up.

"RIKER! Are you ok!?" Asked Alex.

"I lost my glasses when I fell in," I said, trying to catch my breath.

Water had gone up my nose and I started coughing.

Alex took off her shorts and dove into the water next to me. She didn't come up for a minute and I was getting worried.

"Riker, I can't find your glasses," said Alex when she came back up.

My heart beat started getting faster and faster. Alex went back underwater. I was starting to get really tired and cold. The water was freezing.

"Riker! I found them!"

I turned around and saw Alex holding up my glasses. Thank goodness.

"Thank you so much Alex," I said.

I noticed the lake was lower today, which made the docks higher. Alex had trouble getting up, so I helped her. Now it was my turn. I could barely reach the top of the dock. It was probably 1-2 feet above the water. There wasn't much to grab onto. Alex tried pulling me up, but she wasn't strong enough. I was really cold now, shaking uncontrollably.

"Alex, you n-need to g-get one of m-my b-brothers," I said.

"I can't leave you down here! What if something happens?" Alex said.

"I'll b-be fine. N-nothing's going t-to happen," I said.

"Ok, be careful," she said.

I watched from the water as Alex took off up the street. I could feel my muscles tensing up. I was losing my energy and strength fairly quickly now.

A few minutes later Alex came sprinting back.

"Riker! Nobody's home!" Alex shouted.

"Oh, they m-must have l-left already," I said.

"Where?"

"I d-don't know. S-some historical p-place," I said.

"Riker, we need to get you out of the water. It's only like 50 degrees out," Alex said.

Alex held out her hand again as I used all the strength I had left to try to get myself up on the dock. Alex was trying to pull me up as I used my other arm to push myself up. All of a sudden, the arm I was using to push myself up with gave way, and my stomach slammed down hard on the edge of the dock.

"AUGHHH!" I screamed.

Alex held my other arm tight. I used my other arm again to try and keep myself up on the dock, and not slip down any further. I pushed myself up on the dock again. I managed to get one of my legs up on the dock, and eventually, with the help of Alex, I was able to get back up on the dock. I flopped over, lying on my back. I could feel the pain getting worse and worse in my stomach.

"Riker!"

"What?"

"Your stomach's bleeding, like a lot!" Alex said.

I sat up and looked down at my shirt. There was blood all over it. Alex helped me stand up, which wasn't easy because there was a sharp pain in my stomach whenever I moved. We walked up to her house.

"Riker, go lay in the bathtub," Alex said quickly.

I carefully walked into her bathroom. Alex helped me get into her bathtub. She opened the closet and got out a first aid kit. Then she left the bathroom and returned with a large cup.

She brought the first aid kit over and sat on the ground next to the bath tub. She gently rolled up my shirt to reveal my scratched up stomach. She took the cup and filled it with water. She gently poured it over my stomach, washing off some of the blood, while I tried not to scream.

Alex POV

Riker kept rubbing his hands on his head and face. He was clearly in a lot of pain. I kept rinsing his stomach until most of the blood was gone. Then I opened the first aid kit. I took some paper towels and gently dried the water on Riker's stomach.

Now came the moment Riker was dreading. The antibacterial spray.

"Riker, I need to spray this so it won't get infected," I said.

"Mmm… Fine..."

I took Riker's hand and sprayed the antibacterial stuff all over his stomach.

"AHHH!"

Riker squirmed around in the bathtub until it stopped stinging. He finally sighed and relaxed again, releasing my hand and covering his face.

I looked back at his stomach again. It didn't look very serious. The scratches weren't very deep, but there were a lot of them.

I helped Riker stand up.

"Take off your shirt," I said.

"What?"

"Take off your shirt. I need to wrap up your stomach and it's going to get wet from your shirt if you don't," I said.

"Oh."

Riker took off his shirt, and I dried the upper part of him with a towel. I wrapped up his stomach, and helped him walk to a chair on my porch. I sat down next to him waiting for him to speak.

"Alex, I cannot thank you enough for everything you did," said Riker.

He sounded absolutely exhausted.

"I was actually really scared when you came back down and said nobody was home. I didn't know how I was going to get up. But thank you so much for getting my glasses, helping me get out of the water, helping me walk up here, and cleaning up my stomach," said Riker.

"Well I wasn't going to leave you there," I said.

Riker sighed and closed his eyes.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's just not too comfortable sitting here in wet pants," said Riker.

"Do you want me to go get you dry ones?" I asked.

"No, just help me stand up. I can make it over there."

"Riker-"

"No, just help me up. Please."

I reluctantly helped Riker stand up and walked with him across the street. I helped him up the stairs to his and Rocky's room. He picked up his suitcase and went to the bathroom. I waited for him downstairs. He came down the stairs a few minutes later wearing black skinny jeans and a gray T-shirt.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, just a little dizzy," Riker replied.

"Do you need to sit for a minute?" I asked.

"No, I'm ok. Can we go back over to your house?"

"Yeah, sure. I can reheat you some pizza for lunch," I said.

I helped Riker walk back over to my house.

"Why don't you go lay in my bed?" I said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. You probably shouldn't be sitting for a few more hours. It would feel better on your stomach if you laid down. And my bed is more comfortable than the couch," I said.

"Ok."

I walked Riker to my room and helped him lay on my bed. I walked out and started reheating the pizza from the other day.

Riker POV

After lying in Alex's bed for a little while, she came in and brought me some pizza and water. She helped me sit up a little so I could eat. She sat on the edge of the bed near my feet, facing me.

After we ate lunch, Alex picked out a show to watch on Netflix. I watched from her bed, and she watched from the floor. After a while, Alex suggested that we take off the bandages and see what it all looked like.

I took off my shirt as Alex unwrapped me. Everything had stopped bleeding. There were cuts all over my stomach though. Surrounding most of the cuts were large purple and blue bruises. I put my shirt back on and laid down.

The rest of the day, I spent in Alex's bed. She had to help me do everything. She got me food. She got me water. She helped me stand up when I needed to go to the bathroom. Standing up was one of the worst feelings. Every time I had to get up, it hurt so bad, I was almost screaming in pain.

Throughout the evening, my stomach started becoming less painful. It was starting to heal, and Alex had brought me ice packs for it.

We had pizza again for dinner, but I wasn't complaining. It was so good!

Alex got up from the table to answer her phone, which was in her room.

When she came back, she was crying, and I knew it had to be about her grandfather.

"Alex, what's going on," I asked.

"They finished the surgery, but it's not looking good."

I stood up from my chair slowly and gave Alex a hug. I grabbed her hand and brought her over to the couch, trying to calm her down.

"Alex, it's going to be ok. He can still recover from this," I said.

"I know, it's just hard."

"Alex, you are a strong, beautiful girl. I know you can make it through this no matter what happens," I said.

"You think I'm beautiful?"

"Of course I do," I said.

"Can we go sit outside for a few minutes? I need some fresh air."

Alex and I sat outside on her front steps. It was getting really dark out.

"Riker?"

"Yeah?"

"What if he doesn't recover? What if something bad happens?"

"I'm sure it will be fine, Alex. Try to stop worrying about it," I said.

She started crying again. I looked up at the stars in the sky.

"Alex, is there anything I can do for you right now? Anything you need?" I asked.

"Yes…"

"What?"

"Kiss me."

I looked at Alex. She was looking at me with tears falling down her face. She looked so pretty in the moonlight, just like last night. I leaned in and kissed her.

I looked at her. She slid closer to me and rested her head against my shoulder.

After a little bit, we got up and went back inside, not saying anything for a while. I helped her clean up from dinner and put the dishes away.

I looked across the street at my house. No lights were on. No one was home yet. It was getting late.

Alex got another call. She went in her room to answer it. A few minutes later, she came walking out with a strange expression on her face.

"Alex what happened?" I asked.

"I can stop worrying now," she said.

"Why?" I asked.

Alex walked over to me and whispered something into my ear.

"WHAT!?" I yelled.