1978, Luke is 22, Daisy is 21, and Bo is 20. i don't own them.
The room was getting hotter by the second, and smoke filled the air causing his eyes to sting and his lungs to burn. His fingers felt numb, but in contrast his face was burning. Every inch of his body was sore from the heat, and he didn't know how much longer he could last. Suddenly an ice cold hand touched his arm, and something else that was even colder was applied to his burning face.
"Shhhh..." came the soothing voice of his older cousin Luke. "You're okay..." he promised.
But I can't breathe... Bo wanted to say, but he couldn't find his voice. Why wasn't Luke getting them out of the fire?
"Don't try to talk, Bo. It makes it worse." Luke instructed as he continued applying what felt like an ice cube to Bo's face.
Then ice cold air rushed over his entire body as some kind of sheet that'd apparently been on him was pulled off. "I've gotta cool ya down some, cousin..." Luke mumbled as he pulled Bo up into his arms.
Finally, they were leaving the room that was on fire. Bo's head pounded upon being moved, and Luke's ice cold hands felt almost numbing on Bo's fiery hot skin. Eventually the movement stopped as he was laid down on a numbingly cold floor and something was forced into his mouth. He felt Luke's cold arm around his back and shoulders, hearing his voice telling him to try and breathe.
"...you can do it, I know ya can." he coaxed.
Somehow, even after all that walking they were still in the burning building. The smoke was getting thicker, making it harder to breathe, and he could've sworn his lungs were on fire.
"...luke...my lungs..." he gasped, almost inaudibly.
"Just trust me, Bo. Take a breath." Luke sounded almost as if he was begging.
Bo tried his best, and was eventually able to take a painful raspy breath. Luke insisted that he take another, and that it wouldn't hurt as much this time so, Bo did as he was told. Again and again until his lungs weren't on fire anymore, but instead an elephant was sitting on them.
Bo dared open his eyes, and was shocked to find that he was sitting on the bathroom floor. Nothing was on fire, he wasn't sitting on an ice berg... what the heck was going on? Everything was blurry and painful, but at least the fire was gone... was there ever a fire? Bo didn't know, but he was safe now.
"Look at me..." Luke insisted, fear lacing his tired voice. He cupped the side of Bo's face with his ice cold hand.
Bo attempted to focus his eyes, but everything refused to un-blur. His eye lids were getting heavier by the second, inviting him to fall asleep, not just a regular sleep, a deep sleep.
"Bo! Look at me!" Luke startled Bo's eyes open.
"l-luke, my chest...hurts..." Bo wheezed.
"It's okay... once I get ya all cooled off, I'll put ya back in bed an give ya that oxygen that the doc left. Right now ya just gotta trust me, okay?"
Bo had no idea what Luke was talking about, but he understood that Luke wanted him to trust him so, he softly nodded in agreement.
"Alright, now whatever happens, jus remember that I've got ya an I ain't gonna let ya go, okay?"
Bo nodded softly again, slowly letting his eyes close.
"And keep yer eyes open!" Luke shouted, in almost as scared of a voice as Bo was scared.
Slowly Bo was lifted from the ground and lowered into a bottomless pool of ice, and the sharp edges of the ice stabbed his hot skin. Once his face was under the ice, he'd had enough... he tried to get his head up, but it was a lost cause. Before he could even think of what to do next, he was being pulled out of the ice back to the surface.
"Alright, that was the worst part..." Luke promised. "Now you jus hang on an keep yer eyes open." he instructed.
Bo found out after several seconds that the ice wasn't really ice, just cold water. Everything started to become less blurry, and before he knew it he could see.
"There ya go..." Luke smiled as he saw Bo's eyes focus.
Now Bo realized what was happening... he was sick with a fever, and Luke was trying to cool him off in the bathtub. There hadn't been any fire, he'd been having a severe asthma attack, and he more than likely had pneumonia, seeing as how he felt like Boss Hogg was sitting on his chest.
"Lets see..." Luke turned Bo's face toward him and put a thermometer in his mouth. Several minutes later, he pulled it out, sighing a deep sigh of relief as he read it.
Then he heaved Bo out of the tub and onto a towel, taking another towel to the wet blond mop atop Bo's head. "You had me so scared..." Luke confessed with a light chuckle.
"Sorry." Bo coughed the word out, but it lead to a coughing fit. His lungs felt raw and his throat felt cut, and at this point he'd give anything to stop the coughing.
"Easy, easy..." Luke whispered as he raised an inhaler to Bo's mouth.
Bo grabbed Luke's wrist as he sucked desperately from the inhaler.
"Calm down..." Luke urged.
Soon the attack faded, and Bo was left with raw lungs that hardly worked. Luke picked Bo up and carried him back to the boys' room where Jesse was waiting, sitting on the edge of Luke's bed.
"How is he?" he asked.
"A whole lot worse 'an before now that all them meds wore off..." Luke sighed as he laid Bo down.
Bo didn't want to complain, seeing that Luke already had his hands full, but he was helpless. "luke...hurts to breathe..." he wheezed breathlessly. He wanted to close his eyes, but he remembered that Luke'd told him not to.
"I know it hurts ya, cuz... this'll help." Luke promised as he placed a mask over Bo's mouth and nose.
Bo looked up at his older cousin, desperately, as if to ask 'what's wrong with me?'
"s'alright, Bo." Luke responded to the fear in Bo's eyes by taking a seat on the edge of Bo's bed, placing a gentle hand on Bo's arm. "You've got the dang pneumonia again, s'all." he explained.
"How's his fever?" Jesse asked.
"It was gettin up there, but it's down to 99 now." Luke replied, getting up from Bo's bed now that his cousin was asleep. He pulled Bo's blankets up to his chin and pushed back a stray curl of his hair.
"I wish this didn't have to happen to him." Luke sighed as he got back in his own bed.
"Me too, son. But he'll be alright. He's made it through this so many times..." Jesse assured as he patted Luke's shoulder. "See ya tomorrow, boy." he waved as he shut the door behind him.
Luke sat awake for quite some time, until Bo's sleep wheezing became even more irregular than it had been, and when he glanced over at Bo he could see the pain in his sleeping face. He switched the lights on and stood over Bo's bed for several minutes as he decided what to do.
Bo was obviously half asleep, having started to wake up due to the pain and struggle to breathe. So Luke pulled the mask away from his face and replaced it with an inhaler.
"Bo?" he asked softly.
Bo slowly opened his mouth and accepted the inhaler. Luke watched him prepare to take a deep breath, and when he did, Luke released the medicine. Then he pulled the mask back over Bo's face.
"You'll be okay. Jus sleep." Luke whispered as he gently patted Bo's shoulder.
Then he went back to bed, and both boys slept peacefully (considering the situation) for the rest of the night.
imma leave this one without a chapter before it and without a chapter after it to give myself something to do later. anyhow, I know this one kinda sucked, but it was all I could think of XD... see ya next chapter!
