My Life and Asthma

With his big droopy eyes that pierced right into me, he stared with confusion or anger, I couldn't tell. His thick eyebrows sagged down so low it seemed as if his forehead was infinite. He had a scar on the side of his chin that cringed upward along with the corner of his lip. I knew him, but I didn't, and for some reason I knew he felt the same towards me. I started seeing him around more. I see him lurking in the shadows on my way home, trailing behind me, watching my every move. I have yet to approach him. But I mentioned him to Jordan, my older brother, which is also my best friend even if sometimes is a bit of a jerk. People say he looks just like me. Same droopy eyes that wander off into space every now and then, same bushy red hair that's tangled into little curls, and the same red cheeks with splattered freckles on them. Of course he thought I was just overreacting and being a paranoid chicken. Maybe he's right, maybe I was being paranoid, but then again maybe not. I ignored the topic for a while until one night, I heard a noise outside my bedroom window. I peered out but couldn't see anything because of the glare of my bedroom light. I cupped my hands and squinted my eyes only to see the boy, standing tall, smiling with his bright white crooked teeth and deep dimples. I jumped back in an instant, I was too scared to yell but I ran faster than Dash from the Incredibles.

I ran to Jordan's room, which was just down the hall from mine, where he hibernated. He could barely understand me. I huffed and puffed but was able to get the words out. Jordan agreed to check it out just to prove it was probably nothing. He marched over to my room as his shadow followed. There was no one there. He must have fled, I would have. I remembered about the cameras around the house that my dad set before he left. We didn't have much use for them, because we lived in such a peaceful area. My dad thought it would be cool to have them around the house like in movies. He also wanted cool traps so he could be like Indiana Jones but mom didn't let him. She wore the pants in the relationship and everyone knew. I rushed down stairs to the basement where the main panel for the cameras were. There's a camera right on the corner just below the roof, the camera can see some of the inside of my room to the neighbors red roses that he carefully trims and waters every Saturday. The camera must have caught the boy, this will help me get a better look at him and prove to Jordan that I'm not just being paranoid or that I'm not crazy! Except, I could not prove to Jordan that I'm not crazy because the boy wasn't on the video. All you can see is me in the window jumping back at the fearful sight of nothing. But I don't understand, he was there, and he smiled at me, his big blue wandering eyes looking back at me.

Am I crazy? Now, I was being a chicken, I was scared out of my sane mind. Maybe I was being haunted. This didn't help my breathing problems, the doctor said it's nothing, but that's easy for her to say because she's not the one feeling like her lungs are going to pop. She said it's just asthma. Last time it was so bad, I lost air for so long I passed out. Now I'm prepared for anything this “asthma” throws at me. I have my own oxygen tank that I carry with me everywhere it’s about the size of puppy but much heavier than one. That was the last time I saw the boy for a while, it wasn't till late winter that I got another asthma attack that I saw him again. However, he looked different. I couldn't tell what it was but something was off about him, like he had more energy or he was happier. I felt like I needed to talk to him about the night at my window, but what if I really did just imagine it? I would seem crazy, so I just decided I'd keep a close eye on him.

I didn't notice anything strange about him, he seemed like a normal kid. The only thing is he kept to himself, he didn't speak to anyone, he must have been new and didn't have any friends. The next two days were the same, we went to class 411 with Ms Jensen, he went to snack and got the same thing as always. Then he went to class 516 with Dr Martinez and after lunch he did his homework at the back. And finally, he trailed me home. I couldn't put my finger on it, but every day I saw him, he got better. Not that he's sick, but in a way, he looked different. Unlike me, I got worse. I got asthma attacks at least two times a night, I keep catching fevers and begin to throw up everything I eat and drink. On the third day, something unusual happened. The boy, he was walking down the school’s narrow hallways when a girl named Jessica with green eyes and long hair braided up into two pigtails bumped into the boy. He went flying into the dirty floors, him and his books. Jessica kept walking like she didn't even notice him, like he was a fly on her shoulder. As for him, as soon as he hit the cold floor, he immediately looked up at me, with a terrified look on his face. Did he know I was following him? Watching his every move? I began to walk over to him to help him up and maybe find out who he was, but he got up and dashed around the corner of the narrow hallway filled with many teens. I ran after him, I was right behind him, closer to him than his own shadow. He vanished in the herd of students. Everyone was looking at me, like I was nuts. I’m not nuts. I saw him the following day. He was so jubilant and lively. As for I was pale, I felt cold, and I had the biggest pain in my head like some kind of thumping that went on and on. The doctor said it was nothing just a small reaction to my asthma medication or a mild flu. Whatever it was I hated it.

During 3rd period I began to feel light headed, I was having trouble breathing and my inhaler isn't helping. All I remember is my best friend Danny rushing to my side. I couldn’t hear anything but a loud ringing that screeched in my ears. His long hair swayed from left to right with the tilts and turns of his neck. Darkness finally took over my eyes and I became unconscious. I was completely trapped in my own mind with my own thoughts. For once I wasn’t scared, I felt brave. When I piled out of the darkness and snapped back into existence, I was attached to wires by thin needles that intruded my skin. All of my family were there with distressed expressions, some of them even in tears. Jordan walked over to me and held my hand firmly he had tears in his eyes that he was trying his best not to show. He whispered in my ear, “I love you brother, you’ll never be forgotten.” That was the first time he has ever told me he loved me, of course I knew it but i’ve never heard him say it. I uttered back to him “I love you too, but i’m not going anywhere.” he didn’t say anything he just got up and walked out of the room along with the rest of my family. I couldn’t see clearly my vision was a bit blurred so I couldn’t see exactly who had just walked into the room but I recognized that bright, white, crooked smile. I was too afraid to say anything. The boy walked over to me. He reached out and put something in my hand and clenched my hand into a fist. The object was cold and was a bit sharp, it was big but small enough for my fist to wrap around it. I opened my hand and there sat a pair of white, feathered wings.

Carved into them read “protector of Saul”. It said my name. I panicked and gasped for air, it felt like my lungs collapsed. My eyes watered and my vision blurred again. He simply took his cold hand on my bare chest. I could breathe again. He looked directly into my eyes with his blue spheres. I finally felt at peace with him. The darkness began creeping into my eyes once again but before I could be completely sucked into the twilight I could see him, smiling like he knew everything was going to be okay. It was then I realized I was never supposed to be afraid of the boy for he was just my guardian angel guiding me to a happy place where I’d forever smile and with that I gave into the darkness awaiting new light. 

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