Just for This Year

Chapter Thirty

Monday
November 4th

4 Days After

Sam was grateful to only be in the hospital for a few days. The smell made him feel sicker than he already was. He was still in some pain, but it was manageable. While he was the first to admit that a bit of extra attention never bothered him, he hated being coddled. Sympathy made his skin crawl. There wasn't much that made him more uncomfortable than people worrying about him. He didn't need people to coddle him, he was perfectly capable of looking out for himself. Well, disregarding a few bumps in the road, of course.

Lila had barely left his side the entire time. She refused to leave until Sam bluntly told her that she was beginning to smell. It was a lie, but she didn't need to know that. He just wanted to get her out of the hospital, he knew she hated them just as badly as he did. His siblings were in and out, but tried to be there as often as they could be. And with Lorena as a nurse at the hospital, she was able to be with him for most of his stay.

He wasn't sure what to make of his mother, at the moment. He could see how this was tearing Lila up, and he hated that Lorena caused his sister so much pain. But she was still his mother, and he always melted into her comforting hugs that she was so known for. He got a decently long scolding from her when she first saw him, and he could see that it was coming from a place of fear. Sam knew that she was terrified of losing him, and he couldn't say he was surprised by the reaction.

A few friends visited him in the hospital, and he was happy to see them. It felt as if he had tunnel vision lately, and hadn't been seeing anyone but Charlie. It was a bad habit that he and his sister got into. He liked being friends with a lot of people, but at the end of the day he prioritized a few friendships. And he made Charlie his priority, always. Along with his sister, of course, but he couldn't get rid of her even if he wanted to.

He was a bit hurt that Charlie hadn't visited him at the hospital, but maybe their last conversation hadn't sat right with him. Maybe he was done with Sam after everything. Maybe Sam was just a bit too much for Charlie. He was a bit too much for himself, sometimes. He'd understand.

But naturally, because the world loved to prove him wrong, Charlie burst through the front door of the Alvarez house without knocking the morning of November 4th. Sam was laying on the couch, startled by the intrusion. He opened his mouth to question what was going on, but was stopped short by seeing the crazed look on Charlie's face.

He looked terrified.

It reminded him of when Charlie broke his train when they were younger.

The two were having a play date one day when they were about seven years old. Sam had just gotten a new toy train, it was the newest and shiniest one in the store. The colors were vibrant, and it even had a button to make the whistle sound. Sam was infatuated with it, and for that one day, his focus was solely on that train.

Charlie was desperate for Sam's attention. He had been trying the entire day. He drew a picture of the two of them, he brought out his toys, and he even wrote a song to try and get his attention. But nothing worked. Nothing would take Sam away from his stupid new train. And at the age of seven, he couldn't think of much else to do but get rid of the train.

It really did seem like an accident, and Sam would've thought it was. But the second Charlie "accidentally" stumbled and stepped on the train, crushing it to pieces, he promptly burst into tears. The second Sam saw the tears, he stopped caring about the train. For a moment, he was a bit upset. But then his only focus was making Charlie feel better.