Milo looked so peaceful that Smith went to turn his own head to the sky when his face was met with a thick rain. It was so sudden and came out of nowhere. He could've sworn the sky was clear a second ago. Although, the pouring rain disagreed with him, and he didn't have much time to think about it before he was distracted.
Milo, who had been peacefully sitting on the roof of a house was slipping backwards, about to fall off the two story building. For the second time that day, Smith acted upon his gut instinct, this time with much more confidence. He ran forward, and everything moved into slow motion as he extended his arms to try and catch Milo.
The next thing he knew he woke up in a warm house covered in towels with several fans blowing, and a splitting headache. He was in what seemed to be Milo's house, indicated by last thing he remembered. He sat up, wincing in pain, clearly having overestimated his strength in his attempt to save Milo.
He looked around to get a better sense of his surroundings only to get more confused than he already was. There was a wide assortment of artwork everywhere. Anything from abstract to realism, using every color imaginable. There were paintings, sketches, chalk drawings on the walls, everywhere Smith looked there was something, anything.
"Oh good!" Smith heard a voice, but saw nobody around him. He started to think maybe he was being delusional until a face popped down from what was apparently a loft above him. Milo's head hung upside down, smiling at Smith. "I was just about to dig out my wheelbarrow and try to take you to Ms. Amy, but you're awake now so you can stay here unless you think anything's broken."
Smith didn't know what to say, he didn't feel any broken bones, but he was definitely sore, and his arms hurt. Going to Ms. Amy, the local nurse, probably wouldn't do much to help him, though. "I'll just stay here for now, no need to bother Ms. Amy," Smith said while rubbing his palm against his head.
"Okie dokie," Milo spurted as his head suddenly quit it's dangling and disappeared with one quick movement. Milo walked down what sounded like stair, then around a corner into Smith's view. Thankfully, on the same house level this time.
Smith was surprised to see Milo still drenched, clearly he hadn't had the time to change into something more comfortable. "Do you remember what happened?" Milo asked as he came to sit on the thing Smith was laying on. He hadn't been awake long enough to even notice his makeshift bed of two tables with a couple blankets underneath him, which were all wet by now, but the fans had dried him off to some degree.
"I went to go save you, you were falling." Smith remembered everything, and it was clear he just passed out from shock. Thinking about it did give him a bit of a headache though and again he rubbed his forehead. "I think I just need some water," Smith lied, just wanting some alone time to think about his situation.
"Okay. Feel free to get up and look around or whatever, I don't want you to feel like you have to sit there if it's uncomfortable. I'll be back." And with that, Milo disappeared.
Smith closed his eyes and took a breath. He'd gotten himself into a whole bunch of trouble. He didn't even want to think about the consequences he'd have to deal with at home. On top of all that he'd gotten himself injured. Although, Milo seemed to be in good shape, so he must've lightened his fall a bit. Milo was being so nice to Smith; the bed, the fans, the water, everything. The poor boy went to go get Smith water, and still hadn't changed out of his soaked clothes. Smith made a mental note to tell him to go do that next time he came back.
His head started pounding a bit more, and Smith was wondering if maybe he should go see Ms. Amy. He moved his legs to the edge of the makeshift bed to get up, but when he pushed up he felt himself immediately collapse. "Hey Mil-" and with that he passed out again.
___
Milo wasn't totally sure what was happening. The world had been tipped upside down; rain out of nowhere, falling off his roof into Smith, passing out, waking up, dragging Smith into The Fort and tending to him to make sure he was okay. It was all just bizarre.
He focused on the moment at hand and put Smith back on the bed. He had already lifted him, so this time was a bit easier, but still incredibly difficult considering that Smith was a good foot and a half taller than Milo. After about five minutes of awkward shifting and lifting, Smith finally laid peacefully on the bed.
It suddenly occurred to Milo how very little he knew about helping injured or sick people. He never had to deal with situation like this before, but for whatever reason he felt so incredibly unprepared. He knew he couldn't help Smith, so there was only one option left: the wheelbarrow. He'd already dug it out just in case, so he went upstairs and brought it next to the bed and slid Smith in feet first.
Smith was way too big for the wheelbarrow, and Milo couldn't lift it. His composition suddenly collapsed, and he started crying. He had a boy passed out in his wheelbarrow and he didn't even fit. He thought that was worth a small mental breakdown before he regained composure. He had to do everything in his power to get Smith to Ms. Amy.
Milo ram upstairs again, this time pulling out a shopping cart he stole from LeonMart that he used to bring his shopping home in. Wally, the store manager, didn't mind as long as Milo kept buying his product. It would be extremely hard not to, considering he ran the only supermarket in town.
After a lot of fighting with it, Milo managed to bring the cart down next to Smith in the wheelbarrow. Much to Milo's dismay he was still passed out, meaning the shopping cart was for sure his last resort. By an unknown miracle, also known as about half an hour of struggle, Milo got Smith out of the wheelbarrow, and into the shopping cart.
Then he began his mile journey to Ms. Amy's house. It was around two in the morning at this point, and as he walked he realized how it was going to look if he showed up at her house with a boy passed out in a LeonMart shopping cart. He figured he'd have to come up with a valid reasoning somehow. Thankfully, he was fairly good at lying.
He walked at a slow pace, or a fast one considering his state. He wasn't exactly in peak physical condition after his fall. Smith must have softened his fall, but Milo had woken up passed out about a foot away from him while it was still pouring. Thinking about that reminded Milo of his wet socks and shoes as he dredged onward. They sloshed with each heavy step, and it felt like it was taking years to get to his destination. He was closer now, about a house away, but still wasn't sure what his plan was for the story. He decided to wing it.
He pushed Smith up Ms. Amy's driveway and pressed her alert doorbell. It was actually a rather cool contraption, playing a different noise than her regular one so that she knows it's an emergency. Within a few minutes she opened up the door and Milo watched as her expression changed from exhausted, to fear, then to panic, and slowly back down to exhaustion again.
"Oh Milo, it's just you," she yawned then decided to note his extra baggage by vaguely gesturing at Smith, "and whoever this is. I imagine you'll fill me in inside." She opened her door and helped Milo take Smith into her patient room. For the first time that night Smith laid in a real bed. Milo sat in the room while Ms. Amy worked on making sure Smith was alright, and once she finished she turned back to Milo. "So what's the story?"
Ms. Amy stood there with her hands on her hips and a judgmental scowl on her face.
"It's really quite simple, but it'll sound strange," Milo stalled for just a moment to get himself prepared. Ms. Amy unenthusiastically nodded for him to continue. "So it technically started at school today, I guess. Me and Smith were partnered for a project in History, and unhhh— we didn't have enough time in class to talk about how or where we would get together to do it. So, when Smith saw me after school he figured he'd just ask me then. Problem was, I was already biking to my house so Smith must've followed me," Milo paused for bit. He was concerned he was getting too close to the real story, but he continued. "I was outside of my house, just cleaning up the yard a bit when all the sudden it started pouring. You must've heard the rain, it was quite a storm, did you hear it?"
Ms. Amy nodded again, and got up from her seat. "Look Milo, I've known you for years so I can tell you're lying," this broke Milo's heart, "I don't know exactly what happened, and to be completely honest I'm not sure I care. I just need to call Smith's parents go let them know he's with me, and I need a story to tell them so they don't bombard you when they get here."
Milo's mouth was hanging wide open. First of all, Milo thought he was a pretty good liar, and his story was going just fine. But on second thought Milo hadn't even thought of Smith's parents. It'd been so long since he talked to his own it didn't occur to him that other kids went home to see theirs. "Oh, uh. We got caught in the rain and a tree fell on Smith. I had to carry him to LeonMart to get a shopping cart and bring him here." Milo said it almost as a question, but Ms. Amy responded with her signature nod. She went to go out the door when Milo said, "but, Ms. Amy, I don't know if he'll remember it that way."
"Noted," she said and left to go call Smith's parents.