Scream

"This is dumb, Brian," I complained for the fifth time.

"I don't care, I'm almost done," he said, clicking around on the computer. He was enrolling me for cyber school after my many protests. He thought today was a good time to do it since the next show wasn't until two days later.

"Ugh!" I huffed, falling back onto the bed.

"You're so dramatic," he chuckled. I started poking his ribs, hoping to annoy him enough to stop. He grabbed my hands with one of his as his other continued typing or clicking around. I tugged and he held on tighter.

"Brian!" I whined.

"Courtney!" he mocked. "At least I let you pick your electives, I could have chosen for you."

"Oh yeah? What were your choices?"

"SAT Prep and College Survival."

"What the fuck kind of classes are those?"

"Boring ones," he grinned at me. I narrowed my eyes as he let go of my hands, shutting the laptop. "All done, you start Monday."

"But... it's Wednesday."

"Good observation."

"No!" I exclaimed. "That gives me less than a week, Brian!"

He sighed. "I'm aware, Courtney, but there is no other choice. Please just cooperate for once." I threw myself back down.

"Still dumb."

We heard our bus door slam open.

"Gates!" Johnny yelled.

"In here!" Brian called. We heard footsteps and our door opened.

"Johnny, he's making me do cyber school!" I exclaimed, sitting up and pouting. Johnny smirked.

"We know, and we all think it's a great idea," he said.

"Fuck all of you," I muttered. Brian got up and opened the closet, laughing.

"What's up, shortshit?" he asked. Johnny rolled his eyes at the nickname.

"We're grilling! Let's go!" He ran off and I looked at Brian.

"Where did we get a grill?" I asked, confused. Brian gave me the same look I felt I had on my face.

"I don't know, but I'd like to find out." He threw his sunglasses on and we made our way outside. In our little center hangout spot, sure enough there was a grill.

"How?" Brian laughed as we sat with everyone.

"One of the crew guys brought it," Matt shrugged with his arm around Valary. I didn't know if I should be blaming her for Matt's recent distance, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"What do you want, Court?" Zacky asked me, gesturing to whatever he was cooking.

"Oh, I'm not hungry, Zack," I said, smiling. Brian nudged me.

"You have to eat," he said quietly.

"I'm not hungry, Brian."

Brian looked at Zack. "Make me two burgers." Zack gave a thumbs up and focused on the food as Brian met my eyes. "You'll eat however much of the one, and I'll have whatever you don't eat. Deal?"

"Fine," I sighed. A small smile appeared on his face and I couldn't help but smile back. I listened to whatever conversation was going on until the food was done. I took a deep breath as Brian was handed two burgers.

"Why don't you want to eat?" he asked softly enough that no one else heard him.

"I'm just not hungry," I said. Which was true, I felt like if I ate anything I was going to be sick. That's how I always felt.

Brian didn't say anything as he held one out to me. I took it with a little hesitation and stared at it, knowing his eyes were on me.

"I'm not going to eat if you watch me like that," I said, trying to sound like I was joking. I wasn't sure if he bought it, but he started eating his own without another word. I managed three average sized bites by the time he was done with his.

"Yeah, I'm done," I said.

He sighed. "Better than nothing, thank you." He took it and ate it without question. We hung out for a few more hours, talking about nothing but still enjoying just spending time with everyone.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, trying to ease the pain that's been gradually increasing in my abdomen. Brian looked at me worriedly.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I shook my head.

"My stomach just hurts. I think I'm gonna go back to the bus, rest for a little. I'll come back when I feel better."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No," I said, standing up. "Stay here with the guys, have fun."

He half smiled. "All right. Call me if you need me."

I went back to the bus, feeling slightly lightheaded. Just needed to relax, that was all. I grabbed a water out of the fridge and went to our room, laying in bed and watching TV for a while. But the pain got worse. When it got to a near unbearable level, I rolled off the bed and got my phone from my bag. As I called Brian, my vision started getting fuzzy.

"Court, you okay?" he answered.

"No," I breathed, feeling my heart in my head and hearing ringing. "I need you."

Only a couple seconds passed before I heard the bus door open, but that was all the time it took for my vision to go black.

*** BRIAN'S POV ***

I felt my phone vibrate and I walked away from the group, seeing it was Courtney.

"Court, you okay?" I asked. She didn't look too good when she was with me.

"No," I barely heard her say, followed by, "I need you."

Adrenaline kicked in and I sprinted to our bus and inside. Before I got to the bathroom I heard a thud and found Courtney on the floor of our room.

"Courtney!" I yelled, picking her up and laying her on the bed. She was still breathing, but she passed out. She was pale as ever. I called 911 as Matt ran into our room.

"911, what is your emergency?" the operator asked.

I tried my hardest to stay calm. "My sister just passed out, she's breathing but she's really pale and she was complaining about stomach pains earlier." Matt sat next to her, moving the hair out of her face.

"And where are you?"

"The parking lot for the Santander Event Center in Lauderdale," I said. "My name is Brian Haner."

"An ambulance is en route, sir. Is she still breathing?" I placed my hand over her neck.

"Yeah, she is."

"The ambulance is about three minutes out."

I hung up, not seeing the point in staying on the line. The other guys ushered in.

"I don't know what happened," I said. "She was saying her stomach hurt earlier."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked behind me. It was Zack.

"Maybe it's some bug or something. I'm sure she'll be fine."

"I'll go with her," I said. "You guys stay here, I'll call you when I find stuff out."

I saw Matt glance past me and figured Val was standing there. I knew he would've went with me in a heartbeat if she wasn't forcing him to stay away from her.

"Call us as soon as you know anything," Matt said as we all heard sirens getting closer. They all walked out to tell the paramedics where to go and soon two of them came in.

"Can you tell us what happened, Brian?" one of them asked. He was older and he seemed tired, honestly.

"She passed out. She said her stomach hurt earlier."

"All right. We'll take her in, they'll probably run some tests." I nodded as they strapped her on to the stretcher they rolled in. It was a nightmare, honestly. I had no idea how I was handling it so well. Maybe because I knew it could be a lot worse. At least she wasn't bleeding out this time.

I rode in the back of the ambulance, answering trivial questions about Courtney's medical history. I didn't know if her going to Huntington Mental was important, but when I mentioned it the paramedic's expression changed to one of uncertainty.

"You're sure she didn't take anything?" he asked. I knew exactly what he was thinking, and I would have been a lot more pissed if I wasn't so scared.

"I've been with her all day, she only took the ones she needs everyday," I said. Whenever someone found out she was in there, they instantly thought she was some psycho suicidal maniac. It drove me nuts.

We pulled in to the emergency entrance of the hospital and they took her in while I waited in the waiting room. I already had texts of support from the guys, including Matt.

Please text me as soon as you know anything. I'm sorry I couldn't be there.

So he feels guilty. I can't say I wasn't glad.

I filled oout whatever paperwork was necessary and waited. About an hour passed before anyone acknowledged my existence.

"Mr. Haner?" the receptionist said.

"Yes?" I said, walking over.

"The doctor said they're done running tests on your sister. She's in room 134 and he'll meet you in there to speak with you."

What does that mean? I just nodded and started walking, following the signs to her room. I walked in and my heart broke at the scene in front of me. It was deja vu, I swear. She was asleep with an IV and heart monitor hooked to her. I sat in the chair next to her bed and moved it closer. I held her hand and ran my finger across the scar on her wrist.

Courtney, what did you do?

There was a knock at the door and a young doctor, probably somewhere around my age, walked in.

"Mr. Haner?" he asked. He held a hand out to me.

"Brian," I corrected, shaking his hand.

"I'm Dr. Shkreli," he began. "We ran some tests on Courtney, I just wanted to ask some questions."

"All right," I said, somewhat nervous. What kind of questions?

"How's her home life?" Shit. So that's how this is gonna be.

"What do you mean?"

"How often does she eat?" he asked. I thought about it.

"Whenever she gets hungry, I guess. What's wrong with her?"

He looked down at the folder in his hands. "It seems that her body went into a kind of shock from starving. It could have been caused by a number of things like if she went days without eating and then ate something somewhat heavy. She's definitely underweight, somewhat severely, actually." I looked back at her.

"How much does she weigh?" I asked quietly.

"Seventy eight pounds." My head instantly fell. When I didn't say anything, he spoke again. "What did she go to Huntington Mental Institution for?"

"Depression and schizophrenia," I said, looking back at him. "This has nothing to do with that-"

"Oh, I know," he said quickly. "But the medications she's on do require a steady diet. Is she worried about her image at all?"

"No," I said, but thought a little. "I mean, I don't think so. I thought she was eating."

"She doesn't have to stay overnight, but she will need to be monitored to ensure she's eating and also to make sure her body can handle what she's taking in."

"What do you suggest she eats?" I asked.

"For now, soups and breads are good to retrain the stomach to take in food. Her stomach may act up until it's back to normal, but once that happens then she's okay to eat whatever she wants."

I rubbed my eyes with the hand that wasn't holding Courtney's. "Sounds good."

"She should be waking up soon, so once she's talking and feeling okay, she can be discharged and you can be on your way," he said.

"All right," I said. "Thank you." He nodded before walking out and I looked back at Courtney. I managed to pull my phone out of my pocket with one hand and call Matt. He answered halfway through the first ring.

"Is she okay?" he asked urgently.

"Yeah, she's okay," I said.

"What happened?" I listened closely and couldn't hear anything else. I didn't want Valary being around him right now.

"Her body went into shock because she hasn't been eating, Shads. She's seventy eight pounds."

"Holy shit," he said. "How didn't we notice?"

"I didn't because she told me she was," I said, some acid in my tone. He noticed.

"Syn, don't be that way-"

"I am, Matt! You've been so wrapped up in Val, you have no idea what is even going on with Courtney anymore! You and her used to be so close, what happened?"

"We were close because she needed a real brother," he hissed.

"You're really gonna pull that right now?" I asked. "Really? Low blow, Shads."

"I didn't mean it like that, Syn."

"How else could you have meant it? You know what, forget it. I have other shit to deal with." I hung up and turned my phone on "do not disturb" mode before he could call back. I doubted he would anyway, but just to be sure.

Who the fuck did he think he was? Even while Courtney was away, he actually paid attention to the shit going on around him. Now the fucking world could end and he would have no idea. The worst part was I knew it was bothering Courtney, but she would never say anything.

I sat back in my chair, still holding her hand in mine. I let my head fall back and I breathed shakily, letting my fear show for the first time today. How many times in my life will I come close to losing her?

Notes

Chapter title credit: Bring Me The Horizon
New story!
I have so many ideas for this story though lol honestly I keep coming up with shit I want to happen and it's gonna get a LOT more dramatic.