When the Autumn Leaves Blush - Part VI

When the Autumn Leaves Blush - Part VI

As dictated by Faranza Syns

When The Autumn Leaves Blush
Faranza Syns






Chapter 5




A few years back, due to her very refined and rather protected upbringing, she would have cringed inwardly at the crude sound of a curse on someone's lips. But now, after years of disillusionment and shattered security, Danielle barely blinked as Sean -- or at least that was what she thought his name was -- let out a very colourful streak of curses in response to her announcement that he was her brother. That, and also because the cold was getting to her. Body weak and heating up very quickly - it was hard to care about curses in that situation.

"That's so much bullshit, I don't even know how to say it's crap!"

Drake made tutting sounds of admonition at Sean, his face full of mock-disapproval. "Watch your mouth, Hayes."

"But still!" Sean's voice rose, nearing a high falsetto. Realising just how much this was affecting him - and how inevitably it was bound to embarrass him - Sean took a few steps back, away from the girl lying on his - his - bed. God, the audacity she had to lie about him when he had been anything but cruel to her.

Robin dabbed Danielle's forehead with the folded woolen cloth in his hand, wiping beads of sweat off her face. Then, he tossed the cloth into the water-filled container beside the bed and took out a thermometer from his first aid kit. "Open your mouth." When she did, he placed the thermometer in her mouth and patted her chin gently, motioning for her to close her mouth.

Danielle stared up at Robin, wary and thoughtful. Maybe it would've been better to say that this guy was her brother. She could always drag him aside and beg for him to help her - just this once. She would leave once she could figure out how to move on - without being caught in the rain ever again. She shuddered, then Robin removed the thermometer from her lips.

"Damn," he sighed. "Fever."

Despite it not entirely being her fault, Danielle still cringed, feeling as if Robin was blaming her for being such a pain in the ass. Leaning forward, Robin stared at her, his eyes serious. "How long were you in the rain?"

"It wasn't that long," Sean cut in, arms folded over his chest, his face the image of recalcitrance, clearly not appreciating his friends' move at trying to protect his sham sister. "How high is her fever?"

Robin gave a look of disbelief mingled with exasperation. "Pretty high, but not too alarming."

"But she wasn't in the rain long enough--" Sean rushed forth, closer to the bed, looking down at Danielle as if he had caught her red-handed, and he was going to celebrate the victory most eagerly.

"It's not that,"Robin threw a look over his shoulder at the charged-up Sean. He then frowned. "Why do you look so happy your sister's sick?"

"She's not my sister!"

"Still," Drake stopped him with a look of deceptive geniality. "She's sick. How can you look happy?"

Sean glowered at his friend, then at the Danielle. This Dee Dee girl was really pushing it. "Maybe it's God's way of telling her to stop... sinning," he said tightly. At Drake's narrowed eyes, Sean added in a forced smile for good measure.

A sense of trepidation came over Danielle as her eyes collided with Sean's heated ones. Maybe she really should not have said that he was her brother.

But if she took it back now, they'd all toss her out on her ear.

Danielle closed her eyes and looked away from the boys surrounding her, focusing instead on the scratchy feeling in her throat. It had been there for almost two days now - and no matter how much water she forced down, it would not go away. And god, why did she feel so whoozy?

Lately swallowing had been increasingly difficult, so she stopped trying to eat anything all together, not wanting to torture herself anymore.

"What's your name?" Robin asked.

"Dee Dee," Sean answered on a growl. Robin and Drake exchanged pointed looks, then gave Sean a bland stare.

"What now?" Sean looked heaven-ward, waiting for the next conspiracy theory his friends were going to cook up.

"You know her name - stop denying she's your sister," Robin said gruffly.

Danielle opened her eyes and stared at Robin. The obligatory smile he gave her told her that at least he believed that she and Sean were related. A quick glance at Drake who was leaning his shoulder against a wall as he shook his head in Sean's direction assured Danielle that she had at least half the room at her disposal.

They fell for it.

Sean however, looked ready to mutilate a puppy. And the other boy had been sitting quietly since the beginning, Danielle really could not say whose side he was on.

Further thought on those lines were blurred as the feeling of being hot and highly uncomfortable - what with her throat feeling as if it had been stuffed with a spindly ball that were tearing gashing wounds into the walls each time she swallowed - continued to taunt her body and mind.

"Dee dee," Robin called out firmly. "I need you to tell me - have you been sick lately?"

Danielle swallowed the drool that had pooled in her mouth - and her eyes teared up at the pain of the forced movement. "My throat hurts," she whimpered.

At that, Robin's eyes widened. "Open," he pressed him thumb to her chin as his other hand fumbled around inside his first aid box and he took out a small tube. He poised the tube over Danielled's open mouth and pressed a button flashing light into her mouth. "A bit bigger, Dee Dee." Danielle's eyes teared up further, against her will, as she forced her mouth to open wider. The feeling was short, but excruciating - like the walls of her throat were being stretched beyond their limit and just like thin rubber strings, they snap.

"Whoa," Robin said in a cross of awe, shock and slight repulsion.

"What?" Sean leaned forth to look.

Drake and the other boy rushed over, eager as schoolboys, to take a gander at her oral cavity.

"It's so..." Sean began to say, but hesitated, shooting a quick, indecisive look at Danielle's face. It almost seemed as if he was scared to be graphic about it in case she freaked out.

Which just made her stomach cramp worse at the millions of possibilities.

"It's red," Drake stared.

"...and big," the quiet boy added in.

"It's not that bad," Sean added in hastily, as if trying to convince his friends so that they would stop giving her bad visions of horror and death.

Danielle shut her mouth slowly, staring up at Robin with worry. "What's going on?"

"Your tonsils are swollen."

"What does that mean?" Sean asked, before Danielle could get even a word in. "And what're those... white.. thingamajigs..." Sean rubbed the back of his neck, looking like someone was breathing down on it.

The look of queasiness on Sean's face embarrassed Danielle. She looked away, keeping her face impassive as it faced the ceiling. It's funny - a few weeks ago, she would have been fine with people sneering at her, telling her they didn't need a runaway to deal with, telling her without words how repulsive her mere presence was. She was even used to parents pulling their children away from her - when all she wanted to do was talk, or ask for directions.

But now, somehow, being around this group of boys - two of whom had already accepted her - made her feel like she needed to measure up to something. They reminded her of a time when she never had to worry about anything bigger than what was going to be on the pop quiz at school tomorrow morning.

She missed being around people like this - educated, clean, decent people. And it made her vulnerably shy to be sticking out like so much beeswax. To finally be amongst people who reminded her of who she was supposed to be and still make a spectacle of herself made her insides ache and her heart break.

This was not how she planned her life. This was not how she wanted to feel. But then again, since that night a year ago when she had been thrust into the fate that was not supposed to be hers, Danielle rarely felt surprised.

____________________________________

Sean swallowed as he looked at Dee Dee's closed-off face. It was either she was trying to deal with her fever, or his stupid words made her uncomfortable. Damn. Alright, he resented her for lying and putting him on the spot, but Sean recognised a sick person when he saw one, and he was a person who prided in reining-in his alter-ego. There were better times to harangue the girl, just not now.

"Well, it's hard to say. I think I read somewhere that these are the signs of tonsillitis. But it could also be strep throat," Robin offered.

Drake and Clark stepped back at that.

"Do you feel nauseated?" Robin asked.

Dee Dee seemed to think about it for a while. She rubbed her stomach over Sean's comforter. "A little? But it could be just gas." When she finished saying that, she seemed to start, then look away hurriedly, seemingly embarrassed. Sean found it very odd.

As he quizzed over that reaction, Robin queried Dee Dee as to her condition and her discomforts.

Once he was done, Sean moved to Robin's side, standing in front of his friend, his stance impatient. "Well?"

"I can't really say. Her fever's not that high, but she has most of the symptoms. Dysphagia, slight malaise... no red rash yet, though."

"Red rash?" Dee Dee croaked, eyes wide with horror.

"That would be Scarlett fever, another form of strep throat. You get this sandpaper-like rash on your tummy and it might turn bloody." Robin's eagerness at volunteering unwanted information to the obviously distressed Dee Dee annoyed Sean.

"What should we do, then?" he butt in before Robin could get it worse.

"Doctor. Do a throat swab."

Sean looked at Dee Dee and took in her flushed complexion. If he was not wrong, she would most probably be very, very lethargic, judging from the half-lidded eyes and the stillness of her figure.

And most importantly, they could not just waltz out of campus. Oh, he could see it now.

"And who's that you got there, Hayes?"

"Oh, nobody. Just a girl who says she's my sister. She sneaked in - smart huh? Oh well, I'll catch you later, Sir."


Definitely a no-go.

Drake came over, munching on a biscuit. "Look at this way - it's 4.20. Sneak her out."

"Today's Saturday, anyways. Nobody'll miss you," Clark added in slowly.

"And even if they did, they won't question it. You're a busy SUO after all."

Sean absorbed all of this information thoughtfully, rubbing his nicked jaw - then realised something. "Wait - I'm sneaking her out?" he asked, baffled.

"It's an obvious choice," Drake shrugged, tossing his folded underwear into his closet drawer.

"Why the hell is it?"

All three SUOs stared at their friend like he had lost his head. "Dude," Drake began. "You're like her brother - of course you have to bring her."

"Come on - you guys don't really believe that!"

Robin moved his head side to side as if contemplating the answer. "I can't say. You both have brown hair."

"So do you!"

"But I'm partially bald," Robin deadpanned.

"And she looks like she knows you," Drake put in.

"That's just crap."

Drake threw a look at Dee Dee, then relaxed when he saw she had obviously fallen victim to exhaustion, sleeping fitfully. He turned back to Sean, his eyes serious. "Look, she's obviously in some sort of distress, so put whatever you feel aside for now, and just help her, okay?"

Sean's teeth gritted at his friend's logic. One part of him nodded in humble agreement, but the other was miffed at being told what to do. He stared at a spot near Drake's elbow to collect himself.

"Besides," Clark leaned back in his bed, speaking in his usual low tone. "She's a pretty girl."

Drake laughed, turned and patted Clark's shoulder. "That's the spirit!" He looked at Sean. "See? Even he gets it."

Sean cast a glance at Dee Dee's face and took in the face. He frowned when that face reminded him of someone he knew - someone buried deep within the recesses of his mind. It tweaked his memory, but not enough for him to come up with a face, much less a name.

"Here, we're pitching in some money for the test," Robin handed a few notes to Sean.

"Wha--"

"I took it from Drake's wallet."

"Hey!"

Sean snatched the money away before Drake could get it back, and pocketed the money. He sent Drake a look of smug satisfaction. Drake responded with a dirty look. "You'll pay, Hayes."

"I definitely will - thanks for the money to do so."

Drake sneered, then let it go, sinking back into bed. It was Saturday after all.

Reluctantly, Sean moved to his bed and tapped Dee Dee on the shoulder gently. She stirred, and Sean sighed in relief. "Hey, get up. We need to get you to the doctor's."

She seemed rather unwilling to respond, but she moved nonetheless. He removed the covers and draped her arm over his shoulder, offering her as much support as he could, wrapping his arm around her tiny, tiny waist. It struck him that she felt awfully thin and scarily brittle.

"Use the old passage beneath the vines," Clark reminded. Sean nodded.

"If it's strep, get some antibiotics for yourself - it'll help decrease possibility of infection."

Sean nodded as he steered Dee Dee towards the door. "Speaking of infection - clean my sheets for me."

He felt Dee Dee stiffen at his words. God, she wasn't affronted, was she? "I'm just being cautious," he explained, his tone grave.

"I know," she muttered, then fell silent, leaning against his body, letting someone else besides herself support her this time.

At the meantime, Drake was about to get into the opening of his diatribe when Clark put in quietly, "We will."

Satisfied, Sean opened the door to his dorm, and proceeded to that old passage SUOs have been using for years. He never knew why a passage like that existed. He scoffed further at the thought that this sort of thing had happened to one of the SUOs before - it was too romantic a possibility, after all.

As the door clicked shut, Drake, Robin and Clark exchanged looks laden with hidden import. No words were spoken, but a silent pact - a silent agreement - was made in those soundless moments.

Robin cracked his fingers to break the atmosphere. "Well, Clark, since you offered to wash the sheets, you do it."

Clarke shrugged, too lazy to respond in indignation. "What if one of his JUOs look for him?" he asked. Both he and Robin turned to Drake.

"You know how Sean hates having more than one JUO report to him at a time - so if they see that he's not around, they'll be smart enough to assume one of the JUOs are with him. They'll cower in silence. Besides, knowing the Bravo company JUOs, they'd be too stubborn to ask anyone where Hayes is - thinks it makes 'em look stupid or something."

Robin scoffed, then brushed his hands together. "Well, I'll go wash-up -- don't wanna get strep." He threw a glance at Drake who was munching on another pack of biscuits. "Although someone is definitely going to be infected."

Drake paused, mid-chew. "What?" he demanded. "I didn't even touch her!"

"Right. Like I didn't see."

"Well, you touched her too."

"I'm not the one eating biscuits with the unwashed hand."

Another streak of blue curses rent the air as Clark fell back on his bed and laughed.

___________________________________

"There's a high chance this is just tonsillitis," the doctor said. "But if you want, I can do a throat swab and see if it really is strep throat."

Thank god.

Sean nodded from where he stood behind Dee Dee's chair. Dee Dee nodded as well, but at a much less slower speed. The doctor smiled. "There's of course, two types of tests. One takes about twenty-four to forty-eight hours to get the results, but it's highly precise. You'll have to come for the results tomorrow. The other one takes just a while, but the results might be a bit iffy. So which--"

"The long one!" Dee Dee cut in.

The doctor nodded and called for a nurse. Sean stared at Dee Dee's bent head and sighed, reading the apparent guilt in her pose.

Obviously the kid wanted to hang around a little longer.

The thought of having to allow her to stay brought to life many conflicting emotions and opposing arguments in his head. But as the nurse guided a weak-looking Dee Dee out of the room, Sean stared after their retreating figure.

Maybe for just a day?

_______________________________

"Here," Sean handed her a bottle of sports drink, uncapped and fizzling slightly. Dee Dee accepted the bottle quietly and stared into it. Sean watched her closely, then realised her hesitation. He rummaged around in the paper bag in his hand and took out a drinking straw. "Here," he said again, pushing the straw through the head of the bottle, into the sports drink.

Dee Dee cast him a look of gratitude from beneath lowered lids, a small, weak smile curving her lips. Her slightly bent head kept her face shielded from him, but Sean saw nonetheless. He smiled back in acknowledgment.

She sipped from the straw and swallowed slowly, grimacing as the pain pulled at her throat for the thousandth time.

"Can you swallow?" he asked, unable to mask the worry in his voice. Dee Dee nodded quickly, capping the drink again, holding it between her thighs, head still bent. Sean stared at her, and weighed the wisdom of taunting her right now, here, sitting at the bus stop near the hospital. His compassion won out, so he just stared ahead, keeping his mouth sealed shut. Besides, he knew the silence would kill her.

It certainly did.

Within a few seconds, she lifted her head and turned her body to look at him. "Please help me - I have nowhere to go. Not yet. I need to get my head and plan where to go - then I swear I'll leave!"

Elbows on thighs, Sean kept his eyes averted from her beseechingly bright ones. "How old are you?" Unbidden, flashbacks of when they were at the hospital came back to him. The girl filling up the form while hunching all over it, trying to block him from seeing her details. She even covered the columns and boxes with her hand for full effect. When he had grabbed the form to pass it over to the nurse at the reception, Dee Dee had snatched it away, her eyes wide with accusation and fear.

"I'm... eighteen."

Sean was not even sure if she was telling the truth - she could still be a minor.

"You should be at home - running away won't solve anything."

He felt her turn away from him, and like waves of heat, he felt the tension emanating from her. A look from the corner of his eyes told him that she was sitting as stiff as a pole. Bulls-eye. A runaway.

She offered no explanations - both remained quiet. It became a battle of willpower - who could stay silent longer, who could hold themselves back the longest.

Soon, the feeling of uneasiness and awkwardness overcame their prides. Sean sighed, and sat straight again. "What's your real name? We should call and tell your parents you're fine."

"They're better off not knowing."

Sean frowned. "You're right - at this rate, we shouldn't call them at all. Soon, after you die, I'll call them. At least they don't have to suffer over your stupidity for such a long time before they get that final bit of peace when you're dead."

The speech had been made up to cause indignation and hurt in any normal girl. But Dee Dee did not respond in rage - her lips merely tightened. "So be it."

He stared hard at her, trying to fathom what was actually going on beneath that skin, beneath the flesh. She seemed too much like a troubled, angered human being - the hatred and grudge in her seemed to singe her soul red.

"Listen," she bit off. "All I ask, is that you let me stay at your place for a while, until I can plan where to go--"

"Where do you want to go? And besides that, any idea how dangerous it is for a girl to be hiding in a military school? I'm an SUO. I can get sacked for sneaking in a girl like this morning."

"SUO?"

"Senior Under Officer."

"Oh," she breathed. "Are you one of the highest..."

"Yes."

"I see. Well, me being there would be bad, huh?"

Sean looked at her, not understanding the sudden defeat he heard in her voice. She had been vehement about staying, but as soon as she knew he was an SUO, someone very important, she retreated. It was like knowing she was really threatening someone cowed her.

She looked like a girl who had been in the streets for so long, but somehow, she seemed utterly naive at the same time. She was not the ball-breaker she was expected to be.

"Yes," he answered.

His answer made her flinch, but only slightly. He could see a flash of devastation on her face - but then it was gone much too soon.

"Well, bye then."

Her sudden words shocked him. "What? Your stuff are still in my dorm."

"Throw it away. I don't need them anymore. There's nothing inside!" her voice rose to a high note, something between the sound of despair, desperation, and hilarity. Like the fact that there was really nothing of utter importance in the bag she had been carrying around for years was hilarious.

Sean frowned. "I'm not throwing your things away. You're taking them."

"Screw you, dick head."

_______________________________

Frankly, Danielle could not believe she had said it. It was just too hard to hold in. Her anger, the bubbling hate that was burning up her insides - it just would not be contained. She hated the world - hated it for what it had forced her to go through, hated it for the pain and anger she held on to everyday.

She hated her life, and the shambles it had turn out to be.

One day, daddy's little princess lost her crown and was banished to the Netherlands for a mistake that was not entirely her own.

And now, when all she wanted was a safe place to search for the pieces of her life and try to put them back together again, Mr. I'm-Too-Great would not allow her the luxury -- would not offer her a safe haven where she could slow down from her harried pace and try to make sense of her life.

Just like that, he became the enemy. He was with the world - all of them gathered against her.

"What?" he demanded.

"You heard me, you spaz. Screw you!"

"Dee Dee," he said in a low, warning note, but then, Dee Dee was too worked up to give it much credence. The anger inside -- the one she had been suppressing for so long, the one she had told herself time and time again was gone and dealt with -- fought free like compressed steam.

"Go back to your pretty little dorm and throw my things away. Nobody cares!"

"Dee Dee, calm down."

She rose to her feet, the sports drink boucing off the ground, rolling away. "I don't want to calm down! Don't tell me what to do! I hate you - I hate this! Screw you! Screw everyone! No need to call my parents - I don't want them."

At the mention of her parents, hatred overwhelmed her, and she sank back onto the bench, exhausted, but still worked up beyond her capacity as a sick person. Her whole body shook with rage, and her breathing remained shallow - the pain in her throat forgotten in the heat of the moment.

But as the moments passed, as Sean stayed quiet to, allowing her to collect herself, the initial anger faded away, leaving her drained.

Sean waited a few more seconds. "What's your full name, Dee Dee?" he asked, gently. "Give me that, at least."

She shook her head. "You're better off not knowing."

He paused a moment. "Do you want to talk about what... happened?"

For just a second - for just the length of a breath - Danielle wanted to tell all, and damn it all. To finally unload all that was weighing down on her heart and let someone else understand. But there was too much to let go in one breath, and so many dark places to venture. She couldn't.

"When people stop believing in you, that's when you feel like dying - especially when at that moment, you really needed someone." Unable to go on for the feelings were too strong and too potent, Danielle shut her eyes, and willed the tears away. She could not do this. Not now.

She stiffened when she felt an awkward arm curl over her shoulders, pulling her closer for a slight embrace. Danielle forced herself to relax enough to allow the hand to stay - a part of her rebelled at the notion, but another part of her welcomed Sean's awkward try at empathy. That part of her appreciated it - and his awkwardness made it all the more heart-warming.

She felt him shift, pat his shoulder, then remove his arm. "You act like a person who doesn't have fever," he said after a while.

"It's probably the sports drink talking," she croaked weakly.

Both smiled self-deprecatingly at each other and lapsed into silence.

In her head, she accepted the fact that her presence at the school would most probably trouble more than one person. Sean's friends would be pulled in too. She could not bear the fact that she could be so selfish. She might have lost most of things in her life, but she refused to lose what little education and up-bringing she had in her. But despite all that, she could suppress the urgent questions popping up in her head. What now? Where to? How?

"Does..." she began, hesitating. "Does it always rain around here?" she asked, just in case she could not find a place to stay, and ended up sleeping in whatever alley she could find, under whatever tree was nearby.

________________________________

Sean paused to consider his answer. "Not really. Rarely." Sean noted the look of relief on her face, and recalled how she had reacted when the rain poured over her. "Are you scared of the rain?" he asked.

Dee Dee did not answer, but her eyes were wide as golf balls. She stayed silent, as if trying to trick him into thinking she had not heard, then opened a new subject entirely. "Why did you join a military school?"

This time, he pretended he did not hear. His face remained bland, but his lips could not quite resist showing a smile. When he saw Dee Dee frowning, he grinned. "You didn't answer my question - I'm not answering yours."

For the first time, a real, show-your-teeth smile bloomed over her face. "That's playing dirty!"

"No. That's playing fair," he said matter-of-factly, somehow unable to stop smiling.

Dee Dee nodded, then looked at her hands thoughtfully. "I'm... I just hate being in the rain. The last time I stayed in the rain, I fell awfully sick. It was horrid and I..." She stopped there, not knowing how to convey her fear. Just the thought of rain brought back the memories of the unceasing shivers, the cold, the gut-churning sensation before she began splaying her innards on the tarred street. "I just don't like it."

Sean saw more than what her words revealed. This girl was homeless, and lost. It was clear what she wanted was just somewhere safe to stay for a while. Maybe bringing her back won't be so bad? After all, he was graduating in two months. He would be stepping down soon. And nobody checks the SUO's dormitories - it was a quietly acknowledge fact for everyone that SUO's were superior and they never broke the rules. To make sure that other students accepted the fact that the SUO's are the authority, teachers limit their ragging on the SUO's. Hence, no spot-checks. All he had to do was hide her for a while and make sure she stayed quiet during his classes.

That decided, the stood. "Well, let's go back."

"Bye," she said, sullenly.

Sean smiled. "I'm bringing you back, dolt," he teased.

Her head snapped up. "Just throw my stuff away."

He gave her a droll look. He grabbed the sports drink that he had put aside. Then, he grabbed her arm. "Let's go. It's nearly lunch-hour. We need to get in before everyone gets back to their dorms."

"What?" she blinked, eyes wide. "You're taking me back?"

"Yes," he said. And hoped to God he was not making a huge mistake.

____________________________

"You never answered my question."

Sean looked away from the window of the bus and looked at Dee Dee. "What question?"

"Why'd you enter a military school?"

He stared ahead, at the seat in front of him, thinking of an answer. He chose one that allowed him to be as honest as he could be without revealing too much. "I find it hard to trust people."

Preditably, Dee Dee blinked in question. "How does military school cure that?"

"Not really. I just have to face my ghosts, that's all."

"Who are they? Your ghosts?"

He smiled at her, as if just the smile could appease her curiosity, then turned to his window again.

"Well, whatever or whoever your ghost is, you clearly haven't laid it to rest, much less faced it."

"Why do you say that?"

"You don't talk about it."

Sean twisted his body to look at her, and caught the serious look on her face.

Indeed.











.END OF CHAPTER 5.



Author's note: Actually, I was going to reveal more about Sean, but since we've focused so much on him for so long, I think we should shift the attention to "Dee Dee". Okay, three guesses as to what happened prior to her running away from home! Haha. This chapter was done in a regrettably slapdash manner. Feedback is REALLY appreciated. By the way, do you still think Sean should be with Sophia? Hmm?