Lusting For Ralph
Chapter 14

They cuddled until their food was cold and Ralph finally served their breakfast in bed. She smiled at the sight of another cup of coffee and he shook his head knowing her coffee addiction already. "I've missed my morning runs because of you. So, do I get to know what happened?"

"It was a real mess, Maddie, I went to Walter's clinic..." he scoots in beside her and puts the breakfast tray between their lap.

"...you know I haven't been there in a while with so many things to do with our last year of school right?"

"You mean parties? girls and all that stuff?" she said teasing, peeking at him from behind her coffee mug. "Madison..."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry...yes I know, please continue." She bites her toast and waited for him.

"Well, we held one of those seance ritual things and I was sucked into another dimension by a demon..." his mouth was munching on his toast while taking breaks and talking at the same time. "Ralph!"

"I know...it was partially my bad..."

"Why? promise me you won't do it again..."

"Madison, you know I can't. I don't, I can't control this stuff..."

Madison looked at him and didn't say anything. It was his thing, a part of him which he couldn't part. She just wishes that dreadful day didn't happen then he wouldn't have the ability.

She wished that she had realized what was happening to her only best friend back then.

It all started on the day when they just got accepted into the same private high school. The sun was warm when Madison found him sitting alone by the pool and she was about to push him into the water when she realized that he looked really sad. Madison could still remember his exact expression when he told her that he overheard his parents talking about him, that he was adopted. Then when he confronted them, he was told that he was their best friend's son who died in a tragic accident and he was the miracle baby who survived.

His biological parents didn't have any relatives and the Richardson were his Godparents, so they arranged everything with their lawyers to keep everything hidden until he was legal.

That was the week when he got drunk and wasted, that was the month when his hormonal teenage boy came to play, and that was the year when he tried to kill himself and almost succeeded.

Her love for him had made him stronger, she was by his side, cheering him up after the incident and his parents were forever grateful to Madison.

But deep down she kept on thinking that she could do better, that she should've seen the signs, she was his best friend. She should've known better.

After the incident, he has never been the same. There was always a time where he would faze out and she would stay quiet knowing he was in his own mind.

"So, you're good now?" she asked suddenly losing her appetite for her meal.

"I will be Maddie, I won't let you down. You know that already. Besides this is my punishment, I know you hate when I talk about it. But I still hated myself for being so weak and even think about killing myself."

Madison didn't realize that she shed her tears until he wiped her wet cheeks. Her heartfelt like it was being stabbed repeatedly when she remembered how she had found him pale and lifeless, that was when she begged him to not leave her and told him that she loves him. She had never cried so hard in her entire life before.

"You scared me."

"I know baby, I'm so sorry. I love you, I won't do that ever again."

He put the breakfast tray aside knowing they're done with breakfast, then took Madison into his embrace.

"Promise me..." her voice was small as she was trying hard to hold down her emotion.

"I promised baby," he knows he would do anything for her, he would even keep himself alive for her.

She snuggled in closer inhaling his manly scent, she knows that it was very selfish of her to want him, to keep him for herself knowing that one day it all could easily fall apart.

The day when he knows the truth about her, once he finds out that she may be rejected by his family knowing that his parents hold their family value.

*****

It was one week later on a bright Monday morning we when she was getting herself ready for her doctor appointment.

"Are you sure? I can drive you there."

Madison had her doctor appointment which she had been postponing since last week. But her headaches were coming back stronger and she needed to get it sorted out soon. "Well I guess, but you don't have to wait for me. It'll be a very long wait and you have your assignment due tomorrow."

"Okay, but call me once you're done I'll pick you up, either that or I'll wait for you."

Ralph has been worried about her sudden fatigue and migraines which she has been experiencing for the past couple of weeks. But she kept on saying that it was because of the school assignments and that it was their last year and she was lacking in sleep. Then she would joke that their s****l life did help with her sleeping pattern, and it would ease him up a bit. But that morning his worries were back, while she kept on assuring him that she was fine and she was going for her check-up and will get back to him later with the result

But Madison didn't expect her doctor to come back with a life-threatening disease diagnosis. Her heart beats faster, she felt the sudden fatigue that her doctor just mentioned moments before.

"Do you have someone to come and pick you up? look, Ms. Moore, Encephalitis is deadly but it's treatable and with your age and your healthy lifestyle the chances are better. Let's keep a positive mind shall we?"

She nodded at kept looking at her doctor. Knowing with her luck, being positive was the least of her thought. She had gone through a roller coaster in her short young life, especially with her parents.

The older man seemed confident that she would recover, or maybe that was the front that he shows to all his patients.

"I have scheduled you for a thorough physical examination, brain imaging with MRI to see the swelling of the brain that causes the headaches. Then a spinal tap, the changes in this fluid can indicate infection and inflammation in the brain. Sometimes these samples can be tested to identify the virus or other infectious agent...."

He kept on talking while she kept on wiping her tears. She didn't know where she'd turn to. She always hated hospitals and to think that she might be hospitalized when all home treatment fails was a real shocker for her.

Ralph was surprised when he picked her up at the hospital lobby. He knows instantly that she was seriously ill, he could see the darkness that surrounded her. The actual darkness he would see with people nearing their deaths.

He instinctively hugged her and she cried and sobbed in his arms. He didn't know what she had yet, but he prayed, he had never prayed so hard in his entire life before. He prayed that she would survive her illness. "I got you, baby, I love you... we're going to get through this together."