VLD (Broganes) Whumpmas Day 12 - Free Day - Chicken Pox
@vldwhumpmas2017
Keith usually enjoyed his alone time. He liked sitting in his room reading his books in peace. He liked laying on the floor with his coloring books and building with his legos. He could spend hours by himself, lost in his own thoughts and content with his own company.
But after four days of quarantine, he was willing to do anything for some genuine human contact. His mom was in an out of his room multiple times throughout the day. But she usually just came to check his fever or give him food. She didn’t really keep him company. But he couldn’t blame her; he knew there was so much she had to do. She didn’t have time to keep up a conversation.
Still, he couldn’t take much more of the solitary confinement. He knew it was to protect Shiro. And he didn’t want Shiro to catch it. He wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy. He’d never felt more itchy his entire life. And this was coming from the kid who’d had poison ivy all over both his legs. And maybe he wouldn’t mind it if he could play with his toys, but he was too tired and achy to even get out of bed. All he could do was sit in his bed and think about how lonely he was and how his mom kept telling him not to scratch.
He grimaced while he looked at the clock, watching the second hand tick by. If he’d known this would be his fate, he might not have complained to his mom the other day about the “bug bites” that were making him super itchy. When she saw the little red bumps spread all over Keith’s back, she immediately rushed him to the pediatrician. There, her worst fears were confirmed. Thankfully, they had caught it early and Keith hadn’t been spreading it for too long.
But Shiro had been exposed to Keith almost constantly. They lived together. And even though the bumps had only just shown up, the doctor told them that he has been contagious for a few days. And it was especially dangerous for Shiro since he was so much older than Keith. It was just a nuisance for him. As the doctor explained, the disease would have more complications if Shiro were to get it.
But Keith would be fine in about a week. The doctor assured them that all the bumps would blister and scab over, then he would be back to normal. Until then, however, it was best for him to keep his distance from everyone who hadn’t already the chicken pox before. Thankfully, his mother had them as a child. He worried that if she hadn’t, he wouldn’t even be graced with her short visits.
He was four days in. Many of the bumps had already started to blister, and some had even started to scab. Only a few more days and he would be good to go. And he promised himself that he wouldn’t spend anymore time than necessary alone in his room. He doubted he would be playing by himself any time in the near future. He would go outside and ride his bike and help his mom in the kitchen and do whatever he could to be around people. He may even befriend some of the neighborhood kids just for some extra playmates.
He was shocked from his thought by a knock on the door. He looked over at the door, expecting his mom to walk in. When it didn’t open, his expression changed to confusion as he called out, “Hello?”
“Hey Keith, how you feeling?” Shiro’s voice carried under the small slit under the door. Keith’s eyes burst open with excitement. He hadn’t talked to his brother since his confinement.
“I’ve been better. Still really itchy.” Keith complained, and just mentioning the itchiness increased his urge to scratch.
“Mom said not to scratch!” Shiro warned. “That’ll make it worse.”
“I know. But Shiro, it’s so itchy!!” He whined, rubbing his back against the headboard of his bed. Because that technically wasn’t scratching.
“Let’s do something that’ll take your mind off of it.” Shiro suggested.
Keith gasped, “You can’t hang out with me Shiro. I don’t want you to get sick too. I’m still contagious. Mom said so.” He argued despite how badly he wanted to hang out with his brother. Refusing the company was probably the hardest thing he had to do. No, it was the second hardest. The single hardest thing he ever had to do was supress the urge to scratch.
“Relax, Keith. I’m not gonna come in. I’m gonna sit out here in the hallway.” he heard Shiro plop himself down in front of he door. “But mom mentioned that you’ve been lonely, so I figured I could entertain you for a while.”
So mom was listening to him complain when she came to check on him. That was good to know. “But how can you play with me if you can’t come in?” Keith asked. I’m seemed a little ridiculous that they would hang out but also be separated by a wall.
Shiro seemed to have thought it all out before he came. He didn’t even hesitate when he answered. “We can play one of the games we play on long car rides. We don’t need to be next to each other to play those games.”
Keith actually liked that idea. Their family hadn’t taken a long trip in a while, and he really enjoyed those car games. “Can we play last letter first letter?” He asked pleadingly.
Shiro let out a short laugh, “Sure thing, bud. What category do you want to do?”
“Animals!” Keith answered quickly and enthusiastically.
“You always pick that one,” Shiro laughed. He didn’t mind though, “I’ll go first. Lion.”
“Newt.”
“Turtle.”
“Elephant.”
“Tiger.”
“Rhinoceros.”
“Snake.”
“Eagle.” “Elk.”
“Kangaroo.”
They played all through the afternoon. They’d both been well versed in the category to keep this round going for hours. They occasionally got tripped up on a few letters, but they always managed to come up with something. And though Keith hadn’t noticed it, he hadn’t felt the need to itch the whole time he was playing with Shiro.
“Opossum.”
“Macaw.” Shiro answered after a long pause.
“Wallaby,” Keith replied through a long yawn.
“Are you getting tired?” Shiro forwent an answer (and good thing because they had pretty much exhausted the list of animals that start with “Y”). They had been playing for a while. And he knew Keith still wasn’t at 100 percent energy-wise.
“Maybe a little,” Keith replied, tiredly rubbing his eyes.
“Alright, dude.” Keith could hear Shiro standing up, his joints cracking from sitting so long, “Get some rest. We can play again later.” He knocked against the door.
“Hey Shiro,” Keith called out before Shiro could walk away. He heard Shiro hum to continue, “I said the last animal. That means I win.” Keith replied snarkily.
Usually, Shiro could be a bit of a sore loser. But he figured he’d let Keith win this one. “Yup, I guess it does. We’ll have a rematch later though.” He laughed.
“I look forward to it.” Keith smiled before falling asleep. Even though it wasn’t exactly the human contact he’d been craving, it helped. Keith didn’t feel as lonely anymore. He slept soundly knowing Shiro would be back later.