Gentle, Please! [boyxboy]

Epilogue 01

_Chapter 29_

▪︎ Epilogue 1 ~ 9 Months later

Elliot Warren

I was supposed to go to school today. But here I am laying in bed, completely exhausted to the point of not having the strength to sit back up again. I'm pretty sure I also suffered from a slight fever. Although I don't think I had the right to complain because it was in every aspect my fault for overworking myself.

During the last half year, I set a goal that I'd do anything for to accomplish. Unfortunately or rather inevitably, it was getting to my state of health. Not that it was a cue for me to give up, though. I managed to make a big step forwards and judging by the point of where I started, there was no reason for me to lay back and relax just yet.

"Elliot?" The door opened after the voice of my mother called me. "I brought your pills," she said as she approached my bed to sit down and hand me the meds, which I must admit were absolutely atrocious. Thus, I couldn't help to shudder and squeeze my face in disgust once I gulped them down together with a glass of water.

And I thought I was used to taking medication but I guess I got myself proven wrong. The regular dosage almost doubled in the amount and the side effects were damaging to my mental health which was far worse than feeling a little lethargic or having some headaches like before.

"How are you feeling?" Mom put a hand on my forehead to check my temperature. "Thank god it has gone down a bit."

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Not good, but not too bad either."

"If your fever doesn't go down at all within the next few hours, I'll call a doctor, okay?"

"It's fine really, I can manage," I waved away.

"Don't lie! You think I didn't see you struggling a lot the last two weeks? It was just a matter of time when you would collapse," she sighed. "I'm really getting worried. Why do you have to push yourself that much? Just take your time."

"I don't have time, Mom. I'm preparing for graduation next year. If I don't do it know then when should I?" Also the fact that I realized it rather late didn't make it any better. It just meant I had to put even more than my all into it. "I promise, I'll handle it," I smiled. "After all you want me to quickly get better too, right?"

"Yeah" she nodded. "Of course, I do."

-

After the next two following days, I was able to return back to school again. Regardless of the amount of rest I got, I still felt mentally tired. As I already mentioned, my medication really got through me.

It was like I always felt on edge, irritated and annoyed by absolutely everything and quick to snap by the lack of self control. On top of that, I probably resembled a creeping ghost. I didn't even have the time to care about my appearance, not that I ever cared that much to begin with.

What I mean is solely that my hands were already full with the school work that I had to catch up on and knowing that I was busy this afternoon because of another session at Blaine's that I started attending about three to four times a week since recently, I knew that I was going to get real busy the next week.

"Elliot!" I turned around, spotting Cole waving at me. "I see you're back."

"I guess so," I shrugged.

He looked like he wanted to say something else but changed last minute with a frown on his face. "Are you sure you're okay? You look kinda pale," he worried.

Yeah of course he'd notice. "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't, would I?"

He blinked a few times, doubting my response until he eventually moved on. "Anyway, do you have some time after school?"