Chapter 113

Having Sarah sleep on his chest was exactly the homecoming he needed. The time difference from Australia was messing up his schedule with her. It was midnight and Sarah was sound asleep on his chest, he was sure everyone else was sound asleep as well but here he was, wide awake watching late night talk shows on stations that were ahead of California time. Not that late night talk shows were bad, he just preferred the Craig Ferguson show. The others just weren't the same. At least, after this there'd be two reruns of Friends and two of Two and a Half Men so he was set for at least two more hours of tv shows to watch. After that, he might have to switch to Netflix. His attention wasn't exactly invested in any of these shows and he hoped he would drift off to some sleep but so far he had not been successful of that.

Eventually the talk show ended and he needed a snack before watching Friends, his tummy grumbled and he agreed with it. Very carefully, he moved from underneath of Sarah, trying not to wake her up but also knowing that was futile.

"I'll be right back." He said as he saw her eyes open sleepily. "Go back to sleep." He said.

Quietly he walked out of the bedroom. Once in the hallway, he noticed light at the other end by the teenagers their rooms. Perhaps Noah had fallen asleep with the light on again. He started heading down the hallway when a door slammed and took the light with it. Who was awake past midnight?

Richie reached the staircase and contemplated just getting his snack from the kitchen and heading back to bed but something told him to investigate. During school vacations Noah and Ava, even Caleb turned into night owls but it was a little too soon for that. It was two more days before school let out for Christmas vacation.

He flicked on the light switch, now noticing the linen closet door open and pushed it closed before continuing down the hallway to check on who was awake in the middle of the night.

Light peeked from underneath Noah's bedroom door, he proceeded to knock on the door but didn't get an answer. Perhaps Noah had just fallen asleep with the light on.

Quietly he pushed the door open, not wanting to wake his son up. He reached into the room to switch off the light but noticed Noah's bed was empty. Richie looked straight to the bathroom, of course he'd be in there. He walked over and knocked on the door.

"Hey Noah, straight back to bed, okay?" He said. "You've got school in the morning. Don't get sucked into late night Instagram."
"I won't"

Richie walked back out of the room and closed the door behind him as he headed downstairs to get his snack so he could go and catch up with his Friends.

In the kitchen, Richie poured himself a glass of water at the sink first. He didn't realize he had been thirsty until he downed the glass. Next, he went into the pantry and looked around for what would soothe his craving. The dried fruits and fruit and veggie snacks were turned down quite easily when he found a bag of Munchies. Exactly what he needed,  variety so he didn't have to pick a snack. He grabbed the bag and pulled a bottle of water out of the flat stored on the floor where he found a black cat looking at him.

"Hi there Sirius." He stroked the cat's back. "Did I wake you up?" The cat meowed at him, as if it was responding to his question. "Well then get back to sleep man." He walked out and instructed Sirius to do the same so he could close the door behind him.

Leaving the cat behind in the kitchen, he headed back upstairs with his snacks. At the landing he looked down the hallway to make sure Noah's light was off but found the opposite to be true as he could still see the light sneak out under the door. Once again he went back down the hallway, a little frustrated Noah hadn't listened to him about going back to bed. The least he could do was be sneakier about staying up and turning off his lights. He knocked on his door a little louder this time but didn't wait for an answer and he opened the door as he wasn't pleased with Noah right now.

"Noah, it's almost one-" The room was still empty, his eyes darted over to the bathroom door that was still closed. His frustration turned to worry, their household was never spared of a cold or flu around this time of year, he put his snacks on the desk beside the bathroom. "Noah?" He knocked on the bathroom door again. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Came his answer quickly.
"Are you sure?" Richie asked again, having an uneasy feeling.
Noah didn't respond.
"Noah?" He asked again, this time more worried and more sternly. "Are you okay?" The longer it took Noah to answer, the more worried Richie became.
Finally, after what seemed like minutes. "I need help."

In the same second Richie turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. His mind hadn't processed what he could possibly find but he had to help Noah out regardless of what it was he needed.

As he saw Noah sit on the bathroom floor, leaning back against the shower stall holding his foot in a bloodied towel his heart sank and his mind stopped. Noah was shivering with tears in his eyes. The broken razor with it's blades on the tiled floor were enough to piece it all together.

He gathered his mind back together; right now Noah was safe from himself, but he needed to stop that bleeding.

Richie kneeled down in front of Noah and reached for the towel. Noah let go of it so Richie could lift it.

"You're okay." He had meant to ask him but it came out as a statement.
Noah nodded shortly and leaned back against the shower's glass walls as Richie finally lifted the towel.

He covered it back up almost instantly, the cut was bleeding profusely.
"Keep putting pressure on it." He instructed Noah, who grabbed his ankle tightly again.

Richie reached over to the cabinet under the sink and opened the doors to look through the stock of toiletries before reaching the back of the cabinet.

"Luckily your mom thought of putting a first aid kit in every single fucking bathroom in this house."

He pulled the small box out and opened it, finding everything he needed to help Noah out.

Richie took out some sterile gauze pads and medical tape. He reached for Noah's towel again who let go of it once again. With a clean corner of the towel Richie tried to wipe away the blood which was almost futile. The cut was too deep to simply stop bleeding. He ripped open the first piece of gauze to cover the cut with but as he tried to tape it to Noah's skin, it had already soaked through. He added another two over top and finally a third he could tape in place securely. From the first aid kit, he retrieved a tension bandage and wrapped it over the gauze pads, applying continuous pressure. Lastly, he picked up the bloodied razor blades and put them in a gauze pad to cover the broken razor head with, then wrapped tape around it before unceremoniously throwing it in the garbage can.

"Alright." He concluded, standing up again, reaching a hand out to help Noah up.

His mind caught up in a fraction of a second as he let his arm down again. Instead, he moved to Noah's side and knelt down. He grabbed Noah's arm to put around his shoulder, holding on to his waist with his right arm so he could pull him up as Richie stood up again as well.

With Richie's help Noah made it out of the bathroom. Richie pulled the door closed behind them, turning the lock from the outside, he didn't want anyone to accidentally walk in there.

"Where's your wallet?" He asked Noah.
"In my backpack." Noah gestured to it by his desk.

Richie grabbed the backpack, pulling the zipper open but only found books and a pen box and the ereader he had bought Noah only a few months ago. He held on to it the found another zipper to unzip and recovered a well hidden wallet to put into his pj pants' pocket, happy that the pocket was big enough to fit the ereader.

He continued to help Noah hop through the hallway to the staircase.

Looking down the stairs, Noah shook his head. He hadn't argued through the entire ordeal.

"I can't hop down the stairs. I'd trip and fall."
Richie contemplated his comment for a moment, finding truth in it. "Sit down and scoot like Daniel does?" He suggested as he helped Noah to do so.

Richie walked down the stairs and headed towards the closet where he quickly put on his shoes and found Noah's for him. From the hangers above he found a hoodie he wasn't sure of if it was Caleb's or Noah's but grabbed it anyway. Back at the staircase Noah had made his way down to the last two steps. Richie passed him the sweater and his right shoe.

"Thanks." Noah said.

From the side table by the front door, Richie grabbed his car keys then helped Noah up again and supported him to the car.

As Noah got situated in the passenger seat, Richie realized he was still carrying his left shoe and passed it to Noah. He closed the car door carefully and walked around to the driver's side where he got in. As he turned the car on, he looked at Noah to make sure he was okay. The boy was still shivering but otherwise looked fine. Richie turned up the heat and started backing out of his spot.

"Are we going to the hospital?" Noah asked softly, worry was obvious in his voice.

Richie parked at the ER entrance, as close as he could anyway.

"I can go find a wheelchair so you don't have to walk on you foot." He suggested to Noah, who only shrugged in return.

That didn't really get him an answer so Richie got out of the car and walked around to help Noah out of the vehicle. No answer must mean no he figured.

As he had done at home, he helped Noah to walk. His parking job close to the entrance definitely made it easier. Once inside, he spotted a payment machine for parking. Better pay beforehand.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, glad he had his ID and credit card handy like that because he had not thought of bringing his wallet with him. He let go of Noah so he could go through the process of payment. Inserting his card as instructed, picking how long he wanted to pay for, may as well take 6 hours he figured. Hopefully it wouldn't take that long but he didn't want to come back to top this up. Then, it asked for his license plate.

"Fuck." He swore, making Noah look up at him in question. "I don't know my license plate number." Richie explained.
"7CJT834." Noah responded.
Richie frowned. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah."

He punched in the number and letters, trusting Noah had this right. The machine processed the payment and printed out a receipt for him to take.

As he turned away from the machine, he noticed the wheelchairs across the walkway. It would be much easier than supporting Noah every time he would have to get up or walk. Instead of asking this time, he took the wheelchair and made Noah sit down in it before he proceeded to follow the signs to ER registration and triage.

Noah didn't say another word, even when they arrived at the line up for registration. There were a few people ahead of them but other than that the main waiting area didn't seem too full for this size hospital.

About ten minutes later they were next.

A triage nurse waved them through the doors to a smaller private area.

"He can come in alone." The nurse said when Richie pushed the wheelchair in.
He looked down at Noah, noticing how his facial expression had changed. "He's under 18, I'm staying with him."
"Alright." The nurse said as she sat down at her computer to take Noah's information.
Richie pulled his son's wallet from his baggy pj pants pocket and found his learner's permit and his health insurance card to pass over to the nurse.
She copied his information into the computer, then turned to Noah. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Noah looked up at Richie for reassurance or maybe he was just scared. "Go ahead. You can tell her." Richie told him. "You're okay." He reminded his son, trying to help him find some confidence.
Noah looked back at the nurse, then looked down at his lap. "I cut myself."
The nurse spoke as she typed. "What did you cut yourself with?"
"A razor."
"Okay." The nurse confirmed before she asked a few more questions. "We'll take your temperature and blood pressure." She said next as she started rolling on her chair to get her equipment. She used her no touch thermometer, wrote down the results and then picked up the sphygmomanometer and unwrapped the velcro strap to put around Noah's arm.

Richie stood next to Noah, watching it all happen. There wasn't much else he could do right now for Noah anyway. Richie knew that like a lot of children his age, including his sister, Noah had anxiety issues. He just had to make sure Noah made it through this with as few panic attacks as possible.

He watched as the nurse started applying the pressure to measure his blood pressure, at the same time he saw Noah's face lose color and his eyes roll back in his head. "Noah." He said, reaching out to grab him by the arm before he would slip out of his seat.

Richie held him in place, making sure Noah was steady. It didn't take long before Noah blinked his eyes a couple times and color returned to his face. "Alright there?" Richie asked him carefully.
"Yeah." Noah said slowly. "What happened?" He asked confused.
"You fainted buddy. Are you feeling okay now?"
"I think so."
The nurse interjected her own question. "Has he ever fainted before?" She asked Richie.
"I don't think so." He said, looking at Noah who slowly shook his head.

The nurse went back to typing on her computer, then stood up. "We've got a bed ready to check your cut out." She put a hospital bracelet around Noah's wrist before instructing another nurse to take him to the bed she had just assigned him.

Again, Richie wheeled Noah, this time following the nurse that guided them. He felt a little out of sorts not knowing Noah's medical history but how was he supposed to know everything about his son he had only known for a few years and had always seemed healthy. Maybe he should inform Sarah after all. She would be better at this.

He sat with Noah, waiting patiently. His stomach growled at him, still wanting the snacks he had grabbed earlier but never got to eat. In the bed Noah looked very bored as well. After the nurse had left them, they had not seen anyone else.

"You okay?" He asked Noah, unsure of how else to start a conversation in this tense situation.
"Yeah, just bored."
"Oh." Richie remembered what he found earlier. He moved in his chair so he could retrieve Noah's ebook from his pocket. "Here" He passed it over. "I thought you'd like this."
Noah's face did slightly light up. "Thanks." He said.
"How about, I go and find us some snacks and maybe you can find us a book to listen to or whatever book you're reading now, you'll just have to catch me up."
"Okay." Noah said.

"I won't be long."

Richie got up from his chair next to Noah's bed and walked out of the room. Once in the hallway, he pulled out his iPhone and sent off a text.