Chapter 31 - Will He Wake Up?

"That was awesome"! Caleb exclaimed to Mrs Parker.

She laughed softly before saying, "You are not the only one who is expert at lying". 

"What do you mean"? Caleb scrunched his eyebrows.

"What I mean is everyone lies every now and then. Don't feel too guilty to lie if you believe it's for the greater good or if it's a simple harmless lie" She patted him and served him a few bacon. "I hope it's not too many calories".

"Mrs Pa- I mean, Sue, it wasn't necessary". He stuttered, a bit shy.

"You saved my son, it's the least I could do". She smiled at him. After the dinner Caleb insisted he would help Mrs Parker to clean up but she dismissed him. He sat there the entire time near Ashton and chatted with the twins. 

"Will he leave us"? Ariel, still quite upset, asked him.

"Don't worry, last week the same thing happened to me and now I am fine. He has the right medicine, he will be fine too" Caleb tried to convince the twins despite being not so sure of himself.

"The same thing happened to Dad, he didn't make it". Ava whispered. 

Caleb who heard it looked at her wide eyed. He realized that even though he behaved like he was quite close with this family, he barely knew them. He never met their Dad, while he did notice that particular fact, he never bothered to wonder why.

"Don't worry, he will be fine". He consoled them nonetheless. It was already close to midnight when the girls refused to sleep. Mrs Parker scolded them and made them go to bed despite the circumstances.

"You should go to sleep too. Since Ashton's passed out on the couch, you can take his bed". Mrs Parker instructed him.

He glanced at Ashton before replying, "He is sick, he should take the bed. I will carry him there". Caleb suggested. 

"Are you sure"?

"Yes", Caleb smiled remembering how possessive Ashton was of his bed. It wasn't fair of him to take his bed every time he was here.

He pulled Ashton on his back and  carried him upstairs. He would be lying if he said Ashton wasn't heavy at all. With all the layers he wore he  kind of looked heavier in general, but in reality he was much more heavier. It's like his bones and muscle weighed beyond the normal.

Nevertheless, Caleb himself was quite strong and thus managed to drag him to the first floor. He put him in the bed and tucked him in. He put his hand on Ashton's forehead to check if the fever was back. The fever went down thanks to the antidote. Now all he hoped for was that his condition will improve.

Caleb stared at the boy lying peacefully on the bed while his mind kept running through various kinds of scenarios that could have happened earlier this day. He wanted to believe that Ashton either got caught in the situation or voluntarily helped, but he wouldn't know for sure unless that injured wolf or Ashton wakes up.

He kept his eyes on Ashton for quite a long time whose face harboured a peaceful expression. He doesn't know what came over him, or why he did what he did next, all he could say is that he simply had an urge. He raised his hand and grazed it slowly through his soft thick hair. It felt weirdly nice to do that so he didn't bother to stop. 

After a while he got himself a chair and sat on it as he waited for Ashton to open his eyes. He was fighting his heavy eyelids to keep a check on him, but somewhere along the wait, he lost that fight.

~~~~~~

Amidst the cold night Ashton opened his eyes slowly. His blurry vision focused onto a head that was lying next to his bed. Once his vision focussed he noticed that it was Caleb who was sleeping soundly with his head down on the bed while he sat on the chair. 

He looked at the clock to find it was almost 3:00 am. 'Why is Caleb here? Why am I here'? Ashton thought. He tried to recall the last thing he saw before passing out and suddenly he checked his forearm. The injury was properly healed and left no mark behind. As far as he could recall there was no antidote present in his house. Is that why Caleb was here? He pondered. 

Ashton contemplated whether or not he should wake the other up. While he looked perfectly peaceful in his sleep, he wondered if sleeping in that position would make him sore.

It was already late enough so he contemplated going back to sleep. He closed his eyes and waited to drift away, but unfortunately after staying down for the whole day he was wide awake at this point. To spend his time he took out his phone and decided to check if anything was there or not. 

But even the phone was out of battery, so he put it in charge before switching it on.

"Ashton"? A groggy voice asked from his side. That's when Ashton realized that the noise from his phone woke him up.

"Hi"  he replied awkwardly. Caleb was a bit disoriented for a moment before he jumped up.

"You are awake"! He was beyond happy and may have shouted in the process.

"Shhh"!! Ashton whisper-yelled at him as he pressed his hand on his mouth. "Calm down, it's 3:00 am"! Caleb nodded before Ashton removed his hand.

"I am so glad you finally woke up. I can leave now". Caleb sighed in relief. 

"You were waiting for me to wake up"? Ashton asked him skeptically but Caleb simply shrugged. "Wait, why are you here though"? Ashton asked the one question that was bothering him so much. "I came to check on you. I figured you won't have the antidote". Caleb shrugged. 

"Wait, what? You knew I was injured? How"? He asked, terrified of the answer. 

"I smelled your scent at the site. There we found that attacker you knocked out, I am guessing, and the wolf". Caleb informed. 

"What"? Ashton deadpanned. "Oh no, I will be exposed". Ashton buried his face on his palms. "Don't worry, no one saw you". Caleb tried to reason.

"What about that attacker"? Ashton challenged.

"What about him"?. Caleb raised his eyebrows. "It's not like he knows who you are".

"How can you be so sure"? Ashton asked him derisively. 

Caleb shrugged before replying, "I could be right. Besides last I heard he was still passed out. I'll go back tomorrow and check the situation". Caleb shrugged. 

"I thought you were leaving right now". Ashton narrowed his eyes at him.

Caleb rolled his eyes before replying, "My brother is the one who doesn't want me out there because of the danger". He sighed. "If I could, I would leave right now". 

"You should get some sleep then", Ashton suggested after nodding at him.

"I guess you are right". Caleb stretched before leaving the room to take the couch downstairs. It was way uncomfortable for Caleb given how he was not used to situation like this. Yet, eventually he fell asleep because he was way too tired.