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Leaf grumbles as he walks away. He knew Paige wouldn’t feel the best about what he was going to do, but that was fine. He would deal with it later.
Looking over the cafeteria, Leaf tries to spot the three puffballs of hair he knew would most likely help him find the culprit of the crime that was committed.
It takes a moment, but eventually he spots the girl and walks straight towards her.
“Michelle,” he says as a piss poor way of greeting.
“Oh, hey!” Michelle smiles. “Paige, right?”
“...Yeah,” Leaf mumbles. “I have a question.”
“Oh, okay! Shoot!”
“You know Kevin Sharp?”
“‘Course I do!”
“You hear how he got attacked recently?”
“WHAT!?” Michelle yelps. “That’s who went away in an ambulance on Thursday!?”
“...You won’t be any help,” Leaf sneers. “Thanks, or whatever.” He begins walking away.
“Wait!” Michelle calls behind him.
He ignores her.
+++
Leaf doesn’t ask for permission when he grabs his bag and leaves school for the day. There was no way in hell he was sticking around here just to stare at pieces of paper he didn’t know anything about for another 3 hours.
Navigating home would be an issue, however. He hadn’t really been paying close enough attention for the past… however many years to remember directions. He hoped the GPS on Paige’s phone would help.
…Wait. Paige had a phone. Phones were used to call people.
Leaf hits himself on the head. He then immediately regrets it. He’d done it much too hard, forgetting how fragile the body was. Ugh. That one was gonna smart for quite a while.
Whatever. Paige’s phone is luckily locked with a fingerprint scanner, so Leaf is able to open it with ease. He navigates the device until he can find a contact labeled “Mom :)”.
He taps on it and sighs. He was gonna have to school his voice to sound like Paige’s. Here’s hoping he could do it right.
“Sweetie?” Quinn asks, sounding confused. “What’re you doing calling me right now?”
“I—I’m sorry, Mom,” Leaf says, forcing his voice to be a little higher. “They let us out early and th—the bus won’t be coming for another 30 minutes…”
“Oh, are you stranded?” his mom asks. “You should’ve called Min, honey! You know I can’t get off of work this early.”
“Sorry…” Leaf mumbles. “Should I call him instead?”
“No, no, I can do it. He’ll probably just panic if you do it.” Quinn’s got a little laugh in their voice. “Just hang on a moment, okay? I’ll text you when he’s on his way.”
“Okay!” Leaf says, putting as much emotion as he can into it. “I’ll talk to you later!”
“Talk to you later, sweetie!” Quinn repeats, hanging up.
“Ugh,” Leaf groans. “Carmen better not take forever. I just want to go home.”
+++
Leaf is graciously dropped off at home by his aunt after being completely silent on the ride. Carmen had tried multiple times to start a conversation, but Leaf wasn’t having it. At some point, he’d just folded his arms and put his head down, pretending to be asleep.
“Thank you, Aunt Carmen,” he says like a good little boy once he exits the car.
“Are you alright, mijo?” he finally gets out. Leaf has to stop himself from rolling his eyes.
“Just tired!” he smiles. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Okay… Feel better soon, alright?”
“Alright!”
The smile falls off of Leaf’s face the moment Carmen pulls off. Ugh. Pretending to be Paige was so tiresome. How did he do this everyday of his life?
Well, whatever. He didn’t have to worry about pretending again until Quinn got home.
Leaf enters his home and flops down on the couch, exhaling.
Finding whoever hurt Kevin was obviously not going to be an easy job. If the resident loudmouth of the school didn’t even know Kevin was the one who got hurt, there was no way she knew who had done it. There had to be someone Paige knew who could point him in the right direction, though…
He thinks. Sue was really the only other knowledge well he knew of, but that would be risky. What if they realized he wasn’t Paige? He could pretend for a while, but he doubted he could keep it up for an entire conversation.
Let’s see… who else could…
The big puffs of hair Michelle had swirl in Leaf’s mind as he thinks, eventually forming a new shape, one of the puffs disappearing entirely. When the shape finally lights itself, Leaf gasps.
Lucy Lulu!
Of course! He’d have to be sure to ask her tomorrow.
For right now though, Leaf gets up and stretches. If Lucy had info, he needed to get ready for a fight. Quinn had a small personal gym set up in the back of the house. He ambles over and looks over the equipment.
Paige had never bothered with these things, but Leaf would have to if he wanted to have any chance of beating whoever the hell hurt his best friend.
Time to get fit. Time to get physical.
When Leaf enters the school building on Tuesday morning, they’re not entirely sure how to get to Lucy. If they remember correctly, she only shared one class with Paige, but even so… The teachers didn’t exactly like it when you talked in the middle of class.
So, they suppose waiting until Lunch it is.
Leaf feels every minute tick by with an aggravating intensity. They fight the urge to simply stand up and leave more than they breathe. School was nothing to them. Unimportant, stupid, and ultimately useless in the adult world.
That’s what they’d read once, anyways.
Leaf spends the time they should be doing work doodling in Paige’s sketchbook instead. They draw themself mostly, scratchy things with cartoony proportions. It was honestly a little fun.
They do this until one page is filled, then a second, then a third. With little else to do, it’s not very difficult.
By the time Lunch arrives, six and a half pages have been filled to capacity.
Instead of going to get food, Leaf enters the cafeteria and scans the area for the two puffballs he needed.
It takes a bit of standing around, but eventually they spot Lucy near the windows. They make a beeline over to her, ignoring whoever seems to be calling Paige’s name.
“Lucy,” they say in a serious voice, only to clear their throat. “H-hi!” they try instead, pushing their voice higher. “I wanted to ask you a question?”
“Ooh, hi Paige!” Lucy smiles. She’s sitting down and sipping at chocolate milk. “What’s up?”
“Um… so you know how Kevin got beat up the other day?”
“Oh yes, yes,” Lucy frowns. “What a fiasco! There were ambulances and everything! I saw the EMTs when I was in the hall, passing by.” She glances to the side. “I just barely saw his face, but I know a face when I see one. Luckily I didn’t see the leg, though.”
“Yeah, well…” They put on their best pouting face, hoping it was good. “You wouldn’t happen to know who did that, would you?”
“Why?” Lucy blinks. “But no.”
“Oh…” Leaf fights to keep their face straight. “That’s alright, then! Sorry to bother you!”
Leaf turns and is ready to walk away when Lucy puts a hand on their shoulder.
“Paige…?” Lucy asks.
“Yes?” Leaf replies, turning back. “What do you—what’s up?” Aah… a slip.
Lucy stares hard at them before smoothing out her expression again. “Are you okay?”
“Wha—why wouldn’t I be?” Leaf stumbles.
“You’re acting… weird.”
“We don’t… we don’t talk much, do we?” Leaf says with a small laugh in their voice. They’re trying to de-escalate whatever’s happening here.
Lucy gives another stare. Shit. Was that the wrong thing to say?
“Okay,” Lucy says finally, more to herself than to Leaf. “Sorry to keep you.”
What?
Lucy lets go and waves. “Say hi to Paige for me when he comes back, alright?” And without another word, she turns back to her lunch and starts up her conversation with Peyton again.
Leaf blinks.
What?
+++
The Lucy scare is enough for Leaf to realize they’re not very good at playing Paige. Going to school again was probably not the best course of action. How to get out of it though…
A lone gust of wind passes by and Leaf sneezes.
Oh!
“That’s it!” Leaf says, smirk on their face.
“Huh?” Brandon asks, startling Leaf a bit. They’d forgotten entirely that they were walking side by side with it on the way to the bus.
“Um… sorry! I just… remembered something!” Leaf tries. “Nothing um… nothing important. I just feel a little sick?”
“Oh…” Brandon mumbles. “I see.”
The two of them don’t talk for the rest of the way home
+++
“Moom…” Leaf mumbles the next morning as Quinn tries to wake them. “I don’t feel so good…”
“Oh no, sweetie… Are you running a fever?” Quinn pushes her hand up to their forehead. “Mmm… It doesn’t look like it… What’s wrong?”
“My… my stomach hurts…” they lie, clutching their middle. “I feel really, really sick.”
“Okay, okay,” Quinn soothes. “You wanna stay home today?”
“Please…”
“Alright, honey.” Quinn gives Leaf a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll make you some eggs and toast and leave it in the microwave for you, alright?”
“Okay…” They smile softly. “Love you, Mom.”
“I love you too sweetie.”
+++
The moment Quinn is gone, Leaf hops out of bed. It was time to eat and then go to the gym. One day was nowhere near enough after all.
Leaf keeps up this charade until the weekend, pretending to be sick, working out, going to bed before Quinn can get home, and then repeating.
When the weekend is here, Leaf is suddenly better! Who would’ve guessed it?
“Mom,” they start. “Can I use your gym equipment?”
“Huh?” Quinn blinks. “Um… sure, honey. Can I ask why, though?”
“I thought it would help me get over this stomach bug for sure!” Leaf grins awkwardly. They can tell it’s not quite what they’re aiming for, but it seems to work.
“Maybe so!” Quinn smiles. “Do you need help?”
“No, I think I can probably figure it out! Thanks, though!”
“Of course, sweetie.” Quinn waves. “Don’t overexert yourself!”
“I won’t!”
For the rest of the day and the next, Leaf trains. There’s no immediate gains or anything, but they feel stronger nonetheless.
+++
It’s Monday again and Leaf has decided enough was enough. It was time to figure out who this mystery assailant was.
It turns out to be a lot easier than they thought it’d be.
While walking into Lunch, they overhear a loud person going, “Yeah! I think I broke his leg entirely!” They laugh. “Serves him right!”
Leaf blinks. Leaf turns. Leaf stares at a kid with eyebags and scruffy hair and a disheveled shirt.
It was this one. This was the kid.
“Pretty cool, Yusef!” one of the kids they’re talking to cheers. “I can’t stand those Sharps. You’re right! Serves him right!”
Oh. This was the end of them.
“Hey, fucker,” Leaf spits, walking over.
“You’re talking to me?” Yusef asks, smirking. “What d’you want, Paper Plate?”
With a rage filled heart, Leaf pushes themself into Yusef’s personal space, grabs their collar with one hand and swings with the other.
Immediately a shout rings out. “FIGHT!”
Yusef stumbles as Leaf lets go of them at the peak of the punch. Children move to crowd the two of them as Yusef stands again.
“You wanna fight?” they smirk. “THEN LET’S FIGHT!”
Yusef’s smile turns evil as they push their curled hands up and pull them down to their sides. With Leaf being so close, he can see they’ve got dangerous knife-like nails. It almost looks like they were filed to be that way.
Leaf shakes his head and pushes up his sleeves. No time to day dream. Yusef runs towards Leaf and swipes, but Leaf dodges back. Yusef swipes again, but Leaf ducks.
Paige was fragile. He had to remember that. Attack when open, dodge when not.
What was that one move Brandon had used back in middle school?
The crowd moves with the action as from his ducked position, Leaf rises with a punch directly to Yusef’s chin. Caught off guard, they fall back on their ass once again.
“Ugh!” they growl. “Why are you so… so… flighty!?”
They stand again and Leaf doesn’t even give them the chance. He quickly punches Yusef in the gut, full of determination.
It’s a miscalculation.
As Yusef recoils from the hit, they dig their claws into Leaf’s forearm, pulling as they stumble back.
“FUCK!” he shouts, clutching the injured arm to his hoodie. Red begins to stain burgundy.
Fuck. Okay. This had to end quickly.
As suddenly as he can, Leaf pulls down his sleeve and goes to give the hardest punch he can muster.
It hits Yusef directly in the face.
This time, when they fall, they hit their head on the wall, effectively stunning them.
Now was Leaf’s chance.
The crowd roars as Leaf walks over to Yusef with a dangerous expression on his face. “You like breaking people’s legs, huh?” he chuckles. “Let’s see how much you like it when it’s your leg!”
Leaf pulls up his leg, ready to strike.
And then he’s being pulled backwards.
“Wh—HEY!” he shouts, thrashing. “LET ME GO!”
“I think not, Mr. Woods,” says the person pulling him.
Fuck. Was that the dean?
“Let me go!” Leaf yells regardless. “They have to pay for what they did!”
“They need an ice pack and a place to sit. You, meanwhile, are to come with me.”
+++
Leaf steams as he sits in one of the chairs provided in the dean’s office, Yusef in the other. They have an ice pack held to the back of their head.
In front of the two of them sits the dean, Mr. Parlett, and the principal, Mr. Stephen. Leaf recalls people often calling the latter “Stevie” for some reason.
“I am very disappointed in you two,” Stephen frowns. “Yusef, this is unsurprising,” he says, pointing a finger at them, “However, Paige? This is extremely unprecedented.” His frown deepens. “What do you have to say for yourselves?”
“He started it,” Yusef growls.
“I started it?” Leaf growls back. “Yeah, ‘cause I’m the one who broke Kevin’s leg, right? I’m the one who attacked him for no fuckin’ reason, right?”
“Mr. Woods!” Stephen gasps. “You will watch your language!”
Leaf huffs, but doesn’t say anything.
“Now,” Stephen continues. “Yusef, this is your umpteenth time in this office. You will be punished accordingly.” He turns to Leaf. “And as this is your first offense, you will also be punished, but to a lesser extent.” He evens his gaze between the two of them. “Both of you are to appear on Friday for tests. Paige, you are not to return until then. Yusef, you are not to return until then, and then for a week later.”
“WHAT!?” Yusef shouts. “How in the hell is that fair!?”
"Language," Parlett says.
“You have been here far too many times, Mx. Yami. I don’t have any other choice.”
Leaf smirks. Severed. Them… Right……
The teen clutches his head. Ugh… What gives? Why’d his head hurt so much all of a sudden?
Gasps ring through the air and Leaf flinches.
“Paige!?” Stephen yelps. “Are you bleeding!?”
Leaf blinks hard before looking up. Ah… His sleeve had fallen down. Red is streaming down his arm.
Oh. Yeah. That was happening.
Leaf takes a deep breath.
“I’m gonna pass out.”
Leaf closes his eyes and lets the dark swallow him.
Paige groans.
His head hurt something fierce and there was an incessant beeping somewhere near him.
What in the world…
Paige slowly blinks his eyes open. A white, sterile ceiling greets him.
“What…?” he rattles, voice hoarse.
The sound of a chair screeching attacks Paige’s ears. He grimaces and tries to pull his arms up to cover his ears, but one of his arms snags. The left one.
“PAIGE!?” his mom cries. “Oh my good god!”
“Mom…” Paige says, throat grating him. “Please… not so loud…”
“Oh my gosh,” Quinn gasps, voice a lot quieter. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. Oh my god.” She bends down and kisses his forehead, then his cheeks, then his forehead again. Up, left, right, up. Just like always.
Paige giggles weakly. “Mom…”
“Oh my god, I have to tell the doctor,” Quinn rushes out. “Baby, I’ll be right back, okay? Stay awake for me.”
“Okay…?”
With one last glance at her son, Quinn quickly leaves the room. He can hear her shout, “DOCTOR! DOCTOR, HE’S AWAKE!”
Paige wants to cover his ears again, but he’d better check what had snagged him in the first place.
He looks down at his arm.
There’s a whole bunch of gauze running down the length of his forearm. And there’s an IV right above where they stop.
He looks to the other side of him. There’s a heart monitor. That’s what’s making the beeping, he realizes.
Paige blinks.
This was the hospital.
Quinn returns with a young looking man in a lab coat. Or, a doctor’s coat? Whatever.
“Hello, Paige,” the man smiles. “I’m Dr. Charm, but you can call me James.” He walks over to the side of Paige’s bed.
Oh. He was in a bed. That makes sense.
“How are you doing?”
“My head hurts…” Paige reports. “And I guess my arm hurts? I… honestly can’t really feel it.”
“That would be the morphine,” James chuckles. “You were pretty beat up when you got here.”
“When I got here…?” Paige mumbles. “When did I get here?”
“Yesterday, sweetie,” Quinn answers. “I’ve been here all night.”
“What time is it?”
James checks his wrist. “About 7 PM.”
7 PM!? It wasn’t even 1 PM when Lunch started! Speaking of which…
“How did I get here?” he asks. “I was… I was just at Lunch with everyone…”
“Sweetie?” his mom breathes, voice full of fear. “Do you… Do you not remember yesterday?”
“Is there something I’m supposed to be remembering?” he questions, voice cracking a bit. Ugh. His throat… “Can I get some water or something?”
“Oh, of course, Paige.” James walks over to the small table a little bit away and pours a tiny cup full of water before handing it over to his patient.
“Thank you,” Paige mumbles, taking a big gulp. He clears his throat afterwords. “Aaaah…” he tests. His throat feels a lot better. “Oh thank goodness.”
“Paige,” Quinn starts, voice trembling a bit. “Sweetie, what is the last thing you remember?”
“Like I said, I was at Lunch with everyone at school,” Paige answers. “And then I woke up here.”
“Are you not aware of the fight you were in, Paige?” James asks gently.
“F-fight…?” Paige repeats. “I—I wasn’t in a fight! I don’t fight people!”
“You have some shallow gashes on your arm that would say otherwise,” James retorts. “That, and the whole cafeteria having witnessed the whole thing, apparently.” Quinn gives him an odd look. “I have a daughter who goes to IH,” he says simply. “I hear the going ons pretty frequently. Especially with something like this happening.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Paige cuts in. “I don’t fight people! I bruise too easy!” he cries. “I would never fight anyone anyways!”
“Well…” James writes down something on a nearby white board. “It seems you have a bit of amnesia.” He turns back around to Paige. “We can discuss that more later, though. Right now, since you’re awake, we’d better try and find someone to help you get a blood transfusion.”
“Blood transfusion…?” Paige breathes. “W—why…?”
“You lost a lot of blood, buddy,” James says, concern on his face. “You barely made it in the ambulance in time.”
“What?” Paige blinks. “An ambulance brought me here?”
“Hmm…” the doctor hums. “A bit of head trauma suffered in the fight might’ve caused this amnesia…” he mumbles to himself.
“Head trauma?” Quinn gasps. “You said nothing about head trauma!”
“Now, now, Ms. Woods,” James soothes. “It’s only a theory. But it’s not as important as the transfusion right now.” He frowns. “However… We checked Paige’s files while he was out. He seems to have a blood type of AB negative. That’s the rarest type in the world.”
Quinn frowns deeply. “I-I'm O positive…” she mumbles, biting her fingers on one hand and tucking the other under her arm. “I—I don’t know if we know anyone with AB negative…”
That’s right, something in the back of Paige’s head whispers. You know someone with something even better.
What was it talking about? Who could—
Brandon has O negative, remember? the whisper continues. That’s the universal blood type, isn’t it?
Oh…
Oh…!
Oh goodness!
“Brandon!” Paige bursts out, interpreting whatever conversation was happening.
“Brandon?” Quinn repeats, confused.
“Brandon! He has O negative blood! I remember, because we both got our blood taken at the same time once! And we were super interested in what types we were, because we were learning about it in Science!”
Both Quinn and James look down at Paige, dumbfounded.
“Paige,” the doctor starts, “How old were you when that happened?”
“About…6 or 7 I guess?” he answers. “Why?”
“Darling, how do you remember something from almost ten years ago, but you can’t remember any of yesterday?”
Paige scrunches his face. “I-I don’t know…” he says miserably. “I wish I could remember. To be honest with you, the idea that I got in a fight and don’t remember it at all is so, so scary.”
It’s better that you don’t remember, actually, the voice in his head says. Trust me.
“Trust you?” Paige asks aloud.
“Huh?” Quinn says as the same time James goes, “Hmm?”
Don’t talk out loud, Paige! the voice says. Just think.
‘Oh…’ Paige thinks. ‘O–okay.’
“Sweetie, what were you saying?” Quinn asks.
“Um… Um…” Paige doesn’t know how to save this.
Repeat after me, the voice says.
‘Um! Okay!’
I trust you to handle this!
“I… I trust you to handle this!” Paige smiles awkwardly. “That’s what I was saying!”
Nice.
“You’re right, sweetie,” Quinn grins nervously. “We’ve got this all covered.” She starts moving towards the door. “Brandon’s right outside with Min, I’ll ask them if it’s okay right now.”
Wait.
‘Huh?’
Ask if you can be the one to ask Brandon.
‘Why? Didn’t I just say I trust them?’
He’s your best friend. The voice is quiet for a second before continuing. He’s our best friend.
‘Our…?’
Ask now before it’s too late! they stress.
‘Okay, okay!’
“Mom, wait,” Paige says, holding out his un-IV’d hand. “I—can I ask Brandon?”
Quinn’s eyebrows furrow. “Why would you…?”
“Please?” Paige begs.
His mom relents immediately.
“Of course, honey.”
Thank god.
+++
Brandon shuffles his way into the hospital room, looking anywhere but at Paige. Quinn and James have left to give the two of them some privacy.
“Brandon!” Paige cries. “I’m so happy to see you!”
“Oh, so now you’re happy to see me?” Brandon huffs, crossing his arms. “What even happened, man?” He looks at Paige finally, pained expression on his face. “We’re like brothers! Why did you suddenly shut me out? Why did you suddenly shut all of us out?”
Paige blinks. “Brandon, what are you talking about?”
Brandon scoffs. “Man, don’t trip. You’ve barely talked to me for the past week!”
Paige’s face falls. Past week?
“Brandon,” Paige breathes. “The last thing we ever did together was sit at a table with Sue and Bro. Mom said I got here yesterday.” Paige can hear the beeping to his side increase. “Are you telling me I’m missing a week’s worth of time right now…?”
Brandon stares. He stares long and hard.
Paige is going to cry. What was happening? Why was everything fuzzy? Why was Brandon saying he’d been walking around for a week and ignoring him when he can’t even remember anything past getting the note on Monday?
Why was there someone talking to him in his brain?
Finally, Brandon’s arms fall to his side. “Oh my god,” he says. “You’re serious.”
“What do you mean, ‘you’re serious’!?” Paige cries, holding himself, tears forming. “Brandon, I don’t remember anything that people are telling me I did! I had a fight? Did you know I had a fight?” He’s going into hysterics. “I don’t fight people, Brandon!
“I fought someone and they hurt me and now I’m in the hospital and I need a blood transfusion or I might die or something and you’re the only one we know with the universal blood type because my blood type is so rare and—and—”
“Paige!” Brandon yells.
Paige shuts his mouth immediately, silent tears pouring out of him. He rocks back and forth a bit.
“Paige…” Brandon says again, walking closer to him. His own eyes are looking damp. “Wh—what do you mean you might die?”
“I—I heard what the doctor said,” Paige trembles, holding himself as best as he can. “I lost too much blood. I don’t have enough anymore…”
“Wh—you…” Brandon blinks hard. Tears are coming out in earnest now. “You… don’t have enough…” he mumbles. Then, with a deep breath, he goes, “Yeah, man. Y—of course.” He wipes his eyes. “I—I love you, man. You’re my best friend in the world. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Thank you…” Paige sighs. “I’m… I’m so relieved…”
“I’ll go get the doctor,” Brandon says, turning and walking two strides per step towards the door. He flings it open once he gets there. Paige can just barely see James from where he’s laying down.
“Oh! Hello Brandon,” Quinn greets. She must be right out of view. “What did you say?”
“Yes, of course,” Brandon says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “We have to hurry up, don’t we? How much time does he have left, even?”
“Huh?” James asks. “Time?”
“He’s gonna die isn’t he?” Brandon huffs. “C’mon, let's get a move on!”
“What?” James asks, completely taken aback. “Brandon, he’s not going to die, goodness!”
Paige blinks. “I-I’m not…?” he asks the air.
“He’s not?” Brandon asks the doctor.
“No!” he assures, putting a hand on the teen’s shoulder. “Paige just lost a lot of blood. If he gets a transfusion, it’ll help him heal a lot faster. Nobody’s going to die. I promise, okay?”
“Oh…” Brandon sighs. “Okay. Okay, good.” He walks back into the room. “Paige!” he smiles. “You’re not gonna die!”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Paige breaths. “I… I thought for sure…”
“Yeah! Don’t—don’t worry!” Brandon’s smile is wobbly. “I’ll… you can still have…” He shakes his head. “I’m—I’ll let them get me ready, okay?”
“Okay,” Paige nods weakly. “I love you too, Brandon.”
“I know, man,” Brandon says. He sounds really close to crying again. “I know.”
+++
Paige blinks. He’s sitting up, mouth open. He doesn’t remember anything since after they put him to sleep for the transfusion, but he can tell he was clearly in the middle of saying something.
Sorry, the voice in the back of his head says. Thought it’d be better if you heard this.
“Heard…?” Paige mumbles.
“Sweetie?” Quinn asks. “You cut yourself off there. What were you saying?”
“Um…” he says, worried. He had no idea!
Calm down, the voice urges. We were talking about your discharge.
“U-um… my discharge?” Paige tries. “Um…”
Ask when it is.
“When is it?”
“Tomorrow, buddy,” James smiles. “We were just going over aftercare.”
“Aftercare…?” Paige repeats. “It’s over? You did it?”
“Of course they did, honey,” Quinn chuckles. “How would they send you home if not?”
“Oh…” That did make sense. Then, he gasps suddenly. “Brandon! Brandon—is he okay!?”
“He’s just fine, Paige,” James assures. “He should be able to leave tonight, even.”
“Oh…” Paige breathes. “That’s… that’s good.”
“You’re gonna be just fine, champ,” James smiles. “Brandon too, alright?”
“Alright.”
“We’re gonna step out a moment to let you rest, alright?” James says. “It’s important you get all the sleep you can.”
“Okay.” Paige waves weakly as the two adults exit the room. He lays back down after, sighing. “I wonder what that was about…”
What what was about?
“Waking up mid sente—ah!” Paige yelps. “W-who’s there?”
Calm down, calm down, the voice soothes. It’s becoming louder. Hold on…
“Hold on?”
The sound of someone clearing their throat reverberates in Paige’s head. It kind of hurts.
“Here we go,” the voice says, a lot clearer and closer than before. Paige has to stop himself from shouting. “Hey.”
“U-um…” Paige starts wearily. “Hi…?”
“I think I’ve got some explaining to do.”
aaaaaaa
“Do you want the long or short version?” the voice asks. There’s an impression in Paige’s mind that they don’t really want to do the long version, but…
“Long..?” Paige mumbles aloud.
“In your head, Paige,” they remind.
“Oh,” Paige thinks. “Right.”
“There you go.” Paige can almost see a slight smile blossom in his mind’s eye, but it disappears as soon as a sigh rings in his head. “I guess we should start with basics, huh?” the voice chuckles a bit.
“That would be nice,” Paige nods.
“Okay.” Another sigh. “Well, hi. I’m Leaf,” they introduce.
“Um.” Paige thinks smartly. “Hi? I-I’m Paige?”
“I think I already knew that,” the voice—Leaf laughs. It’s a little weird having someone else laugh in his head.
“Oh.” Paige doesn’t know what else to say.
“Alright. Let’s see, then.” If Paige thinks hard enough, he can see Leaf holding a finger to his chin, though the whole image is a bit fuzzy. He doesn’t even know how he knows it’s Leaf, but he does. “I guess I start with who I am?”
“Sure,” Paige nods again. “It would… definitely help me understand what you’re… doing in my head?” He feels awkward as he says it, unsure. He doesn’t know what’s happening at all, let alone what Leaf really was. But if they were willing to explain…
“I’m… I guess the best way to explain it would be I’m part of you. A… different part. I’m someone you’re not, because you needed me during hard times when being you just wasn’t enough.”
“...Being me wasn’t enough…?” Paige echos. “What does that mean…?”
“...Let’s do it this way,” Leaf says. “How much do you remember about your dad?”
Immediately Paige frowns, body posture tightening. “I… I don’t want to think about him,” Paige replies, a bit shaky.
“You don’t have to,” Leaf soothes. “Just give me an estimate. A little? A lot?”
Paige is silent for a long moment, combing through his memories. All he gets is flashes of this and that, shouting, things shattering… but nothing concrete.
“...A little,” he finally says. “Why?”
“You have me to thank for that,” Leaf huffs with a smirk. Paige doesn’t know how he knows they’re smirking, but he does. “I remember those things. A whole lot more than you do. A whole lot clearer.”
“...Why?” Paige asks again, confused. “Why would you do that?”
Leaf shrugs. “It’s what I’m here for.”
+++
True to James’ word, Paige is discharged the next day. Thick bandages are still wrapped around his arm. He’s been instructed to sink bathe for the rest of the week, careful of his wrappings. Replace them on Thursday. Remove them on Saturday.
It’s all great and dandy, but Paige is barely listening to the doctor as he lists the instructions off. Instead, he’s stuck in his own head, face blank.
“There’s a lot of stuff I don’t remember a lot of the time,” Paige is saying. “Is that your fault too?”
“Ouch,” Leaf chuckles. “My fault huh?”
Paige jolts a bit. “No, no! I-I didn’t mean it like that! I—”
“Paige?” Quinn pouts, laying a hand on their child’s. “Are you cold, sweetie?”
“I-I…” Paige stutters, unprepared to be pulled back into the real world.
“Repeat.” Leaf instructs. “I’m just a little chilly.”
“I-I’m just a little chilly!” Paige echos. “It’s always a couple degrees too low in hospitals, y’know? Haha…!”
“You’re bombing.”
“You’re the one who told me to say that!”
“Not that last part.”
“You are really not helping your case here,” Paige groans.
“I’ll win it in the end,” Leaf smirks, crossing their arms. They’re… floating? How are they—
“How are you floating.” Paige says more than asks, dumbfounded. “How can I even see you floating?”
“Beats me,” Leaf shrugs. “But it’s cool, isn’t it?”
“...It is,” Paige admits.
“Don’t worry,” Quinn smiles. “We’ll be leaving in a second.”
“Okay!” Paige smiles awkwardly. He absently twiddles his fingers. “I really want to go home.”
“Oh, you guys can leave now, actually,” James smiles. “I’ve told you all the things you need to do, so you’re free to go.” He looks at Paige. “Just make sure you get a lot of rest, alright?”
“Alright,” Paige nods. “I will.”
“C’mon, sweetie,” Quinn says, standing and holding a hand out. “Let’s get you home.”
+++
Paige is quiet on the way home, pensive. He’s now extremely aware of the person hitching a ride with him. It doesn’t make him… uncomfortable, per say. Just…
“It’s not something you expected,” Leaf supplies.
Paige jolts. “Ah!” He shakes his head. “You have gotta give me some sort of warning before you talk! It’s not exactly easy to get used to this, you know!”
“Excuse me for trying to help,” Leaf huffs, rolling their eyes. “But I don’t know how you expect me to warn you.”
“Um…” Paige thinks. “I… don’t know either,” he admits after a moment.
“You’ll just have to get used to it I guess,” Leaf says.
“I guess.”
“Paige?” Quinn asks.
“Huh?” he blinks, coming back into reality.
“You’re quiet. Everything okay?”
“Um…”
“Just tired,” Leaf says.
“Yeah… I’m just tired,” Paige repeats diligently.
“That’s understandable,” Quinn pouts. “You went through quite a lot these past couple of days!”
“Yeah…” Paige mumbles. He neglects to mention he doesn’t remember the majority of it.
They pass by the Aguja household, almost home. It pulls at something inside of Paige, and he asks, “Can Brandon come over?”
“Of course,” Quinn answers. “I’m sure he really wants to see you.”
Paige is escorted to his room by his mom and put to bed once they get home. He’s not tired, quite the opposite actually, but he doesn’t really feel like sitting up right now either.
“I’ll let Brandon know he can come over, okay?” Quinn smiles a bit pensively. “I’ll just send him up when he gets here.”
“Okay,” Paige mumbles. “Thanks.”
“No problem, sweetie.” And with that, Quinn is gone.
Left alone with his thoughts, Paige lets his mind wander. What was he supposed to do with himself, knowing that he seemingly knows nothing?
“That’s not true,” Leaf says. “You know plenty.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Paige says aloud quietly. “I can’t remember anything for the past week, Leaf.”
“Eh,” the other shrugs. “You ain’t miss much.”
“But I missed it in the first place!” Paige cries. “I’m used to missing minutes, even a couple of hours, but a week? I’m—I’m freaking out!”
“Okay.” Leaf sighs. “I’ll ask this time.”
“Ask what?” Paige breathes, trying to control his outburst.
“Do you want me to take over for a minute so you can calm down?”
“I…” Paige starts, petering off. Instead, he starts a new sentence shortly after. “You can just do that?”
“How do you think you came to in the middle of a conversation earlier?”
“...”
“I don’t have to,” Leaf supplies. “I just thought—”
There’s a knock at the door. “Paige?” It’s Brandon. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah!” Paige calls. Slowly the door opens, revealing the hooded form of his best friend. He has on his red comfort hoodie. His hands are stuffed into the pockets and he doesn’t look directly at Paige.
This is a bit worrisome.
“Hey man,” he waves, “You uh… you feel alright?”
“Brandon…” Paige frowns. “Are you alright?”
Brandon blinks and looks at Paige in honest now. “Me?” he asks, incredulous. “Bro, you just had a blood transfusion. After getting clawed by that baddie from school. Which you apparently don’t remember,” he lists off. “I think I come second in this line of questioning right now.”
“Oh,” Paige says lamely. “That’s… that’s fair, I guess.”
“It is,” Brandon nods. His hood falls off with the motion. “Now, like I asked earlier, you feel okay?”
“I… I guess,” Paige sighs. “Honestly, the transfusion stuff isn’t even what’s bothering me the most right now.”
“What could be occupying casa de Paige more than his hospital visit?” Brandon quips, making the air feel a bit more familiar.
Time to throw it away again.
“I… um…” Paige tries, shaking his head. He grasps Teds tightly in his hands. “Do you… do you ever have people speak to you in your head?”
“Huh?” Brandon asks at the same time Leaf goes, “What.”
“What?” Paige thinks back. “I can’t not tell Brandon about you! He’s practically my brother!”
“I just… don’t think it’s the best idea,” Leaf mumbles. “Not right now, at least.”
“Why?”
“Look.”
Paige blinks back into reality. In front of him still stands Brandon, but he’s going on quite the face journey. Finally, his expression settles on pure confusion.
“I…” he starts, looking Paige up and down. “Are you messing with me right now?”
“What?” Paige breathes, disbelieving.
“You’re messing with me,” Brandon repeats. “O-or you’re still getting those meds out of your system or something, right?”
“Brandon,” Paige frowns sadly, “I’m being serious. There’s someone else in here. The week I don’t remember? They do. The person you were hanging out with? That was them taking over for me.”
Brandon frowns now, looking away again. “You’re talking nonsense,” he insists. “Voices can’t…” he starts, only to stop and shake his head. “You’re talking nonsense,” he repeats.
“Brandon…” Paige warbles.
“I’ll come back when you can think straight,” Brandon says, turning around suddenly. “Bye.”
“Brandon, wait!” Paige cries out, holding a hand out.
But Brandon doesn’t listen. He hikes his hood back up and leaves, gently closing the door behind him.
“...That’s why,” Leaf sighs.
“But…” Paige mumbles. “Why didn’t he…?”
“Believe you?” Leaf supplies. Paige simply nods. “I don’t know. But something told me he wouldn’t take the news lightly.”
“Did you say something bad to him!?” Paige suddenly cries, scared. Had Leaf irreparably ruined his and Brandon’s relationship while he was out?
“Calm down,” Leaf says, rolling their eyes. “I barely talked to him.”
“Oh,” Paige sighs. “Good. But then… nothing else I can think of explains his reaction…”
“Imagine being in his shoes right now,” Leaf shrugs. “It’s a lot.”
“It’s a lot for me too!” Paige shouts shakily. Then, holding himself, he repeats it a lot quieter. “It’s a lot for me too…”
“...We’ll talk to him again soon,” Leaf promises. “Maybe you both just need some time to process things for right now.”
“...Yeah,” Paige says blandly. “Maybe.”
“Lay back down,” Leaf instructs. “Get some shuteye. We’ll try again tomorrow, okay?”
“...Okay.”
Paige wakes up the next day groggy, eyes sticking together.
He’d had a horrible night. Dream after dream of him and Brandon falling out, each worse than the last.
“Br’ndon…” Paige mumbles, feeling for his phone. “G’tta call Br’ndon…”
“How’s about you wake up first?” Leaf offers. “So you can actually say things?”
“D’n’t be mean t’ me…” Paige yawns, rubbing his eyes. “I c’n…” He clears his throat. “I can talk just fine.”
“What time is it even?” Leaf asks. “He might still be in school.”
“Lemme check…” Paige says, finally getting his phone. “It’s 4.”
“Ah. He should be home then.”
“Yeah,” Paige nods. “Let’s call him.”
“Hold on,” Leaf says, stopping Paige right before he can hit the call button.
“Huh?” Paige blinks. “How did you…?”
“Don’t worry about it right now,” Leaf says, shaking his head. “Before you call, do you even know what you’re gonna say?”
“Well, honestly? I was gonna see if he wanted to talk to you so we could prove we were telling the truth…”
“Without telling me first!?”
“Sorry! I—I thought you’d be fine with it!” Paige defends. “Besides, you’re kind of the reason I’m in this mess. I think you can apologize for it at least.”
“Ugh. I didn’t even say anything.”
“That’s the issue!” Paige stresses, pressing down on Brandon’s number. “Now, we’re calling Brandon and you’re gonna say sorry, okay?”
“...”
“Okay?” Paige stresses.
“Okay!” Leaf huffs, holding up his hands and rolling his eyes. “Okay.”
The two sit in silence now, watching the phone ring. And ring. And ring. Until—
“Heyo! Iiiiit’s Brandon!” crackles from the receiver. “I’m supes busy right now, so—”
Paige groans and hangs up. “Great,” he laments. “Now he won’t even answer my calls.”
“....Maybe he just missed it?” Leaf offers weakly. “Try again.”
So, he does. And again, “Heyo! Iiiiit’s Bra—”
Click!
“...Maybe he missed that one too?” Leaf actually sounds a bit worried. “One more time. C’mon.”
Paige isn’t very hopeful when he tries again. In fact, when the receiver starts suddenly reciting the voice message again, way before it should, Paige is about ready to throw his phone at the wall.
Instead, he drops it, despair filling him.
“He doesn’t want to talk to me!” Paige wails. “You messed it all up!”
“I didn’t do shit!” Leaf defends.
“I know!” Paige shouts. “That’s the problem!”
“Look, I’m not happy Brandon’s not picking up either, you know!” Leaf huffs. “Believe it or not, I know he’s like a brother to you, ‘cause he’s like one to me too!” Leaf gives the feeling of looking away. “I care about him too.”
Paige is quiet for a moment. Then, quietly, he mumbles, “...It’s okay.” He sighs. “Let’s see if we can think of some other way to talk to him.”
Paige absently picks up his phone and clicks it off of its current display, navigating to his contact list. “Is there anyone else we can ask for help?”
“You plan on telling someone else about me?” Leaf asks, a scoff in his voice. “Look how well that’s gone so far.”
“What else am I supposed to do?” Paige asks the open air. “Brandon won’t even pick up his phone for me, Leaf! I have to talk to someone to get help!”
Leaf is quiet. He’s giving off steaming vibes, but Paige simply sends them right back. He could be angry too.
Finally, after what feels like an anger battle for Who’s Most Angriest, Leaf sighs. “Let’s call Bro,” he says. “Isn’t Brandon like, always with him?”
“Oh!” Paige gasps happily, moving to Bro’s contact with one hand and gently slapping his head with the other. “Bro! Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?”
“For your sake I won’t answer that,” Leaf chuckles.
“Oh, shut your mouth,” Paige huffs back, tapping on Bro’s number.
There’s a tense moment where the phone rings, waiting to be picked up. And, just as Paige is about to give up—”H-ello?”
“Bro?” Paige asks, perking up. “You picked up!”
“Y-eah, man,” Bro chuckles. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“Well…” Paige pouts. “I thought maybe… If I thought to call you for help, maybe Brandon had beaten me to the punch…”
“Brandy?” Bro asks. “Wh-what’s Br-andy gotta do w-with th-at?”
“Um,” Paige says.
“Nice going, dummy,” Leaf groans, fac palming. “You’ve backed yourself into the ‘I hear voices!’ corner again.”
“Oh, be quiet!” Paige huffs.
“Huh?” Bro gasps. “Wh-wh-wh—”
“No!” Paige gasps back. “Not—not you, Bro! I was talking to Leaf!”
“L-eaf?”
Paige’s face blanches. “Um!” he panics. “Um!!”
“P-aige?” Bro asks, sounding a bit worried. “Y-ou good?”
“Leaf… Leaf is…”
“Help!” Paige thinks.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know! Talk—talk for me!”
“I—”
“Paige?” Bro asks again. “Dude, a-re you okay?”
“Great!” Leaf squeaks, talking for Paige. “I’m fine!”
“I don’t sound like that…” Paige pouts.
“I’m doing my best!” Leaf huffs back.
“Y-you sound weird…” Bro mumbles.
With a clearing of his throat, Leaf laughs and turns his voice an octave lower, closer to Paige’s voice. “Sorry! Something… something was stuck in my throat!”
“Okay…” Bro says, sounding unconvinced. “W-ell, what’s up? Y-you s-aid this had somethi-ng to do with B-Brandy?”
“Yeah! We—I need your help with that,” Leaf says. “I… think I made Brandon mad and now he won’t answer my calls.”
“What?” Bro gasps. “N-no way. You two are fighting?”
“I wouldn’t call it much of a fight…” Leaf sighs. “But yeah, he won’t pick up.”
“Do y-ou know why?” Bro asks. “L-like did you s-say something to h-im that he mi-ght’ve taken th-e wrong way?”
“Um…” Leaf mumbles pensively. “Something like that.”
“Can you… t-ell me what it is?”
“Ummm…” Leaf hums. “I… Well you see… I… Um!”
“You’re bombing,” Paige deadpans.
“You do it then, smart for brains!”
“Wh—” Paige starts, only to finish out loud, “—At?”
“What?” Bro asks. “Are y-ou breaking up?” There’s a noise from the other end of the receiver. “M-might be me.”
“Oh, um!” Paige shakes his head. “I—no, um…” He’s got no options. He’s just gotta suck it up and tell Bro. “What I told Brandon was kind of… a lot,” he stresses.
“Hit me,” Bro insists.
“Okay… well, I’ll just say it to you how I said it to him.” Paige takes a deep breath. “Do you… ever hear voices talk to you? Like, in your head?”
“Oh yeah,” Bro replies unceremoniously, only to then immediately go, “I—I mean—”
Paige, however, isn’t hearing Bro anymore. “You do!?” he shouts into the receiver. “Then I’m not just going crazy or anything? Other people can hear people in their head too?”
“I… I-I-I…” Bro stutters, worse than normal. Then, a sigh. “Yeah. They can.”
Paige blinks. All of a sudden, Bro’s tone had taken on a different tone, no longer mumbling or stuttering.
“Bro?” he asks, furrowing his brows.
“Alex,” the other person introduces. “I guess there’s no need to hide it if you get it anyways.”
“Get it?” Paige repeats, confused. “Get what?”
“The voices,” Bro… Alex says. “I happen to be one of them that Bro can hear.”
“Oh!” Paige gasps. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Woah…” Paige breathes. “Oh! Does… does that mean you can help me?”
“Of course, buddy!” Alex(?) says. Their voice is a little higher suddenly. “I’m Maxine by the way!”
“There’s two of you?” Paige gasps.
“Three, actually,” Maxine(?) chuckles. his voice is a bit lower, but not as low as Bro’s. “Patty,” she introduces.
“H-hi!” Paige greets, a little overwhelmed. Three other people in your head… Paige thinks, worried for Bro. That can’t be easy…
“It’s hard enough with just us two,” Leaf comments. “Four of them in total must be a clusterfuck sometimes.”
“Yeah…”
“So,” Patty continues, “What’re we supposed to do to help you and Bran-Bran make up?”
“Um…” Paige thinks about it. “I don’t know…”
“I have an idea,” Leaf says outloud. Patty doesn’t comment on the sudden lower voice or the sudden change of heart.
“Yeah?” she asks instead.
“You could talk some sense into him,” Leaf offers. “You two are thick as thieves, ain’t you?”
“W-we are,” Bro says. “I can s-see what I c-an do for y-you, b-ut I don’t—I don’t kn-ow if it’ll do anything.”
“I guess that’s all we can ask for,” Leaf sighs.
“Sh-sh-should I… call him now?”
“Please!” Paige yelps. “I can’t stand knowing he thinks I was lying to him!”
“Al-alright,” Bro says. “I’ll—I’ll talk to him. Call—call you back w-when I’m done?”
“Please,” Paige begs. “And—and thank you!”
“No—no prob,” Bro says. And with that, the line goes dead.
Paige falls back onto his pillow, exhausted and with a slight headache.
“Ugh…” he groans.
“Sorry,” Leaf apologizes. “Probably my fault for popping in so much.”
“‘Sokay,” Paige mumbles. “I’ll be fine. I just… I just hope Bro can help us out.”
“Yeah,” Leaf sighs. “Me too.”