I remembered those words that Error said to me as I looked at the big bruise he gave me this morning. The same topic. Nothing new. Nothing special. "Meh, Error brah's gonna change... Maybe na' now, but soon. I know it." I thought.

These are the things I've always said when Error beat me or bullied me. I've never let go of this thought.

Luckily, I was old enough to tend to bruises and scars. I was ten after all. So, I went to the kitchen. No one was there. Error was in his room with Geno and Ma was in her room, drawing. I opened the freezer, got some ice, and held it on my bruise. My glasses still spelled the word "OU-CH" on them. I went to my room, closed the door, and waited until the pain was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, the pain wasn't too much. The bruise was too big for the bandages to hide. I decided to leave it this way.

I had nothing else to do. I was kind of bored, too.

"Guess I'll just study." I said to myself.

I was being homeschooled due to Geno's condition. I was educating myself. Every book that I needed to have was already in my room.

Therefore, I got up and walked towards the bookshelf, got my science book and sat down on my chair with my desk in front of me. I began to study. For minutes that felt like hours, because...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fresh felt another pain coming from his skull. So much that he couldn't focus on the science book he was studying.

Soon, his hands started to shake a little.

"Wat's happenin'?" He asked himself. He looked at his hands and saw them shaking.

"Maybe dis ain't a good time ta study." He thought.

He stood up and stretched his arms, still not knowing what to do. Yet, the pain pounding in his head was slowly getting stronger.

"Maybe I need ta sleep?" He thought.

.

"Well, I slept at 10 p.m. and woke up at 7 a.m. so I slept for nine hours. It is enough for a ten-year-old." He closed his eye sockets, thinking about what could be happening, and reopened his eye sockets with a deep exhale. The headache had advanced into a migraine.

Geno!" A glitchy voice yelled. Fresh could hear him: Error was yelling at Geno with a worried tone because something had happened to his older brother.

"Are you okay?!" He yelled again.

"Y-yes Error... D-don't w-wo-worry... I-I'm fine..." the older brother said.

Fresh got out of his room and walked towards Error's room where Error and Geno were playing Pokémon. He opened the door.

"Everythin' a'ight dere, brahs?" Fresh asked as his older brothers looked at him. One's face turned from worried to angry, and another's smile turned into a surprised expression once they saw their younger brother at the door with a fake and shaky smile.

Fresh was having a hard time smiling because of the constant pain and the cold shivering.

"Look who's here." Said Error. "Since when did you learn to care?" He scoffed.

"Error... Don't say that..." Geno's surprised look turned into a sad expression.

"Na worries, brah. I'm totes 'k w-with dat." Fresh said.

Yeah, he stuttered for the first time. His shades spelled "WH_AT".

Geno turned to Fresh due to his stuttering.

"F-Fresh? Did you just... stutter?" He asked. Error's expression changed a little. Still angry, but looking surprised as well.

Fresh just stood there. His shades were blank. His smile faded. He tried to find his way out of this conversation.

Suddenly, Fresh's glasses spelled "YO_LO" again as he spoke.

"I'm fine, brah! Na need ta worry." The pain intensified so much that Fresh could hardly speak now. "'T's j-just d-dat-"

His shivering was visible now.

"D-dat..."

Once more, Fresh's shades were blank. A little sweat appeared on his face. "Is dis how Geno felt when he was sick?" He thought.

Error's facial expression was now reflecting fear. The anger was now gone. Geno was now visibly concerned. He got up and walked towards Fresh. Before he could touch Fresh's face to check if he had a fever, Fresh moved and said:

"I j-ju-just r-re-remembered, I've g-gotta g-go to da- uhm- toilet!" He said and rushed to the bathroom. He locked the door and leaned on the sink. Then took his shades off, turned the sink on and splashed the cold water on his face. He didn't have a fever. He felt tired and sweaty.

Soon, he turned off the sink and looked at his face. He looked so much more tired than he actually was. The bruise on his cheekbone was still the same and with that, he looked so much more tired.

At least the cold water made the headache weaker. It wasn't bugging him much now. His shivering was going away. He felt better.

Fresh sighed and decided to take a bath because of the drops of sweat rolling down his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Do you think he's okay?" Geno asked to which Error scoffed.

"Tch. He's always okay."

Geno gave Error a concerned look.

"Should we tell mom about this?"

Error paused. The last time Geno had said this and it actually happened, ended in disappointment.

"I think Fresh is old enough to do it himself." He said, while his eyes were closed. "Besides, he doesn't care about you. So, it's for the best to stop caring about him."

Geno wasn't sure about this. To him, Fresh could feel at any moment. He still recalled the event that had happened two years ago:

Fresh genuinely felt anger and punched one of Sour's friends.

Therefore, something like this could happen at any time. He just had to have hope. He also had to give Error some hope.

However, Error was hopeless about Fresh having feelings and caring for others. But if he just believed in his little brother, like he used to until Geno got sick, maybe Fresh could try harder and harder to feel something.

However, right now, due to the punches, kicks, slaps and the bad words, Fresh had given up on feeling anything, too. He just believed that Error would change. Maybe, just maybe, Error could be just like his old self again.

His old self...

His old self was better because Geno wasn't sick.

So... if Geno healed, Error would be less stressed and start to become his old self again and then, they could always live happily. At least Geno, Error and CQ.

For Fresh, he could try his hardest then.

But right now, he had to focus on making Geno feel better.

Oh, maybe then Error will stop hurting him.


Who knows?