Ryan settled into his life and classes over the next couple of weeks. He was so accumstomed to his newer self that he seemed to forget about how he used to be.

He hadn't seen his father at all since he left the family. It was tough on his mother which really pissed Ryan off. How could his dad leave her to care for the entire house? It was very selfish of him and Ryan felt alot of anger towards his dad.

Being the determined person he was, Ryan began playing football again. Of course he wasn't allowed on the team any longer, but he took up playing with some of his brother's friends. Sure they were younger and not nearly as good as he was, but he got to kind of be a role model to them which fed his ego a bit. He had to be careful with how rough he was though because the kids were younger and smaller than him. Ryan got too physical a couple days before and made one of his brother's friends cry after he knocked the wind out of him. Eh, it was good for the kid...built some character into him Ryan thought.

Life was ok. It was not perfect, but it was pretty darn good. Ryan kept in the back of head the thought of the next fever. He wondered if just maybe he would stay as he was now. He could live with that, but he feared what the future may bring. Although smaller in stature, he was still all boy and the toughest kid on the block. The thought of losing his maculinity terrified him.

Just as he got comfortable and felt impervious to any health issues, Ryan felt the burning in his eyes. He did not want to tell his mom and hoped that it was just a cold or his allergies coming on. Positive thinking Ryan! Don't let this thing capture you!

The burning in the eyes turned into what felt like a fever. He began waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and would go from sweating to shivering. He refused to tell anyone though until his teacher Ms Jacobs pulled him aside a couple days later.

"Ryan dear, are you feeling ok?", she asked.

"I'm fine...why do you ask?", Ryan replied thinking he was doing a good job hiding his issues.

"Sweety, I've seen the flush look before. I've seen the tired look from lack of sleep several times. I've seen the loss of ability to focus and concentrate, and trust me, it's not from normal teenage boredom. You haven't been feeling right lately have you?", she asked in a concerned tone.

"Not great. I mean I'm ok though...", he replied.

"Ryan, you are going to have the 2nd fever soon. Does your mom know how you are feeling?", she asked.

"Yeah, she knows all about it. I told her already and she thinks the same as you.", he lied. His mom had no idea what he was going through, but he didn't want Ms. Jacobs to tell her.

"Ok, good. I would suggest you stay around the house and take it easy the next week or so until the fever hits. I'll talk to your mom about it."

"Oh that's not necessary. My mom knows more about this than you do. She does not let me go anywhere other than school now.", he lied once more.

Ms. Jacobs was happy with the response and let him be.

Ryan on the other hand was in full panic. The 2nd fever would hit soon? This couldn't be happening! He would not let this get him!

Later that day at home, Ryan felt even worse. His vision blurred for a whole hour which freaked him to the extreme. His mother came in to see how school was and Ryan pretended like he was watching tv and was too busy to chat.

His vision finally cleared, but his condition seemed to be getting progressively worse. His whole body was aching and he felt so terribly weak.

"Dinner time!", he mother yelled through the house.

Crap! Ryan had to attend. Maybe he would feel better with something in his stomach. He worked his way downstairs to the dinner table and plopped down. He was perspiring and felt a cold sweat about his entire body. If he could only get through dinner and get some rest all would be well he hoped.

The family began to enjoy the great spaghetti dinner mom had prepared. His siblings partook in their usual banter and mom added jabs in every so often. Ryan even jumped in a couple times even though he was having a hard time getting through it.

As the dinner went along, the conversation seemed to lose focus to Ryan. The voices drifted into the distance and he could not get his hand to deliver the fork to his mouth. Everything sounded like it was in a distant tunnel and time felt like it was going in slow motion.

"Ryan? Are you ok Ryan?", he could hear it but it sounded so far away. He made an effort to turn his head and look at where his mom was. What seemed like minutes to accomplish, his head finally turned enough to see her. He saw a worried look on her face, but her voice was muffled. Everything was moving sooo slow. He attempted to stand to go lay down. If only he could rest for a minute or two he would snap out of this. The next thing he knew he was looking at the ceiling and his mother's face was staring down at him. He couldn't hear anything but a ringing in his ears. His mom's face looked so terrified. She was full of tears. He tried to lift his body but nothing would repsond. He lay there motionless in the ringing silence.

Suddenly the light began to fade. He blinked several times in panic trying to clear his sight, but it was to no avail. As his mom and siblings looked on, Ryan's vision faded to darkness. He could not feel, hear or see anything...then his conciousness slipped away as well....