The Weight of the World

Chapter 31: An Eye For An Eye

Throbbing waves of sickness, like the pulsing of a steam engine, roused me. Dust was thick in the air, fluttering like moths. I squinted, waving away a cloud of stuffy air.

Acrid particles rushed into my nose and throat. The raw scratching left me wanting to vomit, and as I felt a dry rasp building, Lacy cracked the door open. Rusting hinges creaked, a flurry of dust rising from the shattered stonework of the floor.

I coughed. A dry and scratchy. A second, harder cough, full of phlegm came out fast. It splattered up my throat and into my mouth, sticky like cement. As it did so, I bent double, grimacing, clutching weakly at a spot near my hip.

With tears in my eyes, I spat out the brownish-red gobbet, gasping. That didn't help at all, and a second, lesser wave tore up my side.

"Issy!" Lacy gripped my shoulders, lowering me back into the bed. The rough sheets felt like satin, the stiff mattress soft as floating on a cloud.

"Issy, you need to stay still and rest."

"Cat," I managed to say, more an expulsion of grit than words. "Where's Cat?"

"The next room," Lacy said slowly. "I can...fetch her, if you'd like?"

"Don't be daft," I said, moving to swing my legs off the bed. Before I'd even twisted my body, my side exploded once more and I fell back, sweating beading across my face.

"Just call her in," I gasped.

"I'll be right back," Lacy said. Without another word, she rose and left, pausing once at the door. With her hand, she brushed down the doorframe, as if she were about to look back and speak. Just as I opened my mouth, she vanished.

Looking down, I realised I'd gripped the sheets like a child, bundles of fabric tight in my deathly-pale clutches. Trembling, I forced my fingers apart.

A moment later, Lacy returned, with Cat on her arm. She moved with all the elegance and certainty of a fawn, her arm outstretched, her grip tightening as she felt the chest of drawers beside her. Lacy lowered Cat gently onto a chair, like an elderly woman. "Lacy, thanks, but I can see a lot better now."

"See?" My eyes narrowed, and I looked to Lacy. "What's she talking about?"

"She? I'm right here, you know," Cat said.

"When Cat got hit on the head, she..."

"I went blind," Cat cut in, her voice low. I shot my eyes back to her, mouth ajar.

"Blind? But, you didn't...Blind?"

"Like I said." Cat raised her hands in a reassuring gesture. "I can see much better, now. It's you I'm worried about."

"I'm fine," I said, disguising my trembling hands beneath the sheets. "Once I get up and moving, I'll be better."

"Oh no." Cat shook her head. "You don't move for a long time, yet."

"All we need is for you to rupture your stitches and start bleeding again," Lacy added.

"It's already a miracle you're alive."

"You have Ava to thank for that. And those antibiotics you brought back. Infection would finish you off."

I flumped back, folding my arms. "You can't expect me to sit here and be waited on by a pair of mothering hens."

"I know how it kills you to have things done for you, but,"

"But I literally can't move, or I'll die."

"I was going to be a little kinder than that, but, yes."

Lacy shifted a little near the door, scraping the floor with her foot. We were all silent for a moment, then she coughed. "I've uh, I have to go. Give me a call if you need anything."