kneel | Tom Riddle

𝟔𝟔

66| Sickness and Health

Tom Marvolo Riddle grew up with nothing, absolutely nothing. For that, he believed he was powerful because he had nothing to lose and no one could take anything valuable away from him. But he was wrong.

That night, that very night when he decided to visit the orphanage to revenge his cruel past, he concluded that the place was truly destined to ruin him. After he left the orphanage satisfied, with his wand still in his hand, he saw his most prized possession laying kneeling on the garden where he used to read as a child. Seraphina was spitting blood and throwing up, her face covered with blood and her ears bleeding.

Trying not to panic, he ran to her and tried to understand what was happening. But it was too late. She fell on the ground lifeless and he screamed and he screamed, with no one to help them. Doing his best to clean her face, he got her from the ground and carried her in his arms towards their house. He cursed the Magical System for not allowing him to Apparate at his age, once more deciding everything would change when he had power in his hands. He would do everything he wanted.

Once they finally got to the apartment, Tom's arms were aching badly from carrying her for such a long time. She wasn't heavy, but he wasn't strong enough to carry her for so long, his strength came from his wand, not his body.

He laid her down on the couch and placed a chair in front of it, just so he could look at her and examine her injuries. The wizard wasn't exactly surprised when he realized she didn't have visible injuries, meaning her pain came from inside and her problem was intern. Tom got a wet cloth and cleaned the blood and vomit from her skin, managing to change her clothes to something more comfortable. It was a warm night and her skin was burning, so he didn't see a need to cover her body with a blanket. Instead, he opened the windows and hoped it would be enough to reduce her body temperature.

For hours and hours, no sound came from her except for her slow breaths. Morning came and she was still sleeping soundlessly, while Tom was sitting on the other couch with a pile of books in front of him. He had seen it. He saw the dark veins on her wrists.

While she was sleeping, all he did was research the meaning of dark veins. He had never seen them on her before, nor in anyone else. It was strange, but even if he didn't know anything about it, he had a feeling that having black veins was not a good sign. So he didn't sleep or try to rest, even if his body was begging him to just close his eyes for a few minutes. But he couldn't, not when the only good thing in his life looked like the picture of death.

Tom didn't know what to do, but it was already morning and he needed to wake her up. He needed to hear her say how she was feeling. Just by looking at her face, he could tell she was indeed sick, probably worse than sick, but he wanted to hear it from her.

He got up from the couch slowly and placed the books on the small coffee table. Crouching beside her, the wizard placed his hand on her shoulder and shook her gently, "Seraphina," she barely reacted, her eyes still closed and her lips slightly parted, "Seraphina, wake up."

She was still sleeping. Why was she still sleeping? Tom shook her again, this time not so gently, "Wake up! Are you listening to me?" She still didn't say anything, leaving him even more worried about her state. What was happening? Why wasn't she responding?

Trying not to panic, Tom grabbed her wrist and tried to move her body in another position, but she stayed still. After a long time shaking her and trying to make her react, Tom finally heard a low groan leaving her mouth.

"Seraphina? Can you hear me?" She took her hands slowly to her eyes and brushed her skin gently, "Are you alright?"

Her eyes were half opened when she finally looked at him, "Tom," she released a low sigh, "What happened?"