The British Princess

Part 41

My head feels groggy as I open my eyes, seeing I'm in a hospital bed.

I try to glance around without moving my head, and I see Thomas beside me, asleep and leaning on the table for support. God he looks exhausted. There's light coming in from a window, so I know it's day time.

I look around and see a bunch of cards and flowers at the end of the bed. I lift my head a little to see Get Well Soon on a handful of the cards.

What happened to me?

"Thomas." I whisper as loud as I can muster, shaking him gently as I try to wake him up.

He's startled and lifts his head, "Seriously Char, I was trying to-" He cuts himself off and his eyes widen as he becomes fully awake, seeing me properly, "Charlotte? You're awake?"

"Um, yeah."

Thomas pulls me into an abrupt hug and crushes what feels like all of my bones.

"I was worried sick Char, it was like you're sickness but worse since you wouldn't wake up." My brother says, pulling back and tucking back my hair which I can feel is a mess.

I furrow my brow, "I'm so confused, what happened?"

From what I remember, we had had the report, then I was sitting with some of the guys, and the people who drank the water passed out. Including myself.

"You completely shut down. The London water contamination make you extremely sick."

"Excuse me, the London what?" I ask, feeling as if I'm out of the loop. Does Thomas need to be the one resting?

"Water contamination. A sickness was travelling in the water, effected thousands of people, but it's thankfully passed now. You drank that water, but you didn't wake up like everyone else. Everyone else who got sick recovered within 24 hours. We were so worried for you." Thomas explains and I nod, thinking how random this water contamination thing is.

"How long has it been?"

Thomas sighs, "Four days. And here I thought your sickness was going away."

Thomas seems upset for me, stroking my hands comfortingly, like he would every time when he needed to sit by my bed when I was sick.

"So it was my sickness? Was that the reason I was so sick and not the water?" I ask my brother.

"That and the contamination combined, the doctors were saying. We had to tell the public you were still recovering, but the press are suspicious since everyone else is back to normal and the selection hasn't resumed."

"And the boys? Do they know about my sickness?" I ask, curious and needing to be filled in on all the details.

"They know it's more than the contamination, but no one knows anything. That's your information to share."

I nod slowly a few times, taking a moment to process all this, "Alright. I can't believe it's been four days. And I can't believe it was making people collapse like that."

"It happened to mum, so they stopped dad and I from drinking any water. Also thankfully Izzy didn't drink it. Who knows what it would have done to the baby."

"That's lucky. And mums ok?" I ask, my gaze lingering on all the gifts at the end of my bed.

Thomas nods, "She recovered fine, like everyone else in the palace that got it."

I nod along as he speaks.

"And I assume you've seen all the cards." Thomas says, looking over to the pile of get well cards and gifts.