Within A Stardust

Chapter 23 - Strike

July 14 - 7:00 am

The usual routine, right after breakfast another morning walk. She was doing well and said that she can feel her left knee better than before. "Whew, seven." It was still in the hard phase but y/n was thriving unlike the past two days. It was the worst, especially with Gecko involved.

Today's goal was for her to reach at least 10-15 steps and we're half way there, i'm impressed.

. . . .

"And great work, fifteen." I said and then adjusted my hold of her. "That was tough." She replied. I let her sit on the grass to get her wheelchair. "But at least you made it quicker." I encourage. I assisted her in standing up so that I could transfer her to the chair when she paused. "Is there something wrong?"

Her eyes widen and she tightens her grip on me. "Y/n?" She tries to maintain standing up. "Y/n? Hey, are you-"

She started grunting in pain."Shit! It's coming back!" I put her in the wheelchair and brought her back to the house immediately.

We reach the living room and she started screaming and crying in pain. Her veins have become visible again, still in that purple color. I put her in the couch and called Dr. Davis immediately.

. . .

Dr. Davis arrives after 20 minutes and did what she can to resolve y/n's pain.

. . . . . . .

"I have a bad news." We both take a deep breath. "It seems like, the poison reaches its second wave. We actually just found it out in the laboratory that it has three phases. Our test subject was a mice, there were two of them. The other lived and the other died. The mice without any treatment experienced the three phases of the unidentified chemical. The first phase was that the veins turns to blue. Pain is tolerable close to severe and this is also the phase wherein if we're not mistaken the poison is settling into the patient's body. The second phase which is happening to her now, the veins turns to purple and pain will be severe and unbearable. This will also be the start of re-spreading of the poison. The last phase, the veins turns to black and the poison will start attacking every system in the body until the patient dies. As for our test subject... It died within an hour." Dr. Davis explained.

I sighed. "We did the cleansing of her wound while she was asleep. The pain itself caused her to be exhausted immediately even if she had a good rest. We'll leave you with painkillers and my nurse we'll go here everyday to inject an anti-poison. Let's just hope for the best that the improvised chemical we made will work. The other mice is still alive but it was weak and we had to feed it several times. We'll update you once there's another major change." I nod. "Thank you." I lead them to the gate and wait for them to leave and then went back to the living room.

Gecko was on top of her while she was asleep, whimpering, ears flopped. I caress his body but then he eventually went near y/n's neck and buried his face in it, still whimpering.

As much as I feel bad for him, i'm also anxious right now. I'm worried for y/n. What the doctor said stayed in my mind and kept repeating itself making me more concerned.

*

Lizzie stayed there contemplating about everything in this situation.

In between telling y/n about a possible impending doom or just let her continue living in that safe and happy space. Y/n didn't tell her a lot of things, was it wrong? Was it unfair? Would keeping this one thing would make it even?

It was summer yes, but how strange that there was a rumbling above in the clouds. Noticing how the weather glooms, she went outside. There was another rumble.

If things are already wrong... how bad can it go?

While looking at the gloomy sky, Lizzie remembers y/n's grandma and her friend, Avery. And what might be their initial reaction if it happened.

She went back inside and called her grandma to inform her of what's possibly to come.

. . . . . . .

"Lizzie?" Y/n called from the living room. She rushes back. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Can you please remove Gecko? I think i'm in bad shape." She groans. Lizzie picks Gecko and put him in her lap for the mean time. She touches y/n's forehead and arm. "Can you hold to me for a second? I think you have a fever." Lizzie said suspiciously. She lends her right arm, y/n touches it.

Her suspicion was confirmed. "I'll just get something. You have a fever."

Lizzie comes back with a bowl of water, another empty bowl, towel, blanket and a shirt. "What happened earlier? I can't remember anything." Y/n asked softly. "You can't remember because you... Sort of fainted in the middle of a severe pain." Lizzie said while squeezing the towel after dipping it into the bowl of the water.

There was a pause.

Not because y/n doesn't have anything left to say but because she was having a hard time speaking. Any moment, even just a word, feels like she would vomit.

"This is gonna be cold." Lizzie snuffles and puts the towel gently in y/n's forehead. "Did you... cry?" She asks brows furrowed. "Oh no, I was looking for some tools in the garden and then right after I started sneezing- it's dusty in there so." She smiled wearily then gets the blanket and put it on her. Y/n keeps looking. "I'll just go and check my plants in the garden, if you need anything um... You can tell gecko or ring an alarm in your phone." She turns the tv on and left.

Out of Lizzie's knowledge, y/n noticed a lot of things the moment she opened her eyes. Not only her looking like a rudolph with that blushing red nose and the snuffles but also how softly she speaks compared to the usual and never looked into her eyes. And then there's Gecko snuggling. Gecko never did that before.

She also noticed that the weather is gloomy because of how dim the living room is.

Her intuition says something is wrong, but she can't do anything because of her condition. Even sitting up feels like the world is about to spin and knock her back in the couch. She sighs.

If this didn't go away maybe i'll try asking again later.

With Lizzie, it was a success making y/n believe that the storage for her garden tools was dusty. It is a huge sign of relief.. temporarily. Now she's at the garden, checking and trimming her plants with teary eyes.

Not only she didn't understand why she feels so involve but she also has this heavy baggage in her chest that she just can't get rid of. And now she kept pushing those feelings down, it's not the right time to be dramatic, she said.

It wouldn't hurt if she doesn't know yet right?

Then an idea pops into her mind.