Sickness, Ailments, and Injuries - Oh My!

The South - Sick Day

Author's Note: Poor Kentucky is sick! Maybe some of the others can comfort him.

Heads Up: It's not described, but as sick characters do, Kentucky does throw up a bit in this chapter.

This is actually the scenario that started this whole book for me. I'll always consider Kentucky my home state and I just wanted to torture the guy for a bit.

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Kentucky felt like the world was beating him over and over again with a giant boot. Everything about him hurts. His head hurt, his throat hurt, his stomach hurt, his chest hurt. He had been trying to sleep through it, but it just hurt too much. His throat felt like it was on fire and made of sandpaper every time he swallowed. Not that there was much to swallow, he had barely any saliva from how dry his mouth was.

The door to his room opened and the slight creak sounded like a million nails on a chalkboard. Kentucky tried to bury his head into his pillow, but the pressure made him feel like his brain was going to explode. Was this hell? Was he being punished for something? He didn't do anything wrong. He was a good person.

Two people entered his room. One of them turned on the overhead light, but turned it off at Kentucky's moan of protest. There was too much sensory input at once, both from his own body and from around him. Something created a strong smell. Kentucky couldn't figure out what the strong smell was exactly, but he knew that he wanted it to stop before his stomach turned itself inside out in retaliation.

His desk light turned on. Kentucky tried to whine about that, but the intruders didn't listen. Unfortunately for Kentucky, they still needed to be able to see what they were doing. The sound of a bowl and cup being placed on the desk were also loud. And it just confirmed Kentucky's fear that there was food in the room.

Somebody grabbed him by the shoulders and was pulling him into a sitting position. Kentucky tried to fight back, but he was too weak to do much. The pain made his limbs feel like lead. The other person had moved his pillows so he could be propped up.

"C'mon Sha, don't be like that. You gotta sit up so we can take care of you." The first person said. Their voice was soft as they talked.

In the back of his head, Kentucky knew the person was right, but he didn't want to agree with the statement. Because agreeing meant he would have to do the painful things, and he just wanted the pain to stop.

"Yeah BlueGrass. You took care of us when we were sick. Now we're gonna take care of you!" The second person yelled. Well, they didn't yell it, but they were definitely louder than the first person. Kentucky instinctively flinched back from the sound.

"Florida, hush, you're bein' too loud." The first person scolded. They reached over Kentucky to grab his water bottle from his bedside table. It was almost empty, but there was enough for a few sips in there. They held the bottle up to Kentucky's lips. "You're likely dehydrated. Take a few sips."

Kentucky did take a few sips, but mostly because there was nothing else he could do. His brain and thoughts felt like mush. It couldn't seem to figure out if the water was a good thing or a bad thing.

It didn't have to worry about it for long, because the person pulled away the bottle as soon as the first drops of water started missing his mouth and flowing down his chin. There were no napkins anywhere, so the person used Kentucky's blanket to wipe at the spill.

"Florida, hand me the oatmeal and go refill this bottle for me."

"Sure thing Loui." Florida grabbed the water bottle from Louisiana and handed him the oatmeal bowl before leaving the room.