Arachibutyrophobia

Maybe Paler Than Michael Is An Exageration

Maybe Paler Than Michael Is An Exageration

"Today, we are all going to the beach!" Aunt V. announced at breakfast this morning.

Everyone seemed to cheer but me. I really was not in the mood to go to the beach. I had ran out of my migraine pills on Wednesday, and even though I was fine all through Thursday and Friday, this morning is when it hit me.

What scared me the most about not having the medication was my anxiety, but as I had just hung around with the usual group for the past days, it hadn't affected me.

Everyone at my table erupted in conversation, planning on what to take and what to wear, while I sat there with my head on the table and my arms around it, trying to shield it from as much light as possible.

"You okay Mikey?" Louis asked from next to me.

"Yeah..." I mumbled, not moving my head. "Just a bit of a head ache."

"I have some paracetamol in our room if you want it?" I heard Harry suggest.

You guys are probably thinking, why doesn't she just take it? Well, bare in mind that I spent 5 years taking paracetamol each time I had a migraine, which was pretty much once or twice a week, so it simply doesn't do anything to lower the pain anymore.

I shook my head and got up from my seat, my eyes half closed so the light wouldn't bother me as much. "It's fine, I'm just gonna go to my room. You guys have fun though."

They all mumbled a "Get well soon" before going back to talking about the beach as I walked out of the cafeteria and towards my cabin.

I'm such an idiot. I should have checked I had enough pills before coming to camp.

As soon as I opened the door to my cabin I went straight to bed and flopped on top of it with my face under my pillow. 

Nice and dark.

Not that it'd make a huge difference. It still hurt like a bitch and I felt like I was going to either throw up or pass out at any minute, but the darkness didn't bother me as much as when I was surrounded by light.

"What's crawled up your ass?" Niamh said from the bed beside me. She had been looking at her bikinis when I had walked in.

"I don't feel well." I mumbled. "Can you close the curtains please?" 

The darker the room, the better.

I heard some moving around and the sound of the curtains closing, which made me sigh in contentment as it became darker.

"What do you feel?" She asked and I felt the bed dip next to me as she sat on it.

"Headache." I mumbled. There was no point in telling them it was a migraine and have them worry even more.

"Have you had any water and food today?" She asked and I decided to face her, even though I felt more comfortable in the position I was in.

"Yes." It's true. Along the years I had learned the little tricks like eating, sleeping and drinking water to make them go away. Unfortunately it only worked a few times and eating obviously hadn't worked today.

Niamh looked hesitant, like she was thinking about something but wasn't sure about it. She looked over to her bedside table and then back at me before getting up and walking towards it.

"I used to have them all the time because of stress. I got given these." She said as she opened her drawer and pulled out a green glass container with a few pills in it. "They haven't been back for a couple of years now, but I always carry them with me just in case. You can have one."

I sat up in my bed and thanked her as she handed me the jar and read the name of the medicine along with the effects and ingredients. 

I figured why not, as I hadn't read anything that would risk my health if I took them, and popped one in my mouth, proceeding to get my water bottle from the floor next to my bed and taking a sip from it before swallowing.

I placed the small jar, along with the water bottle, by my bedside table and took my converse off before sliding under the duvet and covering my whole body, along with my head.

"What did you used to get stressed about?" I asked Niamh, which probably sounded muffled as I had a duvet on top of my mouth.

"Just... Stuff that happened at home." I heard her say, reminding me of the fact that Michael is her brother. "Do you get yours often?"

"Occasionally." I shrugged. Might as well tell her, since she had them as well. "I have medication for it but I ran out, and even though I called my parents to bring me more, they can't drive here so they sent it in the post, so it will take ages to get here."

"You can have those while you wait." She offered and I smiled. She wasn't that bad.

"Thank you." I said before we fell into a silence and I tried forcing myself to sleep so I wouldn't have to suffer with pain until the pills did their job.

It felt like I had been in bed for around ten minutes before the pain passed, but when I removed the large duvet from on top of me, I realized that Niamh was no longer there and that the bag she was packing for the beach was gone, along with her phone which always rests on her bedside table.

I looked around the room while I rubbed my eyes and noticed that my almost empty water bottle had been replaced by a full one and that Niamh's duvet had been placed over the curtain railing, making the room even darker.

I chuckled at the fact that I had probably fallen asleep and not noticed Niamh doing any of this and leaving for the beach.

I checked my phone for the time and gasped when I saw that it was already six in the afternoon. 

Well, there goes my sleep routine. 

I sighed knowing that I probably wouldn't fall asleep until five in the morning.

Just as I was thinking about jumping in the shower, the front door opened and a bright red Niamh walked through it, cautiously placing her bag on the floor and jumping on the bed face first, before groaning in pain and swearing.

"Got a bit of a sun burn there huh?" I chuckled and she laughed.

"The guys replaced my sun cream with theirs, which is bad because theirs isn't half as strong as the one I use." She said as she attempted to take off her top very slowly so she wouldn't hurt herself. "But hey, how's your head ache?" 

"It's gone." I said before getting up and helping her as I saw she was having trouble taking it off. "Did you put the duvet up?"

"Yeah, I figured you'd be more comfortable if the room was darker, even if you were asleep." She explained before pointing to the water bottle on my bedside table. "That was Ashton though. He came to get me and when he saw you in bed he asked what was wrong. I hope you don't mind I told him by the way." She looked at me with worried eyes but soon relaxed as I shrugged. "So he took a water bottle out of his bag and replaced it with yours. Just in case."

"I need to remember to thank him." I said as I chucked her top onto the floor and handed her my sunburn lotion that I always bring to camp. "As you can see I'm paler than Michael, so I always come prepared."

"Thank you." She smiled as she placed the bottle on her bed. "Do you mind if I shower first? I have sand in places where sand should not be."