Welcome to Underland

Small Problems

The next few days go by in a blur, I work till I literally drop and barely leave bed. I keep nothing down, not even liquid. My phone ringing drags me out of the article I'm writing and I take a deep breath before reaching for it.

"Hello" my voice croaks and I cringe at the pain and sound. "Hey Elliot! You doing ok? You're voice sounds a tad hoarse," Nox's voice comes through the phone and I die a little at the concern in his voice.

"Oh yeah, you know just a sore throat, the usual," I brush off his worry not wanting to him to get any more concerned than he sounds. "Hmm if you're sure. Your wheelchair has arrived apparently! Are you home? I am heading into the centre to check it out and could give you a lift in!" Nox suggests and I frown. "Is the chair in early?" I ask confused. "No? Its actually in late, it was meant to be in Wednesday but there was a bit of trouble so it only arrived in today with the rest of the Friday order. Are you sure you're feeling ok?". Its Friday.......... but that would mean that I've been in bed for 6 days. The test was on Saturday and its now Friday, my stomach lurches and I shove myself out of bed and onto the floor where I crawl to the bathroom and vomit stomach acid. I collapse against the toilet and sigh.

"Elliot? Elliot are you there?" I hear Nox's voice come through my phone in my bedroom. I sigh and crawl back to the bedroom. I lost a whole fucking week. "Hey yeah I'm here. If you're in a rush to go to the centre I can make my own way I need to shower before I can leave the house," I answer trying to turn him off giving me a lift. "I can wait! I'll meet you outside the apartments at 4! See you then!" Nox cheers and hangs up.

I throw my phone onto my bed instantly regretting it as pain shoots up my arm. Now I need to actually get up and shower. I shove myself into the standing position and wobble slightly as the world spins. Have I been taking my medication? I rack my brain to remember and a headache begins to sneak up on me. I rub my temples and groan, this feels like a hangover from hell. I stumble into the kitchen and find my meds in its dispenser, full since last Saturday night. I frown as I see a note beside it.

Idiot Future Elliot - You stopped taking the meds because you were just throwing them up with the food - Smart Past Elliot

Sighing I grab my cane and head into my bathroom and get ready to meet Nox. I glance at the clock and see I've 45 minutes to get ready.

Getting ready doesn't take long but getting into all my braces takes a while. I am fully braced apart from my neck because I don't want Nox to see it and panic, my back brace is almost too loose on me from weight loss I guess so I need to find a new ortho, I'll ask Don for a recommendation whenever I next have an appointment.

I'm outside the apartment five minutes early and my jaw almost drops when I see Nox walk out of the building before I remember he referred to Don as his partner in the Test. I school my expression and smile at him.

"Hey Nox," I greet softly trying to hide my broken voice. "Hey Elliot, oh wow are you sure you're feeling ok? You look a little pale" Nox says as he comes to a stop beside me. I nod and smile at him, "Oh yeah I'm fine, just had a little too much to drink last night," I spout out the first excuse I can think of.

"Oh!" Nox looks shocked as he leads me to the car, "I didn't take you for a drinker". I grimace at is accurate, I rarely drink and even when I do it's one max. "Agh, one of my clients sold over a million copies of their debut novel so I had a few to celebrate for them," this wasn't a lie, my client did sell over a million copies, and I did celebrate, by sending them a bottle of their favourite drink and tickets to the Broadway musical they've wanted to see for years.

"That's great!" Nox smiles at me as he opens the passenger door for me. I smile gratefully at him as I sit down and close the door. I try to calm myself as he walks around the car to the driver's seat.