Pretentiously Simple | Kleo ✔️

03 | this is a fantasy, not reality

i wake up to mia crying in the cot i had set up downstairs for her. leo and i must've fallen asleep after watching some more of the tele and having conversations about the life we had been living without each other. the conversations were the most entertaining. we always conversed well with each other.

it was pitch black in the house. i look around the room and i vaguely saw the outline of leo's body, as still as a mannequin. i sighed, rubbing my eyes and standing up from the couch, then tiptoed my way over to mia.

i picked her up and rocked her slowly. as i rested my cheek on her head, i immediately noticed the warmth in her temperature. i examined her closely, her face wet with tears. i made my way over to my bag which was thankfully just on the counter, and pulled out a thermometer that i carry with me at all times, advised by my doctor.

"shhh, it's alright darling, don't be sad." i tried, while i set her on the table to unclothe her so i could put the thermometer in her underarm. after that was done, i went over to the refrigerator to grab a cold bottle of milk for her, hoping that would calm her down.

"be quiet please, your uncle leo is asleep." i whispered, in attempts to stop her from crying. i placed the bottle close to her mouth but she only moved her neck away from it.

the thermometer beeped, signaling that it had read her temperature. i removed it from underneath her arm with her still crying in my arms. squinting to read the numbers, my mouth dropped ever so slightly once i saw three numbers before the decimal point.

"oh, my dear, what did you do?" i whispered, and hugged her tighter to comfort the pain she must've been feeling. she had a 101 degree fever.

when i realized she probably would not stop crying for a long time, i put the bottle of milk down and began to rock her even more, but she was so hot i could hardly hold her head up.

panicking now, i searched for anything that could possibly absorb water, looking in counters, on the floor, the couch, everywhere. i crouched down to my suitcase, feeling for the zipper because it was so dark i could hardly see a thing. i opened it up, and a towel lay before my eyes. i picked it up with crying mia in my other arm, stood up, kicked the suitcase closed, and hurried over to the sink so i could dampen the towel with cold water to try and cool mia down.

once i got part of the towel wet, i placed it on mia's forehead, knowing it wouldn't quiet her down, but at least she wasn't going to be as hot.

with mia and a towel that became heavy with the extra water, i began to walk around the perimeter of the room slowly because leo was still as asleep as could be. i hummed a little song to her, but it was barely audible next to the sound screams that had been going on for a while now.

this went on for it felt like an hour. by the time the wet towel had been dried up from the air around us, mia was still crying. i know she was burning up, and i know she was sick, but i was tired, nervous, and unsure of what to do.

"come on now, darling, do you want your milk?" i grabbed her bottle and set it against her opened mouth yet her head just turned the other way.

i put the bottle back down and sighed.

i felt her temperature with my hand on her forehead and she seemed like she was hotter than she was before. i clicked my tongue to the roof of my mouth in concern, then kicked open the suitcase to get a set of clothes she could change into.

i found the clothes i planned for her to wear the following day. she would be short on clothes for the next few days, but i could always buy her new ones. if i was desperate, i could use the washing machine and find some detergent. if that didn't work, leo could wash something for me. clothes were the last of my concern. with her being sick, me being overwhelmed, and leo practically dead on the couch, we had plenty.