Visions of Greed

Chapter 9: Just a (Fever) Dream: Part 1

Recommended Songs: The Darkness (Original Mix)- Haze, Falling Inside The Black- Skillet

When Once-ler woke up, he was lying on top of his bed, wearing his pajamas. His body felt hot and fatigued, and his mind was hazy. Once-ler was confused. Why was he in his bed? Was it still morning? Had he even woken up and left the penthouse that day? He recounted all of the events that had supposedly happened earlier, his housekeeper finding him, the meeting, the encounter with Greed-ler, and wondered if it had all been a dream. Then Once-ler heard a familiar voice behind him.

"So what exactly is wrong with him?" It was his mother Isabella who spoke.

"He has a fever that is making him delirious." another woman's voice answered.

Once-ler wanted to turn around and see who the other person was, but he struggled to stay awake. As Once-ler faded in and out of consciousness, he heard snippets of their conversation.

His mother let out a heavy sigh. "He's always had a tendency of getting a fever anytime he was sick, even if all he had was the sniffles." she grumbled "Do you know what exactly caused this one?"

"According to the test I performed, he does not appear to have any sort of viral infection." the other woman explained "So it appears as though he has a psychogenic fever. It is a fever that is caused by stress, not a virus."

"Seriously? I had no idea that was possible!" Isabella explaimed.

"It's rare, but can happen when a person is under an extreme amount of stress." the mysterious women told her.

"So, if he doesn't have a virus, we just give him some fever reducing medicine and then he'll be cured right?" his mother asked.

"Unfortunately no." the other woman answered. "Fever reducing medications do not work on psychosomatic fevers. So the only thing we can do is try to keep Once-ler comfortable until he recovers." 

Eventually, Once-ler was able to wake up and he rolled over to face the other side of the bed. Standing right next to him was a woman with curly brown hair and glasses. Once-ler thought that she looked somewhat familiar, but he could not recall where he had seen her before. The woman was talking to his mother, who stood at the end of Once-ler's bed. Standing behind his mother were his two brothers, who silently looked down at Once-ler with concerned looks on their faces.

"How long will it be until he's better and able to go back to work?" Isabella asked. Her tone was mixed with both annoyance and concern.

"He should hopefully start feeling better in a couple of hours. I'll watch over him this afternoon as you requested. His delirium will likely make him feel confused and frightened, so it's a good idea for him to be supervised until the fever goes down. However, he will still need to rest for a few more days at least in order to fully recover." the mysterious woman answered.

Once-ler slowly sat up in his bed. The woman next to him noticed and turned around to greet him.

"Oh, hello Mr. Once-ler, I see that you're awake," she remarked. "My name is Norma. I'm a nurse from Greenville Hospital, and I'm here to look after you while you recover from your illness," she explained. "As I was just telling your mother and brothers, you appear to have developed a psychogenic fever due to stress, and you are also delirious. You are seeing and hearing things that aren't really there and have been experiencing some intense nightmares, but don't worry, I'm going to do my best to help you feel better." She handed him a bottle of water "Would you like a drink? It is important to stay hydrated."

"Yes. Thank you." Once-ler replied. He took the bottle and slowly began to drink.

His mother sighed "Unbelievable Oncie, I can't believe you got yourself down sick," she scolded him "You're awfully lucky that you were able to submit your finalized plans at the meeting this morning, and what if this had happened right before your TV appearance? You need to be taking better care of yourself."