False God ★ M. Schmidt

9

[ Y/n ]

"It looks like your immune system has been weakened." The doctor looks at Mike and I from his chair. "By what? How did that happen?" Mike retorts.

"Well, it could be a lot of things... Some medications do it, sometimes certain sicknesses do it, sometimes even stress can do it. You're going to get sicker than most people for longer for a little while but this should resolve in a few months."

It honestly feels like 100 pounds of stress was just lifted off of my shoulders. This is good news. The dull pounding in my head strains my happiness. "So what can I do to help myself get better?" I ask but I think it's obvious.

"Eat right, get plenty of sleep and fluids, try to manage your stress, practice extra good hygiene, avoid any alcohol or drugs... Just generally trying to be healthy will work." He gives us a warm smile that I actually return. This is good news.

"So no pills or anything?" Mike has some hope in his voice too. This isn't as bad as we thought it was.

"Nope. Pills won't do much for her anyways right now... I would still try to take some Advil or some cold medicine when you get sick but don't expect very much relief."

My head starts to ache more from all the light in the room. My eyes feel strained to the point I have to bow my head and close my eyes.

"That's great, thank you." Mike and the doctor exchange some formalities and they say some words to me that I mumble responses to but my headache is getting worse by the second.

The door shuts and a hand rubs my back. "What's wrong?" His voice is too loud. Oh my god this headache is killing me... "Sunglasses." I point to my bag on the chair.

Mike digs through it then hands me my sunglasses. "Thank you." I slide them on and get some relief. "Come on, let's head home." The walk from the room out to the car is a painful blur.

The sun is too bright and the birds are too loud. I am miserable. Mike shuts his door as quietly as he can for me. His charm shines through even when I want to bash my head in.

He offers me some water which I take. The bottle is room temperature from sitting in the car. At this point, I can't find any reason to care. I down the bottle quickly but my head continues to ache.

"Thank you." Mike rubs my shoulder gently. We're both so relieved. That was one of the best outcomes we could've hoped for. I just need to get better now.

.  .  .

When we pull up in front of the house Mike mutters something under his breath. I'm too out of it to really care. At this point I'm sweating profusely on top of my migraine.

Mike gets out of the car first then comes around to open me door. It would be best if he just carried me inside. I want to just curl up and stay right here.

"Come on... Vanessa is here."

Vanessa? I lazily look over and see the police car on the curb. The neighbors must think we're in the drug business.

Honestly right now I'm in too much pain to care. Mike will handle it. He helps me out of the car then into the house. "I'll go see what she wants." He presses a kiss onto my head then shuts the front door.