Codename Caligo

Chapter 4 - Pierce

Chapter Four

It turned out that the rain did come around as soon as they had arrived to Elijah's apartment.

Noah sat on a chair beside Elijah's bed, tending to Elijah who had gotten a fever all of a sudden. Noah placed a wet, cold cloth over Elijah's burning forehead. Elijah hadn't said a single word since they came back from the Beaumont headquarter, Noah had no choice but to bottle up his curiosity and conceal his worries. Elijah tossed and turned, Noah gently brushed the damp hair away from Elijah's face, feeling the heat radiating from Elijah's skin to his own.

The rain continued to pour, each droplet tapping gently on the window's glass like a plea to be let in into the warmth of their shelter. Elijah could feel the frigidity of Noah's fingertips as his thumb would wipe drops of water that fell from the cloth, as to make sure it doesn't fall on Elijah's eyes. The pain throbbing in Elijah's head wouldn't subside, the faint daze and lightheadedness along with the dull soreness on certain parts of his body, his warm breath would carry along a slight whine, feeding more onto Noah's worries. Noah gritted his teeth, condemning himself for any other night which Elijah would have to deal with troubles all by himself. 

Half an hour had passed. The furrow in Elijah's eyebrows would disappear, his eyes seemingly put at rest.

Noah sighed, putting away the bowl of iced water and the tray with medicine. 

He watched as Elijah's hand would move with his chest as he breathed in and out. His eyelashes, being a different, darker color than his hair. his mouth being slightly open as he struggled to breathe regularly, but he was silent, a still sleeper.

Noah had questions for Elijah that went unanswered, but he would dismiss it the second he sees Elijah in such state, even though the sight of Elijah in his sorry state would add up to Noah's curiosity and distress.

He left the room to make a phone call, not wanting to disturb Elijah's sound sleep.

The phone rang only two times before the other end picked up, not any sooner or any later than Noah had expected. She was a busy person, busy as in would work until late night with her computer in front of her, not busy as in wouldn't make time to answer her colleague's call. 

"Not the politest hour to call a colleague." The voice from the other end came around.

"Not the best hour to be slouching on your chair, doing article revisions." 

---

The female colleague immediately fixed her back position, looking at the window suspiciously as if her flat wasn't on the third floor. 

"What do you need at this hour, Clarke? Can't it wait until we meet in the morning?" The girl complained, putting one foot up on the cushion of her revolving chair and leaving one hanging. 

"I'm calling in sick again tomorrow." 

"Huh," She examined the voice of the caller on the other end. "You don't sound sick to me, and seeing how you kept yourself up in the middle of the night, you're asking to get sick anyway."

"Speak for yourself..."

"You know I don't get sick, ever. Anyways, it's not like you to miss two days an hourly paid job." She opened her third can of soda for the night as she talked, drinking it as she waited for Noah's response.

"Are you and Phoebe Beaumont still together?"

She coughed. "We're not dating."

"---You don't think people in the office saw her take you out after that one interview? And don't think that I'd forget you boasting to me about that one night you hooked up and---"