Still breathing | Original story

Chapter Eighteen: IV drips and blue eyes

Word count: 2551

The world was dark, I wondered if I was dead for a moment. Is this what death is like? Falling in a void of darkness with no escape?

Soon my senses began working and I felt light shine over my eyelids. The scent of freshly made coffee swept under my nostrils and smothered every inch of the cold room. I thought that everything was a dream, that I would wake up and hear my mum yell at me to get up for school.

When I finally prised my eyes open I had no idea where I was. I wasn't in my cosy room and the last thing I could remember was being in a house with some people who's names I couldn't depict. My head was fuzzy and I just wanted to leave the room. I jumped out of the bed far too quickly, my arms and legs not feeling like my own. With every movement, my head pulsed with pain and I tripped up over nothing. A thin flush of bile escaped my throat and covered the floor to the left of where I had landed. I continued to retch, my lungs felt like they were going to explode.

I felt hands firmly placed against my shoulders and my body was being moved, but I couldn't make sense of anything through the migraine that wrapped itself around my brain.
"Calm down," the mystery voice said softly as I squirmed under his grasp. My muscles unresponsive as I tried to free myself, only to end up back on the bed with the man hovering by my side. Not too close and not far away either. "Glad to see you finally up on your own."
My eyes fully opened and I could see the small, gentle smile of the man who was not much older than myself. He was tall and loomed over the bed I was on. He was quite appealing and had short black hair, but I could see his brown roots on the top of his head. He spoke again, his voice calming yet deep.
"Do you remember anything?" He asked, his crystal blue eyes piercing into me. I shook my head, thinking hard about what had happened but no memory came forth.
I could feel sweat form on my forehead with the effort of alertness as I looked around the room. Wallpaper peeled off the walls, showing a pastel cream colour underneath. I was on a double bed that had clean white sheets laid over it, obviously washed. I was in clothes I had never seen before and they felt foreign against my skin, bruises lined up my left arm and I lifted it up to examine it. I carefully touched one but flinched back as a shot of pain hit me.
"You've been through a lot," he spoke up again, making his presence known. I turned to him and my oblivious state wore off.

I remembered the fight, I remembered the countless number of infected scratching me and biting me all over. The venom coursing through me veins. The man was about to place something on my forehead but I recoiled away.
"Stay away from me!" I tried to yell but my voice was weak and it came out as a croak.
"My names Archie," the man spoke calmly to me.
He didn't understand! I could turn at any minute and attack him, that couldn't happen. I tried to flip myself over and roll off the bed but Archie pulled me back. "Hey, hey, I'm not going to hurt you."
"But I'm going to hurt you!" I squeezed the words out of my throat.
"Was that a threat?" Archie stood up from where he was crouched and his face went hard. Like he was regretting something. "After I saved your life I thought you'd be a bit nicer to me-"
"No you... You don't understand. I was bi-" I lifted my hand up to my neck but I couldn't feel anything but skin. I knew the infected had bit into my flesh, I remembered the pain, the absolute agony I was in. "I was bit... I was," I stumbled over my words as I kept checking my neck.
"You hit your head pretty bad, they weren't close enough to bite you." I stared at him in shock. How could I have imagined all that? He reached over to a bottle on the side of my table and poured the contents into a plastic cup before handing it over to me. "Here."
I grabbed the cup which appeared to be filled with water off of him. I wasn't too concerned with if I should trust him or not, he had saved me so I doubted he would taint my water after all that. I sipped the water and let it cool my throat but it caught in the back of my throat. The water splashed all over the bed sheets. I couldn't seem to keep it down.
"Oh dear," Archie muttered, he looked at me and then moved over to my side of the bed and picked up a fallen bag. It was attached to a needle, he tutted and searched in the bedside table until he found one that looked identical. "We can put this in again?" He questioned and showed me the new bag that had a thick needle with a tube running up into a bag. My eyes widened.
"No!" I said instantly. "Absolutely not, no." I shook my head, the needle end seemed to stare into me. I remembered the time I was ill and my dad had to take me to the hospital, I remembered all the needles and fluids being forced into me, I remembered the pain. It felt like fire was being injected directly into my veins.
"It won't hurt, it's a 0.9 percent sodium chloride in a sterile solution. So it replaces lost fluid and prevents or corrects some types of electrolyte imbalances," he spoke as I continued to stare at the needle. "In basic terms, it's an IV fluid drip for dehydration, you've had it in already." He pointed to a bruise on my forearm. Still I shook my head, there was no way I was going to have that in my arm again. I have a fear of needles, I have done since that day. I was ten I think. I had to skip my SAT's because of the illness, I was off for half a year with a constant fever and chills.
Archie saw he wasn't going to get anywhere and put the drip away, I lay back down on the soft pillow. It cushioned my head and made me feel a bit better, I closed my eyes only to be greeted by the image of a small boy. His eyes turning bloodshot red, how could I have forgotten?
I thrust my body into a seated position and ignored Archie telling me to lie back down.
"Caleb?" I spoke the one word and nearly choked on it.
"The kid?" I nodded and prepared myself for the worst. "He's fine, just taking a nap."
I breathed out slowly at his words.
"Not bit?"
"Not bit." I could hear the smile in his voice as he delivered the good news. "Now get some sleep."
I didn't question it and I didn't think twice as I lay back down and closed my eyes. I was flat out in seconds.