It was just past 10, and all the kids in the room had fallen quiet. I laid in bed, frustration building up in my chest as my whole body itched and ached.
"Lou?" Simon's voice spoke up, drawing my attention to him. I turned my head slightly, looking at him with a daft expression.
"Are you-" he got cut off by a coughing fit, "Are you alright?"
I scrunched up my face, tilting my head slightly. "Define alright."
Nanny McPhee came into the room again, this time holding a large bottle.
"What's that?" The children yelped, eyes stuck to the bottle.
"Measles medicine, to be administered once an hour." Nanny McPhee responded.
"Actually I'm not sure it's the measles." Nanny McPhee only smiled at us.
"How could it be anything other? The chalky white faces, the livid spots, the temperature of one hundred and twenty degrees" She paused, putting her hand on Tora's forehead. It sizzled slightly, the type of sizzle when you're cooking bacon. She pulled her hand away abruptly and blew on her fingers.
"Without a doubt, Measles."
She pored a spoonful of the horrid-looking medicine. It was brownish and green, blobbing onto the spoon. The smell was even worse, like off milk. We all groaned in disgust, I however, stared at the substance, not being able to take my eyes off of it.
"Open." She then ordered, holding the spoon in front of my face.
"Lucy, don't!" Lily cried. The medicine made a sludgy bubbling noise, wiggling on the spoon.
"She's not taking that!" Simon interfered from the left of me, hissing at Nanny McPhee. The goop continued to contort and transform on the spoon.
"Then she won't get any better. Believe me." I looked up at her with pleading eyes. As if I would be able to convince her not to let me take the concoction. She moved the spoon closer to my lips.
"Open wide." My mouth twitched as I slowly, ever so slightly began to open my mouth.
"Wider" Nanny McPhee ordered me, inching the spoon with the gloop even closer to my lips.
I forced myself to open wider as she let the spoon enter my mouth. I shut my eyes together tightly as I closed my lips around the metal cutlery, my face scrunching up. It felt like my tongue was burning up.
Nanny McPhee pulled the spoon out of my mouth as I pursed my lips together, trying not to spit out the medicine. It tasted horrible, the goopy liquid took over my tastebuds as I tried not to throw up.
"Lucy, spit it out!" I heard Eric order from across the room but I continued to gag, not being able to spit out the slimy goop.
"You'll have to swallow it sooner or later, so I suggest you get over with it." Nanny McPhee still towered over me, watching me like a hawk.
I couldn't bring myself to swallow the medicine, but I also couldn't spit it out.
Either way Nanny McPhee was right, I was going to have to swallow that horrid substance sooner or later.
After a while, I plugged my nose with my hand and forced myself to swallow the spoonful. The aftertaste was arguably worse. My body began to cough and gag in objection.
It felt as if I had been under water for minutes and I was now gasping for air, instead I was trying to get the horrid taste out of my mouth.
Nanny McPhee looked pleased with herself as she stared down at me, a wicked grin on her face.
"Very good. Who's next?"
