Hush.

10::Coal

She never came home. My mother, that is.

Even worse?

I was sick as a dog.

I woke up in a ball of snot and saliva on the wooden floor, head pounding, feeling like the sun had descended and amalgamated with my skin. Considering I could barely walk straight, I figured there was no way I could muster up enough motivation to go to school.

And I was stuck taking care of myself. Not that my mother would have been helpful or anything, but if I suddenly dropped dead I at least wanted somebody around to call the coroner.

So maybe I wasn't as impervious to the cold as I thought, when I retrieved the thermometer from my mouth and saw that my temperature was at one hundred and three. Damn. Was that hospital material? God, I hoped not. There was no extra money for such a thing.

I settled on making the couch my temporary clinic, retrieving everything I needed; pain meds, a cool cloth, and a bowl of soup. I clumsily changed into shorts and a camisole, wrapping up in a thick woolen blanket. I was an uncomfortable mix of hot and cold, each extreme assuming dominance at the most unlikely of times, only to fall to the other just as fast. It was maddening. Could I not find a steady temperature and keep it?

Apparently not.

I didn't get sick a lot, so this was rather perturbing. My good fortune in the health department was always a blessing, though, seeing as I never really had anybody who would bother taking care of me. But now . . .

Now I wasn't sure what I would do.

Sleep it off, I thought.

And I quickly drifted off.

Not the appropriate solution.

Because when I woke up, my nose was even more stuffed, head all the more congested, and my tear ducts were burning.

"Fuck," I whimpered out helplessly, flopping back on the couch. The blanket was twisted about my legs, as I was going through another hot spell. But give it two more minutes; I'd be shivering all over again.

I didn't leave the couch, the sickness warding off any hunger pangs. I did attempt to rise and get something to drink, but after nearly passing out from dizziness, I decided I would forego thirst-quenching and take my chances with dehydration.

The day passed in an unusual blur, with me semi-conscious for most of it. I was aware that my mother never came back. And sometime along, I heard a sharp knock at my door.

A knock? Who the hell would come to see me?

I ticked off a mental list. Nobody knew where I lived except Lilia, Ezra, and the landlord. I groaned.

With my luck, it would be the landlord.

I released an ugly, animalistic moan from the back of my throat, cringing at the inhuman quality of it.

"Annie? Was that you? Is there a dangerous animal in there with you?"

Relief slammed into me when I recognized Lilia's voice. So there was a greater power up there looking out for me. Comforting.

Lily marched right in. I watched from the couch through bleary eyes. Alec followed behind her, blinking at the door so easily opened. Yeah, the lock was shoddy. House security was pretty low on the priority list at the moment.

"Oh, my God! You look terrible!"

I rolled my eyes, sarcasm surprisingly hard to maintain when you felt like absolute shit. "Thanks, Lily," I mumbled, sounding nasal. "You really know how to make a girl feel better."