A Small Dose of Ratchet Fever - A Transformers Bayverse Fanfiction

Chapter 9

My eyes finally allowed me to open. It wasn't their fault. It was all my brain that always signaled for my body to feel tired when I was sick like this. Though, I hadn't been sick like this before. Not this badly.

The aches and pains that my body felt were unlike any other pains that I had ever endured, in all my twenty-something years of living. One of my life goals had been to make it past thirty years old. At this rate, that life goal was a fool's wish. A foolish wish.

I heaved into the nearby trash bin. It was painful coming up, and even more painful to just look at.

"There's a large buildup of mucus near your lungs," Ratchet said softly. He was sitting across the room from me, thirty or so feet away from me.

Sighing, I leaned back against the large pillow. "How much longer do you think I'll have to deal with this...?"

He frowned. "Do you wish to leave this universe sooner?"

I shook my head quickly. "No, no.... But I'm not useful to anybody when I'm like.... This." I couldn't hear my own voice, though I could tell that it sounded absolutely awful. My throat was clogged. My nose was clogged.

It was like the worst case of allergies imaginable, though it wasn't allergies at all.

Ratchet gave me an empathetic look. "I wish that I could have helped your situation more..."

I shrugged, blowing my nose into the last clean tissue I had. "I wish I could have a normal, longer life.... But that isn't going to happen..."

"Maybe," he started, "you can do some unfinished business before you go."

"How much longer do I have?"
"A few days at most..." It seemed to pain him to speak those words to me. Though that was something that confused me. Why did it pain him to tell me I was going to die soon? It wasn't like I was some huge important person.

Just because you try at something does not mean you can be the biggest and the best. There will always be people who try harder than you, that are stronger than you, and that have more experience than you do.

"What sort of unfinished business do you have in mind?" I asked him slowly. "Are you talking, like... More business work that I need to finish?"

As soon as I asked him that question, he shook his head rapidly. "No, no. That's not at all what I'm talking about. What I meant was unfinished emotional business."

I chuckled softly. "You sound kind of like Dr. Phil... That's what he says."

Ratchet smiled softly. "I'm glad you caught that. You most likely have much unfinished emotional business with your family. You haven't seen them in a month."
"Has it been a month already? That I've been here? Time sure flies when you're working a good job..."

He stood up, walking over to me very slowly. His steps made soft 'clang' sounds in my ears, though it wasn't high pitched enough for it to be painful. He bent down and placed a very light kiss on my head. "Only if you feel up to it... I can have your family brought here to see you. It is a special emergency."

Without even thinking, I nodded, closing my eyes. "Please..."

He was right. I needed to see them.