「 The Professor & I 」VOLUME II

(339) Antidote

Lynn's POV

Bolting through my leg was a nightmarish sort of fire, vividly burning my nerves and veins in unforgiving manners too outrageous to be believable. I battled against the virtual flames weakly and channeled most of my strength to awakening, thinking the merciless torture was merely a dream.

Struggling fruitlessly to liberate myself from the harrowing experience, I seemingly registered a moistened cloth grazing the surface of my forehead. The intermittent damp sensations were tepid, and immensely relieving, but my eyes behaved like their lids had been glued together, stubbornly refusing to open.

"Lynn?" Charles accented but his naturally silky voice penetrated my head as a wave of echoes that barbarically battered my ears.

Hardly capable of any appreciable utterance, I could only frown and wince. As I grudgingly swallowed the mountain of suffering together with a direly needed gulp of saliva, I was finally blessed with the means to speak, albeit disgustingly poorly.

"Ch- Char..." I spouted faintly and a glimmer of light blinded my eyes as they conquered their impossible mission at long last.

"I'm right here, love. Don't panic," Charles reassured, readily gripping my hand, but his kind consolation still blared like an obnoxious trumpet as my hazy vision doggedly declined to clarify into his handsome face.

"How are you feeling?" He probed in concern, this instance a mellowed, more bearable, resonance that reverberated to my ears.

"It hurts... I don't know why but really does..." I admitted in a miserable tone.

Spontaneously, another torrent of agony surged through the left side of my body and I immediately clutched his palm as I clamped my jaw tightly. Unwitting tears wetted my cheeks, stinging them as they vigorously streamed, and I fidgeted restlessly, only to realise the soft brush of excellent Egyptian cotton against my knee.

"What..." I gasped in disorientation, starkly astonished by the weird fact that my lower half had been endowed with comprehensive function.

"Shush, Lynn, shush. Just relax and try not to move," Charles anxiously coaxed and through my sight now veiled by salted water, his blurry figure shuffled upon the bed.

Without exception, every part of me was clearly cognizant of his weight shifting on the mattress. A couple of inevitable grunts accompanied his cumbersome motion, presumably as he manually dragged up his dead limbs, before assuming his usual sleeping posture.

As his careful manoeuvres gradually dwindled, that characteristic scent of his neared. Delicately, Charles snaked his arms around my torso, pleasantly enveloping in his warmth and safety.

"I need you to calm down, and listen to me, alright?" Charles appealed in a tender tone, conscientiously dapping my face with a piece of tissue.

The unknowing shiver of my body emerged distinctly against his firm embrace but the involuntary trembles instinctively tapered off recognizing the gracious and unconditional sanctuary. Slowly, my eyes dried in adequacy to perceive his attractive features and despite their irrefutable weariness, they generously pampered me with encouragement.

Amidst the notoriously distracting twinges, my brain strained to process his simple request and as much as he deserved more, I ultimately reciprocated just a sluggish nod of acknowledgment.

"It appears that the serum in your blood is confusing and impeding the action of the cure. I'm not exactly sure it's the antidote we're looking for but..." Charles elucidated articulately but his face saturated with a contradictorily nervous and uncertain expression as he inhaled deeply, like he was bracing himself for something awful.