Liridia

Chapter 24: Nurse?!

Liridia
—————————————

There is something wrong with him.

"Nurse? Nurse?! Nurse?" I call frantically, not wanting to leave Hywel alone in case it gets worse. Aldwin peeks around the corner, a quizzically concerned expression on his face, and I hastily gesture for him to enter the library. He shakes his head, and I quickly run up to him to explain.

"There is something wrong, Aldwin. Please wait by him until I have a nurse with me. Just talk to him, please." I practically beg for him to oblige. He casts his eyes to the ground and sets his jaw.

"You knew him before this." I assume quietly, his eyebrows furrow slightly as he pushes the doors open. I catch a glimpse of Hywel in the chair, curled into a ball, his eyes firmly squeezed shut and his hands grasping his hair in tight fistfuls. This is definitely not good.

I run for the infirmary, almost tripping myself on the stairs and running into several guards standing post at numerous doors.

Running through the crowded streets of Nohma, holding onto my fruit basket and the new pair of shoes I managed to bargain out of the greedy vendor. Matted hair long and flowing behind me, my eyes filled with hope and sunlight.

Mother is at home weaving, and father is out with the men chopping wood for the hearth.

I run up to the weaver's shack, through the rows and rows of bright fabric and shiny beads and climb the stairs two at a time. I push open the door and place the material on the rickety table, wondering why I can't hear mother singing in the next room over.

"Ma? Are you here?" I call, my mood diminishing and growing fearful with every passing moment of silence.

I knock on the door twice before entering, only to find that mother isn't sitting on the worn stool, weaving the fabric between her fingers and guiding it swiftly to the next pin. I spot a discarded pile of material splayed around the floor, like someone dropped them and forgot to pick them back up.

"Ma? Where are you?" I whisper, trying not to cry.

I brush past every door in the small house, coming up with nothing. I sit back down on one of the chairs by the dining table, wondering where Mother is.

There is a piece of paper peeking out underneath the dresser by the door, and I snatch it from the shadows.

It's crudely written, and I can only pick up three words that still send chills down my back.

Father, hurry and infirmary.

"Nurse? Nurse! The library, with haste! I'll get more help, just go!" I almost scream at the poor girl folding blankets for the empty cots. She grabs a big bag of supplies and sprints out the door. The three other nurses and the two doctors in the next room over peek through the door and I yell at them to follow her.

I scramble after them, worried that something is seriously wrong with him, and I catch the swish of the door closing. I stand a moment in front of the big doors and prepare for something ugly.

I push the door open to behold Hywel on all fours, throwing up something so black that I stumble back out of the doors and fall onto my backside in disgust. His head jerks up violently as the nurses hold him down, baring black teeth and trying to bite the people who are trying to help him. I catch his eyes, scared of the thing that has infected him, only to watch his eyes be slowly invaded by the black devil controlling him.

He stares at me for a long moment, then rears his head back and screams so murderously that I instinctively back away. He kicks, screams and claws out of one nurse's hold and pulls himself towards me while the nurses, the doctors and Aldwin hold his legs and reach for his arms.