Emberborn

Oneirataxia

Willa was finishing up taking out my stitches on one side when they walked in.

The sight of her sun-kissed hair, her round face with her button nose, and her shy but loving hazel eyes almost brought a smile to my face.

Her eyes widened at the sight of me before her face broke out into a huge grin.

She sprinted across the room and ran into my open arms. I pulled her close and nuzzled her cheek. I felt the top of my shoulder start to grow damp as a small sniffle escaped her lips.

"Hey Murph," I breathed out as I held her tighter.

I looked up at Aunt Arden to see the happiest look of disbelief on her freckled face. Her milk chocolate eyes were trickling tears filled with hope. I smiled at her and nodded my head, signaling that I was really here.

Murphy accidentally moved her hand below my rib cage and squeezed an area that was way too painful to be normal.

I grunted out and moved back from Murphy. Willa and Zack both ran to my aid as I leaned back against the bed, grasping onto the side of my blue shirt.

"What the hell?" I gasped.

There was a severe throb coming from my ribs where Fallon stabbed me. Willa moved my hand and gently pulled up the edge of my shirt. I followed her eyes down to the white gauze placed on my side.

She slowly began to rip the tape off my skin, peeling off the cotton pad with it. I sighed out as the cool air kissed my wounds.

"Shit." Willa hissed.

I snapped my eyes down to the three puncture wounds under my ribs. Instead of seeing healing skin, I saw greenish yellow scabbing with clear fluid draining slightly from it.

Willa gently poked at the sensitive skin with her gloved hands. I bit back a hiss as Zack tucked a strand of hair behind my ear soothingly.

"It's infected," she sighed out.

"How the hell did that happen?" Zack asked worriedly.

I gave his hand a light squeeze as he pulled me closer to him. He was worried about me, and strangely enough, that brought a small smile to my lips.

"Well, it could have been a number of things. But from the looks of it, my best guess would be that it was caused by excessive sweating like when you work out or-"

"Or when you get cold sweats." I thought out loud.

Zack's questionable look matched Murphy's as well as Uncle Cayden and Aunt Arden's. Willa pondered on the thought for a moment before something finally clicked.

"Cold sweats could be the cause too, but those are normally triggered by fear, like when you're having a nightmare.

"But for it to get this bad, you would have to have multiple cold sweats each night...." she trailed off.

I glanced downwards and clench my teeth, growing aggravated at the pitiful stares everyone is giving me.

Telling them the truth is going to be a lot harder than I thought.

"What do you need to do?" I ask Willa firmly, begging for a change in subject.

"First, I need to drain the fluid from the wounds," she says walking over to the counter and picking up a few objects.

"I'm not going to lie, Seraphina, this is going to be painful."

When she turned around, she had a sharp object lying in her hands. If it were a knife or even a little scalpel, then I wouldn't have reacted the way I did.