Thinking Out Loud » Colleen and Erik

Chicken noodle soup

At half-past midnight Colleen's throat began to tickle. At three-thirty it became a dull and throbbing ache. With every deep, slumbering breath, microscopic viruses invaded her body, launching attacks against her every cell. As she slept, Colleen was slowly getting the flu. 

Colleen Ballinger did not get sick, ever. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt her nose begin to tickle or her throat begin to ache. Colleen had been working on minimal sleep for so long that her immune system had become superhuman. She was so good at avoiding sickness that it was rare for her even to sneeze. 

This is why it was especially puzzling to Colleen one Saturday morning when she felt a sharp ache all over her body. Not only that, but Colleen had woken up at eleven-thirty. She almost never woke up at eleven thirty. She was flushed all over and her whole body felt as if it was being pulled downwards into her mattress. She had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. 

She'd been planning to go out with Erik today. They hadn't seen each other since the fateful "tickle fight" a few days ago and she was excited to hang out with her best friend. Things had been different since that day, almost weirder. Colleen couldn't get the feeling of Erik's warm body out of her mind. Her stomach had been churning for days since that moment- maybe that was why she was feeling sick. 

Her stomach jolted again. Just ignore it. Colleen squeezed her eyes shut and reopened them, hoping she'd feel better. Maybe it's just a dream. I don't get sick. She cleared her throat a few times and even mumbled "morning," trying to clear the feeling from her throat. When this proved fruitless, Colleen swung her legs over the side of the bed and stumbled, wobbly and bleary-eyed, to her bathroom. Maybe I'm just tired. Gripping the sides of the counter in an attempt not to pass out, she filled up a plastic cup with water and gulped it down, desperately hoping for her aching throat to disappear. 

She felt a sudden pull in her gut and her mouth was filled with saliva. Oh no, please no. She glanced up at her pale reflection in the bathroom mirror to see the corner of her lip trembling. She knew what was about to happen seconds before it did. She reached the toilet just in time, throwing the lid open and expelling last night's dinner. 

She heard footsteps pounding down the hallway towards her bathroom. She remained crouched over the toilet seat, taking heaving gasps of air. Her stomach lurched again and she cried out. 

"Colleen!" Kory lunged towards her, grabbing fistfuls of her hair and pulling them away from the daunting edge of the toilet. He grabbed a hairtie off the counter and pulled her hair into a ponytail. He rubbed her shoulders as she sat on the floor of the bathroom. 

Colleen began to softly cry into her hands. Kory continued to rub her shoulders, reassuring her. After a few minutes, she felt herself being lifted off the bathroom floor. Is Kory carrying me? She had a sensation in her stomach as though she was flying.  Am I dead and floating to heaven? She heard the toilet flush in the background and was suddenly greeted by the comfort of her own bed again. 

"Kory, what's happening?" Colleen mumbled, still in her delirious flu-induced haze. She didn't remember his response. 

Colleen couldn't quite remember when Erik arrived. She floated somewhere between consciousness and dead-to-the-world for a number of hours. She briefly remembered a cold hand pressed against her forehead, a bowl of soup and perhaps a thermometer under her tongue.