For the next three or four days, my worry increased steadily. Wyatt was worse now; he coughed less often but it was stronger, chest wracking coughs now, sometimes he coughed up blood and sometimes he didn’t, as well as after he coughed that strange smell would appear. It bothered me. I knew that smell, I did, but I couldn’t place it. And for some reason I knew that whatever that smell belonged too was the key to this whole problem.
But it wasn’t just coughing and the weird smell that was strange, Wyatt was stumbling more and looked even more uncoordinated and awkward than before. His light silver eyes darkened a lot and he was frequently in a bad mood and snapping at people. Whenever he snapped at me though I either gave him ‘the look’ or snapped back at him and he usually calmed himself down before apologizing.
He also looked worse. More tired and sluggish and the bruises under his eyes were almost black, giving him a haunted look.
We agreed that Wyatt slept more and better when he slept with me so he started spending the night again, but even that didn't ease my worries. He slept agitatedly, twitching and jerking and calling out my name, begging me to save him and not to leave him. I had to keep waking him up and holding him until he calmed down again from the fear of his nightmares.
It was hard to watch and harder to deal with and not just in terms of the obvious. My family couldn't know he slept over and already they'd been asking me about my nasty cough and how I should see a doctor about that. Fortunately Wyatt was more or less quiet with nightmares, at least loud enough to wake me but quiet enough not to wake anyone else.
Normally, I felt better when he was around but if anything, having him around so much was making me antsy. I didn’t know why but sometimes when I was around Wyatt I just felt…uneasy, creeped out, as if it wasn’t even Wyatt that I was with anymore since he was so different now. I knew it wasn’t his fault that all this was happening to him, but I couldn’t help the restless feeling I got when I was around him.
There were other times though, when everything felt normal again and we were happy and relaxed and doing what ever we normally did and everything seemed fine…until he would cough again, his eyes would darken, he would start to snap or get tired.
I kept playing with Blake at lunch and that was usually one of the better parts of my day, when I got to relax and have fun. But sometimes we’d both be too worried about Wyatt and our rehearsals were tense and distracted.
So by the time it hit Wednesday night I was once again wishing the week was over, that this thing with Wyatt was over.
Today had been a particularly bad day; Wyatt had tripped twice and had to be excused from Science class from coughing so bad. When he came back, he smelt like blood and that weird unidentifiable scent again. Plus the fact that he fell asleep in English class.
Obviously, tonight was going to be bad night.
When he slipped in through my window he stumbled, but caught himself before making his way sluggishly towards me.
He peeled off his shirt and slid into bed next to me, pulling me against him. I tried to relax against him, but I couldn’t. That same unease, that same nagging feeling in my gut set me on edge.
Wyatt lifted my head and kissed me, “I’m sorry,” he whispered, looking at me with those beautiful silver eyes of his.
He knew that I was starting to get freaked out and uncomfortable. I knew he was trying his best to stay normal and calm around me, but some days it was harder than others.
“It’s not your fault,” I whispered back, feeling tears prick my eyes as I looked at his crushed expression. He hated seeing me like this, he hated making me feel this way, but we didn’t have any other choice.
