The Curse of Bliss

Chapter One

"Mr. Williams?"

A knock sounds at the door, and Amery blinks open his eyes. The sunlight is streaming through the cracks in the blinds, lighting up the room too much for his liking. But as he wakes up more, his displeasure melts away. His body is aching, a thin sheet of sweat across his whole body, but the driving need to be taken is gone.

"One second," he says, but it comes out more like a croak. Reaching over, he blindly grabs for a bottle of water that he knows is on the nightstand somewhere. Sure enough, his fingers close around the bottle, and his hand is shaky as he brings it to his lips. The water is refreshing, soothing the scratchiness in his throat. Letting out a weary sigh, he sets the now empty bottle down and opens the single drawer on the nightstand. Inside are the clothes he brought from home. As quickly as he can, he gets dressed, before walking to the door and unlocking it.

The nurse who had been the one to bring him food and water during his heat is standing on the other side. She is petite, a couple inches shorter than Amery, but the way her hair is teased makes her seem the same height as him.

"How are you feeling this morning?" she asks.

"Much better," he tells her. "My heat must have broken sometime last night when I was sleeping."

She nods. "Well, let's double check. You know the drill."

They go through the whole check up quickly, with her taking Amery's temperature and feeling around his scent glands on either side of his neck. "Temperature is 98.8, and your scent glands are no longer swollen. You're good to go." She steps back. "You ready to check out?"

He looks around the room, a faint blush spreading across his cheeks. "Ah not quite."

The nurse must be used to this. She has worked here since he started coming here a couple years ago. She just smiles and gives a small nod of her head. "All right. Just come to the front desk whenever you're ready."

With that, she leaves him. As quickly as he can, he packs up his stuff. He had brought his own toys with him, as well as books to read during down periods. So, it didn't take long for him to get everything shoved into his backpack. After putting on his shoes and shrugging on his jacket, he walks out of the room.

The hall is completely deserted, all the other doors closed and locked. Music plays, muffling out any sounds that may try and escape the soundproof rooms. This place was much nicer than the other heat clinic he used to go to. That one you just paid for a room, and the nurses never checked on you, just slipped you water under the door every morning and every night. But it had been cheap, and he had been barely skating by. Now that he finally got established at the hospital, he is bringing in good money as a nurse.

The nurse from before is at the front desk, phone to her ear. She is muttering something, her eyebrows creased in concern as she listens to the person on the other line. Eventually, she sees that Amery has walked in and tells the other person that she has to go.

"I just need you to sign here, and then you are all good to go."

She hands him a paper and pen, and he signs his name. Her eyes are fixed worriedly on the door, and Amery has to clear his throat to get her to take the paper.

Before he can go, she says his name again. "You should probably go straight home. Weird things are happening out in the world."

"Aren't they always?"

She doesn't smile at his joke, eyes having returned to the front door. "Not this weird or dangerous. We're shutting down the clinic at the end of the month if we can hold out that long. That's when they are theorizing that it is gonna hit our town. You should start getting ready, especially since you've already lost five days."