Born and Died 2 Days Apart

Chapter 10: Lyla

We walk out onto Derek's driveway and stare out onto the street. "Lead the way,"I say and follow him as he walks out away from the driveway. I don't pay attention to where we are going. I only pay attention to Derek. His gorgeous hair, beautiful eyes, he's just so amazing. I can't help but feel like his beauty is made for me, for us. I feel like I should be with him, he should be mine, I should be his. He is strangely silent, but I don't complain because then I can take in the scent of the cool air outside, feel the wind, and feel the-

Ow.

I wince as my bones suddenly start hurting as we are walking. They ache, and burn, and really hurt.

Keep it together Lyla, you're probably just having growing pains.

It doesn't go away. The pain grows and gets bigger and bigger and more painful. I stuggle to walk behind Derek and fall behind a little as we are walking. I feel weak as I drag my feet through the grass in the meadow.

Wait, there's grass, which means...The meadow! We're here!

I smile a little realizing that we are in the meadow and I won't have to walk anymore. My legs are numb now, the pain leaves and I'm left with a numbness in my legs and now my arms, making it seem like needles are being shoved into my legs and arms repeatedly. This pain never stops, and never settles down, it only gets worse and worse. Of course, this isn't the first time it's happened. I've had pains this whole month, that just randomly occur and last for hours. I think they are just growing pains, so I have nothing to worry about. Although, this time it is extremely painful.

"Here we are!" Derek says and smiles as he sits down aginst a big oak tree. I smile and slowly sit down trying not to wince, and just ignoring the pain as much as I can.

"Are you okay?" Derek asks and looks at me with concern. I'm about to say no but then I shut my mouth.

Don't complain. Derek doesn't need to know. Don't ruin the evening for him.

"Yeah," I say and smile weakly. "I'm fine." He hands me a can of soup and I examine it.

"What kind?" I ask peeking inside the hole in the top of the cap.

"Chicken Noodle Soup."

I smile and turn to him. "That's my favorite!"

"Really?" He asks looking shocked. "Mine too!" We giggle and dig in. I practically chug the whole thing because it is so good and all that walking made me really hungry. In a couple minutes I'm already finished. I put my hands behind my head and lean against the big tree. The pain is still there, but I ignore it making sure not to wince so Derek won't see and start to get worried. It gets really hot as I wait for him to finish eating. I start to sweat, first a little and then a lot to the point where I am constantly wiping my forehead with my hand. I fan myself with my hands, trying to make the heat go away. It's night, so it should be pretty cool but I'm sweating like crazy. It feels like I'm in the desert where the sun is beating down on the ground, roasting it until it is over one-hundred degrees outside.

My nose starts bleeding all of a sudden and I lean back, tilting my head towards the sky, pinching my nose as hard as I can to try and make the bleeding stop. Blood trickles down my arms and I grab my napkin to use instead on my fingers to pinch my nose. I keep pinching until my neck aches from bending to keep the blood from dripping all over me. When I let go, the bleeding stops, and I put my napkin back down on the ground. I've been have nosebleeds a lot lately, probably about one per day. I clean my hands with the water from my water bottle and run my fingers through my hair. It's a tangled mess. I reach up to fix my hair and then notice a bunch of tiny red marks all over my arms. It looks like they are under my skin, but still visible. I frown as I stare at them, trying to figure out what they are.

They're probably just bug bites. Relax.

I brush my hair back into a messy pontail. As I wrap the hair tie around my hair, my hand snags on a small branch in the tree. I finish tying off my hair and then look at my hand. It's bleeding.

It's just a small cut. You're fine.

I keep trying to reassure myself that it's okay and it's just a small cut as I dab my hand with my napkin. The bleeding doesn't stop, and pretty soon my hand is aching from the pressure I applied to stop the bleeding, and my napkin has turned completely red. I press on the wound one more time and then the bleeding stops. I lean against the tree again, only to jerk forward. My head aches, which means that now my whole body hurts and I'm fighting and trying to make it stop but it comes back to torture me and make me a mess. I put my face in my head and wince.

"Hey, are you okay?" I turn and look at Derek. I forgot he was here. Actually I really forgot where I was and what I was doing because all I could think about was the pain. The pain from my arms and legs, my hand, and now my head.

"Yeah,"I say weakly and smile. "I told you before, I'm okay."

"Really?" He says and I look of concern comes over his face. "You're really pale. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah." I say and glance at the ground. The pain is still there, and now it is unberable. I can't control the stream of tears that roll down my face as Derek looks at me.

"No, Lyla you are not okay. You are pale, and crying, and sweating and...Wait a minute." He turns and grabs his waterbottle out of his bag and a couple extra napkins. He presses one napkin to my hand where the bleeding has begun again, and then uses his free hand to touch my forehead. I get a warm feeling as he touches me, like I'm floating on air. But then it's gone once I feel my headache again.

"Lyla, you have a fever! Oh my gosh." He pours the water from his water bottle onto the clean napkin and presses it to my forehead. My mom has done this before whenever I had a fever, which has been a lot recently. Normally it helps but today I can't feel anything. I just want to close my eyes and let the pain sink in and just rest. Just lie down under the stars and sleep and sleep and never wake up until the pain is gone. My eyes flutter and can barely stay open.

"Lyla we should get you home." I nod and Derek helps me to my feet. I wobble and nearly fall over but Derek holds me steady.

"Lyla, Lyla! Stay with me!" Derek says, and I hear the panic in his voice.

"I'm fine." I whisper, using the last bit of energy left inside of me. Suddenly everything I see goes black and I shut my eyes as I fall to the ground.

I'll be okay Derek.