The Red Plague

{Song listened to while writing: Ashes of  Eden by Breaking Benjamin} [Note: LISTEN TO THAT SONG OKAY IT REMINDS ME SO MUCH OF JULIAN AND HIS JOURNEY ON HIS ROUTE!]

-There may be spelling errors or things that don't sound right. Feel free to point them out if I missed them! Enjoy-

The morning sun spays across my face through the small window, warming my ivory skin on my flushed cheeks. The moment I wake up, I'm overcome by a sense of sluggishness, which is odd considering I'm fairly chipper in the mornings. Julian has scurried off to the Lazaret already, as I can tell by the cold dent on the bed where he would sleep. I sling my feet over the edge of the bed, staring at my feet. Despite the winter's cold, I'm unusually warm. I suspected I would have been coming down with a cold, as did Julian, since I was coughing all yesterday and had no desire to eat...but it's definitely worse than that...a fever, perhaps? I stop pondering in my thoughts and rise from the bed, my head spinning like crazy. My feet shuffle across the cold, creaky  wooden floor of Mazelinka's home in search of something cold to drink to quench the desert of my throat. Before I can make it to the counter, I'm sent into a violent coughing fit. My legs turn to jelly and I fall over on my knees, coughing so hard that blood begins to spew from my throat and onto my hand.

"This is for sure more than a cold..." I say through a weak voice to myself. I muster what strength I have to rise to my feet and make my way to her small sink, soaking a small black cloth and wiping the sanguine liquid from the floor. I toss the dirtied rag into a small clothing bin, and hastily pour myself a cup of freezing water - temporarily easing my throat.

I move back to the cupboard to get another cup, when I catch my reflection in the glass. My breath catches in my throat and my mind goes silent. The whites of my eyes...

...they're crimson as ever. Almost as if they were terribly bloodshot. The sight makes me quickly scamper over to the wash closet. I clench onto the worn porcelain sink and stare into the mirror in horror. What I saw was true. Of all the times I could've had a misfortune, now was the worst.

I've caught the infamous and terrifying red plague.

I reach my small frail fingers up to my eyes, delicately touch my lower eyelid, as if it would spread in the house should I touch it. I start to panic, shaking hysterically and hyperventilating till I'm light headed. This can't be all that's left for me in my life. It's too early to die in such a horrible way.

Before I can even think of what to do next, an familiar name echos across my mind. The Lazaret. The island where all those who've caught the plague go to die, then burn. Julian tells me of all the things he witnesses on the island, since some of them scar him. I didn't want him to have to deal with it alone, so I listen to his stories to help him cope with such a gut-wrenching sight. But now, he has to deal with me being the worst sight he will have to see. I don't want him to hurt over me...if I die, god knows what he will do.

Several hot tears trail down my cheek as my body quickly becomes cold and shivers, like I'm stuck in an arctic tundra in only summer clothes.

The minute my panic sets in, the door to the house creaks open, and I hear Mazelinka mumbling to herself about her public grievances with "idiots". I try to stifle my tears and panicking before she can hear, but I'm too late. There's a soft rapping on the door of the bathroom.

"Adel, is that you in there lovely? Are you okay?" she says with a soft ring in her voice. I can't hide from her for very long, so I have no choice but to open the door and reveal my fate to her.

"No...I wish I was" I say in an exasperated but woebegone tone. I reach up, turning the chipped door knob hesitantly, and open the door to reveal the short woman. She smiles at me, but her reaction fades. A range of emotions cross her face, and she drops her wooden spoon to the floor.