Coffee Breath

Chapter four - Distraught

March 12th 2016
Sofie's dad had been telling them he'd been feeling more tired than usual. How he'd been feeling faint frequently. How he didn't feel like his usual cheery self.

Sofie's mother told him to see a doctor and get checked up on. She didn't force him though, she wasn't that type of woman. If only she was.

March 15th 2016
Sofie opens the front door and makes her way to the kitchen, humming a catchy tune. She turns on the kettle and gets out her favourite mug, one with a 3D Shrek face on it.

She grins to herself as she puts in a spoonful of sugar and a tea bag. She poured in the hot water and milk and gave it a stir whilst walking into the lounge.

"How was school, love?" asks a voice from the corner of the room. Sofie turns to see her dad sat on the armchair, looking comfortable but with a strange, worried expression on his face.

She smiled at him and told him about how a freshman had gotten pregnant and how she was thinking about auditioning for the cheerleading squad.

She had no idea about what was the come the day after. What that concerned look was about. She wishes she'd have known.

March 16th 2016
Silence. Something felt off. It was almost as if she knew something had happened that would change her life for the worst.

It was the middle of chemistry, Freya couldn't think about what chemicals should never be mixed anymore. She staggered back and took a seat.

Her chemistry partner, Emily, asked if she was okay, she just shook her head.

She didn't know whether she wanted to go home or what was going on, why she felt this way all of a sudden.

Quickly, she realised her body was about to empty her stomach everywhere so she rushed to the bathroom as fast as she could and was sick until there was nothing left to throw up.

She felt awful, whatever this feeling was, she hated it. She gargled some water to wash away any remaining puke and spat it out. Then she splashed some water on her face and walked out of the bathroom, towards the nurse's office.

She knocked on the open door and the nurse let her right in, seeing a slight green tinge to her skin and a feverish look on her face.

Freya didn't bother looking at her name. The nurse asked her a series of yes and no question, Freya just shook or nodded her head in reply.

When did this start? Had she been feeling ill all morning? Is she currently on any medication?

In the end the unnamed nurse decided she wasn't fit to stay at school any longer. The nurse did ask if Freya wanted her to call anybody but Freya insisted she'd be fine as she lived only two minutes from her school.

Freya made her way home fairly quickly. She found herself facing the front door. She felt like breaking down and crying right there and then.

What for though? She didn't have the slightest clue why she felt this way.

Freya sighed. She knew she needed to come to her senses and realise she probably just had a stomach bug and was overthinking everything.

She tried to control her breathing as she took of her shiny, dark blue backpack and reached into it with a shaky hand.

She took out her house key, it was silver and she had painted the end with nail polish so it was now a pretty violet colour. She put it into the lock and turned it slowly, taking a deep breath.

She made a plan in her head as she opened the door and decided that she'd make a cup of tea, get her blanket from upstairs, snuggle up on the couch and watch Disney movies.

She walked in. There was that silence again. It was strange. Normally there's the obnoxious hum of the washing machine or the dishwasher but today, absolutely nothing.

She decided to skip the cup of tea, and started walking as she felt herself being dragged towards the living room.

Maybe she'd just skip the blanket as well and just have a nap on the couch. As she made her way into the entrance of the living room, she quickly scanned the room. Then her heart stopped.

Her ribs felt like they were crushing her lungs. The walls were closing in on her. This isn't happening. She wished she'd never woken up this morning. This can't be real. Then everything went black.