War of Hearts

Chapter 8.

Alec POV:

I wake up and can't quite tell why, because it is still dark and the middle of the night.
Confused I try to hear or see anything that might have caused me to, pushing myself onto my elbows, but I can't seem to find anything. So I lay my head back down and as soon as it touches the pillowcase I hear something rumble. I jolt back up and am suddenly alert. This time as I look around my eyes have adjusted to the dark and I can vaguely see Magnus' shape on the bed next to me and... Wait, Charly is missing, where is she?
I look around the room, the door is slightly open, she left. Where is she? Is she okay? I push away the blankets, swing my legs out of the warm and comfy bed to leave the room as well. I sneak towards the door, not wanting Magnus to wake up, because he needs the sleep, especially after what happened today. I slip through the door crack and close it quietly behind me. I have never seen him losing control over himself so badly. In the corridor I wait and listen for a second, in order to locate the sounds I heard. Nothing at first, but then choking sounds, from the bathroom opposite our bedroom.

That must be Charly! I stride across the the corridor and open the door, carefully. And there she is, sitting on the floor, clutching onto the toilet rim. In the dark, I can't make out the fairy's face, but I can tell she's miserable, from the way she is sitting there. "Charly?" I ask her concerned, but she does not seem to notice me.
But I have to help her still, no matter the circumstances and so I bend down, push her hair out of her face, carefully holding it back.
While I do so my fingertips graze her skin, which is hot and sweating feverishly. I perch myself behind the fairy, as she wipes her mouth with one hand, shaking, before she throws up another time. Shit, she seems to be in a very bad state, should I wake up Magnus?
As I think that Charly collapses into my arms. Now I've got a problem.

Cautiously I put her down onto the floor and reach for the light switch with one hand, blindly searching it, as I keep my eyes on the fairy.
Finally I find it, but I need a few trys until I flip it on, because I am in shock, agitated. Now I can see the fairys face, she looks worse than I feared, way too pale. "Hey" I whisper sounding rough with my mouth dry, "Hey, Charly, wake up." I carefully pick her back up and hold her against my chest, "Charly?" I ask with more vigour, getting more concerned at every second that passes. Shit, is she breathing? As I bend down to check on that her eyelids flutter.
"Charly?" She blinks once more but looks like she is conscious again, "Hey, are you alright? How are you feeling?"

She opens her mouth to say something, but then just growls in pain as she tries to sit back up. "Careful there." I pull her up a bit, so she sits more upright, "Take it slow, Charly. Do you know what just happened? Why did you throw up? Are you sick?" I know my questions wont help her right now and maybe she is not able to answer them, but I can't help it, I just don't know what else to do.
"I..." her voice breakes away and she just stares into the air for a second.
"Hey, don't feel pressured by me, I'm just a little overwhelmed myself. I want to help you, but I don't know how." I try to calm her down and carefully start rubbing her back up and down.

The fairy blinks and nods then slowly, before she trys to speak again,"I... need some..." she clears her throat, "Some water..." with that she points up towards the sink. Oh, I am so stupid, of course!
"Oh, yes sure let me help you!"

Charly POV:

My vision is blurry and I am so light headed that I fear to faint again. Wouldn't Alex be supporting me to the sink, I would have already fallen trembling back down, even my hands are shaky. But the worst of all is my soar throat and the sour after taste that's left in my now desert like mouth. Hastily I reach for the water tap with one hand and turn it on with ice cold fingers. On the way down to the sink my vision goes black for a second, but all I care about is the water finally running through my scarious lips. I lean against the sink and despite clinching onto it I almost slipp as I straighten up. A firm grip around my arm stops me, "Careful Charly, let's sit back down." Alex murmurs as he takes me back into his arms and we slight down the bathroom wall until we sit on the cold tiles of the floor. Sitting there it seems like the world has stopped from spinning, everything I do is breath, I can't even think.

"So," Alex carefully breaks the silence after a time span which I can not define. "Are you feeling better now?" I nod slightly, so my head won't start to hurt again. "Do you... did you take anything... Or are you just getting sick?"
I barely suppress a ironic laughter, "I... No, I don't know." The question should be what I did not take. Oh god, what even am I doing here? I swallow hard on that thought as it brings back snippets of memories from the past days.
Alex moves a little unsettled by me, because I bet he sees right trough my lies.
"It's okay Charly, you don't need to pretend, I won't judge you."
Shit, a sneaky little tear escapes my eyes.

"I... I..." I take a shaky breath while trying to get a little calmer, "Well... I did take my antidepressants and some painkillers and I drunk a bottle or two, I don't remember." The silence that follows let's me know how much that hit on Alex. "I'm sorry..." I feel like a complete idiot right now, why did I say that? Why did I even take all that shit? I am so stupid. And I'm sure that's not all I took. A feeling of self hatred climbs up inside of me.
"A bottle of wine?" Alex voice is a little too high as he asks that, showing how deeply he cares, "No, bottles of whiskey Alex, wine doesn't work on me..." Another pause follows, "Shit, listen I am sorry, I didn't mean to-" I try to explain myself and turn around to look at him, my head starting to throb as he interrupts me. "No, it's alright Charly. No wonder you threw up. Are you feeling better now?" I can see how he fights with himself in order not to judge me, his eyes filled with worry.
"I am, I guess so, I still feel so dizzy..." to prove my words my vision gets blurry again and the sour taste in my mouth creeps back in.
"Okay. Did you take anything else?" as he asks that he lifts a hand to my head to feel my skin, his touch is very gentle and soothes my feverish skin. "I... I did take maybe more than one antidepressant... But that's it?" At this moment I am very unsure. Wait, there was something else. "Andsomefairydrugs." I mumble, "What?" Alex kind of jolts at my words, "I took some -" "I did hear you, but why haven't you said that earlier? You know how badly they effect you with alcohol, and..."

His voice slowly trails off and my vision goes black again, I shiver. "... have a fever. I will go and get Magnus, you are definitely not in a good state righ now. Just wait here for... right back, okay? " He carefully leans me against the cold wall and stands up to leave the room.