Falling Awake

Part 8

"Morning Jory" I heard, and I opened my eyes to see Cassie at my door, smiling. I mumbled something that resembled 'morning Cass' and sat up in bed. I tried to get up, but I was pushed down by a wave of dizziness

"You okay, Jory" Cassie asked, concerned

"Yeah, i'm fine" I lied sleepily, and tried to get up again, only to be knocked back again. Cassie came over, and felt my forehead

"You're burning up, Jordyn" She sighed anxiously "what's going on?"

"Are you feeling okay Cass?" I asked, she nodded but I could tell that she was lying. I raised my eyebrows at her, and she sighed.

"Alright, fine, I threw up this morning." she admitted

"Cass-" I began

"I'm FINE" she snapped

"SO AM I" I yelled and pulled myself out of bed, standing through the dizziness even as my vision darkened "Let's just go check on Denny"

Me and Cass stumbled through to Liberty's room, where Denny was staying, and gently eased open the door "Hey Denny" Cassie began, she seemed to have almost forgotten about what Denny had done to her, overnight, which was relieving. Denny mumbled something inaudible in response. Cassie checked his forehead, and looked and me, concerned.

"Ugh" he muttered "I feel awful"

"So do we..." I responded, anxiously.

"What if this means we're getting worse in real life" Cass lamented. We had all been thinking it, but Cassie was the first to articulate the idea.

"Well whatever's going on, there's nothing we can do except hope and pray." Cassie nodded her agreement.

"How can we do anything like this" Denny groaned

"It's better once you get moving" I told him optimistically "anyone want breakfast? We should eat" we filed through to the kitchen, slowly, and we all poured out tiny bowls of cereal. We all picked at our food reluctantly to the next hour or so, until we had consumed enough cereal to last our bodies.

"Let's go to the park" Denny suggested "get some fresh air." We nodded our agreement. The park was always my favorite place to go, but since the Denny incident it just reminds me of the soul-deep guilt I felt afterwards. I don't want that one kiss to ruin this park for me, but I don't know how I could ever look at this place the same way again. I will admit, I still had feelings for Denny, but now I knew how to hold them back. Denny was a friend, but nothing more.

"So now we know we're in comas, but where does that really get us..." Denny began

"Well now we know what the problem is, so we can work on fixing it. I just hope our health doesn't keep getting worse.." Cassie sighed

"Cass, this is gonna sound crazy, but what if we had the party today? I know it won't be perfect but if we keep getting sicker, today might be our best bet."

"Plus, then we could devote all our time to figuring this out" added Denny

"Great, of course you guys are ganging up on me again" Cass grumbled

"Cass-" Denny began, but Cassie cut him off.

"No, you're right" she sighed "better to have a mediocre party than to be too sick to get out of bed at all" Cassie face went pale, and she clasped a hand to her mouth, about to throw up. I led her to a bush, and held her hair out of the way. If this was going to be our life from now on, i had better get used to vomit, but it still freaked me out. Me and Den each took one of Cassie's arms and helped her home.