Fate Carries You Away; Drifting Further and Further

Chapter 20: Two Fruits A Day Makes All Pain Go Away

Aslan Callenreese

15 Aug. 2018

We kissed.

That isn't something I would've ever thought would happen between Eiji and me. He's not at all my type, and even though he never really appeared straight to me, I thought I was into girls only.

That isn't the only thing that caused me to be shocked about this turn of events. Eiji is one for rules, he seems to like them, and we both know it's taboo when a nurse starts dating a patient. Still, even though we tried ignoring our kiss for about half a day, we found ourselves searching for the other's attention. I couldn't keep pretending I didn't love the quirky Japanese nurse, and I don't think Eiji could ignore his feelings for me.

We have decided to see how it goes, and make sure no one finds out.

What else has changed is that Eiji seems even more worried ever since my birthday. He has the right to worry, because I'm growing weaker. Especially my muscle strength has gotten so much weaker.

I can barely hold my book up when reading, and swallowing has become a task on its own.

I almost choked on food twice yesterday. It was scary, but not as scary as Eiji made it seem afterwards by immediately switching my solid food to pre-blended meals. He said it was for my own safety, but I saw in his eyes that he was just worried that I would choke so badly that I'd get hurt.

That's why, today, my breakfast is a green smoothie-like meal instead of actual food.

"Looks—" I hesitate, tilting the cup with straw in different directions; maybe it will look good from a certain angle? "—delicious." It doesn't look delicious at all, it looks like it's eaten at least once already.

"I know it doesn't look amazing," Eiji admits, sitting down beside my bed as I keep inspecting the pre-blended breakfast. "But at least I got them so far that you're still allowed to eat normal food."

I shrug; maybe Eiji's right. When Griffin's muscles had grown so weak that swallowing food was becoming a problem, they almost immediately gave him a feeding tube for safety.

I move closer to the cup, so I don't have to exhaust my muscles by lifting the cup from the table. Instead I use the straw to get the food from the cup to my mouth.

It surprisingly lukewarm, even though I thought it would just be cold.

"What do you think?" Eiji hesitantly asks.

I glance at him, taking another sip of the blended food, and shrug. "Tastes like vegetable soup." I swallow another gulp of the food and add, "But it makes swallowing a little easier."

I still feel how the food moves through my throat slower than usual, but at least I don't have to chew for half an hour before swallowing.

Eiji smiles. "I'm very glad to hear that."

I smile back at him, and when he blushes a little I feel happier than before. I was a little down when I woke up this morning, because I knew eating pre-blended food would feel like a step closer to becoming depended. But now that I'm actually sipping on my new type of meal, I realize normal people eat soup too all the time, so it's not strange to eat soup-like meals three times a day.

"Anyway," Eiji continues. "Are there any vegetables or fruits you really like?"

I glance at Eiji, perking my eyebrow at him. "What? Why?"

Eiji chuckles awkwardly before explaining that he actually made that blended meal at his own house this morning. "But I only had tomatoes and spinach at home."

I now get why it's such a vibrant green color, spinach does that to everything; yes, even to clothes.

"If you have vegetables you like, or fruits maybe, you can just say it." Eiji glances away shyly. "I want to make sure you can at least enjoy eating your meals."

"Drinking, you mean," I correct him, taking another sip of the meal Eiji made especially for me.

"Yeah." He chuckles, his cheeks have a slight hint of pink. "So, which foods do you like?"

I shrug, telling him that I've always liked the taste of peaches, cherries and bananas. I admit that I actually don't mind most fruits. "Please, never use pineapple or kiwi fruit, though."

"Why not?" Eiji asks. He leans closer and his voice sounds like he's genuinely interested in why pineapple and kiwi fruit became my sworn enemies.

I close my eyes briefly, thinking back to a memory I barely remember.

It wasn't that long ago, maybe seven years, but the memory is so vague that it could as well have happened when I was three. But fortunately I still recall a little of what happened.

"Well, you know how pineapple makes your mouth all tingly?" I ask Eiji, and he immediately nods. I knew it wasn't some sort of allergic reaction and just a thing that happened to everyone.

"Griffin told me it was because the pineapple eats your tongue, or something. I never liked pineapple for that reason," I explain. "But one day Griffin was eating kiwi fruit and asked if I wanted to have some of it." I still remember that I was happy that he wanted to share. "But it gave me the same reaction as pineapple gave me, so I didn't like it."

Eiji glances at me and says, "But kiwi fruit and pineapple aren't supposed to do the same thing."

"What?" I ask, taking a small sip of the tomato and spinach juice he made. "Really?"

Eiji shakes his head, chuckling. "I guess you were just allergic to kiwi fruit all this time."

I snort, because I never even thought that would be possible; I thought it just was what kiwi fruits do.

"I'm allergic too, to kiwi fruit," Eiji tells me. "But I only just recently found out as well."

He explains that the pineapple indeed has some acids that dissolves the mucus that coats your tongue, but kiwi fruit doesn't have those same acids. Which means that, if kiwi fruit causes your tongue to tingle or swell up, it's because of an allergy. "So it's good you didn't eat them too much."

"Yeah," I say, snickering lightly. "So, you've got more fruit-facts?"

Eiji gasps happily and nods. "Yes!"

I smile at his enthusiasm and encourage him to start talking; that way I don't get bored while eating.

He starts talking about how he found out a lot about fruits, vegetables and plants because of the research for a diet; he's been working on a diet for the B1 treatment.

I listen to him rambling about different types of vegetables and how he found out that some are actually very good for my memory. It's really cute to see him get all hyped up about something.

I get so distracted by listening to his quirky accent, that I take a bigger gulp than I'm supposed to.

I feel the food going the wrong way. I feel the grainy substance being sucked into my windpipe.

Next thing I know I'm shaking, jolting, getting dizzy and lightheaded. I hear myself coughing, and I hear Eiji shouting my name, but it's all faint because of the loud squeak in my ear.

I gasp for air, but I only get more lightheaded. My vision is blurring at the edges.

Eiji moves into my vision, but I can barely see him as I shake and cough and try to shout for help.

His lips move, but I can't hear him.

I look into his eyes, dark. Like the shade my vision is slowly turning to.

There are tears in his eyes and I feel them dripping down on my cheeks. After that everything becomes to blurry to see.

Am I crying too?

Or is this what dying feels like?