The Odd One Out

Chapter 10

The night was dreamless.

Summer woke to the sound of the drizzle outside and the cold wind blowing in through the unclosed window. There was a thin layer of moisture in the air, damp and cold, and the temperature was so low that as soon as her hand reached out from the blanket. A fine layer of goosebumps rose up and she hastily retreated back under the covers.

The room is dimly lit, with only a little light coming in from the window, and Summer fumbles around the bed with her eyes closed under the covers, reaching her mobile phone and checking the time: 7:32 am. She inhaled long and exhaled slowly, the warm air quickly condensing into a white cloud as soon as it left her mouth, a sign of how cold it was outside. Summer slumped uncomfortably in bed, her head aching more and more from the cold and wet since she'd woken up, and now it felt like it was cracking. She kept breathing deeply but couldn't get any relief.

It seemed that she had slept on her back all last night, without even taking off her clothes. As a direct result, in addition to her severe headache, her lower back was now aching and her chest was stuffy.  Summer reached out and punched her stiff back, then shakily added a jacket under the covers before rubbing her temples with one hand and propping herself up on the edge of the bed with the other. Turning on the light in the bedroom, Summer went to close the window first, looking at the rainwater stains on the desk in front of the window and wondering why she couldn't remember if she had opened it last night.

The only recent memory she could recall was the continuous sound of rain. Summer shook her aching head from side to side and thought about going to the living room cupboard to find some cold pills to take first. She went to the bedroom door and opened it with a gentle twist of the doorknob. The simple act of opening the door suddenly caused her heart to jump and she froze in place. She felt like she had forgotten something she shouldn't.

Summer was in a daze when her mother came looking for her and called out, "Summer, what are you staring at? Come out and have breakfast."

Summer responded and shook her head, not thinking about it anymore, as it didn't matter anyway, she couldn't remember anything. She went to the bathroom to wash up first, she dawdled in the bathroom for a while because she had a bad headache. When she came out her parents had already finished their breakfast and were ready to go out.

"Summer, the noodles are on the table for you, remember to take your medicine after you eat, it's on the counter." Her mother, while changing her shoes, said uneasily, "It's raining outside, don't go out if there's nothing to do, stay at home. I've put the lunch in the fridge for you, you can warm it up and eat it, got it?"

Summer looked a bit dazed and nodded slightly sluggishly. Her mother took a look at her pale face, paused in changing her shoes and asked Summer's opinion in a questioning tone, her voice was soft: "How about I take a leave of absence from work and stay home with you today?"

Her father, who was on the other side of the room, also hastened to indicate softly whether he needed to take time off to stay at home with her as well.

"No need, I don't have anything to do." Summer subconsciously declined the offer, she was an adult. After all, it was just a headache, and there was no need to make such a big deal out of it.

When they were out of the door, Summer went to the cupboard her mother had mentioned, thinking to take her medicine first to relieve her headache. The cupboard was black, with only a small white medicine bottle sitting on the empty countertop, which was conspicuous and she saw it at once.

This didn't seem to be medicine to treat the could, huh?

Summer picked up the bottle to see the medication instructions, only to find that she couldn't read the small print on it. It was neither Chinese nor English, but a kind of writing that looked more like a ghost-written charm. Summer rubbed the corner of her forehead, unable to remember if this was the medicine she had taken, let alone how many pills she should take. She didn't really want to put medicine with unknown effects in her stomach, so she should have asked her parents earlier. She looked through the cupboard and found nothing else, not even cold medicine, so Summer gave up and called her mum later to ask.