The Price You Pay

The Price You Pay: Chapter 18

The fever comes back, with a vengeance. When I wake on what I now solidly believe is Thursday, I feel like shit dragged through mud. I feel a constant pressure on my chest and my blankets are soaked. Trying to untangle myself from my sheets, I once again feel how my skin seems to hurt by touch.

My back aches, my head throbs. My throat feels thick and I am thinking, hearing, seeing everything as through a haze.

Fuck.

Maya comes to check on me but she can't enter the room — I have locked my door again last night before I went to sleep. Now I keep quiet as she knocks, hoping she will think I am asleep still and leave.

God forbid she will use that spare key again, but then again, it's not like I could stop that, could I? It doesn't matter.

Finally, she leaves, and when the house is quiet once more, I let myself drift.

Thank the heavens I can actually sleep here.

Later, Maya is back, and this time her knocks do wake me. Actually, they seem to pound right through my eardrums.

Geez.

She's softly calling my name too and as her voice reaches me through my feverish haze, I realize she is not going to leave. She's not going to go away.

My heart is pounding heavily and I am panting with just the effort of breathing. I don't want to bother with anything right now. I feel like I am floating. Carefully slipping in between the covers more deeply, I close my eyes and shut the world around me out.

I hear my name. Far away, nearer, then close by. I open my eyes at the urgent sound of it and look up in Maya's face, which is pale with fright.

Hey, what happened to get her so—

Wait. How did she get in here? I thought I locked the door… Oh. Spare key.

See?

Without a word, she holds up the thermometer for me to see and when I take it from her, the muscles in my arm burn fiercely in protest.

One long beep, three shorter ones — fever.

No shit. But still, shit.

"You'll be okay," Maya says softly, but her voice hurts in my ears and I wince. She walks into the bathroom and comes back with a damp washcloth. Announcing softly what she will do, she places it on my forehead. I close my eyes tightly automatically against the expected blow but instead, I feel the gentle cool of the cold cloth on my skin and it feels absolutely wonderful.

My face relaxes and I open my eyes again to look at Maya.

I realize I am no longer as afraid to be hit by her. She would have done that a long time ago if she wanted to. With an exhale I give in and relax.

"I'll be back with some Tylenol," she says softly, then disappears from my sight. I am too sore to follow her with my gaze and close my eyes once she closes the door behind her, retreating into nothingness.

This fever is different from the one I had before. It hurts more, ache to my very core. I don't want to move and I don't want to think, really. I lie in the dark, grinding my teeth through the pain and wait for it to pass.

If it will pass.

Because if I had any money to bet on it, I would have sworn time has come to a complete standstill.

Maya is in and out of my room, changing the cloth and checking my temp. She sits at my bed for long periods of time, like a watchful guard, but not in an oppressive way.