How It's Going To Be [h.s.]

Chapter 72

{Harry's Point of View}

The pain was a wildfire. What had started as a small spark within me quickly grew into a blaze spiraling out of control. The pain was smoldering and hot. The ache was swirling outward from my midsection to my extremities. I writhed in bed, gripping the sheets and biting back screams. I cradled my stomach as if it would provide any relief to the internal scorching agony.

"Stomach flu," Julia muttered.

Karma, I thought.

The back of her hand rested against my forehead. "You have a high fever, love. You're absolutely burning up."

I groaned a response. My eyes were squeezed shut as I tried to will away the aching. The pain centered in my abdomen had been slowly increasing for hours until a hellfire raged within me.

"Have you eaten something to make you ill?"

"No," I croaked.

"Could you stand to drink anything?"

"No."

"Could you sit up?"

"No."

"Harry," she warned lightly.

The rest of Julia's words melted away as I focused on the throbbing of my stomach. My arms and legs felt weak and my head pounded along to the pain. If Julia was right, this was unlike any stomach flu I had ever experienced. The pain seemed to consume me; I was lost in the inferno. I kept my eyes shut and mentally counted to ten. I told myself I could handle the pain in ten-second increments. If I could just focus on ten seconds at a time, I could survive.

"Should I call a doctor for you?"

"No." My voice was quiet, but firm.

"Alright, love. I'm going to let you rest for now. I have my phone if you need me." I listened as Julia crossed my hotel room and slipped out the door.

As if being sick in bed wasn't bad enough, I was sick in bed on the other side of the world. My home was on another continent; my comforting bed was far away. I was stuck suffering alone in a hotel room when I needed to be working. It seemed like conditions couldn't get worse. I had to fight back tears as hard as I had to fight back the sick rising in my throat.

I turned on my side and opened my eyes into tiny slits. I could see the outline of daylight threatening the edges of the drawn curtains. Outside the window, Hong Kong was splayed out ready for my exploration. The city was humming below my hotel room. I could hear cars and sirens and shouting. The sounds of the city were different than anywhere else in the world. Everything was exciting and exotic and unmistakably Eastern. I loved the vast change in culture. It felt like a new world to me. But it would go unexplored as I lay sick in bed resenting the timing of my illness.

____________

I woke to the sound of footsteps approaching my bed. They were heavy. "I don't know if you know this, Harold, but we have a show the day after tomorrow. The lads and I would love to go check out the city, but you're being boring and complaining about...what did you call it, Liam?"

"A tummy bug," another voice spoke.

"Yes, a tummy bug," the first voice continued. "Whoa, Li, he actually looks really ill."

I opened my eyes enough to see Louis and Liam hovering at the foot of my bed. I watched as their faces transformed from annoyed to concerned. My stomach was still blazing and I couldn't move at all without risking getting sick all over the bed.