Coalescence ➳ H.S.

Seventeen: Bonny Barbara Allan

Harry's POV

We were on a different plane when I woke up. The last one was small and not-so-cozy, with rickety seats and a very chilly draft that lingered around. This one was a little more spacious and had comfy accommodations—much better than falling asleep on the bathroom floor.

I looked over to my left after pulling myself from the weariness that seemed to drag on and on no matter how much I slept to see Bria hugging her knees to her chest, staring out the window and chewing gum. Strawberry. She always chewed gum when she was nervous.

My chest hurt a lot more than it did when I was awake last, and I could feel the palpitations getting worse. At times it would beat like an uncoordinated drummer—thumthum-thum-thum-thum-pause-thumthum—and I feared what would happen next. I hadn't sweat my fever out yet either. The serum was magnesium based, meaning it would directly affect my immune system, my nervous system and my heart. Some people were lucky and went crazy; others were also lucky if they died.

I tried to keep my coughs down, but Bria was next to me in a matter of seconds as soon as she heard the dreaded sound of me trying to clear my throat.

"We're arriving in Oregon in an hour or so," she whispered, suddenly donning a look of concern. "It's five thirty in the morning right now. We have to get to the cop's place—"

"Clarine," Harry corrected.

"Right. We have to get to her place as soon as possible. We're landing in Gresham, so I'll have to drive to her place—South Portland, right?"

"Yeah, by that one TriMet station with all the condos outside."

I saw her purse her lips and nod, sitting back down after our brief interaction. I thought back to last night—the look on her face when I pulled her down to me and when she finally relaxed her shoulders after being so tense—and wondered why she was doing this—why she was helping me get back to Sperling when I knew she still cared for me. I wanted to shake Bria and tell her that it wasn't as if she didn't matter to me because the reality was that she would always matter to me, no matter how distant we were.

In the hour we were in the air, my cough became significantly more alarming; Bria spent half the time rubbing my back and patting my forehead with a towel while I was hunched over the sink and spitting blood into the basin. I didn't want Sperling to see me like this; no matter how much I wanted her back, I couldn't bear for her to forgive me out of guilt or pity. I felt like if it got any worse, I'd end up vomiting my own organs out. Nice.

I saw Bria shell out five-thousand dollars (how the hell did she have that much cash on hand?) to the pilot before putting her hair up in a bun and pulling glasses from her purse. We landed not long after on a farm that belonged to the pilot's late father. She called a taxi and supported me as we made our way to the edge of the stretch of dirt road.

"6:45 in the morning in Oregon. I missed this," Bria noted, looking around and taking in the sweet air as the sun made things seem a lot better than they were. I could hear the calls of birds just to the east and wondered why I hadn't noticed it before, despite all my years spent in this state.

"Nice isn't it?" I asked, wrapping the blanket Bria's pilot friend had donated to me tighter around myself. My fever was getting worse, my limbs were sore, and it was far too cold for me to feel comfortable at the slightest.

"You don't really get to appreciate peace and quiet until you're constantly surrounded by noise, you know?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that's true."

The peace and quiet didn't last long, for my coughing acted up again. I leaned against the fence behind me, heaving my gasps out the best I could. Something in my chest felt so constricted, almost as if someone was pulling my lungs out the back of my body. It was to my relief when the taxi arrived fifteen minutes later. Bria told the driver where to go ("Step on it; I'll pay you an extra hundred if we get there in before 7:15,"), and all I could do was hope for the best. Sperling was my first priority. Bria let me call her with her phone.