Poisoned Rose

Chapter 15: Till we do or don't, kisses will reign

Chapter 15:

Sleep filtered my mind like a welcomed drug.

Slowly the darkness filled me, holding me close with its arms. Alone, in my head, I was lost to time, space and distance. But even in an unconscious state I was aware that nothing felt right whether or not it was internal or external. When the uncomfortable burning that shot through my body became unbearable, my violet eyes dotted awake. The hotness reached my throat and I knew what was coming before I even felt it. Within a minute of reaching the adjoining bathroom, I threw up—the clutching-the-toilet, on-my-knees, tears-streaming-down-my-face kind of hurling. It was so bad I was sure the entire town of Ridge Black Valley could’ve heard it.

 I moaned, resting my head against the tub.

My entire body felt sticky and I knew I was sick. How could I not be? Memories of plunging deep into icy black waters of the ocean flooded my mind along with images of me standing under the drizzling rain. I had been asking for it and the changing seasons just made it all seem worse. The back of my hand felt my forehead as if it would change the fact that I was ill.

I got up and took a shower, changing into a long white sleep shirt that took an absurd amount of time getting into. The room did a Tilt-a-Whirl on me as I climbed under the covers, and I squeezed my eyes shut and hoped to get better by resting it away.

Sleep was all I needed. And outside the window, the sun was already setting. The orange was a bright glow in the horizon. Thinking of how this morning’s affairs had spelled out, how had time crossed so fast after I had retreated from Derek wiping my tears away into a passed out state on the bed? I closed my eyes, almost certain I was approaching stage one of a zombie infection.

A weird fog entered my brain. I slept, waking up again past midnight. The long white sleep shirt was damp, clinging to my feverish skin. I went to push the covers off and noticed they had already been thrown across the room, covering the carpet in a heaping twisted mess.

Cold sweat dotted my forehead as I sat up. My thumping heart echoed in my head, heavy and erratic. Two beats at once, it seemed. My skin felt stretched tight over my muscles—hot and prickly. I stood, and the room spun.

I was so hot, burning up from the inside. My insides felt as if they’d melted into goo. My thoughts ran into one another, a never-ending train of nonsense. All I knew was that I needed to cool down.

The door to the hallway swung open, beckoning me. I didn’t know where I was going, but I stumbled down the hall and then downstairs. The glass door leading to the vast backyard was like a beacon, promising relief. It would be cold outside. Then I would be cold.

But it wasn’t enough.

I stood on the porch, the wind blowing my damp shirt and hair back. Stars lined the night sky, intensely bright. I lowered my gaze and the trees in the distance had their branches swing to and fro as their multiple colored leaved danced in the wind. Yellow. Gold. Red. Then they turned a muted shade of brown.

I was dreaming, I realized. I must be still dreaming in the bed inside the bedroom of Derek Mace’s house.

In a daze, I kept walking, the moonlight leading the way. Several times the world felt like it turned upside down, but I pushed on. I took a wobbly step down to the level of the porch where a mammoth swimming pool was spread out.

Under the pale light, the darkly black-colored water rippled. I moved forward to the edge where steps dipped further into the blackish water, stopping when my toes sunk into the cooling liquid. Prickling heat scorched my skin as I stood there. Burning. Sweltering.

“Arianne?”

Slowly, I turned. Wind whipped around me as I stared at the apparition that seemed to illusory to be real. Moonlight sliced his face in shadows, reflecting in his wide, brightly gray eyes. He couldn’t be real…he was so beautiful. He would always be so damn beautiful and s.exy.