Dreamers- A Merome, Pooflan, Wroetostar and Minizerk Story

⋖Chapter 6⋗

Simon's P.O.V.

My body was wracked with exhaustion, by the end of day in early winter even with the decreased physical labour I could barely stand. Josh noticed and made sure I stayed close to our home, occupying myself with menial and often useless tasks like stripping flax to turn into rope or fabric, while Josh prepared leather, stripping it of its remaining skin to be turned into waterproof layers for clothing.

I was only glad that we were in a warm enough area of the country that we didn't have to move our base camp, sure it got cold, but not cold enough for us to have to leave. We had our security on our small farm and I was content in my life, and had thought Josh was too- until the day before.

Our conversation had confused me. We had everything we could ever want in life, stability, security, a source of food and water, shelter and each other, so why would you want anymore? I at least was happy where I was and I didn't want anything to change, but Josh's revelation that he was unhappy, he wanted more than this, he wanted progress. He wanted to begin the journey back to where we had been, with technology to allow the population to explode. He wanted to bring humanity back.

He had always been a dreamer, even while we were young, hoping to be something greater than anyone was really able to be. He wanted to teach, to grow and spread our knowledge to other groups of people- but it wasn't possible. We had no way to communicate with other groups, hell, we hadn't seen anyone for years now, so even if he wanted to spread knowledge, there was no way to do so.

Josh and I shared smiles and the occasional gentle touches as we went about our daily activities, always staying within earshot and within sight too. I continued my tasks, hoping that my health would improve over the coming season so I could get back into my proper work. I couldn't leave Josh to plough the fields and plant our next season of crops on his own.

----------------------------------------------------------

I felt ill, really, really ill. It was only a few weeks into winter but the cold weather was getting to me, my chest ached and I had a constant cough, my voice hoarse from trying to eject my lungs from my body. I was nauseous and fatigued, barely able to sit up some mornings. My stomach cramped often and because of my inability to eat, I quickly lost weight. My deterioration only took a few weeks and the pain in Josh's eyes was enough to tell me how agonizing it was for him to watch.

Something inside me knew that this was wrong. Feeling this ill wasn't normal, being so ill that the weight dropped off me and I could barely move from me bed wasn't normal either. Josh did his best to care for me, but there was really nothing he could do.

There was some relief as the cold snap temporarily gave up, allowing some warmth from the sun to reach me. I spent those warmer days sitting just outside, leaning up against a tree or the shelter and basking in the sun, hoping that it would be enough before the real weather set in.

Josh smiled at me, slumping down beside me after a long day of work. He had been hard at work continuing to strip leather and fur he had just obtained to prepare for clothing, weeding the field, collecting water to bring back to me and repairing the shelter, reinforcing it for the rougher weather. I almost automatically moved to lean my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes.

"Hey Si, how're you feeling?" He whispered gently, rubbing his hand along my arm.

"Okay. I've been better now it's warmer." I mumbled, my eyes still closed.

"That's good to know." He said. "I'll see if we can get you another coat, I know you've two already but if the warmth it helping, best to make sure." I only nodded, simply agreeing because I was too tired to say otherwise. It was a waste of our resources to make me another coat, fur was difficult to come across because large animals we were able to kill were rare, but if he insisted then sure. I knew I could use it. "Do you think you'd be able to sew it? I know you're better at it than I am."

I sighed but after a moment I slowly nodded. I would take a while and a lot of effort, but at least I would be able to do something useful if I was sat down, too weak to get up. Josh kissed my cheek.

"Thanks Si." He mumbled, planting another kiss. "I'll get the fur prepared."

-------------------------------------------------

My entire body shook with hacking coughs to the point where I was almost throwing up, my head pounding and feeling so weak that I could barely lift my head. All Josh could do was give me water and rub my back, hoping that I would be able to calm myself- but I couldn't. I had been up all night, ill and shaky, unable to sleep.

I was on the verge of crying, just so, so sick of feeling like that. Although I continued to blame my sickness on the bad weather, by that point- less than a month into winter- I think I knew it was something more. My weight was dropping more and more and I could barely keep myself warm, buried in layers of fur.

"Come 'ere Si." Josh whispered, his arms folding around my waist to allow me to lie practically on top of him. I didn't stay in that position as another coughing fit took over, rolling over onto the ground to hack and cough, Josh's hands the only thing keeping me upright. He whispered soothing words but I didn't comprehend any of them.

This wasn't right, and something inside me was telling me I was dying.

I didn't want to die.