вlood & peтalѕ [ ĸoтlc - тιana ]

ch. xii

So far in such less time....

My sister STILL doesn't get why Tam's so great. (UGHHHHHHH WHYYYY)

Maybe I should let Wattpad educate her? Or will the books be enough?

This chapter took me so long to write and I am ashamed of that. It wasn't even that great.

The last thing you wanna do is cry now, Linh reminded herself, as she stood outside the door of their shared room, hand poised a fraction of an inch above the doorknob. It's just Tam. Your brother. The same guy you dump water on when he's silly. The same Tam who used to be scared of goblins when he was a kid.

She took a deep breath, attempting to steel her nerves, before turning the knob and swinging the door open. "Uh...Tam?"

He didn't hear her come in, instead busy amusing himself with shadow puppets against the walls.

"Tam."

He looked up. "....are you okay? You look-" he gagged and deftly spat into his tissue. "P-Pale. You look pale."

Linh followed the wadded-up tissue with her eyes as he dramatically flicked it into the bin. "How much did you cough up this time?"

".... one."

"Uh-huh." She watched his fingers fidget nervously with the hem of the coverlet. Tam only fidgeted when he was nervous. Why was he nervous? "And?"

He bit his lip. "You're going to worry too much."

"Tam Song, if you don't tell me what's going on, I swear over mallowmelt that I will chop your bangs off."

"You're going to overreact."

"That's in the job description of twin sister, Tam. Just tell me."

"It was a whole flower."

***

Tiergan sighed. "Mr Forkle told me something else, and I want to let you know, just in case it ever comes to that."

Linh nodded, mentally steeling herself for the worst. "Okay."

"Usually, when the victim- I mean, the affected, coughs up a whole flower, it means they have roughly two weeks or so left."

The lump in Linh's was now painfully obvious. She could barely choke out her words. "And....? I'm scared to ask now."

"And I'm scared to tell you," he whispered, pain lacing his features. "But Tam's moving through the various stages of the disease faster than we thought would be possible. So when he coughs up the whole flower, if it ever comes to that, he won't have much time left. Maybe ten days at the most."

***

He was dying. He was really dying.

And now she didn't even have the courage to go and tell him what has been keeping her up the whole night.
With a choked sob, she turned around and fled the room.

*dries tears with trumpet* I can't help but cry when I think of Tam though.....