The Older Man Part I

Chapter 15

Something In The Water

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CHEYENNE'S POINT OF VIEW

I walked back and forth in my room as I sipped on some ginger ale. For the past two weeks, I had been under the weather. 

My head was pulsing with a raging headache that wouldn't go away no matter how many Aspirins I took. There was a knot in my stomach that wouldn't let me eat anything. All I had eaten since I felt sick were saltine crackers and a few bites of chicken noodle soup. Everything tasted horrible to me to the point that I didn't want to eat anything, but I knew I had to so I forced myself to eat what was put in front of me. Nausea overtook me as the permanent taste of bile resided on my tongue. At any moment, I felt like I was going to empty the contents of my stomach.

In summary, I felt like shit.

I wasn't sure why I was feeling the way I was. All I could conclude was that I had come down with the flue or some other sort of seasonal illness. It might've been the change of the weather that triggered these negative symptoms. 

Living in Illinois during Autumn meant adapting to the cold temperatures that attacked the atmosphere. It wasn't an easy task but having grown up here, I thought I was immune to the effects of the harsh weather. The lousiness I felt proved my assumptions wrong.

Thalia was heading over to my house because she wanted to bring me a few things that she felt would help me overcome this sickness. She said she knew just what I needed to get rid of this ailment.

I tried my best to soothe my upset stomach and headache until she got here.

When Thalia arrived, she had her hands full of more bags than I'd ever seen someone carry at one time. "The doctor is in. No need to worry," Thalia announced as she walked into my room. She dumped the contents of the bags all over my bed, almost covering the blanket I had draped over it.

I looked over at everything she had brought me in awe.

There were multiple cans of soup, numerous boxes of saltine crackers, more tissue boxes than I could wrap my head around, and a few bottles of cold and flu medicine. She also had preteen magazines we liked to read for entertainment. It reminded us of how silly we used to act when we were younger. It never failed to cheer either one of us up when we felt bad.

"So what's going on with you, girl? Is it the flu or what?" She asked as she made room for herself to sit down on my bed.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not sure. I've just been feeling lousy for a little while. My mom checked and I don't have a fever. I'm not sneezing or coughing. My throat isn't sore or anything so it doesn't look like I have a cold but something's up." I explained.

Thalia made a look of pondering as she clearly tried to figure out what it could be that caused me to feel so defeated.

"Did you eat something bad maybe? You might have food poisoning." She thought aloud.

"I don't think I've eaten anything bad. You know my dad, he always checks the expiration dates of whatever we buy." I told her. Since my dad was technically in the restaurant business, he took standards of food to heart. He always made sure food was at its peak or he wouldn't serve it to his customers. The same went for his family. He wouldn't serve us anything if he felt there was a chance it was past its prime.