It had been two years and still Cassie knew the Cole she knew, James, wasn't the one she'd seen and been as close to in these months. He was Cole but then…he wasn't her James. But they'd gotten close; he'd let her in and she'd finally admitted aloud, to him, that she loved him. It was a long time coming; he admitted he loved her too, and that was all it took. It was too bad, however, that she was at work focusing on trying to find a cure even when Cole said that was impossible and getting sick herself. She didn't realize it right away. Not until earlier that day, a week ago…
Cassandra Railly woke up at five a.m. and started to rise from bed, very quickly coming to the realization that she was weak. She wasn't too weak to stand but she had a fever and was quite lightheaded. She sat down hard, her head in her hands now. "Ooooohh, whoa…" She murmured the words, her face flush and heat radiating from her in spades. "No…I knew it was coming…but…" She coughed softly into her hand. "Not yet…not until I see him again… Please…God… I know you and I aren't on the best of terms since…for a while now, but if you can grant me anything, grant me the strength to hang on until I can see him again. Touch him just one more time… Please."
Her pulse was even when she finally crawled out of bed, the dizziness having subsided significantly, at least for the time being. Once Cassie took a steaming hot shower to clear her head and her lungs, which would only be getting filled over again constantly with fluid. She spent the following fifteen minutes throwing up phlegm and congealed fluid from her lungs into the toilet. It was cold on the tile and her body curled up around the base of the john was more than enough to cement her situation in her eyes. She was dead; Cassie knew she was dead. It was only a matter of time now. Her forehead rested on the chilled ceramic, knowing she had to move, willing herself the strength it took.
Somehow the good doctor made it through tea with honey and a cup of hot chicken noodle soup for breakfast and still made it to work on time. She made it through the days, much the same, for the span of a week. She did, somehow; she could only describe the ritual in the morning as daunting, depressing and tiring and the doctor could only describe her ability to last this long, this sick, as a miracle. There were no ifs ands or buts about it; there was nothing science could do for her now, just like there was nothing to be done for anyone else. The sick were already dead; there was nothing anyone could do to help them. She was dead. And the only thing keeping her alive was the one God she believed in holding onto a promise he'd granted her, a promise she'd begged him for. It wasn't for herself, no…it was for him. It was for James.
Because she was ready to die; she'd long ago resigned herself to the reality that she would succumb.
She only hung on for him.
Cassie's phone rang and she picked it up. She was at work. "Yes?" Her voice was slight and her color was pasty, pale. Her eyes were dull and lifeless. She hadn't smiled in so long. She was only a body with the will to go on, not to live.
"Doctor Railly? We've located Mister Cole. We're bringing him in now."
"Thank you. Please keep me appraised…" She hung up the phone with a curt click and closed her eyes. A single solitary tear slipped down her cheek and floated off her chin, hitting her blotter on her desk with a weighty splatter. "Thank you…thank you Lord, thank you God. You let him come back to me, thank you…" She prayed her thanks softly, raspy, hands folded in reverence and obedience at the clear higher power here as she sat at her desk. She didn't have the strength or she would have cried more than that one tear. The symptoms only got worse with time, not better, and she was already at least a week in. The cough came first, unexplained and warning of the coming attractions without making anyone actually feel ill. Fever shot through the entire body on the second wave, creating other issues that upset the natural order of a body; Cassie's was 103.8 degrees and climbing. She'd checked a few times since the onslaught. Third came the breathing difficulties and forth, the chills and body aches; both of these symptoms come in quick succession now as the body has worked itself into a state and is overheating itself, compensating as it tried to fight off the infection rigorously. And finally was the internal bleeding and organ failure, what Cassie was currently experiencing; she sat forward and coughed hard, retching her throat. Once done she came up with her hand only to find a palm full of bloody mucus from her lungs. She would drown in her own blood like those that died of consumption so long ago…
Well Hell, it wasn't long now…to wait, though was it?
Her James would be here soon…
And she could have her peace…