A large warm hand brushed across my forehead. No it wasn't a hand. It was a cheek. I attempted to swat at it but found no energy to move my hand. Nor did I find energy to even groan. I just sat there and listened.
"He sick?" Isu's familiar voice demanded. His puffin kind of chirped.
"Uh huh. Really high fever." Mathius' voice answered. Was I sick? I moaned and rolled over without even telling myself to do so. Now I felt sick. I felt like I was gonna hurl on top of a headache, that felt like someone cracked a brick over my head with a sledge hammer and missed the brick several times. Then, my skin felt freezing but I could feel sweat run down my face and neck. Man I really was sick. My nose was stuffed on top of that and my throat felt like the Sahara desert. Arg!
"You gonna stay home with him?" Bell's voice asked. It sounded like she was further away then the others.
"Yeah." Mathius retaliated and put his hand on my cheek this time. "Man, he's burning up." He muttered. "I'll stay with him for today, you know, to see if he wont feel any better."
"Alright hun. I'll be off then." Bell told him.
"Bye." I heard the sound of lips meet forehead and I wrinkled my brow.
"I best be off too. I'll miss the bus otherwise." Isu sighed. "Bye dad." He said.
"See yah." Mathius sighed. "Now mister. I know your awake come on." He muttered.
"Ehhh…" I gagged. "It hurts." Moaning I found myself rolling towards the warmth he was radiating. Which was odd. I hated him. I hated my father! Why was I going towards him? Oh well it's not like he'd hold anything over my head when I'm sick.
"Aww, come here boy." He mused petting my hair. This felt very childish. But of course I haven't been sick since I was a child. It felt like it had been ages. So long ago that I had even a runny nose. But oh well, it still felt good to cuddle up next to him.
How long have I been out? I wondered when I regained consciousness. I didn't remember falling asleep. I also didn't remember my warmth leaving my side. Did he leave? I attempted to open my eyes, it burned and my head throbbed. I quickly shut them again making myself have to deal with the least amount of pain possible.
"Norse?" Mathius' voice broke through the silence. I squinted, it brought a little less pain than opening my eyes completely. I saw the blur of him holding something that had steam flowing over the sides of the bowl. Or maybe he had blown up water again and the water was still leaking out of the test tube.
"Hnn?" I whined attempting to make words. It was unsuccessful.
"I made soup… and it didn't explode!" The sound of pure self pride was obvious in his voice, although he tried to hide it. "I tested it first so I didn't kill you." He added. I chuckled dryly. "Wait did you just laugh?" He demanded. "Nah…" He reassured himself. I NEVER laughed at his stupid jokes. It was just a cough.
"Meh…" I demanded and lazily raised a hand.
"Sit up." He demanded. I attempted to prop myself up on my elbows only to realize I hadn't moved. "That bad huh?" He asked, I coughed and tried again making sure I stay conscious. Eventually he ended up helping me sit up. My head was nearly rolling off my shoulders with how little my neck seemed to support. I must have looked like a total idiot. But Mathius didn't laugh, he didn't crack a smiled, his face was grim. How sick was I?
I began to get worse. My condition plummeted from being a flu to being something that appeared life threatening. My nose was bleeding what seemed constantly and my stomach was in absolute agony. I was wondering if the sickness would never end!
Then like a glint of light in a never ending tunnel of black Isu walked into our room. I had been quarantined and Isu had slept on the couch for about the past three weeks.
"Norse, you awake?" He asked in the darkness of the room.
"Uh huh." I managed.
"Good, Dad's gonna take you to the doctor's to see if we can't figure out what's wrong with you." I nodded though I doubted he could see it in the dark.
"Alright kiddo let's go." Mathius grunted as he lifted me into his arms. He was warm and his chest was soft. I curled in towards it. He smelt good.
It looked serious, was the only thing that the doctor's face told me. She sighed and sat down on a swivel chair next to the bed I was laying on. I clenched my eyes tightly as the room began to swim again. She started talking, I tried to listen. I couldn't. I was out.
I woke again to the smell of hospital and Mathius. I looked up at him with a 'what's wrong with me?' look. He attempted to smile down at me from his spot next to the bed. I raised a hand and wires tugged at my skin. I was attached to a heart rate monitor.
"What happened?" I mumbled. It was the first sentence I'd spoken in three weeks and it felt good.
"Not much." He lied.
"No, what's wrong with me?" I managed although it took me nearly thirty seconds to choke it out.
"We aren't sure!" Mathius admitted. "Doctor is looking into it, but she thinks it's just a really, really, really bad fever!" He tried. I shook my head the best I could.
"Nah, I don't think so." I mused.
"Alright, it's your heart." He sighed putting a hand on my swore chest. "Something's all blocked up, which explains the nose bleeds and stomach aches and stuff, but on top of that you got yourself the flu." He replied. I paused. My heart and the flu? That obviously wasn't good.
"Got a name?" I asked, meaning the disease or whatever causing it.
"Heart attack waiting to happen?" He put shakily. He clutched my hand as the warmth of his hand radiated through my entire body.
"Really?" I whispered and my head dropped, my neck not really being able to hold up all that weight.
"Yeah, kiddo." Mathius sighed. "I know, I know." He shook his head and my eyes yet again flickered shut. Maybe this would just blow by. Like nothing. Like it always did, like the sniffles, or a head ach, or a tummy ach. Maybe.
I shivered and snuggling further under my blankets. I made my eyes open, there was no light coming in through the closed blinds, but through the cracks I could see a few stars glisten in the sky. I looked over at the clock. 1:12 A.M. No wonder. Sighing I looked over to where Mathius was when I fell asleep. He wasn't there. He was on the other side of the room curled up on the couch like a cat. I smiled. Okay so maybe I didn't hate him.