A/N: Thanks to the people who pointed out my mistakes in the last chapter. *grins sheepishly* For some reason I seem to subconsciously want to call Jory "Rory." In my defense, she's a rather obscure character in the show and only really comes in in Hotel Tango… :) Enough of my blathering on. Thank you for the reviews for chapter 13! Please enjoy and REVIEW! XD
When Hope is Gone
Chapter Fourteen
Taylor sunk to her knees beside Jackson after Daley exited the tent, her friend's words swirling in her mind. You need to eat… bathe… something! She knew she had snapped at Daley in retort but she found she didn't have the energy to feel bad about it. The feeling of hopelessness was weighing her down tremendously. If Jackson didn't make it…
She didn't even want to think about it.
Biting her chapped bottom lip, Taylor took the rag Daley had laid aside and poured some cool water from a plastic bottle over the material. She placed the cloth on Jackson's head, holding it there firmly when he squirmed, almost as if trying to get away from it. The tears spilled over and she found herself sobbing madly, gasping for breath as her unhealthily thin frame trembled dangerously with each muffled cry.
"Jackson," she choked out, her eyes not looking at his face for once, too overcome by her grief. She didn't want to see the pallid, almost translucent skin glistening in a sheen of fever-induced sweat. She didn't want to see slits of fever-glazed eyes as they roved around unseeingly in sunken sockets, eyelids fluttering as he dreamed. She certainly didn't want to see Jackson's face scrunched up against the pain or feel the raging fever through the cloth she'd placed on his face.
She didn't want to see Jackson like this but she couldn't stand not to be with him. Every moment she spent with him was precious but every second of it tore her apart with every whimper of pain and bead of sweat. She felt like she was going crazy and each time her troubled blue eyes – once light and carefree like the sky on a clear day, now stormy and murky, dangerous, like the sea in a storm – saw the hell Jackson was going through, a little more of her died.
He was drowning. Or burning. Maybe even both. Drowning in fire – now there was an interesting prospect.
He wasn't sure who or even what he was anymore, his identity had been stolen by the pain long ago. His thoughts weren't necessarily coherent or abstract but simple feelings, words, flashes of recognition, and were laced with unimaginable pain.
He was hovering on the thin line between consciousness and unconsciousness, sleep and wakefulness, this life and after life. His level of awareness was periodically oscillating – rising to the point where he could hear what was going on around him through the buzz of the pain and the blood pounding in his ears, and dropping down to where he was all but comatose, still immersed in the pain.
He was freezing although he was pretty sure was sweating. It was strange, his body burning, not able to take in enough air, and freezing at the same time. It was so cold…
He could feel the icy, clawing fingers of Death encroaching upon him. He could give up now, fall into its clutches. Or he could fight. Wait until Death forcibly dragged his life force from his body. The pain and discomfort was so great that he longed to die, to be free of the pain, but something was stopping him. He could hear someone sobbing, crying, and a whisper from a woman – an angel? – begging him to stay, to come back…
She was so distressed that he felt he had to comfort her. With every ounce of strength he had left, he forced his eyes open, closing them instantly when a dull light assaulted his tender pupils with the pain of seeing again. Instead of opening his eyes, he forced his mouth to work. He had to. His voice was rough and sickly, thin and reedy at the same time. He wasn't even sure how he was able to speak and when he did, it took nearly every reserve of his energy…
He wasn't even sure where the name came from, but it rolled off his tongue. He heard a gasp and someone grip his hand when he muttered, "Taylor…"
A/N: I know, I'm a meanie! :P Please review and I'll update in a week! :)
~Emachinescat ^..^