The first thing Abby was aware of when she woke up wasn't her sore throat, but the fact Luka wasn't wrapped around her anymore. Opening her eyes, she saw him snoring softly on his back, his book laying open on his chest. She wasn't shocked, and it wasn't a rare occurrence for her to fall asleep in his arms only to wake up hours later to discover his book forgotten on his chest and the bedside lamp still aglow.
Usually, Abby would wake up around seven but for some reason, it was only five thirty in the morning. Straining to hear if a noise had woken her, Abby tried to ignore the prickle of fear that was walking up her spine. What was the matter? Abby was growing increasingly alarmed as her body reacted in fear to something she wasn't consciously aware of.
Then, it hit: a shudder that went all through her body. Beginning in her spine, the shaking quaked to her arms and legs and her teeth chattered. As quickly as the tremble came, it was gone. Trying not to panic, Abby reached for the glass of water Luka had put on her night table. She brought the glass up to her parched lips and took a small sip, allowing the cool liquid to douse the flames that were burning in her throat. Her hand shook as she replaced the glass back on the table.
Abby sunk her head back into the feather pillow and tried to even her breathing out. Within a matter of minutes however, another quake charged through her body and she shook violently, her teeth chattering noisily in the dark bedroom. As soon as the wave had passed, Abby reached her hand over to Luka's side of the bed.
"Luka?" Abby tried to wake the sleeping man but got no response. He muttered in his sleep and turned on to his side, the book plopping softly on the floor. Abby sighed in frustration and fear, "Luka?" she said, louder this time and shook his arm.
"Hmmmph," Luka mumbled, "five more minutes."
"No Luka please, can you wake up?" Abby was becoming more distressed as another powerful shiver rocked her entire body. "Luka?"
Finally becoming aware that someone was trying desperately to wake him, Luka allowed himself to leave his peaceful unconsciousness and open his eyes.
He turned over and saw that Abby was trying to sit up in bed, fear etched on her features.
"Abby, what's the matter?" Concern was now evident in his voice as he noticed the ghastly paleness of her face.
"I don't know," Abby's voice quivered, "I can't stop shaking." She closed her eyes as another shiver rocked her aching body.
Luka could tell she was beginning to panic as she surrendered to the uncontrollable shivering.
He quickly tried to comfort her. "Its ok Abby," he said as calmly as he could muster, "just lay back." Pushing her gently back onto the bed, he threw the covers off himself and stepped into his slippers. Rounding the bed to her side, he grabbed the thermometer off the dresser and sat beside her, gently inserting the probe into her ear.
Seconds later, it beeped revealing a relatively normal reading of 99.2F. He smiled reassuringly at the anxious woman lying before him. "Well, your temperature isn't up past 99.3F so we can almost rule out a fever." He put his hands on her neck again, noticing her face seemed a little swollen.
"Abby, I think that these shakes are just rigors, a normal reaction the body has to fever and infection." He searched her face, hoping his words would calm her down. Her eyes seems a little unfocused as another wave caused her to quiver violently beneath the sheets.
Wordlessly, Luka grabbed another blanket from the foot of the bed and tucked it around her body. "Its alright," he soothed as the shake subsided, squeezing her hand under the blankets.
A tear trickled from Abby's eye. "But if I don't have a fever, why am I having rigors? It doesn't make sense." Abby, as a nurse, knew rigors were usually present when a patient had a fever and was sick with the flu but never without the fever.
"Well, it could be an after-effect of your fever earlier. When I came home, it was almost a hundred and three." Luka looked at the clock beside the bed, "That was only a couple of hours ago, who knows when it broke and went back to normal, it could have been only a few minutes ago." Luka kissed her forehead gently, noticing the skin there was clammy.
Suddenly, Abby sat up straight, nearly knocking Luka off the bed. "Oh god Luka," she moaned, "I'm going to be sick!" Abby face was going even whiter as a layer sweat broke out on her forehead and she began to gag.