SUFFOCATE

They all sounded like they were suffocating. Their throats would close up more times than not, coughing with this great intensity that sounded guttural and sickening. Yet, it was a sound that Jillian Eve had grown used to hearing for the past three years. She could easily ignore it most of the time, but the worst ones that always brought her back to reality were those that abruptly stopped. What soon followed was a fleeting but cold feeling within the Force. A sense of demise and loneliness.

"Death always follows once silence is made..."

Jillian made it a habit to close her brother's window as much as possible. Just so he wouldn't have to hear it, but...his own intense coughing was just as bad as those coming from outside.

"How has everything been? Your face looks grim," Red asked his older sister, watching her closely as she walked alongside his bed and sat down on the edge.

Jillian hunched over and pressed her fingers against her lips. She closed her troubled blue eyes tightly before letting out a shallow breath. "I'm not going to lie to you, Red. I don't know how long this town will last," she said grimly while looking out through the window towards the empty streets.

Red furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?" he said, tilting his pale and thin face to the side.

"For a lot of people, it's getting worse for them every day. Farmers can't take care of their crops anymore because they're too sick, and the ones with less symptoms have their hands full with taking care of their dying family members. No one has the energy to work...unless they want to suffocate," Jillian spoke bluntly. She turned to look at her brother, but all she could see was how sick he had gotten in the last couple of months. He had lost all his muscle, and his skin was paper-thin and pale. She could hardly recognize him anymore, and he would've been mistaken for death itself if he wasn't talking.

"So… there's a food shortage," Red said quietly.

"A shortage of everything," she corrected while pointing towards the window at her town, which was practically already in ruin. "Buildings are falling apart, crops are rotting, and families are dying. Red, there is nothing left…on this planet for us anymore. Lyor is finished…the Eve clan is dead." she said with this sliver of ice in her voice.

Red flinched and felt a frosty chill down his spine. "Please don't say that, Jill. I know that can't be true," he said while reaching desperately for his sister's arm. He grasped it tightly as much as his stick-thin arms would allow.

Jillian snorted and lowered her head. "Ever the optimist. Can you really say that when you look like this? Just look at yourself, Red. You can hardly walk anymore."

Red tried to sit up in bed, but his limbs were far too stiff and heavy to move, further proving her point. "Yes, but look at you. You barely have any symptoms. You can still do things, Jill!"

"Like what, Red?!" Jillian suddenly raised her voice and yelled at her brother until she was red in the face. "I can't fix Evergaol poisoning. There's no cure." she stopped to catch her breath as a troubled look swept across her eyes. "So while I'm still able to move…I want you and I to leave this place," she said.

The look on Red's face shifted across a myriad of different emotions. Betrayal, horror, bewilderment. Even his voice was shaking and tense when he spoke. "How…how could you say such a cruel thing? Has the poison rotted your brain? We can't leave our people here to die!"

"What's the difference?! We're practically dead ourselves!" Jillian snapped back and stood up. "I'm not dying on this planet! We gotta start thinking about ourselves before worrying about anyone else."

"Do you...do you even hear yourself anymore! I can't believe you would say something like this! I..." Red's words were abruptly cut short when he unexpectedly fell into a harsh-sounding coughing fit. He tried to take in short gasps of air but couldn't when blood suddenly rushed up from his throat and spilled from his mouth.

Jillian worked fast and grabbed a rag from off the table, offering it to him to cough into. Once she heard his throat clearing up, she turned on an oxygen tank and placed a mask over his mouth to breathe into. It didn't take long for him to start breathing calmly again and settle back down. Thanks to a chemical compound mixed in with the oxygen. It relieved the pain and numbed the throat.

This time, Jillian chose her words carefully and tried to keep her tone under control. "Look…I-I just want to do what's right. We're all we have left now, Red. I know you find this cruel…but someone has to make the hard decision." She began to back up towards the door. "I'll leave you alone for a bit. I'll be back soon." She turned the knob on the handle and walked out to let her brother think it over.

It wasn't as if Red had suddenly developed a coughing fit. It was usually spurred on by a consistent level of stress to an already exhausted body. His throat had closed, and because it was already raw from hacking nonstop for years, he ended up coughing up blood because of the aggravation.

Jillian groaned while rubbing her hands over her tired eyes. She had slept for hours, but the constant exhaustion made it feel like days for her. Even though she hardly had any symptoms of her own, she still spent every day of her life taking care of Red. It was surreal to think that he could walk and talk just fine only a couple of months ago. Jillian would usually find him out in the fields, working himself to the bone since no one else could. He was the last farmer who was able to work, but after his condition worsened, she hadn't seen a single person out there since. However, she believed that if Red could still walk, he would've been out there regardless of the state his body was in. Working...then suffocating.

Jillian sighed deeply and leaned against the door with her arms crossed over her chest. She knew it wasn't right to yell at him like that. He was the optimist to her pessimist side. Only ever seeing the bright side and a bright future. Jillian found it annoying at times, but she was thankful he still had that part of him left.

Now isn't the time to argue, she thought.

"Hey, Red," Jillian called out while opening the door and stepping inside. "I'm sorry I snapped at you like that. I…" She stopped in the doorway when she saw her brother lying motionless on the bed. "Red? Did you really fall asleep on me?"

She was going to take a step towards him when a sense of cold dread swept through her body. She didn't hear anything from him anymore. One of his arms was lying on his lap, and the other was falling off the side of the bed. Jillian tried to swallow, but her throat was too dry. She slowly walked over to his bedside and placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently. He didn't respond though, and his head only rolled to the side and remained there.

"You..." Jillian struggled to get out as she leaned forward over the bed and cupped his face in her hands. She bit down on her quivering lips and felt streaks of hot tears water up in her eyes and fall down her cheeks. "You weren't...supposed to...you weren't...!" Jillian cried out as her own words mocked repeatedly in her head. "RED!"

"Death always follows once silence is made..."