Turnabout Vertigo

Miles' head was pounding. He had the feeling he was so hot that his head could explode at any moment. He had never felt worse.

He turned around in bed, looking at the alarm clock on the nightstand. He had the lesson of science and physics in half an hour.

He wanted to call someone. He wanted comfort. Miles thought back to when he was ill and his father would sit on the edge of his bed, stroking the damping hair out of his face. He was actually almost never ill, thus these situations with his loving father were sporadic occurrances. Nevertheless, they were treasured memories. Now he was in the Von Karma house. Calling Mr. Von Karma or Franziska is something he would not even consider. Seeing him foolishly weak will not make him feel better.

Then, someone came to his mind.

Will all his strength, he came out of bed and with each step he felt everything in his body hurt. Finally he reached what he was looking for: the servant's call button. He pressed it, hoping that she would hear it.

Miles went back to his bed, closing his eyes and tried to not focus on the horrible pain he felt.

He thought she wouldn't come, that she didn't hear it. Fortunately, he was wrong. She knocked on the door and Miles gave a soft reply.

This was the only person he could ask help, the maid Lea. Even though Mr. Von Karma disapproved of any close interaction with servants, Miles kept Lea close to him.

'Miles? Why are you still in bed?' she said surprised. Since the boy got older, she never woke him up anymore. He could do that himself with the help of his alarm clock.

'Ms. Lea, I-I-,' Miles began en watched her coming closer.

'Are you not feeling well, Miles?' She stood right in front of his bed, inspecting him. Her hand followed its way towards his forehead.

'You are almost burning my hand. You seem to have a high fever.' She had a worried look on her face. 'I will get you some medicine and water, I will be right back.'

After some minutes, Lea returned with some medicine and closed the door of Miles' room.

She took the thermometer and came close to Miles.

'I will take your temperature Miles, please hold your head still.'

The teenager nodded. He felt quite comfortable with Ms. Lea. He had known her for almost 8 years and she had helped since he came here in the Von Karma household.

She put the thermometer softly into his ear, trying not to hurt him.

The elderly women took it out when it gave a soft beep and waited for the numbers to show on the little screen.

'38.6 degrees. You are staying in bed, Miles.'

He nodded, feeling too ill and too tired to give a verbal response.

She sat on the edge of his bed, looking at him.

'Come, just take some medicine and then you can go back to sleep, dear.'

She helped him to sit up straight and gave him the aspirin and the glass with water.

He took the medicine and glanced at the maid.

'W-what about my lessons? Mr. Von Karma will be mad-,' he said and at the last word, his voice cracked.

'You cannot help it that you are ill, dear. The more you rest now, the sooner you get better.'

Miles let his head fall on his cushion. He felt so dizzy.

'I-I feel so dizzy…,' Miles stuttered and closed his eyes. He had the feeling everything around him was spinning around.

Lea's hand found his way towards his head, stroking his cheek.

'Take it easy, Miles. I will inform Mr. Von Karma. Do not worry now.'

He felt like a little kid instead of a seventeen-year-old, being helped and spoken to like this. But actually, at the moment he quite liked it. It reminded him of his father he missed so much.

'Come, rest now. I will check up on you every hour and when you need something you can always call me.'

He grabbed her hand softly. 'T-thank you Ms. Lea,' he said softly.

She smiled at him and patted him on the head like he was her own little boy.

Miles missed her when she left his room. He liked the attention he got from her. She treated him like her own son and it made him feel warm inside.

He turned around in his bed, looking at the door. Miles knew he should rest but his lessons were one of the things on his mind. To add to that, he was afraid of Von Karma's reaction. He was sure he would call Miles 'weak' for not turning up at the lesson. Even though he wanted to attend, he felt so ill, feeling the sweat all over his body and his dizziness becoming even worse. Miles had the feeling he never felt so ill before.

He was almost asleep when he heard his door opening. First he thought it was Ms. Lea, however, these footsteps sounded totally different. Miles kept his eyes closed, afraid of it being Mr. Von Karma, demanding him to come out of bed immediately.

The person sat on the edge of his bed and nothing happened for a moment. It made Miles very uncomfortable. However, suddenly he heard the person say something very softly.

'Foolish little brother, you shouldn't be ill.' He now had an idea who was sitting next to him and Miles was so surprised he almost stopped breathing. He had expected her to whip him asking why he was still in bed and did not attend their lesson they normally had together. However, nothing happened after Franziska said her words. Eventually, it was so quiet that Miles did not know if she had left or not.

But then, her presence was confirmed by a soft small hand that stroked his cheek and brushed his damped hair carefully from his forehead.

'You better be well tomorrow, otherwise I will become a better prosecutor than you even faster,' she said and stood up. Miles felt warm inside, not actually knowing why. Franziska never had acted this way towards him. Well, she would not have if she knew he had been awake.

He heard the door close. What did just happen? Was that Franziska actually being 'nice' or was it just a dream, caused by his dizziness? He did not even have the strength to think about it, before he could Miles had already fallen asleep.