Chapter Seven

John

They say the second day isn't as bad as the first. Wrong. They are so fucking wrong.

The second day is worse. I had only about thirty minutes of sleep last night. It's a miracle I'm still alive even. Six had a fever. She was burning. I had to wake Marina up from her slumber to heal her, at least. But when Marina tried taking the fever away, she said that it wouldn't heal. In the end, I turn up to Meredith. She agreed to take care of Six while I get some sleep. But sadly, Six had started screaming again. I learned that only I can stop her from screaming her tonsils out, so I allowed Meredith to rest.

I had to force myself to stay up. At about 3:30 in the morning, I lay down beside Six and wrapped my arms around her to keep her warm because she was shivering again. I shined her with my Lumen nonstop as Six did not stop shivering. It was as bad as typhoid fever. She woke up a few times, too. She would always ask the same question over and over again: "Am I dying?" I comforted her, telling her to keep holding on, to stay. She cried a river after that every time.

Now, Six is in my arms, safely tucked away and asleep. I'm careful not to touch the infected skin on her arm. Once, Meredith accidentally grazed it, and that was why Six had started shrieking a few hours ago. I rest my cheek on her head, listening to her labored breathing. Sunlight slips through the curtains in our room. It must be morning. Six turns around and shifts into a more comfortable position. I loosen my embrace on her to let her move. But her eyes fly open and she sits up fast. She bends over the other side of the bed and something red comes out of her mouth.

I hold her hair out behind her head as she vomits some more. Blood also comes out of her nose as she does so. "Marina! Crayton! Help!" I yell, not letting go of Six's hair. I rub her back as she vomits more blood. I can't watch more of this. "Don't—look—at—me," Six says between retching. Angry tears spill from the corner of her eyes. "Marina! Anyone! Help!" I keep yelling. Meredith and Ella burst through the door and Meredith orders Ella to get some towels and some of Six's extra clothes. Ella disappears, running as fast as she can. "Where's Marina?" I ask as Six recoils, vomiting some more.

Meredith holds Six's hair for me and says, "She and Cole went out to buy groceries. We're running low on food and water. Also, she said she'll buy some antibiotics and see if they will work on Six. You don't have to watch if you don't want to." I thank her silently and exit the room. I can't stand one more second in there. I shrink to the floor and run my fingers through my hair. I can hear Six puking from inside. If she doesn't stop soon, she'll die. Why? Why did it have to be her? Why can't it be me instead? I know how Six hates being weak. I know how she dislikes feeling useless. I know how she hates pain. I don't want to see her like that. I don't want any of this. I bang my head against the wall repeatedly, whenever I hear the impact of Six's vomit of the floor. I cover my ears with my hands, but nothing seems to work. At last, Six's retching stops. Ella comes from the hall, with a bag I recognize as Six's, three towels, a mop, a wet rag and some other cleaning materials. I stay out of the room though. I can't bear to see Six in agony just yet.

Ella closes the door again. Someone's crying from the inside. "Kill me now! Please! I can't stand it!" Six yells. Ella and Meredith try to comfort her, but Six just kept yelling. That's it. I can't take much more of this. I stand up and run outside, ignoring the pitiful stares from the others as I passed. Once out, I sit on one of the porch steps and let out a few tears. Yeah that's right; men still cry.

I bury my head in my hands, depression and hopelessness filling my heart. What if Six dies? What if the poison affects her brain and alters her memories? What if she doesn't know me? What if Marina can't heal her? The hope of seeing Lorien with Six fades to nothing by the second. Where's the hope that Henri had promised me? Everything is bleak. Everything just made a wrong turn. Everything is gone. Then where is hope?

I'm so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't notice Sam behind me. "She wants to see you," Sam says. I wipe the tears away and walk rigidly to our room. I ignore the fact that Nine was suppressing a snicker at the sight of my bloodshot eyes. Sam smacks him at the shoulder before I walk into our room. I see Meredith and Ella there with a bloody mop and a rag. "She's upstairs," Meredith says, "Can you call Nine in here, please?"

"Sure," I whisper. I call Nine and tell him Meredith needs him. Afterwards I walk up the stairs and pass another Ella on the way. "She's in my room, the last one on the right," she says before hurriedly going down the stairs carrying a bloody t-shirt. I swallow the lump in my throat. Without making sound, I walk across the hallway and into the room Ella told me about. Six is there alright; sitting upright whilst looking out the window. She was crying.

I sit beside her and put an arm on her shoulders. Her face is paler than before. Her cheekbones are more prominent. Her eyes, the eyes I loved so much, lost their brightness. Six buries her head on the crook of my neck and sobs even harder. I rub her good shoulder in attempt to comfort her. "I'll just get you some water, okay?" I say, taking note of the choking sounds she was making. Six nods and I exit the room. When I return, the room looks like a tornado had passed it.

I drop the glass of water I was holding. The chest of drawers is turned over. The sheets are strewn all over the floor. The bed is pushed against the wall. There is also broken glass, probably from the lampshade. Behind me, there was continuous banging and whispering, "Kill me…kill me…"

"Six?" I say calmly, edging my way to her. She looks up, the tears streaming down her cheeks. "It's all right."

"No! I can't take this anymore, John. My head…it hurts…" she moans, hitting her head against the wall harder in attempt to make the pain go away. "Stop that," I say, getting a firm grip on her wrists, "Marina will find a way to heal you. If not, I will do everything I can to make you happy until the time comes. Six, just promise me you won't kill yourself. I will protect you. I love you, and I will love you forever."

Six stops moving and throws herself at me, hiding her face in my shirt. There, she starts sobbing again. I slip my arms from under her and lift her from up the floor. I walk down the stairs and tell the others about the mess Six made in Ella's room. When I said that, it made her cry harder.

I set Six down on the couch, but she refuses to let go of me, so instead she sat on my lap. A few minutes later, Marina and Cole come home, while arms full of paper bags. "How is she?" Marina asks, rummaging for the antibiotic in the bag. Sam gets a glass of water and hands it to me, as Marina does with the tablet. "Six?" I say, shaking her shoulder. She looks up at me, and down to the tablet in my hands. "We have to try," I say, and she takes the tablet reluctantly and drinks it. No effect—she vomited again.

I skipped eating lunch because Six really doesn't want to let me go. And also, I don't want to leave her alone. Who knows what she'll do to herself if she's left on her own?

Hours passed. Six naps often and I had Ella to bring me food in the living room. Crayton, Marina, Sam and Malcolm are doing what they can from brainstorming for a cure to watching Six for me while I rest. Cole, Meredith and Nine are cleaning the jacked-up room upstairs. The Chimæras, including three new ones Cole stumbled upon at the convenient store, sit huddled on the floor with Bernie at the center, napping with Ella. "Any ideas?" I ask. Crayton and the others shake their heads sadly.

We also learned that the poison affects the way Six's Legacies work. Crayton says he needs to know something before we move to thinking up a cure. When he asked Six to move the glass on the table, she didn't manage to, like when he also asked her to create a storm, make the earth shake, or make harsh winds. "We have to think of a way quickly," he says, "If this becomes more severe, the loss of Six's Legacies may become permanent."

That night, Six did not stop crying when she heard the news. She told me to lock the door of the newly repaired room and said, "Don't leave me, please. You're the only one I have left." Of course I didn't leave her, even for a second. I kept her in my arms until she fell asleep from all that crying.

I wish that I could freeze this moment, where there's no pain, no agony, no suffering. Just Six and me. Together. Peacefully asleep in each others arms.

The next morning, we woke up because Marina was practically flipping out in our room when she exclaims, "We found a cure!"