Eric lay motionlessly on his bed, awaiting Carlotta's return. His eye lids felt heavy as he fought the urge to go to sleep. As much as he would have liked to, there was something keeping the young Prince awake.
Fear.
Eric couldn't get the image of his father, when he'd found him, out his head. Those cold, black eyes showing no mercy, anger being the only expression upon his face. Weren't children supposed to feel safe with their fathers? Eric didn't. He wasn't sure there was a single person in the world he feared more.
After what felt like forever, Eric pushed himself up on shaky arms and sat facing the door. His vision cleared after a few seconds, but the light-headedness didn't. Eric's head felt as if it was spinning in circles, and once again, tears began to roll down his cheeks. Then he remembered something. The boat! He'd left if in the café! This realisation made Eric cry harder. How could he have been so careless?
By now, Eric was really crying, choked sobs tore from his throat between short gasps of air. He wasn't sure exactly why he was crying, probably for a bit of everything. Carlotta had been gone a good half hour now and Eric was feeling worse than ever. His face, neck and chest were dripping with sweat, and his head throbbed with pain and he was beginning to feel sick. No, not beginning to feel sick, Eric was going to be sick. Realising this, he climbed down from the bed, landing with a thud on the hard stone flooring. The young Prince staggered to the door, reaching up as high as he could for the door handle. But it was no use, he wasn't tall enough. Knowing that he didn't have long, Eric scanned the room for some sort of container. There was nothing. Eric's eyes clouded with fresh tears as he fell to his knees and lost the contents of his stomach. A sharp sting made it way up Eric's throat and nose, making him cry harder. Eric was sure somebody must be able to hear his despair. His stomach flipped again as he was overwhelmed with yet another wave of nausea. It remained a mystery to Eric as to what he was throwing up. He hadn't eaten for almost twenty four hours now; surely there couldn't be anything left in him.
He was wrong.
It was at that moment that Carlotta threw the door to Eric's room open. The sight of Eric crying behind a puddle of his own vomit was one that would haunt Carlotta for a while. The middle aged woman ran to the child's side, kneeling down and pulling him onto her lap as he continued to throw up. But the maid didn't care. This was her fault. She shouldn't have left him alone, not for one second.
The front of her apron was soaked, but luckily Eric seemed to have stopped there. For a moment neither of them said anything, just sat together in silence, while Eric continued to sob uncontrollably.
"You p-promised" said Eric, his voice even more hoarse than before.
"I know darling, I'm so sorry" said Carlotta, pulling out a tissue and wiping it around his mouth and chin. She got slowly to her feet, still with Eric in her arms. By now he was shaking again, not from the cold, but from sheer exhaustion. Placing him in the cool bath water, Carlotta soon found that she had to keep one hand constantly under his head for support. As she bathed Eric for the second time in just over an hour, there was a faint tap on the door.
"Come in" called Carlotta.
"Ma'am sorry to bother you," said Gemma. "The doctors arrived."
"Okay, would you be able to dress Eric for me" asked Carlotta?
"Of course" replied Gemma. Eric hardly noticed as the two women switched places. Carlotta left the bathroom, letting the door click shut behind her. Gemma had been a colleague of hers at the palace for almost eight years now; and was someone she trusted to take good care of Eric. The maid changed quickly, placing her dirty apron in the laundry basket before hurrying downstairs to meet the doctor.
Upon lifting Eric from the bath, Gemma soon found that the young Prince was too weak to stand. Sitting him on the wicker chair beside the bath she began to dress him in clean pyjamas. Despite the coolness of the bath, Eric's skin still felt clammy when Gemma placed the back of her hand on his head. She lifted him from the chair, allowing his head to lull against her shoulder as she carried him back to his room. The maids had finished cleaning by the time she got there, and Carlotta stood at the foot of his bed talking to the doctor.
Their heads turned simultaneously when Gemma walked in. Carlotta smiled and took Eric from the maid. Still, Eric didn't seem to notice as he was passed from one person to another.
"Thank you" said Carlotta. Gemma nodded once and returned to her regular duties. Carlotta carried Eric to his bed, and sat down with him on her lap, his head resting on her chest, one hand clutching the maids' clean apron. The doctor pulled up a chair, and sat in front of them.
"Hello Eric, my name's Peter Sheffield" announced the doctor.
"Hello" mumbled Eric, trying to sit upright, but failing and soon collapsing back against Carlotta. The two adults looked worriedly at each other.
"Eric can you tell me what's wrong" asked Peter?
"M-head… hurts" said Eric, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Anything else" pressed the doctor?
"I f-feel sick," said Eric tearfully, "and it's t-too hot."
"Alright darling" said Carlotta, brushing Eric's hair away from his face.
"Anything else you can tell me" asked Peter, his attention turning now to Carlotta.
"He hadn't had anything to eat or drink yet today, and he's been getting progressively weaker over the last couple of hours since he passed out" replied Carlotta. Dr Sheffield nodded and pulled the stethoscope from around his neck.
"Eric just going to have a look at you, okay, you don't have to get up." Eric nodded wearily and allowed the doctor to begin his very thorough check.
(A/N: is this getting repetitive? I want to get on with the story and get to the point, but that would mean missing out things like this, which I feel are necessary. So hopefully soon I'll be able to move on and give you something new, so that you don't have to read endlessly about Eric being ill. But still, thank you for such positive feedback so far, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.)