Chapter 8: Scarlet Fever

48 hours later…

Voices began to become clear as Scarlett tried to tell who was who. They seemed so close, but yet seemed far away at the same time. Was she dead? Could she be in Heaven? What could have happened to her? These questions and many more wanted to be answered.

Opening her eyes she blinked twice to get used to the bright light. She didn't remember anything past falling into Rhett's arms and then passing out.

Moving her eyes side to side she saw women running by as they rushed to other people's needs. Opening her mouth to speak she found it very dry and sore. As she took a breath she began coughing.

"Dr. Meade, she's awake!" a nurse yelled as she ran to Scarlett's side.

"Water," Scarlett said in a dry and weak voice. Why was she in the hospital? Surly nothing could have happened to her? All she ever got was headaches with a small rash on her arm and that was it.

Drinking a little water Scarlett found it hard to swallow as it ran down her throat. As she put the glass down she found that red rash all over her arm. WHAT WAS GOING ON! Scarlett was screaming inside her head.

Non of this was making sense. Why did this rash appear and why was her throat so sore? Putting a hand to her eyes she took a breath and tried to block it out as much as she could.

Dr. Meade came in moments later as he held onto Scarlett's chart. "You gave use quite a scare you know." Dr. Meade said as he came over to Scarlett.

Taking her hand away from her eyes she saw him standing there. "Why am I here?" Scarlett asked not sure she wanted to know the answer. Putting her hand to her throat she thought it was on fire. It hurt so bad.

Scarlett did everything in her power and tried not to swallow. The burning just continued to get worse as time wore on.

"I would like your husband to be here when I tell you." Dr. Meade answered as he told Scarlett to open up. He saw that her throat was a deep crimson while a white substance sat on her tongue.

"Is Rhett here?" Scarlett asked as she tried swallowing after the doctor looked down her throat. This was becoming unbearable. Not only did her throat feel like it was on fire but, it felt like her throat was closing up.

"Yes, he's waiting outside for you. I will have him come in." Leaving the room to go get Rhett, Scarlett sighed with fear running through her veins.

Lying back on her pillow she tried to calm down. Scarlett was scared of being in the hospital. She hated things like this. Scarlett found this odd because she was never scared of anything. What could be wrong with her? Dr. Meade knew what it was; she could see it in his eyes. Closing her eyes she tried to remember back to the moment she passed out. All she could remember was telling Rhett that nothing was wrong with her. How wrong she must have been.

Opening her eyes again she saw Rhett standing by her bed side. She smiled up at him as he leaned down to kiss her forehead.

"Rhett, what has happened?" Scarlett asked looking over at him as he took her hand? Something was wrong she just knew it. Rhett had never acted like this. Not even when she had the miscarriage, at least not to her acknowledgment.

"My pet, you've been asleep for two days now." Rhett said as he tried looking her in the eyes.

Was that why she felt so rested? However she also felt drained of everything that was inside of her. "Rhett, what's going on?" Scarlett asked scared to know the answer. By looking into his eyes Scarlett knew something was wrong. "Tell me Rhett," she commanded as she tried not to lash out at him. Taking a deep breath a thought dawned on her. Maybe Rhett didn't know what was wrong with her either? Maybe no one did? What if there was not cure for what was wrong with her? What if the doctor didn't know what was wrong with her?

Telling herself to calm down she took another deep breath, and began calming down, if only it was for a few short moments.

Before Rhett could say anything Dr. Mead came in. "Dr. Meade, what is wrong with me?" Scarlett asked as her hands gripped the blanket that laid on top of her.

Taking in a deep breath Dr. Meade spoke after a few moments of silence. "You have Scarlet Fever."

Scarlett looked down at her body as sobs began to take over. How could she have this disease? Tears sprang to her eyes as the news began to sink in. She was dying. Rhett moved to his wife's side and held her in his arms, as he pulled his white handkerchief. Rocking her back and forth he told her everything was going to be alright.

"How-how long," Scarlett asked as a sob got stuck in her throat. Her life was ending and she had barley had a chance to live it.

"There is one treatment we can do." Dr. Meade began.

Those words made hope just a little closer for Scarlett. Could she be saved from such an illness? Time could only tell what would be in store for Scarlett O'Hara Butler.

"However, getting you well will be a hard task." He didn't want to tell Scarlett that, but it was the truth.

"What do you mean?" Scarlett asked as fright shot through her dark green eyes. Looking from Rhett to Dr. Meade, "Rhett, what does he mean?" she grasped his hands like a small child.

"This procedure has a rare chance of working." Dr. Meade said as he saw the look on Scarlett's face change. "It's called bloodletting,"

The words came to a shock to Scarlett. What was this bloodletting the doctor talked about? Yes, she was a nurse back in the war years, but she had never heard of such a thing.

Looking at Rhett Scarlett could tell he didn't know what the doctor was talking about either. "What is this bloodletting?" Rhett asked still clutching his wife's hand. Even though Scarlett and him weren't on good terms he was still concerned for his wife.

Taking a deep breath the doctor began to speak. "Taking blood out of the body to release the disease or illness,"

At this Scarlett's lips went white as her face soon followed. She tried to grasp this, but her mind just couldn't get around the idea. She wasn't going to go through this. As God as her witness she wasn't going to die either. She was going to get through this and when it was all over she would go back home and live a normal life….or at least try to live a normal life. As soon as she sighed those divorce papers she would no longer be Mrs. Rhett Butler. However she had more important things to worry about right now. Who would take care of everything once she was gone?

Sooner or later she would end up being with her mother and father up in heaven. Her mother always talked about such things and now she would soon meet her at the gates of heaven. This just put a chill down Scarlett's spin as that thought struck her.

Feeling faint once again Scarlett put a hand to her clammy forehead as things began to go blurry. Her breathing began to slow yet again as could still feel that burning in her throat. Taking another breath she found herself not being able to breathe.

"Scarlett!" Rhett said as Dr. Meade came to her side. Looking down her throat he could see that her breathing was being cut off by the swelling of her glands.

A/N: Okay so I really didn't know how else to end this chapter, and bloodletting is a blood test now a days. I really didn't want to do something like that, but that's all I could find to cure Scarlet Fever back then. However, is Scarlett lost to use forever? or will she be saved in time? I've been really stressed with midterms coming up this coming week. I will try and update again really soon. What do you think? You know you want to press the review button lol.