Chapter 4: May 1349
Raphael
I was worried. Only I couldn't let her know that I thought I had the blue sickness. I could I tell her that when I had gone out for food I planned to never come back. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I knew I had gotten my family sick to death.
Now this tiny miracle had come into my life. Franchesca was like a breath of fresh air that made me forget about the cough and the trembling I desperately tried to hide. This was so difficult now. I couldn't get her sick either and to stay would be putting everyone at risk.
We sat around the dinner table and made a prayer before eating. It was the usual prayer…praying to get through this time together. I felt guilty and like someone holding a deep dark secret. I was paranoid that others would find out what I was hiding.
If Franchesca hadn't shown up then I would have been far away from them. They wouldn't be at risk of the danger I was putting them in right now. I ate little, but so did everyone else. That's the interesting thing about fear—it takes away your appetite. The only one who really seemed to be eating was Franchesca. She ate like a starved homeless person.
"Hey, slow down there before your stomach explodes," I smiled at her.
She looked up with a smile and spoke after swallowing. "I'm sorry it's just…I haven't had food in days."
My smile fell to a frown and I felt ashamed for my comment. I had no idea that her family was without food. She didn't seem to mind though and I tried my best to eat.
It was just about time for her to leave. My plan was to walk her home then leave for the countryside. I had risen from my seat and after taking three or so steps I felt incredibly weak and everything went black.
Hours had passed as he laid in his bed. He had a horrible fever, and his body was sweating and trembling as he slept. His family was convinced it was just stress or a cold, but Franchesca could have sworn she felt her heart break to pieces—Rafael had the blue sickness. He was going to die. No one survived. How was this possible? They just met and now he had the same symptoms as her aunt. A cursed feeling came over her and she felt somehow responsible for Rafe's illness.
She wrote another letter to her mother to explain that the weather was too harsh to be out in. She knew her mother would worry, but she was more worried about this guy she had just gotten close to, as strange as that sounded. He was so kind to her and his family was too…it seemed like a horrible thing to just leave them all with him so sick.
When he awoke it was confession time. At first he tried to convince her to leave.
"You should leave. You need to be with your family. I'll be fine! I already feel a little better."
She raised her brows and told him to be serious. "Don't lie to me."
Rafe looked at her in shock and was silenced for a minute. He was in thought as he looked at her. Something about her…he felt guilty and felt like he let her down. She seemed on the verge of tears and figured it was better to be honest with her.
"You're right. I am lying," he sat up, "yesterday I went out to get supplies, but I wasn't planning on coming back home. I was going to leave the food at the door before running off. You need to leave here and hope you don't also become sick. Don't you dare stay…I wouldn't be able to handle it if I knew that you got sick because of me."
Franchesca was leaning over him as she rested on her legs. A sigh escaped her as she took in what he was telling her. It was so hard for her not to yell at him. It was hard not to yell period because she had feelings for this guy she had just met. They matched together so well and he was nicest man she had met that was around her age.
"I'm not going anywhere," she said softly. "I'm going to take care of you. I think we met on that street for a reason," she felt his head before kissing it.
That's when he caught sight of the scar on her chest. He outlined the X with his finger, but she paid no attention to it. "You felt it too? When I saw you—it was something I cannot put into words. It felt like you were mine….I'm not a possessive person, but there was just something that drew me to you. Who knows? Maybe I'll survive this, yeah?" He nuzzled his head against her soft hand.
"You're so sweet. Almost too sweet," she shook her head. "Rest. I'll be in the other room if you need me."
Rafe opened his mouth and paused a moment before nodding and just saying goodnight.
Rafael
I woke up in the middle of the night coughing. It was difficult to tell how long I had been asleep, but the house was quiet. I was shivering in a cold sweat with a pain in my groin area. I was terrified to look and thankful for the darkness. The problem was I had seen enough bodies to know what was under the blankets.
Using all my strength, I got up from the bed and was trying to get away. I wanted to get away from everyone to not get them sick. That was always how it started: one got sick and died and the rest quickly followed. It would be the most horrible thing to be responsible for the pain and death of those I cared about. This disease was twisted like that. My family would never abandon me because they loved me too much.
When I started coughing uncontrollably again it gave me away to a sleeping figure on the couch. Within a minute or so I saw a lamp coming towards me. Those green eyes greeted me with pity and concern. What was she still doing here? I wanted to yell at her. Perhaps if I scared her somehow she would take off running.
"Why are you out of bed? It's the middle of night, Rafe." She felt my head again and I never wanted her soft touch to leave my damp skin. "You're on fire," she lowered the lamp and gasped when she saw my hands. "Your fingers…ay dios mio! They're black."
She moved the lamp away and ushered me back into my bedroom. Franchesca used all the candles she could find to light my room completely. To my surprise she wasn't disgusted by these new symptoms…only more concerned.
"Why are you still here? I told you to go home. You shouldn't be around me," I groaned from the pain of lying back down. I pulled the blankets back over me.
"I couldn't leave you. I thought about going home…I was even at the door at one point. There was just no way I could leave you like this. There is no changing my mind, so don't even try."
She sat down on my bed with a wet cloth to cool my head.
"I had a dream about us. The strangest and most vivid dream I've ever had," I confessed. "We were on horses in some far away jungle. You were so brave and strong…yelling out all these orders to soldiers that nearly worshipped you. You looked directly at me and I knew that you loved me and would do anything for me."
Franchesca seemed suddenly pale after I finished the tale of my dream.
"No….you speak nonsense!" She backed away from me with a look of fear, "Your fever has made you mad."
At first I couldn't help feeling offended because I basically told her that I thought she was beautiful. I calmed her down enough and finally she was able explain why she was so shaken up.
"Rafe, I dreamed that same dream two nights before this. How could you know that?."
I was confused, but I remembered it clear as day. "I'm not mad, Franchesca. I saw you on that black horse like some great mythic leader. You were perfection with your long black hair and those green eyes."
"It was you?" She was also confused. The dream she had was from her perspective. The soldier looking at her wore armor that protected him and a helmet that shielded a bit of his identity. It was obvious to her that they had a deep relationship, but in times like that, a loving glance was all that showed it. She had turned her horse away from him and gave orders to ride on, saying nothing to each other.
"It was me, but how is that possible?" I was exhausted from coughing.
"I don't know. Maybe some things are best left unanswered." Her voice sounded distant in thought.
It made me wonder if there were other mysteries out there that tied us together. There was so much I wanted to share with her. My eyes were heavy now and I was scared of falling asleep in fear that I wouldn't wake up. I couldn't tell her this, but that was how I felt at the moment. The pain and the fever was becoming so much that part of me wished to die. I felt Franchesca kiss my cheek before my eyes would no long stay open.
Franchesca
When I woke up he was gone. There was no questioning it. Part of me was happy because I knew he was no longer in pain, but another part screamed. I felt as though I had lost another part of me. That road laid out in front of me was now closed.
I wasn't feeling well when I joined his family for breakfast. I wasn't hungry and they forced me to eat. Part of me wondered if they did it so I'd leave his bedroom. When the cart came to take him away I followed it down to the road.
It was then I realized that I was close to home. When I knocked on the door it took a while for someone to answer; I think they were afraid to open it.
My mother answered the door and hugged me with such force upon seeing me. I broke down into tears and cried into her shoulder.
"He's dead," I repeated to her. "He was my soul mate. I swear to you he was."
She was rubbed the back of my head and tried to calm me down. "I'm sure he was, baby. Come on inside and lay down. You don't look good."
I knew that she was right because I didn't feel so good either. "I think I'm sick Mama. I feel so cold."
She wrapped a blanket around me and laid my head on her lap. I closed my eyes and listened as she told me the story of the young girl who had found love in a man who was of noble blood. He was charming but their love was forbidden, so they ran away from their families to be together. I remembered the happy ending before I went to sleep.