The Two Hundredth and Seventy Seventh Life-Part Four
I waited for about three minutes, then forced myself to stand and walk downstairs in hope of finding her. Waves of nausea washed over me as I trotted along, though I was determined to keep going.
My vision faded to black, which the doctors called dehydration, though I had drunk plenty of water over the last twenty three hours. Two Aquafina bottles, nice and big, all down in my stomach now. I groaned, more deja vu, feeling like I’ve been going through this for centuries before, eons and eons. If I had gone through this before, why didn’t I remember it? My family would certainly have gossipped about it to someone, if not the entire town. I heard footsteps to my left and turned that way, praying to every god that I could think of that the figure was my Basil. I reached out, touching soft skin. A yelp. Her yelp. Why was she startled? It was only me. Then I realized how insane I looked, my eyes rolled up in my head, drenched in sweat, and mumbling in tones that I didn’t pretend to understand.
“J-Julian,” She stuttered. “Stop.”
I didn’t register the request, not understanding what she meant at this point. All I knew is that it hurt, and it hurt, and-
Gone.
All the pain just disappeared.
My eyes focused around her, taking in her terrified countenance. I had done this. I had made her scared. I instantly sunk to my knees, murmuring words for forgiveness. But these words weren’t English. I wasn’t even sure how I knew these words, but I kept murmuring them over and over. She burst into silent tears, each one dripping on the floor around me grimly, like a final goodbye. I winced and shuddered, wrapping my arms around myself. I had never cried. Basil cried constantly, at a simple fall or a sweet moment. I never had cried, I told myself over and over, repeating the same thing. I was heartless. Even now, in my darkest, lowest hour, there weren’t even tears at the corner of my eyes. I was thrown into self loathing suddenly, groaning with the pain that had suddenly returned, then ebbed away. Every two seconds, it seemed, it switched from perfect to a nightmare, and seemed to be getting faster.
Basil, despite her sobs, grabbed my hand and dragged me up the stairs to her room, nothing glamorous about it. Basil was just as scared as I was, and she lay me down on her bed gently. Nausea. I groaned loudly, curling up into a small ball. Basil ran back downstairs, and when she came back up, she toted a large bag full of medicine, it seemed. I just assumed from the green-blue vials. She tilted my head up, gently spreading my lips as she poured a sludgy, molasses-like liquid into my mouth. It didn’t taste bad, surprisingly, more of a… Broccoli taste. I didn’t mind broccoli. I swallowed obediently, then let her pour more liquids in, each one tasting more disgusting than the last. Thirty minutes flew by, then she stopped tending to me, letting me rest. Eleven forty five came far too soon, and then there was only fifteen minutes. Finally, Basil dared to break the stone cold silence.
“Julian, you don’t think that this would have anything to do with your eye, would you?”
My eye. I had completely forgotten about the physical fracture, and sighed softly, staring at myself in the mirror. I looked nothing like myself, pale as a ghost and with hollow eyes. I cringed, taking in my yellow eye, which appeared to be glowing. I shrugged it off. It was probably some leftover residue from my hallucinations that I previously had. The black line was almost pointing straight up, and I gulped. Eleven forty seven. I continued to stare at myself, sweeping my brown hair out of my eyes carefully.
“I’m not sure.” I finally answered, a completely honest thing. I didn’t know what to think anymore. I didn’t want to think.
She stayed silent for a bit, a gesture that I appreciated. She broke it though, with an incredibly morbid question.
“What if you die?” Simple words as the clock switched to another minute.
I went silent. I didn’t think of that, to be perfectly honest. I couldn’t die though, because it was impossible for someone to die because of their eye. That’s stupid. And completely impossible as well, I mean, a tiny black spot in my eye wasn’t going to kill me.
“I don’t really think that I’m going to die. It's improbable.” I answered simply, hiding my nervousness behind a thick veil of cockiness, smirking at her like she was stupid.
She noticed, of course, that I was being rude, and averted her eyes from me for the time being. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, and the pain started to come back. I hid it well, however, surrounding myself in my dark thoughts. By the time I looked up again, she was crying softly, tears flowing down her face freely as she made no effort to hide her emotions. I stared at the clock, which read two minutes. Half of a minute until something happened. I was filled with some sort of strange feeling, like something bad was about to happen, but I knew that I had no control over it. I swallowed, closing my eyes. I could feel everything. The seconds counting down slowly, the footsteps of a ladybug, the separated breaths of the universe, and suddenly, all together, the galaxy screamed.
My vision faded to black, which the doctors called dehydration, though I had drunk plenty of water over the last twenty three hours. Two Aquafina bottles, nice and big, all down in my stomach now. I groaned, more deja vu, feeling like I’ve been going through this for centuries before, eons and eons. If I had gone through this before, why didn’t I remember it? My family would certainly have gossipped about it to someone, if not the entire town. I heard footsteps to my left and turned that way, praying to every god that I could think of that the figure was my Basil. I reached out, touching soft skin. A yelp. Her yelp. Why was she startled? It was only me. Then I realized how insane I looked, my eyes rolled up in my head, drenched in sweat, and mumbling in tones that I didn’t pretend to understand.
“J-Julian,” She stuttered. “Stop.”
I didn’t register the request, not understanding what she meant at this point. All I knew is that it hurt, and it hurt, and-
Gone.
All the pain just disappeared.
My eyes focused around her, taking in her terrified countenance. I had done this. I had made her scared. I instantly sunk to my knees, murmuring words for forgiveness. But these words weren’t English. I wasn’t even sure how I knew these words, but I kept murmuring them over and over. She burst into silent tears, each one dripping on the floor around me grimly, like a final goodbye. I winced and shuddered, wrapping my arms around myself. I had never cried. Basil cried constantly, at a simple fall or a sweet moment. I never had cried, I told myself over and over, repeating the same thing. I was heartless. Even now, in my darkest, lowest hour, there weren’t even tears at the corner of my eyes. I was thrown into self loathing suddenly, groaning with the pain that had suddenly returned, then ebbed away. Every two seconds, it seemed, it switched from perfect to a nightmare, and seemed to be getting faster.
Basil, despite her sobs, grabbed my hand and dragged me up the stairs to her room, nothing glamorous about it. Basil was just as scared as I was, and she lay me down on her bed gently. Nausea. I groaned loudly, curling up into a small ball. Basil ran back downstairs, and when she came back up, she toted a large bag full of medicine, it seemed. I just assumed from the green-blue vials. She tilted my head up, gently spreading my lips as she poured a sludgy, molasses-like liquid into my mouth. It didn’t taste bad, surprisingly, more of a… Broccoli taste. I didn’t mind broccoli. I swallowed obediently, then let her pour more liquids in, each one tasting more disgusting than the last. Thirty minutes flew by, then she stopped tending to me, letting me rest. Eleven forty five came far too soon, and then there was only fifteen minutes. Finally, Basil dared to break the stone cold silence.
“Julian, you don’t think that this would have anything to do with your eye, would you?”
My eye. I had completely forgotten about the physical fracture, and sighed softly, staring at myself in the mirror. I looked nothing like myself, pale as a ghost and with hollow eyes. I cringed, taking in my yellow eye, which appeared to be glowing. I shrugged it off. It was probably some leftover residue from my hallucinations that I previously had. The black line was almost pointing straight up, and I gulped. Eleven forty seven. I continued to stare at myself, sweeping my brown hair out of my eyes carefully.
“I’m not sure.” I finally answered, a completely honest thing. I didn’t know what to think anymore. I didn’t want to think.
She stayed silent for a bit, a gesture that I appreciated. She broke it though, with an incredibly morbid question.
“What if you die?” Simple words as the clock switched to another minute.
I went silent. I didn’t think of that, to be perfectly honest. I couldn’t die though, because it was impossible for someone to die because of their eye. That’s stupid. And completely impossible as well, I mean, a tiny black spot in my eye wasn’t going to kill me.
“I don’t really think that I’m going to die. It's improbable.” I answered simply, hiding my nervousness behind a thick veil of cockiness, smirking at her like she was stupid.
She noticed, of course, that I was being rude, and averted her eyes from me for the time being. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, and the pain started to come back. I hid it well, however, surrounding myself in my dark thoughts. By the time I looked up again, she was crying softly, tears flowing down her face freely as she made no effort to hide her emotions. I stared at the clock, which read two minutes. Half of a minute until something happened. I was filled with some sort of strange feeling, like something bad was about to happen, but I knew that I had no control over it. I swallowed, closing my eyes. I could feel everything. The seconds counting down slowly, the footsteps of a ladybug, the separated breaths of the universe, and suddenly, all together, the galaxy screamed.