Where He Belongs

~Seven~

A/N: So because you're all awesome, I'm updating early for you. I hope you like it!

And the winner is...@DustinVarun. Congrats! Yay, you guessed it. Thank you for reading my story. If you enjoyed please comment, vote, or follow me. It would be very much appreciated.

Pic: what I picture the chessboard Thomas and Jeffery made to look like. It's so cool!!
(Side note, I actually love chess. So much. I don't really know why; I just do)

Peace Out, Girl Scouts

~Kate~

"Checkmate."

Jeffery scraped his eyes over the game board in utter disbelief. "Son of a bitch." He sat back in a sigh. "You're too good at this. Like, seriously. Do something with your life."

I smiled, peeking out the window to see rain still pouring down. I had wanted to go get fresh water from the well so I could make some soup for lunch for everyone. But my parents wouldn't let me out in the rain. I got sick easy. "Again?"

"I'm getting tired of losing," replied Jeffery standing up with a shake of his head. "Ask Thomas."

I pouted. I knew that Thomas would avoid me like usually. In fact he wasn't even here. He'd bolted out of there as soon as he woke up despite the pouring rain. I assumed he was off with his wife at her parent's house. Thomas and Denisse's house was nearly done. I'd taken lunch to Jeffery and Thomas all last week while they slaves away at it and watched the steady progress. "He's not here. Jeff, please?"

He ran a hand over his face with a firm head shake. "Don't you have a mate you could pester?" He replied, sitting down on the couch, picking up a book Xena had lent him. "Mine expects me to talk about this stupid novel tonight and I've wasted enough time as it is."

I was about to carry on until he relented and played one more game with me when I got the very abrupt urge to vomit.

It wasn't unusual lately but I couldn't figure out how to hide it as I bolted into the bathroom and vomited into the toilet. Not all surprisingly my mother, father and Jeff crammed into the way too small room, crowding around me. "Are you okay?" my mother demanded.

I wiped my mouth shakily, flushing the toilet. "Fine. Can I, uh, get to the sink?"

The shuffled out just far enough for me to get to the sink. I tried to ignore them as I rinsed out my mouth a few times. My mother felt my forehead, frowning. "Is he sick?" my father demanded.

"No. He isn't at all warm... Did you eat this morning?"

I tried hard to think of a reply. "Yes!" I blurted as I remembered. "Cornflakes."

"Maybe it didn't agree with him?" Questioned my father.

"Yeah," I breathed, relieved. "I'm sure that's it. I'm going to go lay down okay? Just to make sure that this passes."

After a moments pause my parents agreed, letting me scurry into my little room. While I wasn't locking myself away anymore, they were still a fried of me retorting back to my solitary days. I knew it scared them so I avoided it as much as possible.

I sat on my bed, getting my nausea under bay again. Normally I suffered through without throwing up. Maybe it was all the excitement from winning at chess? Either way if I had another slip-up like that my parents would figure out I was actually ill. That had to be my problem. It had been nearly four weeks since I began to feel sick and six since I was taken by force by the rogue. My pains weren't letting up either. If anything they were getting worse. Not only were my feet and ankles aching but started to swell some too. My back would hurt terribly when I first woke up and hip bones would throb mercilessly all morning for no apparent reason. And my scars, my ugly red scars, would feel like they were tightened in the early mornings.