The tide turns

Chapter 4 / A taste of relief

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"Just... sleep," Gudrid whispered to herself sternly, begging her tired body and her hurting eyes to succumb to her exhaustion.

She was lying in the tall grass on the slope up from the beach. The grass was dry and prickly, making any way she positioned herself uncomfortable. She bit her lip, thinking of how wrong it felt to be alone, scared, and injured, thinking of her bed back home in Greenland, and trying not to think about how much her head hurt.

She ran a hand over the splint on her arm, softly and without much pressure, but she could still feel it ache from the slightest touch, and she could find the specific place just below her elbow where the wood dug uncomfortably into her skin. Still, the splint had helped her a lot, and it hurt less after she recovered from having her arm reset.

Unfortunately, as the pain in her arm faded more, the pain in her head grew much more noticeable.

She felt warm and dizzy, but also cold at the same time, so every time a cold breeze blew past her face, she would wince in pain as if it were arrows digging into her skull and her eyes.

She sighed again, exhausted and desperate, rubbing at her throbbing eyes.

It was difficult to get any rest when she couldn't empty her mind and drift off as she normally did. She tried to count the stars, but the throbbing in her head made her lose count.

"Sleep," she begged.

She wondered how many hours passed in a blur until the calming sound of the waves dragged her under and into a deep sleep, allowing her to forget her pain for a while.

Her sleep was dreamless and restless, seeming like it was going on forever.

She normally dreamt of sailing the seas, with others or just herself, crawling in trees, and speaking a hundred languages, but not that night. That night was long, dark, empty, and cold.

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"How come every morning I come here, you look dead?"

Gudrid was already moving when she woke up, rolling, turning her head, and blocking out the sun with her good arm. The sun was high in the sky. How long had she slept?

"What's wrong with you? Why are you still here?"

The words barely registered with her, but she knew it was that boy again. He kept coming back, even though he told her he wouldn't.

"What?" She asked, wanting him to repeat his question.

Gudrid slowly pushed herself up from the prickly grass, groaning softly as she did so. Her head still ached, but at least her arm felt a bit better. The young boy's voice continued to pester her, and she realized he was asking why she was still there.

With a tired and confused expression, she managed to mumble, "I was sleeping."

The boy let out an exasperated sigh, clearly frustrated with her response.

Gudrid then lost her balance as she tried to stand, falling back onto the ground. She tried to catch herself by stretching out her arms, instinctively putting weight on her broken one as well, making her cry out.

"What now?" He was just as confused as she was. His feet had led him back to the beach, hoping that she would be gone, but he had spotted her immediately. She was still there, and she had deteriorated.

He wondered why a new problem arose with her every time he saw her.

"I don't know..." she murmured and squeezed her eyes shut. "I just got so dizzy all of a sudden. My head still hurts."