AFFLICTION.

Chapter 39

HARRY'S P.O.V

3 MONTHS EARLIER-

I woke up to the familiar throbbing pain in my chest.

I groaned and moaned, rolling around in the bedsheets, my eyes were shut and my teeth clenched. My clothes and hair were damp from sweat and my stomach churned and gurgled.

I felt a hand suddenly press against my forehead, "He's feverish." The familiar voice of doctor Hasni rung in my ears. "Go get me the coldest water you can find, a cloth and three sulfa pills."

I felt something surge from my gut and into my throat. My lunch from earlier on came spewing out, covering the hospital floor beneath me.

Despite the heat that radiated off my skin, a slight chill overcame my body, causing me to tremble and shake in the sheets. My head throbbed and ached as I lay on my back, waiting for Doctor Hasni's treatment.

Moments later I felt pills being shoved against my lips and into my mouth, followed by the soothing sensation of water. A cloth drenched in ice water was soon pressed against my head as Doctor Hasni's skilled hands went to the bandaged covered wound on my chest.

My vision began to blur as I turned my head to the left. A nurse stood patiently beside me, running the cold cloth up and down the sides of my face. She had dark hair and big eyes. For several seconds at a time, her face would morph into Lianna's. She smiled at me, her brown eyes boring into mine.

"You're going to be alright Harry." I thought I heard her whisper.

After a minute or two I began to question whether it was actually Lianna beside me or just the nurse with dark hair.

"Lianna," I moaned, pulling the nurses hand towards me. "Wait for me." I slurred and went unconscious. 

I slept for two days.

When I finally woke, my fever was worse.

The nurse with blonde hair, Dianna, force fed me bread but I couldn't keep it down. My body retched, heaved and shook uncontrollably. My clothes were constantly wet with sweat and my skin heated, a fluid drip was fed through the catheter in my arm.

When the nurse with brown hair came to bring me water, I imagined Lianna again. I imagined that she told me to stay strong and kissed my lips.

After five days I stopped vomiting, but the fever still coursed through my body.

I shook and trembled, groaned and moaned.

Three weeks had passed and the fever had eased considerably but I stopped imagining Lianna.

A month had passed since I'd been shot down at Ypres.

A month without Lianna.

A month of her believing that I was actually dead.

"How are we feeling today Mr. Styles?" Doctor Hasni greeted me with a grin.

"Fine." I returned the smile, hoping to convince him of my wellness. "I'm ready to leave now."

He shook his head and laughed. "Firstly, I need to arrange for the fishing boat to take you. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

I sighed in frustration, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Diana, bring him his lunch." Doctor Hasni insisted.

Moments later Diana came back with a hunk of bread and two dehydrated eggs. She was the blonde nurse who had given me my food when I had arrived. She was grinning from ear to ear as she handed me the tray. "There you go." She said.