Running • Iggy

Prove

I woke up with a headache so bad I swore I was close to throwing up from the pain. I glanced at the digital clock that was sat to the right of the bed, it reading '18:03'. How was it already 6pm? I had gone up here at barely 3pm. Who knows how long I was asleep and how long I had been panicking for. No matter how blurred my eyesight and mind were at the time, I could still perfectly recall the terrible condition I was in. My stomach hurt, and I questioned if it was due to the number of times I had thrown up, or if it was because I was hungry. I turned to the bathroom, quickly remembering the mirror was no longer there to see if my reflection looked as bad as I felt. I spotted something on the counter, a sticky note written in the familiar style of Fang's slightly messy, compacted handwriting.

Thought u would maybe
want 2 see if u looked ok
b4 u went downstairs.
if its 2 much to look, call
for me, ill just b
downstairs.
- Fang :P

I smiled at the little face he had drawn at the bottom of the note, before picking up the small hand mirror. I winced at my reflection. My eyes were red and puffy and I looked pale, the contrast between my face and eyes becoming more drastic. Speaking of my hair, it was an absolute mess. I reluctantly turned on the shower and jumped in, letting the cold water shock my system awake. I only stayed there long enough to get my hair and body washed, before getting back out and soon changing into a set of clothes that were set on the end of my bed. I knew it was Fang from a detail as small as the way he folded them. I had to say, for a seemingly emo-style 15-year old, he knew how to put a set of clothes together that weren't completely black.

I sighed as I pulled lightly at my necklace, sitting on the end of my bed, now fully dressed. I wore navy blue ripped jeans, a long-sleeved pale orange t-shirt and one of Iggy's jackets I had stolen from his bag. Yes, I'm turning into one of those friends. I knew my eyes were still red and I knew I was still deathly pale, so I was reluctant to go downstairs. Everything felt cold to me, so I was pretty sure I had some sort of temperature, stress-induced most likely. I shivered, feeling cold. I knew I wasn't, but I zipped up the jacket I had borrowed to my neck, my head pounding to the fast, steady rhythm of my heart. I wondered how Fang had convinced anyone to let me sleep. Time to find out.

I quietly walked down the stairs, spotting Iggy almost immediately. He was playing monopoly with Max, Gazzy and Angel at the dining table. Fang was washing the dishes in the kitchen section of the room, and I could hear Alisha and Annabelle talking to the last customers of the night below us, and Adam's babbling. I quickly but silently walked over to Fang, feeling another shiver go through my body as I tapped him on the forearm, grabbing his attention effectively. He flinched out of surprise, his muddy blue eyes sharp and slightly wide as they flickered to me, which then his expression changed.

"Hi." I whispered, nonchalantly using the counter to support most of my weight, making sure not to lean on the weak material too hard as it has already snapped under my grip once before. Fang controlled the volume of his voice into a whisper as he spoke, making sure the others wouldn't hear him ask "Do you feel any better?" as he glanced behind him, checking no one was listening to our conversation. I felt uncomfortable answering with anything but Absolutely amazingly shockingly perfect, my dear brother! Why would you ever consider otherwise? But the look he gave me stopped me from responding with the reflexive lie.

"A bit." I murmured. "I'm not crying, am I? So better." I wouldn't meet his eyes, I focused on each little detail on the counter instead, letting my enhanced sight take my mind off the throbbing in my head, and how much I was shivering. "What did you tell them to let me sleep?" I asked, closing my heavy eyelids. I was beginning to fully wake up, but the cold shower hadn't done much to help me. "That I came in and you'd thrown up." He shrugged. "And you got so startled that you almost kicked me, and I stumbled back and broke the mirror." He went back to cleaning, setting the clean dishes on the counter near my white-knuckled hands. I nodded softly, opening my eyes. "Does Annabelle have any medicine? M'head's killing me." I found myself admitting the situation quietly before I had fully processed the words, causing them to slur ever so slightly. I wondered if it was a noticeable difference for Fang.