Burn for you (English)

Chapter 12

I rarely had peaceful nights like these, but even less did I wake up with light-headedness and pounding headaches. With the lack of sleep in my marriage, these often came during the day, when I was sure Elijah would be busy for some time and I could thus rest. Since living in the chapter, I was getting regular, adequate sleep, and at the same time the physical exercise caused the nightmares to fade. The demons were always present, lurking in ambush in my consciousness for a trigger that would unleash them, but it was less frequent.

Now the pressure in my skull was increasing by the second, so I squinted my eyes to protect myself from the bright sun in the room. But neither that, nor massaging my temples helped. Perhaps what was needed was a cool shower or fresh air - aids I usually resorted to.

Opening the window seemed like a good idea, but moving my body not so much. As I sat, the dizziness spread to my stomach, which was now circling as well. One hand on my mouth, I leaned over the edge of the bed, but though I retched, I was spared vomiting. Instead, I gasped and tried to get my nausea under control with a few deliberate breaths.

A thumping echoed in my ears, my trepidation preventing me from assessing where it was coming from. Whether from my head or the surrounding area. The opening door was answer enough as Ashley's head appeared in the crack. A relieved expression on her face.

"She's awake." Ash looked back down the hall and seemed to be talking to someone before she entered my room. "Good morning, booze hound."

She was followed by a man who closed the door right behind him. At first glance I would have taken him for a distant cousin of Carlos with the warm skin tone resembling almonds that was clearly innate and not tanned from the sun, but on closer inspection he seemed straighter, even more disciplined than the Vice. Perhaps this was due to his age, which I estimated to be several years higher, based on his short, extremely well-groomed beard, which blended seamlessly into a full mop of graduated black hair. Momentarily, I wondered what he would look like if a gust of wind tossed the strands around.

"This is Pyros, our doc. He wants to check you again."

Again? Had he already done that in my sleep?

"Hello, Adina."

"You're a doctor?" I'd ignored his velvety voice with the friendly smile, instead my scrutinizing gaze wandered over his washed-out blue jeans and the tan shirt he anchored with a belt in his pants.

Pyros laughed amusedly and squatted in front of me, his sleeves neatly folded over his forearms. "Don't expect to find me in a white coat and clipboard. That's not my style."

I'd never believed that professional attire would bow to fashion tastes. At least it never had with the doctors I had encountered so far. This one had already treated me, the laceration of my temple had healed completely by now, only a fine white line testifying to the injury, but I had never seen the doc until now. Not even in the bar or the chapter.

He opened his leather bag and pulled out a small gray pen that turned out to be a flashlight.

"How are you feeling? Are you in any pain? Nausea or numbness?"

The light he shone in my eyes really burned and I barely audibly grumbled in response to his questions. "I feel sick and my head is pounding."

Pyros nodded. "The president already said you threw up yesterday. Can you remember anything?"

As I began to search my memories for yesterday, my vision blurred briefly and the headache intensified. Concentrating was exhausting, yet I didn't have to. The images of last night came to me on their own.

"I was working until I got pretty uncomfortable and woozy at one point, which is why I got out," I muttered. Bile crept up my throat. "Those... men from the bar, they..." Their hands on my skin, mouths on my neck, were too real, catapulting the acid upward. How Ash had conjured the trash can so quickly was beyond me. She sat beside me, stroking my back in a gentle gesture.