The Cheshire Cat's Smile [ENG]

Chapter 9

The following night turned out to be difficult once again. My barking chesty cough was hard to contain even with the cough syrup and I was almost certain that it wouldn't be long before Chishiya would throw me out because of it. After all, since the antibiotics I'd hardly had any fever attacks, just a few chills and aching limbs at night.

Chishiya also seemed to be feeling a bit better, which actually surprised me considering my miserable work with needle and thread. He could still only move his arm to a limited extent, but at least the wound had stopped oozing and looked a little better than the day before. However, it would probably still take some time for the skin to fully regenerate.

This time Chishiya tried to keep still as I reapplied the ointment, although he was certainly still in a lot of pain.

As I applied the bandage, I was once again interrupted by a violent coughing fit. I turned to the side and was almost in tears because I could hardly breathe.

"Have you already taken the cough syrup today?" Chishiya asked when I had calmed down a bit. I nodded. "When you've finished this, you should try a hot bath. I think I saw a cold bath in the bathroom cupboard once."

I lifted my head and blinked in surprise.

"B-but .... wouldn't that be a bit of a waste?" I asked uncertainly.

"If it helps you, then no. I need my sleep too, but your cough is incredibly annoying."

"All right, if you agree," I said with an inner anticipation and couldn't apply his new bandage fast enough.

How long had I been wishing for a relaxing hot bubble bath since I'd been here? And finally this wish actually came true.

Chishiya seemed to notice how excited I was about it, but didn't say anything. When I had finished and put everything away, I grabbed some fresh clothes and hurried to the bathroom, almost exuberantly.

"But don't overdo it," Chishiya called after me. I just giggled a little embarrassed and stuck my head through the door again.

"No, never," I whispered.

As soon as I had closed the door behind me, I ran to the bathtub to run hot water into it. Then I looked in the cupboard for the cold bath that Chishiya had mentioned. I found it relatively quickly and put two caps in the water. I also found a newly packaged ladies' razor and a bubble bath that had been sitting on the edge of the bath and probably hadn't been used for ages. Euphoric, I undressed and tested the water temperature with my toe. When it was comfortable, I tied my hair up and got in. I heaved a sigh of relief as I slowly leaned back. The warm water was a real treat and the scent of eucalyptus was almost intoxicating. I noticed how my airways automatically became clearer as I inhaled the fresh scent.

My thoughts drifted away for a moment and I began to wonder what my parents and little brother were doing. I had no idea what had happened to them when this whole thing started. Maybe they were lucky and were still in the real world. At least that's what I told myself. And then there was my first class, which I had just taken over before coming here. I hadn't seen a single child in Borderland so far, so I hoped that they had been spared this nightmare. I sighed softly and then thought of Chishiya, who was lying right next to this room. Even though we hadn't spent much time together yet, I realized that he wasn't always who he said he was. Nevertheless, since our conversation yesterday, I kept asking myself how a person could have such a weak will to live and how it was possible for him to be so indifferent to human life. What must have happened in his young life to make him like this? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I felt sorry for him. What he lacked was a reason to live. He wanted to find something that touched him deeply, no matter what it was, but since he obviously hadn't found that one thing yet, he would rather give up on himself. Yet Chishiya had everything most people would want: He was intelligent, confident, fearless, funny and also exceedingly attractive. When you got right down to it, he had hit the jackpot. How could he still be so miserable that he actually believed the world would be better off without him? Perhaps the solution to the riddle lay somewhere in his past. But we clearly didn't know each other well enough to ask him about it. And who knew if that would ever be the case in the future?