Shipwrecked

Chapter 6: Recovery

5,000 reads on this story. Let me pause and fangirl

asdfghjkl thank you so much!!!!!!!!!! If you guys leave loads of votes and comments on this chapter the next chapter will be out so fast and I promise that. *Taps heart*

As always,

Love, Peace and Oreos  

~Silesia

I watched the sun rise. This was the third time in a row I've seen sunrise without sleeping. I feel weak and weary. I want to sleep so badly but I couldnt bring myself to close my eyes. If I fell asleep that left Jacob completely defensless against the elements and the fever. A risk I didnt want to take. It was, after all, my fault that he got bitten by that snake. I stifled a yawn.

"Alexandria." Jacob said weakly, startling me. I looked down at him.

"Are you okay? You should be asleep! Are you hungry? Too hot? Too cold?" I spoke in a wild torrent. Words flying out my mouth, questions tumbling one after the other. 

He gave a small chuckle that ended in a violent coughing fit. "You sound so worried." He wheezed. "I just wanted to-"His voice was getting weaker with every word. He closed his eyes in pain, causing me to worry. 

"I think I need to re-dress your wound." I managed to stutter. I got a small handful of leaves from the pile beside me. I dont know what they are but I stumbled across them when I went to fetch some drinking water. I had noticed their smoothness and been interested in the soft pastel shade of green they had. It reminded me of one of my chalks, so i had plucked a handful and brought it back down to the shore. When I got there Jacob was sleeping, so I had sat down and began using the coconut shell of water and my cleanest paint cloth to sponge his forehead and keep him cool. About an hour or so later Jacob had woken up. He noticed the leaves and his eyes lit up with excitement. I was confused at first and he was still at the stage where all he could do was mumble incoherrently and gesture. He had tried desperately to communicate with me, but I couldnt understand his strange mumbling. It wasnt until he pointed first at the leaves, then at his mouth, then at the wound I understood. Taking a few of the leaves I had chewed them gingerly and closed my eyes as I spat them into my palm and pressed them to his wound. They stuck to it and congealed to make an instant salve, not unlike those soothing gels they give you in hospitals. I was mesmirised by it. Jacob seemed happy enough, he had closed his eyes and gone back to sleep.  

I looked at him now. He was wide awake his eyes were trained on me as I redressed the wound. "It seems to be healing okay." I said in an attempt to fill the silence. "It looks a lot better and there's no more blood!" My voice sounded high pitched and uncanny, so I stopped. 

"Why, are you, doing all-" Jacobs face contorted in an effort to speak. "Doing all of this?" He finished finally. 

I was slightly taken aback by his question. "What do you mean? All of what?"  

"Keeping. Me. Alive." He sighed. "I die." He coughed. "More food. Tent. You would be, happy."  

I blinked at him. "Happy?" 

He gave a wry smile. "You hate me."  

Oh right. He thinks I should want him dead because I hate him. Great. I simply smiled back. "I guess I just dont want your death on my conscience." 

He laughed. Louder and harder than he had laughed in days. I couldnt help but giggle with him. His laughter ended in heavy wheezing and coughs. I helped him sit up and rubbed his back and made him sip some water from the small bottle from his pack I refill every day. I put the bottle down and put a hand to his temple. It was warm, but not as hot as it had been these past couple of days. "I think your fever is coming down!" I said happily. Without a word Jacob reached up and took my hand off his forehead and lowered it to to the left side of his chest. He looked at me meaningfully and I realised what he was saying. "Jacob I-" I didnt want to shut him down, because that was heartless and he was vunerable, not to mention wracked with fever and probably delusional. "I need to get more wood for fire. Are you strong enough to stay here by yourself?"