Wings | ✓

23. a needle

"it's not too painful, is it?" greg asked, like how i'd imagine a concerned parent would. i nodded my head numbly. the strange new treatment was more painful than swallowing all those medicine pills, but greg said it was effective, and the only way to go about my recovery.

i stared at the needle that protruded out of my forearm, and stared as the strange milky substance gets pumped into my veins.

it hurts. but i'm a big girl, and i can take it.

there's still a lot of this strange substance in the little tank that was attached to the tube that was attached to the needle that was attached to my arm. i watch it flow slowly and try to swallow down the bile than threatened to rise up my throat.

"i wanna throw up," i struggled to say without screaming. moisture bubbled out through my lips and dribbled down my chin and greg's expression turned into one of panic.

"give her the bucket," he quickly ordered, and i was too rigid and frozen to turn my head to see the nurse take the object and shove it under my chin.

and then there was a crackling sound, like ice that formed on top of a surface of water being broken through, and i realised it came out of my throat. there was a deep rumbling, an unforgiving squeeze in the lower intestines, and my heart twisted uncomfortably. all the horrible sensations spread like wildfire through my body but my mouth was frozen and so was my voice, and all i could do was stare, stare at the milky substance seeping into my skin, burning the insides of my veins and tainting my blood.

"it hurts," i squeaked, trying to hold down the bile, but ultimately failing. i felt liquid dribble down my chin again, and then an explosion in my body, that tore past the walls of my throat and out of my lips like a secret exposed.

i let my tears fall freely as vomit continued to pour out of my mouth like a waterfall, but even the tears couldn't blur out the sight of the needle in my arm, and the substance seeping into flesh.