31-Day MCSM One Shot Challenge - February Edition 2019

Withering Away

More first person practice! Prepare for errors! :D
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I continue to stare up at nothing but darkness as I listen to everybody's breathing slowly fall into rhythm around me. Sleep, it's all I've felt like doing. Yet, now that I finally can, my thoughts are beginning to swirl around my head more and more, keeping my mind wide awake.

I force myself to close my eyes, deciding that it would probably be a good place to start. But only a few moments later, my eyelids flutter open again and I continue to stare up at the roof of the temple.

Grunting softly, I struggle to turn myself over onto my side. It's so hard to get comfortable on the cold, concrete floor of this place. Now lying on right side, facing the wall beside me, I try closing my eyes again.

But the movement has awoken something else and now it isn't just my busy thoughts bothering me, a dull throbbing in my arm is starting to flare up as well. I grit my teeth, trying to ignore it. I've lived through worse pain, it should be possible to just ignore this. But it isn't the pain in my arm in itself that's bothering me, it's the core reason it's there in the first place.

I shut my eyes again, pulling the blue fabric of my bandanna down over my face to stop myself from getting distracted again. The darkness helps a little to calm my thoughts, but I still can't really say that I feel any closer to sleep.

And as if I'm not fed up enough, I begin to develop the urge to cough. Just another reminder of how bleak my situation is getting.

I gulp a few times to try and get the scratch in my throat to subside, but my success rate isn't very high. Now I'm also starting to realise just how much I can do with a sip of water, when was the last time I actually drank anything?

I involuntarily let out a light cough, unable to withstand the scratch in my throat any longer. Before it can get any worse and anybody else actually hears me, I push myself up from the ground. Ignoring the slowly increasing pain in my arm, I stand and stretch out my stiff limbs.

Thankfully, everybody else is fast asleep. I really don't want an uninvited guest tagging along.

I carefully walk along the perimeter of the room towards the stairs, trying my hardest to not make a sound. A part of me is still annoyed that I'm not asleep right now, getting the rest I so desperately need. But maybe some fresh air will do me good and I'll finally be able to clear my head a bit.

I'm barely one step out of the building when I give into my body's desires and burst into a fit of coughs. By the time I manage to clear my throat, my lungs are wheezing and just about everything hurts. But at least I can properly breathe again.

I walk over to the small dam where the nether portal is located, kneeling down on the grass beside the water and scooping some up in my hand. The cool liquid feels amazing in my dry throat, immediately quenching my thirst.

When I finally decide that I've drank my fill, I sink back and sit down right there on the grass. Just a moment to think, that's all, then I'll go back into the temple and try and sleep again.

As I raise my gaze up the star filled sky above, I can't help but cast a wary glance across the horizon, half-expecting to see the wither looming in sight. Some of the tenseness in my muscles fade away when I don't catch site of the monstrosity and I allow myself to relax a bit.

Another throb in my arm makes me flinch, changing my position so I could rest the limb in my lap. I don't dare roll up my sleeve, almost terrified that the rash of purple would have spread by now. My eyes flicker down to my arm before I fix them back on the sky.

I know that pushing away the truth might not be the best. There's no more denying it after all, the symptoms are all here. I have wither sickness, and ignoring that fact wasn't going to make it any better.

But what can I do? As far as my knowledge goes, there is no cure for this. At first I had hoped that it would fade on its own, but if anything... it's just been getting worse.

I sigh softly, leaning back on my good arm's elbow. It's pretty nice out here, if a little chilly. But I'll take the cold if it means listening to the chirping of crickets instead of other people's snoring, any day of the week.

I let myself drop down all the way, so I'm lying flat on my back, facing the stairs above me. My infected arm lightly throbs in complaint before it calms down again.

While I'm not sure if this is the smartest plan, I think I'm going to keep my infection a secret. Right now, we need to focus on getting rid of the storm. I can't afford everybody's attention shifting to me instead. Besides, what would telling them even accomplish? If my assumptions are correct, I'm going to continue deteriorating. And I just have to accept that fact.

I sigh softly, closing my eyes. Probably not the best move, if I end up falling asleep here, I'm going to regret it in the morning. But I really don't feel like continuing the tossing and turning on the temple's brick floor.

Another cough forces itself from my throat, the scratch returning. I prop myself up on my good arm as I cough to help it pass, before dropping back onto the grass.

The whole situation is such a mess. One moment everything was fine, only to spiral down in chaos the next. And now I can't help but feel that we're completely in over our heads.

No, I shouldn't be thinking about it this way. My situation is a miserable as it is, the least I can do is show some confidence. This group needs every last shred of courage it can get.

But as I think about our group, the misery just wells up again. None of us have anything in common, even the members of the order seem ready to tear each other's throats out around every corner. I'm trying to hold on to the hope that Jesse can keep everybody together, she's been doing a pretty fine job at it as it is. Still, it remains so hard to stay hopeful.

I yawn, actually starting to feel tired again. Maybe it's best I get up and head back in, I don't fancy explaining why I slept outside in the morning.

I once more struggle my sore body up from the ground, kneeling down by the water for one last quick drink. I shove my hands into my pockets as I walk back towards the building, trying my best to keep my thoughts positive. Even if the positivity is unrealistic at this point, I'll bother with the harsh truth when I'm not trying to sleep.

Nobody has budged from the positions they had been in when I left. I once more hug the perimeter of the room as I return to my spot on the ground, next to the wall. My body painfully complains as I lower it down onto the hard ground again.

Letting out a soft sigh, I close my eyes again and silently wait for sleep to consume me. But the positivity is long gone once more, my head beginning to swirl with countless thoughts of just how deep we were dug into this mess.

But I just try my hardest to push all those thoughts aside, and hold onto the tiny shred of hope before it can completely wither away.

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I'm messing myself up so bad, because now that I'm practicing this, I keep screwing up the tenses in my usual third person past tense stuff... smooth, very smooth.

But yay for some more first person practicing! I doubt it's any better than last time, because its been like, what, 3 days? But hey, it's actually been fun!

Speaking of fun, writer's block is still kinda here in the sense that I had some trouble coming up with ideas - I mean, come on, this is probably the most predictable thing I could have gone for with this topic xD BUT, I don't hate it like yesterday's one shot, and the actual writing part was fun. So I'm happy!

Also can I just say there's something intriguingly fun about writing Wither Sickness, especially with a headstrong character like Petra. I don't know, I just really like taking somebody who's strong and hopeful and watching them slowly weaken and, well, wither away. 
Random fun fact about your insane author over here!

I don't have much else to say, so lemme end this A/N here!

I hope you all enjoyed this one shot and I'll see you tomorrow with whichever prompt I draw next!