Heartburn • Rin x Miku

Chapter 8

By the time I started sneezing and coughing in this cold, I had to call Len to pick me up. The rain had calmed down but it was still drizzling, and I was starting to feel dizzy. I was hoping Len would come quickly.

He came by without an umbrella, and his face looked seriously heart broken. He helped me up and it gave me a coughing fit. He held my shoulders close anyway. My throat felt thinned and scratchy, and my nose started to ooze mucus. Len took his sweatshirt sleeve and wiped my nose.

We slowly walked out of the rain and ambled to his house. He held me for support- not that it was comfortable or anything, but he's trying his best and I won't ruin it for him. The only time he let me go was when he had to grab his keys and he leaned me against the wall.

He opened the door and guided me to the couch, where he laid me down and passed a blanket to my body. I shivered in comfort, but I still felt green in my head. It was pounding and aching, and my nose felt filled with plugs that kept me from breathing. Len had exited the room and came back with medicine, and he pulled over a chair to sit by me.

He took out a plastic spoon and put the medicine on the end.

He brought it to my mouth, and he didn't have to ask even once. I took in two spoonfuls and by then I started to gag. Medicine never tastes good. Len then went into the kitchen to discard the spoon and keep the medicine cold.

He quickly went back to the chair and examined me with sadness: I probably looked like a mess. I hid my face under the blanket and started to remove the dress that was damp with rain water and snow.

The couch became damp with my weight pushing the dress fabric into the couch, but I had no control over it. It was uncomfortable but I needed to deal. My head was beating in all areas and I think I'm going to catch something worse than a cold. Ugh.

Len sighed, and I coughed. He picked up the dress and left to throw it into a laundry hamper.

I feel like giving up on looking for her. I might end up getting too sick to the point where I could potentially die, but aren't I too young for that? I clenched the blanket, feeling miserable in every way possible. Why can't I be killed already? The pain that's inside is unbearable. I just want to stay here forever and drown in my misery until I successfully pass.

"Rin,"

I didn't move. I didn't respond. I couldn't think or comprehend anything.

"Rin,"

The voice calls again. I blink my eyes shut in pain and agony. Time seemed to have slowed down.

"Rin Kagamine, respond to me!"

I lift my head out of the blanket and stare at Len. "What?" I cry, and my voice didn't sound like it belonged to me. Len sighs again and he looks at me. "You know what I'm going to say." He asks in a lowered tone. I blink, not really knowing what he's going to tell me.

"I don't, actually." I tell him, my voice having a little more hoarseness to it. "You didn't find Miku?" Len asks, and I shake my head slowly. Len looks at me like he's thinking really hard about something. Once I cough again, he locks his beady-blue eyes onto my own.

"You're not going to give up, are you?"

This boy keeps surprising me every day. "Seriously?" I ask before another cough. "Rin, answer me." He tells me, and I start to feel a little nervous for some reason. "Why does that matter?" I ask, biting back more tears. My throat feels scratchy enough. "Look, Rin, you mean more to me than you realize. I have known you since I was a baby and I know who you are. I know how you feel about Miku. I just do. And if you think that she isn't going to make you feel any better then I can't say that anything else will."