Nostrum

Prologue

As a little girl, I was always tormented by this invisible monster. This monster went through my family like a forest fire. My eyes could only watch as one after another, my family fell into a painful sleep just days apart from each other.

Twisting and turning, while grabbing their chests in desperation to get air. My innocent eyes quivered in fear and uncertainty, as I peeked through my door while hearing the doctors panicking and screaming for aid by their nurses.

This illness that plagued my family, was the very monster that I was afraid of. Other children were afraid of the boogie man or some other made up monster, but I was facing something far worse than any made up monster.

This plague only chose my family to attack, for no one else got this illness. The doctors and nurses were all safe, but sadly my family was not. My mother and I stayed in a room together, right across those who were sick.

"Close the door, Colette.", softly persuaded my mother who sat on the bed that we both share. "You do not need to see such things."

"B-but Mother aren't you scared?", I softly asked her while looking back innocently. "Everyone is hurting, Mother..."

Father, Uncle, Grandma, and Grandpa. Everyone in our family has this illness, and are suffering terribly. Tears soon escaped my brown eyes, as I cried in front of the door I was peeking through. My little hands softly went up to rub my eyes which were now flooded with tears. The more I rubbed my eyes, did the tears increase. In such a short time my face and hands were soaked with tears.

"Colette, shhh.", approached my mother who pulled me into a comforting hug. My sobs continued as she softly rocked her body back and forth.

"A-are we going to get it..?", I sobbed asking my mother this question.

"Of course not, shhh.", comforted my mother as she rubbed my shivering back as I sobbed more. She tried to be there for me, and I knew it. My mother didn't even want to scare me, anymore than I was. What she wanted was for me to have a great life, and not at all be scared of what was to come next.

My tear filled eyes slowly opened up when I heard a sob as her embrace became stronger, and I knew then that my mother was crying. Her voice shook in a fearful way, as she said. "Everything will be alright...!", though she said these words my poor mother felt like she was lying to me. After all she didn't even know if the both of us would make it or not.

That day we both wept in each other's arms, for neither of us knew if we would make it.

We were both scared, there was no denying that. This illness was fast and deadly, killing those who I knew without mercy. My family died in a matter of days, and only my mother and I were spared. As quickly as it came, that illness all but stopped mysteriously. Even the doctors were surprised by how quickly it came and then went.

Even so, the doctors spoke of this illness to my mother and I that day it had stopped. They said that it went into some kind of hibernation, meaning it could come back again. Just this news terrified me, while my mother felt strong. She became strong just so she could protect me, and that strength soon rubbed off on me.

****

My mother went into overdrive with finding remedies and cures, as she wrote them down in her journal. She even tried learning herbalism, all on her own. I remember watching her at night, as she scribbled away in her journal and made natural medicines. All of this she was doing, was for us.

Of course to those who didn't know my mother personally, looked at her like she was overly obsessed with finding old remedies and medicines. They even called her a health freak. Though they called her such things, this didn't stop her from her work.