Uh, I forgot to write the username down again. Someone feel free to shoot me. I'm so sorry.
"I reckon grabbing a tissue might help you out a bit Jack."
"Huh?" I blearily looked up from my cereal.
I sniffled again and Dad raised an eyebrow, "a tissue?"
"Oh," I grumbled, "right." I rubbed at the tip of my nose and shrugged dismissively, "I'm good."
"Morning my two favourite boys," Mum swept into the kitchen, ruffling my hair up. She locked Dad's ipad and kissed him.
"And to you m'lady," Dad grinned at her happily. I sighed and swallowed an overly chewed mouthful of cereal with a wince. Despite it literally being nothing but mushy liquid it still hurt a bit going down. My throat was dry and itchy when I woke and I must've drunken at least a litre of water in an attempt to make it go away. No die.
I sneezed and like a hawk mum spun on me.
"Bless you. That horrid winter cold is spreading around J, are you feeling alright?"
"Bit stuffy, throats kind of bugging me. It's really nothing, I'm fine Mum," I rolled my eyes as I stood and scraped the remaining half of my breakfast into the waste disposer.
I groaned as she touched a hand to my forehead and tutted worriedly, "I don't think you're warm at all."
"You worry wart," dad chuckled to himself. He patted Mum's shoulder, "I'll go get Mara moving."
Mum frowned and chewed on her lip, "maybe you should stay home. . ."
"Mum," I complained. Usually I'd leap at the chance for a day of lazing on the couch, but exams were approaching fast and I was so far failing maths. I needed all the time I could get.
"It's just a sniffly nose. Nobody stays home over a sniffly nose. I feel fine, and I need to be in maths at the moment if I wanna pass."
Mum touched my face again. I stared at her with a blunt look, "seriously Mum."
She sighed reluctantly, "alright, but take it easy today. And make sure you load up on cold and flu before you go." I nodded, gave her a hug, and went to go pack my bag. My maths books weighed ton and the bag dug into my shoulders sharply. After cleaning up in the bathroom and tugging my clunky shoes on I took a couple of pills and headed out to meet Dad and Mara in the car.
"Crank up the heat will you?" I shivered as we rolled out onto the road.
Dad glanced back at me in the rearview mirroring, making me inwardly groan. He was wearing the same worried look as Mum now. I wouldn't have said anything if I'd known I was going to start him up.
"Maybe Mum was right, I can still drop you off home. You're shaking."
I rolled my eyes, "I'm only 'shaking' because it's freezing in here."
The vent I had my hands pressed up against boosted a rush of hot air, making me sigh in relief, "ah."
It really was too bad that I was too stubborn to listen to Mum and Dad that morning. If I'd just stayed home like they'd recommended I wouldn't be suffering through last period maths. My head hurt, I couldn't breathe, and every time I coughed everyone stared at me like I was about to start spreading the plague.
"Mate, Jackson, you can't fall asleep. Miss will have your head." Cade probed my shoulder.
"If cutting it off will stop it from throbbing I'm all for it," I muttered thickly, my throat protesting. Everything had gradually worsened throughout the day and now I was practically a walking sack of flu. It was too much to be the horrid cold mum had mentioned that morning, unless my tolerance had majorly plummeted. A cold had never made me feel this shitty before.
The teacher let us pack up a couple of minutes before the bell as per usual and I let put the coughs I'd been holding in as everyone began chatting loudly. Cade thumped my back.
I refused to meet Dad's eyes as I got into the car. Call me stubborn, but I didn't want him to know that he'd been right.
"How was your day?" He asked knowingly. I shot him a warning look. Now was not the time to wind me up, I was definitely not in the mood.
"By the looks of you, I'd say pretty dreadful..." He trailed off, answering his own question. The heat boosted right up suddenly and I relaxed slightly into my seat as the warmth seeped into my skin. After sitting in freezing cold classrooms all day it was heavenly.
"Just take me home," I grumbled, turning my head to the side and shutting my eyes. Dad turned down the music and rested a hand on my knee as he drove us back to the house. He was all talk, acting like hardass. I knew better, he was a total softie and I knew he felt as bad for me as I did.
My chest ached as I coughed some more on my way inside. I stopped, but dad ushered me forward and out of the chill. He closed the door behind us and lead me to the lounge where mum was curled up on the couch, knitting like a grannie I always teased her about it. Mara was sad next to her with a mess of pink wool tangled around her own thick pair of knitting needles.
"Oh, God, Jack honey you look like you're about to drop dead."
"Thanks, mum, " I deadpanned, my voice painfully raspily. I had my gym teacher to blame for that. According to her it wasn't team work unless everyone was yelling like crazies. It had become a habit, even when I felt like crap.
"Come sit." She beckoned me over, "dad will make you a tea."
"I will?" Dad said as I shivered and plopped myself onto the couch next to Mum.
Dad earned a playful stare, "you will."
I sneezed a coughed dryly, right about now a hot cup of sounded like the fix to all my problems.
So, unfortunately tea wasn't the solution, although it took me five cups and the entire night long to realise it. Mum and Dad had me take some more medicine, thinking that I'd be able to sleep better but it didn't really help and even though Dad said that I could wake him if there were any problems I left him to sleep while I got in and out of bed all night. I couldn't stop coughing, and it was keeping me up. Every hour or so I was in the kitchen, flicking the jug on and miserably making myself another cup of tea in the hopes that it would make it stop.
The fifth time was at about 4:30, and after drinking me tea I gave up on trying to get back to my room and instead tucked myself up on the couch with my blankets and a box of tissues. My chest would sting and rattle as I coughed over and over. Hardly five minutes after I'd sat down I scrambled out of my seat and over to the sink just in time to throw up what little I'd eaten for dinner.
"Jackson! I told you to wake me up!" Dad bowled into the kitchen, whisper-yelling as he pulled my fringe out of the way. I grunted, coughed, and shrugged into his side tiredly. I hadn't had a wink and all of this running around was exhausting.
Dad sighed sympathetically and rinsed out the sink, "let's get some more cough medicine into you Bud, you sound dreadful."
"Dad. . ." I whined. He'd left me hanging over the sink with nothing but noodles to keep me upright, "I need to sit first."
My throat was completely raw.
"Oh, right, here, I've gotcha." He lead me over to the couch.
"Thanks," I rasped before launching into a more violent fit of coughs than I had been earlier. Apparently talking was a no go. Dad frowned and rubbed my back as they faded out. I shivered hard as Dad measured out some medicine with a wide yawn. After getting it down, it took a couple of tries, Dad sat down beside me and let me rest up against him as my eyes fell shut.
I still didn't sleep, but it was more comfortable with him around.
Two long and painful days later Mum and Dad had decided it wasn't my decision whether or not I was going to see a doctor, I was going no matter how hard I argued the point. The family doctor, Dr Train, wasn't my favourite person in the world. He always smelled like fish and he sat way too close for comfort. I didn't like him, so I'd put up a fight.
"Go get in the car, or I'll drag carry you like a baby," Dad threatened.
"You wouldn't." I coughed. I couldn't get a single word out without triggering some length of fit anymore. It hurt my chest so bad and Dad just raised a brow as I wheezed.
"Listen to yourself Jack, you're struggling to breath," mum rubbed my back, "Dr Train isn't even that bad."
I rubbed at my eyes and sighed, "whatever. I'll be in the car."
Mum sighed in relief, "finally."
I stood, moaning as I swayed for a moment.
"I might carry you anyway Jack, as a safety precaution." Dad gripped onto my shoulder.
"I can walk, Dad."
I felt their eyes burning into the back of my skull as I shuffled away so I kept my head high and walked as well as I could all the way to the car. Or at least, until they couldn't see me. I'd already given in to the doctor plea, I wasn't going to be carried around like a cripple, even if my head was swimming and I could hardly feel my legs. It was the fever. It rose and it plummeted and it made me feel a hundred times worse than I would've without it.
I sat in the car and sniffled, coughed, and sneezed for five minutes before I fell asleep. I woke up sometime later with Dad leaning over me. He unclipped my belt and grinned encouragingly, "hey sleepy, let's get you inside."
I slurred out a protest but Dad wasn't interested. He rolled me onto my feet and lead me inside before my legs had the chance to buckle beneath me.
"Mum stayed home ?" I murmured once the two of us were seated in the waiting room. There was no appointment made because of the rashness of the visit, but thankfully there was only one other person waiting. Probably because Dr Train smelled weird.
"Someone had to stay with Mara," he replied quietly. Apart from the receptionist tapping away at her computer the room was completely silent. It was like being in a library, it felt like we were expected to just be quiet. That was why when I started coughing it became ever more awkward. Muffling them was impossible, and the middle aged woman sitting across the room wouldn't stop glancing over at me.
She had her go with Dr Train and then it was our go, just in time to, I had about fallen asleep again.
I'd avoided Dr Train for a successful number of years but the aroma was no different and it made me cough and choke even more. Just like I remembered he sat right in front of me while he spoke and then lingered far too close as he went through the general checkup procedures.
"This started with cold symptoms, correct?"
I nodded once.
"Well, it's definitely the flu now, and the fluid I can hear inside your lungs directs me to believe that you also have an infection, pneumonia."
Ah, great. Lucky me.
Dad left me in the waiting room again after we left Dr Train's office while he went to the connected pharmacy and picked up the prescriptions we'd been given. When he got back he looped an arm around me and stood me up to go back to the car and finally, back home.
"You know, Dr Train does smell kind of weird," dad said as we stepped into the carpark. I moaned and rolled my exhausted eyes, "that's what I've been saying all along!"
Alrighty, first up, you guys know I'm not a doctor. Don't take anything say to seriously when I bring some made up health professional into me stories because they're just as knowledgable as I am, which is not very. Anyway that's a rap on this one! Recently my updates have been kind of short, I don't know why but I'm struggling to focus over longer periods of time, I can't just sit and write for hours like I used to and these are coming together piece by piece. I'm gonna try make a longer one, promise :)
Next request is for: 1Dsickfics
Sorry again for the lack of credit to the person who sent me this idea, if you recognise it let me know and I'll put your name on it!