Tangled

166

166

166 Lisa: Fevers and Dreams

LISA

How long has it been?

A few days?

Weeks?

The sun should keep me oriented, but a fever gets me the first night I'm there.

The girl, Marisol, comes by every so often. Always with food. A few times with bowls filled with some noxious liquid that has my nostrils trying to close, avoiding the smell coming from within. She's expressionless as she shoves it down my throat, and I'm too weak to fight her off.

It's medicine, I think.

I think that because I slowly get better after the third bowl,

In between moments of lucidity, I dream.

Normal life. Home. Mom and Dad.

Working with Ava at Beaniverse.

Flirting with that cute guy who accidentally wandered into our professor's Eng Lit class instead of some sort of philosophy class

two doors down.

Cozy, happy dreams, of a place far from here..

An escape from the reality that chains me.

17:37

At some point the dreams turn from happy comfort to something uneasy and dark.

Sunshine warms my face as Ava and I relax at our favorite cafe,

sipping lattes and chatting. For a moment, the world feels right again, like I'm back where I belong

But then the shadows come

creep in at the edges of my vision, dark tendrils snaking across the ground. I try to warn Ava, but my voice won't work. She

behind her.

away as she kicks and struggles.

joke about the turbulence. I reach for her hand to comfort her, but the plane lurches, throwing us forward. Oxygen Ava's screaming. I'm screaming. The world outside the windows is a blur of sky and ground, rushing closer and closer

Impact.

Pain sears. Ava's hand. slips from

nightmares keep coming, each more horrific than the last. Ava, drowning in a sea of blood. Ava, burning alive. Ava, torn

55000

And always, I'm helpless to

watch as she suffers.

but I can't escape. I can't wake up. The horrors play out

I do

my limbs heavy and weak. Marisol kneels beside me. holding a bowl

but I force myself to swallow. Anything to chase away the lingering

torment.

the Master fed from

her, surprised by the question. "Just once," I rasp out, wincing at the

shouldn't be this strong, not for a single feeding." There's something in

you

flashes across her face as she mutters, "He must favor y greatly, for a single taste to

monster might favor me fills me

]]

mast but no

weten, my mind dealle

Mariel's odd behavior.

I want is

ere will die

mure endle

she doesn't wees to care about my discomfort.

hate prodding at my skin with

that make me

I'm not sure what she's doing. Her fingers press against my neck, my wrists, my ankles. It's only when she peers down at my shoulder that I realize what

I rasp out, my voice rough from disuse and screaming. "He

still, and she looks at me with a strange intensity. "Only once," she repeats, as if tasting the words. "But the

pain, and the sickening rush of

return.

swallow hard, trying to

in her expression, a longing that I can't quite comprehend. "When did you know? she asks softly, her eyes never

Fevers and

For