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

across the ground. I try to warn Ava, but my voice won't work. She keeps talking, oblivious, until the shadows coalesce

behind her.

dragging her away as she kicks and struggles. I lunge for her,

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

Impact.

Pain sears. Ava's hand.

coming, each more horrific than the last. Ava, drowning in a sea of blood. Ava,

55000

unseen monsters. And always, I'm helpless to save her, forced

watch as she suffers.

wake up. The horrors play out again and

I do

and drenched in sweat. My throat feels raw, my limbs heavy and weak. Marisol kneels beside me. holding a bowl of that foul-smelling liquid to my lips. "Drink," she

hits my tongue, but I force myself to swallow. Anything to chase away the lingering

torment.

the Master fed from you?" she

by the question. "Just once,"

shouldn't be this strong, not for a single feeding." There's something in her tone, an undercurrent of emotion I can't quite

you

her face as she mutters, "He must favor y

monster might favor me fills me with

]]

tie lase mast but no words coming

weten, my mind dealle

with Mariel's odd behavior.

aut all I want is to curl up

ere will die

mure endle

doesn't wees to care about my discomfort.

hate

that make me

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

any I rasp out, my voice rough

with a strange intensity. "Only once," she repeats, as if tasting the words. "But the

agonizing pain, and the

return.

trying to push the sensation

her check on them as she stares at me. There's something wistful in her expression, a

Lisa Fevers and

For