Masquerade ✔

Chapter 13

Clara woke the next morning to Emme's coughs. The girl was still asleep, but her body shook with force. Ezra sat up beside Clara, concerned eyes trained on Emme as well.

"Damn," he whispered, and he and Clara exchanged worried glances. They both crept out into the living space, pried open the can that held their money reserves, and peered in to the all too empty container.

"Damn," Clara repeated.

"It should be enough to get medicine for this week," Ezra said. "And if we can get some to her starting today, maybe we'll have caught it in time and we won't need anymore."

"Maybe." But they didn't have any other plan, so they would have to make do. "I can go today," Clara said.

"Don't you have work?"

She shook her head. "I was so tired yesterday; it must have slipped my mind. But I have today off. So I can go, you don't have to miss a shift."

Ezra nodded.

"Clara? Ezra?"

The pair turned at the sound of Amyeliana's voice. She was still rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Is Emme alright?"

Clara held out her arms and pulled Amyeliana into a hug. "She'll get better," Clara reassured the younger girl. "She always does. I'm getting medicine for her today and she'll be back to normal in no time."

Amyeliana pulled away and nodded. "That's good. Do you want me to get breakfast for us?"

Ezra kissed the top of her head. "Yes, that would be great. Thank you."

Amyeliana slipped out of their quarter, and Ezra's expression of worry reappeared on his face. "You know, Emme really needs professional help. This is just going to keep coming back, again and again."

"You think I don't know that, Ezra?" Clara said, weary. "But what exactly do you suggest? Doctors are expensive. We're lucky we can afford medicine at all."

Ezra kept quiet. He knew she was right, just as she knew he was right: Emme needed a doctor.

Amyeliana came back, and Archibald and Emme woke up to eat. Emme already seemed more tired than usual, resting her head on Clara's shoulder as she slowly chewed on crackers. Clara stayed with Emme, leaning on her as the other three got ready to go out to work.

"Alright, Emme, be good for Clara today," Ezra said. He knelt down and gave her a hug. "We'll see you later, alright?"

"Bye Ezra, bye Amyeliana, bye Archibald." Emme couldn't stand not saying goodbye to everyone before the workday started.

A chorus of 'Bye Emme' followed, and then the door shut and the pair were left alone.

Clara pulled Emme into her lap and wrapped her arms around the small girl. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I feel alright."

"Emme, you know you can tell me the truth, right?"

Emme coughed again. "I don't feel as good as I did yesterday. But I've felt a lot worse at other times, so you don't need to worry."

Clara's heart ached at Emme's attempts to not worry her. Emme had caught on to how much Clara and Ezra worried about her illnesses, so whenever the coughing started back up, Emme always tried to downplay how bad it was.