ELAYNE

Her.

I tried calling her a hundred times but she didn't pick up. I did told her that I would be picking her up after classes. Her absence made me nervous. A lot of negative thoughts started arising in my mind. I rushed to our house, hoping she'd there.
I found her laying on the floor, her backpack open with books scattered around. She was keeping her hands on her head. I could hear her groaning as if she's in pain. I ducked down to lift her up from the ground. She was burning like boiled water.
I was panicking at the thoughts that were forming in the back of my mind.
I tried waking her up but she was keeping her eyes shut,as if she never want to open them. I placed her on the bed and kept a wet cloth over her forehead.
I saw my hands trembling with anxiety. I was never someone who panicked. I was never this anxious in my life. I rushed outside the house and locked the doors from outside.
I met with a doctor and bought some medicines and came back without wasting much time. She was still sleeping, still burning, still groaning.

"Ina..." I called her and softly shook her face.
"Mmmm" she groaned.
"Wake up and eat these." I kept my hands near her mouth and made her swallow the pills. She gulped it and chugged a large amount of water.
"Sleep now.." I patted her face before covering her body with blankets.
She stopped groaning after a while but watching her sick made me feel weak,which was a new feeling for me.
I pulled out her cellphone and went through her contacts to find Clave.
"Yeah.. Ina." He responded.
"It's August."
"Ooh.. Hey! What's up? "
"Can we meet?"
"Of course. When? "
"Right now.."
"What happened?"
"There's something I wanna talk."
"..."
"It's about Ina.."
"Did something happened?"
"I'm... Uhh.. I feel anxious. I want to talk to .... Uhh someone" I hesitated to speak as I've never felt this desperate before.
I left Ina after locking the door from outside.

....

A group of tigers were chasing me. I couldn't escape from them. I was running into a deep dark forest without looking back. My legs were aching, my head was hurting... They were almost close enough to catch me!
suddenly I opened my eyes.
"Aaghhhh!!! " i started panting excessively.
"Was that a dream? God!" I couldn't help but cry. I was so scared and it felt so real. It took me a few minutes to shift back the focus into my reality.
I noticed that I was in bed, covered in sheets. The cloth on my forehead was dry. I stared outside the window and watched the heavy rain. There was a blue light surrounding the room, silence which was creeping me out.
I guessed that August was here but he didn't seem to be here right now. I wasn't feeling sick anymore but instead, i felt energized. Soon, my eyes caught a note on the desk, folded into a tent.

"𝓘𝓶 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓮𝓮𝓽 𝓪 𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭. 𝓣𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓻𝓮. 𝓕𝓸𝓸𝓭 𝓲𝓼 𝓸𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓪𝓫𝓵𝓮..

𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮, 𝓐𝓾𝓰𝓾𝓼𝓽."

A smile appeared on my face as I read it. I washed up and started cleaning the room, unpacking the rest of my bags. It took me almost an hour or two to finally organize everything.
I took a peek at August's room..
"How is he maintaining it?" I thought to myself. The room looked so tidy that I could see my reflection on the white floor.
I decided to try cooking as a way to surprise him but it didn't go as planned. I burnt my fingers, got cut by the knives and even spilled a lot of ingredients on the floor. Believe it or not... It was a mess.
I praised myself for trying and cleaned the space again, leaving no trace.

Later,I was watching television while I heard the sound of door knob moving. August came back, noticing me on the couch. He straight up came towards me, concern filling his face.
"Are you okay now?" He asked.
"I feel really well.. Don't worry" i reassured him.
He then went to his room and changed into a comfortable clothing before sitting on the couch beside me.
I could see his concern even though he wasn't intending to show it to me. We didn't speak much about anything after, but i could feel his eyes meeting my face from time to time. He sure looked worried and his fingers were slightly trembling.
I finally broke the silence and spoke hesitantly. "Baby.." I paused. He looked at me, furrowing his eyebrows.
"..."
"...."
"What's that look?" He asked.
I smiled awkwardly and loped my hand around his elbows, moving closer to him.
"..."he was staring at me.
"Baby, umm.. C..Can I take a day off?" I asked, stuttering.
He sighed heavily and slowly looked at me.
There was silence for a moment and I was preparing myself to hear him scold me.
He then broke the silence.
"Okay.." He said.
I gasped inside, almost with joy. He was always strict about this one thing. I don't know why he decided to give in too easily.
"But make sure to catch up on everything "
He added.
I nodded and kept hugging him until I drifted to sleep.