Just a warning.
I'm so sorry for this chapter.
When you get to the end of it you'll know why I'm sorry.
I'll actually be sorry for the next few chapters.
Sorry in advance.
Chapter 14: Cupid's Chokehold
~Carmen Silvers POV~
For the next three or four days, my worry has been increasing steadily. Austin was worse now; he coughed less often but it was stronger, chest wracking coughs now, sometimes he coughed up blood and sometimes he didn’t, as well as after he coughed the strange, different smell would appear. It bothered me; I knew that smell, I did, but I couldn’t place it. And for some reason I knew that whatever that smell belonged too was the key to this whole problem.
But it wasn’t just coughing and the weird smell that was strange, Austin was stumbling more and looked even more uncoordinated and awkward than before. His light silver eyes darkened a lot as well and he was frequently in a bad mood and snapping at people. When ever he snapped at me though I either gave him ‘the look’ or snapped back at him and he usually calmed himself down before apologizing.
He also looked worse; more tired and sluggish and the bruises under his eyes were almost black, giving him a haunted look.
We agreed that Austin slept more and better when he slept with me so he started spending the night again, but even that did ease my worries. He slept agitatedly, twitching and jerking and calling out my name and for me to save him and not to leave him and I’d have to keep waking him up and holding him until he calmed down again from the fear of his nightmares.
Normally, I feel better when he’s around but if anything, having him around so much was making me antsy. I don’t know why but sometimes when I’m around Austin I just feel….uneasy, creeped out, as if it wasn’t even Austin that I was with anymore since he was so different now. I knew it wasn’t his fault that all this was happening to him, but I couldn’t help the restless feeling I get sometimes when I’m around him.
There are other times though when everything feels normal again and we’re happy and relaxed and doing what ever we normally do and everything seems fine…until he coughs again or for some reason his eyes start to darken and he starts to snap or get tired.
I kept playing with Alex at lunch and that was usually one of the better parts of my day, when I got to relax and have fun. But sometimes we’d both be worried about Austin and our rehearsals were somewhat…tense and distracted.
So by the time it hit Wednesday night I was once again wishing the week was over, that this thing with Austin was over.
Today had been a particularly bad day; Austin had tripped twice, had to be excused from Science class from coughing so bad and when he came back he smelt like blood and that weird unidentifiable scent again as well as the fact that he fell asleep in English class.
Obviously, tonight was going to be bad night.
When he slipped in through my window he stumbled but caught himself before making his way sluggishly towards me.
