Perilous (Harry Styles)

chapter 12

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."

- William Shakespeare

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It was one of those days again.

You knew you had to get up early to start the day without much delay, but you couldn't motivate yourself. You promised you would only stay for five more minutes, but those five minutes turned into an hour.

Giving yourself a pep talk, you left the bed at noon.

Yep, that was exactly how my Tuesday started. It had been a few days since I've been to the club with the others. My parents and Phoebe would finally leave for two weeks, starting tomorrow.

With that in mind, I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and sat up.

"God," I groaned, a pumping headache immediately spreading. Closing my eyes in agony, I waited until the pain started to fade.

Once it did, I stood up, only to groan some more. A jabbing pain shot through my abdomen. I clenched my stomach, but it was of no use.

Within seconds, I was seated on the toilet, emptying my bowel in floating spurts.

"Oh crap, not now," I said to no one but myself.

I had planned a lot for today. Instead of doing nothing or meeting Lisa or Harry like usually, I wanted to look into my future for once. What would I do after college?

If I couldn't do it today, I'd never do it. So much was for sure.

"Zoey?" My mom's voice rang through the door. It sounded like she was standing in my room.

"Hang on!" I yelled, quickly washing my hands with soap and using hand sanitizer.

"Hey sweetheart, I just wanted to know if you wanted some breakfast," my mom greeted me in the hallway. Looking at her watch, she added, "or brunch."

"Ehm," I pondered, not sure if my stomach could handle food yet. Throwing my worries aside, I nodded. "Sure, of course."

Seeing as I didn't feel sick, only a bit queasy, I downed two toasts with peanut butter, one with Nutella and another one with strawberry jam within 8 minutes.

My mom's eyes bulged. "Zoey! Slow down, the food's not gonna run away."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I know, but-" I stopped talking when I felt a sickening feeling overtake me. Mom gave me a questioning look, but I just waved her off and run down the hallway to my bathroom.

Within seconds, I leaned over the toilet bowl, this time emptying my stomach's content.

I felt two hands push my hair to the side. Once I finished, a towel was shoved into my face. "Have you already been sick this morning?"

"No." My throat was raw and I drank a glass of water before talking to my mom again. "I only had the runs."

"Just stay in bed today and drink some tea, eat calming food and just don't move too much. If it's not better by tomorrow, ask Lisa to take you to the doctor, okay?"

I nodded and made a beeline for my bed. Mom brought me some tea and told me to take it easy.

"Oh, wait!" I called after her, before she had the chance to leave my room. "I need my laptop."

Just because I was bed-bound, didn't mean I couldn't do my researches. So with that in mind, I started an exhausting day with lots of breaks for emptying my bowel. I didn't even dare to eat anymore, too scared I would just throw it up again.