Ascension

Lorelei

I'm sitting at the stairwell with a bunch of other soldiers. Willow and the other nurses decided that I was okay to be released as soon as I was stuffed up on those antidepressants. But I still don't know what we are doing here and from the looks of it, neither does anyone else so at least I'm not alone in all of this. We have been sitting here for a while waiting for America to get up and give her daily speech about whatnot when the power went out.

Two people left. America and Indiana. I guess now we can't leave. A bunch of people are grumbling about waking up just to stand here. I mean I get where they are coming from because it is 1 AM but still they are soldiers in. They are supposed to be ready whenever the military needs them and we definitely need them.

I'm not very confident in our army however. Most of them haven't seen any conflict. It really sucks because we are so desperate to have recruits that the government has lowered the recruitment age to 14.

Half of our entire army is under the age of 18, me included. Another thing that really sucks is the morality of it all. I mean think about it for a minute. There is no such thing are a good and bad side in a war. We are both the good and bad side. It just depends on your perspective. At the end of the day when the sun goes down we are still the murderers who took the lives of hundreds and maybe thousands. We are still the ones who have orphaned children. And they call us saints but no, soldiers are just murderers hiding behind patriotism and lies.

When the lights came back on half of us were on the floor sleeping. I began to sit down because it didn't seem like America was coming back anytime soon. When I was sliding down the wall the person next to me threw up black.

I scrambled to my feet trying not to sit in it. My heart was racing, I'm a true germaphobe. I stumbled around and notice how everyone was clutching their heads or their stomachs.

The room began spinning and I stumbled backwards.I needed to get out of here. I began to run but my head began throbbing intensely. I clutched at it as I began moving but it felt like someone hammering against it with an ice pick. It felt like my skull was being split open with a searing hot blade. I tried to move more but I just couldn't, I collapsed on the ground. I slept in a feverish state. I know my fever broke at least once because there were a few drops of perspiration on my forehead.

Elijah was sitting next to my cot I was lying on. He was brushing wet strands of hair out of my face. I struggled to sit up but Elijah pushed me down against the bed.

"You shouldn't be here. You'll get sick." I warned him.

"I'll be fine." Elijah answered.

"No Elijah get out of here." I pushed him away.

"I will when you get better. He pushed water in my direction.

I took the water from his hand because I was parched. I gulped it and it seemed like the cup only had a few drops in it. Elijah handed me another glass of water and I took it.

When I finished drinking it I tried to get out of bed but Elijah pushed me back once again.

"I'm okay I promise." I try fighting him.

"No you're not."

"I'm not kidding, I can survive. I just fainted." I shake it off.

I've never fainted before but I really don't want to sit this fight out. Elijah hands me another glass of water and I drink it. I don't think I've ever been that thirsty before.

"See, Lorelei, you aren't okay." He hands me yet another glass.

"How many cups of water did you bring?" I asked him.

"This is my last one." He hands it to me.

I brought it to my lips and practically inhaled it. I sat up in my bed. I put on a forced smile and pretended I wasn't about to throw up.

"See I think I was just dehydrated." I smiled at him.

I sat up and suddenly I was nauseous. I swayed and was about to fall over when Elijah caught me. I leaned against him because he was so warm. Even though I was sweating I felt so cold and feverish. Elijah wrapped his arms around me and held me in his arms. Even with his extra warmth I still felt cold so I buried myself in his warm chest. 

"See, Lorelei this is what I'm talking about." He said still holding me.

I was grateful for his arms around me because I was really cold. I started shivering and Elijah piled blankets after blankets on top of me. Then I felt bile rising in my throat, I was struggling against Elijah's grip on me because I really didn't feel like throwing up on him.

He wouldn't let me go and I threw up all over both of us. I despise throwing up, especially on other people. I looked down at the soiled blankets at where I had thrown up all over the both of us. Except it was black. Elijah was looking at me and I felt awful. I wanted to shrink back into the many blankets on my bed.

He slid off the bed and I thought he was going to leave me but he then picked me up off the bed and carried me. I really didn't know where we were going but Elijah then started pulling off my clothes.

"Not now Elijah." I barely opened my eyes and I wish I hadn't.

The lights hurt my brain and my vision was to fuzzy for me to make out anything.

"Lorelei can you help me take your shirt off?" He asked me.

I raised my arms in the air and he pulled my soiled shirt off.

Elijah stopped trying to pull my clothes off and he was staring at me for some strange reason.

"Elijah this really isn't a good time to be staring at me. I don't have the energy to smack you right now." I groaned

But then I realized he wasn't staring at my body, he was staring at my bandages. That covered my cuts. He pulled a pocket knife out of his pocket and started cutting away the strips of cloth. After the first one was done he stared at my arm which was stitched and red. It was kind of gross to look at to be honest. Elijah didn't say anything to me which was almost worse than him screaming at me. He wouldn't meet my eyes.

After I was stripped of my clothes Elijah pulled me up out of the seat I was on.

"Lorelei please walk for me." He pleaded with me.

I tried to move my legs but they wouldn't move so Elijah carried me. He then placed me in warm water. He started washing me and I felt bile coming up again.

"I'm going to throw up." I mumbled and I did but this time I made it in the garbage can.

When I was finally clean Elijah dressed me in a bathrobe and he took a shower. I was really cold so I wrapped myself in towels and fell asleep. Finally Elijah got out of his shower and picked me up and carried me into my bed which had clean sheets now. When he set me down I expected to fall asleep almost instantly but I just couldn't. Elijah, however, did. He fell asleep in the chair next to my bed and was out cold for hours. I just was staring at the ceiling thinking about what had happened in the last couple of days. I knew I was probably delusional but that didn't stop me from thinking of what caused me to rebound so suddenly. I had talked to a psychiatrist before I went down to the stairwell and she said the most likely cause of my rebound was stress I had put myself through. I don't think the last few days had been very stressful but it was just a theory. I don't remember when I fell asleep that night but I know it had taken a while before I could even close my eyes.