Shiny Eyes Part 1

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So I was supposed to be going to work today, but spending the night sitting on the floor hugging the toilet bowl kind of makes you exempt. Especially when you work with people who are already unwell, can't make them even worse can I? I can't really do my job in the state I'm in either.

I don't know what it was; food poisoning, a virus, a bug, something else. I'm a paramedic, not a doctor. But I know enough. What symptoms would require a visit to the ER, what to take and what not too. Starve a fever, feed a cold am I right? Well I knew it wasn't the common cold and I was running a bit high, no food for me then, not that I would be able to keep it down. Just water and ice poles for me then, they help settle the stomach, and cool you down.

The boss wasn't too happy that I couldn't come in, staff shortages and all, but what can you do? Can't have me giving it to any of my colleagues if it was catchy, then even more people would be off sick. He just sighed and asked that I come back soon, when I was better of course, mostly anyway.

So I spent my day on the bathroom floor, I dragged in a blanket and pillow with me, a glass of water and my phone my only company, well that and my new friend the toilet. I was the type that could only get a good night's sleep in my own bed, but due to how crappy I was feeling I conked out on the bathroom floor more than once, napping in-between vomiting. The fever was making me feel woozy and out of it, I felt heavy and drowsy, dropping off in minutes, very unlike me.

I'd watch comforting shows from my childhood to make me feel better, scooby doo if you'd believe it, yes I'm 22 and I still watch scooby doo, just when I'm ill though, or if nothings on. Not the new shows or films, just the old ones, ones I watched as a kid. They were comforting, and easy to follow since I'd watched them before, they were familiar, childlike and light. The plots were simple and the characters familiar.

So anyway, enough of my puke fest. Once it had finished I crawled out of the bathroom and climbed into bed and to my amazement I slept three days away before I woke up again. Whatever I'd had it was something.

I woke up on the third day, in the afternoon, my phone had died, no surprise. I felt better, still groggy, but my appetite had come back in force, I was starving. I plugged in my phone to charge it and languidly dragged my leaden legs into the kitchen and made myself some plain toast and a tall glass of water, don't want to be vomiting again, not matter how hungry I was, eating too much or the wrong thing would make it come up again and I would be even more hungry.

I brought my meagre meal back to bed and turned on my phone as I slowly sipped and nibbled. To my confusion my boss hadn't called or texted me to see when I would be back, in fact I didn't have any missed calls or messages from anyone, the lack of signal could be the reason. I groaned at that, no bars at all, not even one. I dropped my phone a little harshly on my bedside table and reached for tv remote and flicked it on.

Static, static, blank screen, static, static, static, ooh and another blank screen, aren't I lucky? I sighed, giving up with that and turned the tv back off. No phone signal, no tv programmes. I would go and see if my aerial was working but I doubt anything was wrong with it. If the phones weren't working and the tv then they've got to be connected, I sighed loudly to myself again. I groaned as I reached over to grab my radio at the end of my bedside table and flicked it on, tuning the dial to see if I could get anything. Nope, all of the frequencies just put out static. What happened in the last four days?

I say four as I didn't watch tv, check social media, use the radio in that many days, the first was when I got into a relationship with my toilet and the other three when I was passed out.

I slowly finished my meal and trudged back to the kitchen, putting my plate in the sink and topping up my glass of water. Well, the power obviously worked, and so did the water and gas as the tap run and the house was warm. I wandered into the front room and unlocked my patio door, sliding it open and stepping out, taking a deep breath of fresh air, nursing my refreshing glass of water. It was early afternoon at the moment, the sun slowly descending, getting closer to the horizon, my phone also told me that.

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