Relapse

Chapter 32

*: Another [very] short chapter. Sorry. Enjoy, though. :) This is the first part of book five.

~~January 7, 2013 [MON] ~~

o   Carol

Today was the day that students were supposed to return to school after the two-week long Christmas break. By eight in the morning, I thought I’d find myself at the table in the dining room, having breakfast, but I wasn’t there at the said time.

This morning, I woke up feeling sick. My head was hurting like a hundred jackhammers were pounding at my skull all at once, and my nose was runny. On top of that, my throat felt extremely dry, making me sound hoarse whenever I spoke.

At nine o’clock in the morning, my mother came into my room, all dressed and ready to go to work.

“Will you be okay, dear?” Mom sat at the edge of my bed, putting her hand on my forehead.

I nodded glumly, managing a thin smile. “I’ll be fine, Mom. It’s just a cold – a bad one, but still just a cold.”

“Well, if anything happens, just call me, okay?” Mom said concernedly, giving me a hug that I readily obliged to return, “Kristoffer and Krizel should be home by four-thirty or five.”

Mom left after that, leaving me alone in the house. I got up at about nine-thirty to take some cold medicine and make a drink consisting of hot water, some lemon drops, and two teaspoons of honey to reduce the soreness in my throat. Fortunately, the concoction cured my sore throat for the most part in the following twenty minutes.

I was still, however, suffering from a runny nose and a skull-splitting headache and a moderately lethargic feeling throughout my body despite the fact that I just woke up a couple of hours back.

I was about to lie back down, but as I passed the mirror by the side of my bed, I gave my reflection a scowl.

I looked like an utter mess. My hair was all tangled and seemed to go in too many different directions. My face looked slightly red – an obvious sign of my sickness. My eyes appeared a bit puffy, just a little bit. Shadows lined the area beneath my eyes.

Unable to hear the thought of looking like this all day apart from being ill, I grabbed my towel and bathrobe and entered the bathroom.

I showered as quickly and as efficiently as I could, since longer showers and colds didn’t mix to give nice results. I simply rinsed my hair and used some soap for the rest of my body, and I was done.

Retreating back to my room, I closed the door and the blinds.

Since I was going to be staying home the entire day, I figured that I should dress comfortably. Selecting a pair of gray sweatpants and a plain white T-shirt, I tossed them onto my bed.

Standing in front of the mirror, I looked at my face. I looked considerably better. The puffiness in my eyes had vanished, and my formerly red face was now back to its semi-pale color. I didn’t feel any better, though, but at least I felt fresh on the outside.

I slipped into my sweatpants, enjoying the feel of the soft fabric against my legs.

I had just finished with the clasp of my bra when a dull thump reached my ears.

Freezing, I listened for another sound. There was another thump, and I knew it was coming from somewhere downstairs. The sound wasn’t awfully loud, but I could hear it; it was one of those sounds that I was sure was made by someone rather clumsily, without the intention of actually producing it.

Someone was downstairs. And since I knew Mom and Dad were at work and my two younger siblings were both at school, there could be only one possibility for the presence of these thumps.