Chapter 8: Fever
By the afternoon, the rash on Damien's chest had widened, but it wasn't itchy.
Instead, it seemed to be draining him of energy as if the gem was drawing out his life force bit by bit. Alas, the poor boy didn't suspect that his sudden symptoms were caused by the curious object. As such, he didn't want to yield to his sickness, not when he was so close to revealing Ahara's secret.
So he went into her room and rummaged through her drawers looking for any pills that could settle his growing fever before drinking an entire bottle of medicine after ignoring the instructions written on the pack's label. However, the fever didn't show any signs of settling down. Instead, it hit him even harder than before, that by the time he was supposed to cook lunch for himself, he couldn't even walk properly.
'Better call Ahara before I die,' Damien thought as he struggled to his feet and went into his room to grab his phone, only to be hit in the gut by reality when he saw it lying on his bedside stand, damaged beyond recognition.
"Well, that's what I get for throwing it roughly on my bed in anger."
Mouthing expletives as he leaned on the walls for support, Damien dragged himself to his neighbor's front door and knocked weakly, hoping Lucy was home and not chilling around with some first graders downstairs. His prayers were answered when the door swung open with his second knock, and the ginger-haired girl came out, grinning as usual.
It took one look at Damien to knock that grin off her face and push her to take action. She grabbed his arm and led him inside her house to the six-seater couch in their living room.
Like every other house in the complex, the room designs were the same old two bedrooms facing the front door, and one bedroom and the kitchen to its right, but the Monroe siblings somehow managed to make their house look more personalized and unique with their 90s aesthetic vibe.
Like Damien and Ahara, their neighbors were also orphaned siblings who had joined forces and decided to live together. Lucy said her parents had died in a fire when she was a baby, and it was her cousin who had saved her back then.
He was rarely home because of his job in the military, but whenever he came, they made sure to visit Damien's house frequently. As of now, Lucy stayed with their maid who was off today, since it was the weekend.
"Damn, you look like shit," Lucy exclaimed snapping Damien back to reality as she sat next to him. He ignored her sassy remark.