Sebastian stared at the thermometer in disgust. He had only been in contact with Delilah for two days; however, he had already developed symptoms. Plus, she didn’t seem sick anymore so he didn’t think that whatever she had could have still been transmissible. He was wrong because soon after he took his temperature, he began to experience chills.
This is terrible. What in the world did she have? I thought that she said that she had a mild cold. This doesn’t feel like a mild cold to me…
Sebastian went to stand when suddenly every muscle in his body felt as if it were on fire. His fever caused the room to spin and he almost lost his balance. Despite that, he needed to use the bathroom so he powered his way there. While inside, he figured that a hot shower might help things, especially if he didn’t dry off all the way so that the remaining water could evaporate from his body and cause a cooling effect.
While the hot water did help relieve his chills, the cooling effect didn’t work out as he thought. His chills returned even worse than before to where his teeth chattered. Even though he desired to get under a blanket, he knew that doing so would be a bad idea. While the body felt cold, it wasn’t. While chills were nothing more than rapid muscle contractions to create friction and heat in times when the body was cold, with a virus, the muscles will rapidly contract even when the body isn’t cold. Given the fact that his body temperature was 102, there was no way he was cold. Going under a blanket would only cause his fever to reach dangerous levels.
Thankfully, Sebastian paid attention in health class and knew that the best way to beat chills would be to stay hydrated, take some acetaminophen, and apply a lukewarm washcloth to his forehead. He prepared everything he needed and took the medicine. He sat on the living room couch and applied the washcloth. Now, all he had to do was wait for everything to subside. Plus, the acetaminophen would also have a chance to help reduce or even break his fever.
Guess there’s no school for me today or tomorrow, or until God knows when. Great… that means lots of make-up work and less time for video games once I get better. Maybe I should go to the walk-in clinic to see if this is just a cold. It’s not that far from here… just a bit past Delilah’s house in the town’s center. I could easily walk there and get myself checked out.
Sebastian, while still shivering, went to stand and suddenly felt as if the world had kept spinning but left him behind. He lost his balance but he thankfully fell backward onto the couch. Had he fallen forward, there was a high chance he would have smacked his head on a black marble coffee table. Even from just attempting to stand, Sebastian was out of breath. His head began to throb as a headache induced by the fever began to settle in.
Okay… I admit that wasn’t the best of ideas. I guess I’ll just rest here until the medicine kicks in. If I can stand without falling again, then I’ll make the trip over there. I guess on the bright side, I’ll get a day filled with peace and quiet. Given how things have been for the past week, I could use the mental break from everything. I just wish I didn’t have to spend it while feeling like hell incarnate.
Meanwhile, Delilah arrived at school and noticed that Sebastian was absent. The fact that she still had some mild residual symptoms made her wonder if she had accidentally gotten him sick. She remembered that she exchanged contact information with him yesterday so she decided that she would send him a text message during lunch. The whole time, she felt really bad because she didn’t mean to get him sick, especially after he went out of his way to invite her over to his house.
Her mind began to race and thought that if she got him sick, she could have also gotten his mother sick as well. After she invited her to stay and cooked her dinner, thinking that this would be the first impression that she left with them made her feel small and insignificant. Then again, she could only assume that she had gotten Sebastian sick. There were still several other reasons as to why he missed school. All she could do was wait for lunch to roll around to find out what happened.
Back at home, a few hours had passed and Sebastian’s symptoms began to relieve themselves a bit. His fever broke thanks to the acetaminophen which left him drenched in sweat, his headache was still present but it subsided to a tolerable level, and his chills disappeared. The muscle aches were still prevalent but they weren’t as bad as before; however, new symptoms started to appear such as a runny nose and a wet cough caused by the post-nasal drip. When he stood, he no longer felt dizzy so he decided that he was going to go get checked out.
He grabbed a face mask and threw on his coat as the days weren’t getting any warmer the deeper they got into autumn. Once he had everything, he headed out and turned left at the end of his walkway. Once he was at the end of his street, he turned right and began the journey into the town’s center. Even though the center was so close, it was rather elongated and the walk-in clinic was on the other side of it. It took Sebastian nearly twenty minutes on foot to reach it but, at least, he made it there.
The receptionist at the counter asked what he was there for and then asked him to fill out some paperwork. Thankfully, he was on his mother’s insurance and only had a $15 co-pay. Next came the wait to see the doctor. The only saving grace was that there weren’t many people in the waiting room so it didn’t take all that long for a nurse to come out and call him to the back. She took his body weight, blood pressure, pulse, and temperature then asked him a few basic questions. Once she was done, she informed him that the doctor would be in shortly.
Shortly was an understatement as it took the doctor almost thirty minutes to see him. During that time, Sebastian had felt a slight buzz in his pocket but figured that he would check what the notification was later. Finally, the doctor arrived and when Sebastian had to explain his symptoms a third time, they recommended a nasal swab. He pulled his mask down and a few seconds later, they collected a sample. The doctor said that no matter what kind of virus it was, the only thing they could do was let it run its course. They said that the test results take anywhere from thirty to sixty minutes but they will be sent to his email or they will be available online if he’s signed up for MediChart.
The doctor simply gave him a bunch of basic recommendations to help alleviate the symptoms but said that if things got worse to where he found it difficult to breathe, then he should go to the emergency room. Sebastian thanked him and was sent on his way.
By now, his muscle aches had returned, and knowing that he had a twenty-minute walk ahead of him wasn’t exactly the most thrilling of realizations. Still, he managed to get home but by the time he did, he was exhausted. He plopped down on the couch and fell asleep almost instantly, completely forgetting to check his phone.
Back at school, lunch had arrived so Delilah pulled out her phone and sent Sebastian a text message.
Hey! I noticed that you’re absent today! Just wanted to check on you and make sure you’re okay. Let me know!
She pressed Send and stared at her screen to see if the read receipt popped up. A few minutes went by and nothing happened. Even more time passed and there was still no indication that he had seen the message. By the time her lunch break finished, there still wasn’t a “read’ notification on her message. She began to worry and fabricated scenarios in her mind about things that, most likely, never happened to him. All she could hope was that he was okay.
Sebastian’s little power nap brought him to about 2 p.m. When he woke up, his fever had returned. He decided that he should probably take his temperature and take some more pills. When he went to move, he felt a lump in his pocket. That’s when he remembered that he had his phone in there and that made him realize that he had received a notification earlier that he had ignored. He pulled his phone out and noticed that it was a text message from Delilah. When he read it, a feeling of comfort washed over him.
She sent me a text message!? Is she concerned about me or is this just a formality because I went over to her house to check on her? Either way, I should text her back and tell her that I have… wait. I don’t even know what I have yet. What time is it?
Sebastian checked the clock on his phone and noticed some time had passed. He figured that his test results should be posted by now so he logged into MediChart and, sure enough, he had a new notification from his nasal swab.
Positive for Influenza A. Lovely. Well, at least I know what it is.
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With that knowledge in mind, he went back to his text messages and tapped out a reply to Delilah.
Hey. Thanks for checking on me. Sorry, it took me a while to reply but I was sleeping. I have the flu so I don’t think I’ll be coming to school for a while. I guess I’ll see you when I get better.
Seeing as how he never really texted anyone, he didn’t know if he should say anything else other than that. Figuring that it would be fine as-is he pressed send. Back at school, Delilah was in the middle of listening to a boring lesson on how the Civil War gave shape to modern America when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. While the teacher’s back was turned, she slowly snuck it out and saw that it was a text message from Sebastian.
When she read it, she frowned as her suspicions were correct. She did, indeed, get him sick. Since he was kind enough to come to check up on her, she decided that she would do the same for him after school. As she thought about that, she heard her name called out by the teacher.
“Ms. Yearwood, we are in the middle of class. Please put your phone away and I don’t want to see it out again.”
“Sorry.”
She slipped the phone back into her pocket. While others in the class didn’t seem to care, Bryce looked over in her direction. Delilah internally sighed and wished that the end of the day would hurry up and get there. Granted, there were only 20 minutes left but they felt like the longest 20 minutes of her life, especially after being called out like that.
Mercifully, the bell rang and she gathered up her things. She had already decided what she was going to do and wanted to rush home to get started. While she didn’t run, she did put a little extra zip in her step, although, it didn’t make that much of a difference as it only shaved about two minutes off of her journey. When she walked in through the front door, she dropped her stuff off in the foyer and headed straight for the kitchen.
She opened the fridge and her face lit up when she saw that there was still some chicken leftover from last night’s dinner. Even though she had eaten at Sebastian’s house, her mother informed her of what she made, which was seasoned pulled chicken, in case she wanted to bring some for lunch to school with her. There was plenty of it left so she figured that she would use it to make some homemade chicken noodle soup.
Once it was prepared, she grabbed a large bowl and poured it all in. She secured it tightly with a cover and headed out to Sebastian’s house but not before stopping to grab something else out of her backpack… something she had worked pretty hard on last night before going to bed. A few minutes later, she arrived and realized that it was a bit hard to knock on the door with both hands holding a bowl of hot soup. She looked for the doorbell and leaned in with her right elbow to hit it. Thankfully, it worked.
Inside the house, Sebastian heard the doorbell go off and wondered who it was. After he had texted Delilah, he retreated to his room and decided to lie down for a bit. After his nap, he found it difficult to get back to sleep so he just ended up lying there with his eyes closed. He went to stand and that’s when the dizziness and muscle aches kicked in again. It took him a little while to get to the front door but he eventually made it.
On the other side, Delilah wondered if it was a bad idea to drop by unannounced. When there wasn’t an answer, she figured that he might have been sleeping. She was about to give up and turn around when she heard the door unlock. Soon, it opened and Sebastian was looking a bit worse for wear.
“D-Delilah?”
“Hey, Sebastian.. I hope I didn’t wake you or anything.”
“No, I was lying down but I wasn’t sleeping. Sorry that it took me a bit to get to the door, this flu is doing a number on me.”
“Would it be okay if I came in? I brought you something that might help you out.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. You said you had a mild cold and this is the flu. They’re not the same virus so I could get you sick again.”
“Um… about that. I believe it was the flu that I had. I just think I didn’t get it all that bad because I had my flu shot almost a month ago before moving here. I had fresh antibodies inside of me so chances are it caused my symptoms to be mild.”
“I guess that makes sense. If I’m being honest, I never had a flu shot in my life. I guess that’s why it’s having a grand old time with me.”
“Probably so, It should be fine if I come in. Technically, I still have some symptoms so it’s not like the same virus can reinfect me that easily… especially with antibodies from both the vaccine and the actual flu itself.”
Sebastian still wasn’t sure if it was a good idea but he stepped aside and let Delilah in. She walked into the kitchen where she placed the bowl on the table. Sebastian followed her as she began to look through his cupboards.
“Where do you keep your bowls?”
“Two over to the right. Why?”
“I brought you some homemade chicken soup. When you texted me that you had the flu, I rushed home and used some leftover chicken my Mom made and whipped up a batch. I’m sure it’ll help.”
Wait. She did all of that for me? Why would she go so far for someone like me? I don’t deserve this kind of treatment. Is it okay to ask her that? Would it be insulting if I questioned her kindness? I mean, I’m touched and all but…
“That’s nice of you but… why did you go through the trouble? I hope that doesn’t sound ungrateful because I do appreciate that you did this for me it’s just that… I just wonder if I’m worth the effort.”
Sebastian didn’t mean to blurt that last part out. For some reason, it just slipped out of his mouth and he instantly realized that he had made a mistake. He could only hope that she didn’t decide to question him on the meaning behind what he said. Thankfully, it didn’t sound as if she was going to do that based on her answer.
“I did it because I cherish our friendship. I know that sounds stupid given the fact that we’ve only known each other for about a week and a half but… your friendship means a lot to me because… well… here. Have a bowl of soup and, um, I’d like to tell you a story if you’d allow me to.”
Delilah served up a bowl of soup which was still hot enough to see the steam rising from it. Sebastian grabbed a spoon from a nearby drawer and sat down. Delilah took a seat to his left and folded her hands on the table as she stared down at the surface.
“My whole life, I was different. While other girls played with dolls and talked about makeup, and what boys they thought were cute, I was playing video games, watching anime, and reading manga. I liked to watch action movies and listen to symphonic metal music. I wasn’t like the other girls and I was often made fun of for it. It happened a lot and I didn’t have many friends growing up because of it.”
“However, it didn’t matter all that much because with my father being in the military, we moved and moved a lot. Everywhere I went, it was the same result. Because I was different, none of the typical girls wanted to bother with me and when I did find a friend or two that would accept me, I had to move again and I lost them. It happened so many times that I just stopped trying… but… this time it’s different.”
“My father served most of his required time in the military and they gave him the chance to move one last time. He got stationed here at the local base and they told him that he wouldn’t be moved again. In other words, they allowed him to pick the place for him to spend his final year and retirement in. So, one year from now, my father’s active duty will be done and we will be here permanently.”
“When I realized that, I thought that I could finally make some friends. On that first day, I walked into class and introduced myself. When I looked around the room, I saw the same look in everyone’s eyes that I had seen in every other classroom I entered. They all looked at me as if they were judging me. Then, I saw you looking out the window and not even paying attention. At first, I thought you were the type that wasn’t interested but, for some reason, you didn’t look mean. I know that they say not to judge a book by its cover but it was just something about the way you looked that told me you were different.”
“When I was told that my seat was going to be next to yours, I thought that introducing myself would go either really well or really wrong. Still, I worked up the courage to say hi and you’ve been so sweet and kind to me ever since. This sounds embarrassing to say this but… you’re the first friend I’ve ever had that never judged me from the start and felt as if you were being genuinely kind to me.”
“That’s why I said that our friendship means a lot to me but maybe I’m trying too hard because I’m desperate to just feel accepted for once in my life.”
Genuinely kind to you, huh?
Sebastian tensed up. After hearing her story, he felt devastated by all of the things he thought about her over the past week. If only he had known all of this sooner, he probably would have thought differently about everything. While it wasn’t a 1:1 comparison, the mere essence of not feeling accepted or wanted by anyone was a commonality between them. In a way, Sebastian completely understood how she felt. Still, a tear escaped from his eye but before she could look up and see it, he quickly wiped it away.
“It sounds like you’ve been through a lot. I’m glad that you feel comfortable around me, though. It’s been nice having you as a friend so far!”
Last week, Sebastian would have said that just to appear friendly while skewering her heart in his mind. For the first time since he had met her, he genuinely meant every word that he said.
“By the way, this soup is delicious.”
Delilah’s face lit up when he said that. Even though his hair was a mess and his complexion was a bit on the pale side, he managed a smile that warmed her heart. It gave her the courage to show him the other thing that she brought with her.
“Thanks! Say, um… could you give me your opinion on something?”
“Sure.”
“You’ve inspired me to do something and… I haven’t been practicing for very long but I wanted to know what you thought of my progress.”
She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and unfolded it. It was her attempt at drawing an anime character. While it was night and day compared to someone of Sebastian’s skill, he looked at it and blurted out the first words that came to mind.
“You should keep practicing.”
Even though he said it with a friendly tone, those weren’t the words she had hoped to hear. Those words felt like a dagger through the heart. Sebastian didn’t realize that he had phrased that the wrong way until he heard the pain in her voice.
“Maybe I should give up since I’m not getting anywhere, huh?”
When she said that, he suddenly realized that she had taken his words incorrectly and tried to course-correct.
“No! That’s not what I meant. It’s just that…”
“Forget it. I’m just going to go. I’m glad you liked the soup.”
She quickly got up and headed for the front door. Sebastian stood to try and stop her but he silently cursed to himself as his body aches prevented him from moving the way he wanted to. By the time he mustered up the strength to take a step forward, she was already out the door.
I… am a piece of shit.
Sebastian grabbed the back of the chair to brace himself and sat back down. All he could do was stare at the soup in front of him which became a symbol of Delilah’s kind heart… a heart that he may have just crushed beneath his heel.