Being Sick

Christine was still shaking. Seeing the man you love collapsed on the floor can leave you trembling for quite a while. Was she right to be so concerned? Of course she was! Erik seemed incapable of taking care of himself! He could find ways to give her anything in the world, yet he could manage to find time to sleep or eat. And now he was sick. Great!!

“I assure you, my love, I am perfectly fine…” Erik insisted, attempting to rise from the bed that Christine had confined him to. “Ooooh, no!” she said, pushing him back down, painfully aware that she could feel every bone in his chest. “You are staying right here and resting! I don’t want to have to use that coffin of yours!”
“Christine, I assure you, there is no need to concern yourself with my well-being. Besides, I am only afflicted with a small—“ before he could finish his sentence, several hoarse coughs ripped through his throat, causing him to crumple over. After several seconds of this, he straightened up, composed himself, and finished in a scratchy tone, “—cold.” Christine put her hands on her hips, “you’ll understand if I don’t quite believe you,” she said in a sarcastic tone. Erik suppressed several more coughs as Christine put her hand on his head (his forehead being covered by his mask). “Christ, you’re burning up!” She gasped, drawing her hand back, “little cold, my foot!” at Erik’s silence, she said in an accusing tone, “you know what you have, don’t you!” Erik didn’t look at her, bearing the expression of a guilty dog.

“Well, what do you have?” Christine sighed worriedly. Erik toyed with the blankets that Christine had piled onto him (Heaven knows why!), “just, ah… a slight fever…” he said in a scratchy, wavering voice that suggested that it was hurting him to talk. “Slight?” Christine pressed. “Maybe a bit more pronounced…” Erik mumbled. Christine wanted to punch whoever made Erik so disinterested in his own survival. “Please, Erik, you need rest.” Christine’s tone softened and she sat beside him. Erik fidgeted, unaccustomed to human contact. “Christine, do not come close to me, for you may be infected with—“
“Is it contagious?”
“No,” Erik admitted.
“Well, then,” Christine wrapped the ominous ghost in a tight hug, “until you’re well, you’re all mine!” Erik suppressed several more coughs.

Maybe being sick wasn’t so bad…