56. Day 4 Part 11

Screams everywhere… a fire burning to her right… a tapered hand frantically reaching for hers to her left… can't move an inch… pain… so much pain… h-help m-mmee...

"Huh?!" Chloe rose quickly from her nightmare, her eyes blinking in the bright afternoon light, rubbing her throbbing head in an attempt to clear her mind from the horrific images that had just assailed it.

Dream. It was all just a stupid dream. Well, that would make sense, considering… She laughed bitterly at her own weakness, before taking stock of her surroundings.

A white room with a desk in the corner, a few cupboards here and there and a large blue curtain separating the bed she now lay on with the one adjacent to it.

In case the big red cross engraved onto the wall wasn't enough of a clue, the location quickly became familiar to her. The infirmary, she noted grimly, remembering all the time she'd nervously queued outside for an 'essential' injection or a 'necessary' physical examination, B-But what am I doing…

"Aha, you're finally awake!" A chirpy voice sounded from above Chloe, and one which the heiress recognised almost immediately. She was a kindly young woman with her black hair tied back in a bun, a warm smile which could ease the tension of any who visited her and she wore the customary pale uniform as expected for a person of her profession. It was Mrs Audrey Binoche the school nurse who now stood before the somewhat confuddled blonde.

Without warning, the older woman went to put a palm on Chloe's temple. "Hmm, you don't seem to be running a fever…" She remarked, mostly to herself. "And there's no obvious head trauma, either. A girl your age doesn't tend to faint like that for no reason though, so I'd like to keep you in observation until the end of the school day, at the very least…"

F-Fainted?! It was all starting to come back to the heiress, but she wanted some further clarification of how she arrived at this room in the first place. "M-Mrs Binoche?" She stammered, hoping fervently that her brief recollection didn't bear any resemblance to reality. "H-How did I get here?"

"Oh my dear, you took a bit of a funny turn!" The nurse smiled at Chloe, as she removed something from a nearby drawer. "Not to worry, though. Your boyfriend carried you all the way here after you collapsed. He said he couldn't stay though, because he had to get back to class. He looked a little flushed himself, the poor lad. Just started dating, have you?"

"W-What?! H-He's not..." Chloe was about to jump off the mattress instantly in a moment of pure shock and anger, before a firm but friendly hand stopped her from getting to her feet.

"Sorry dear, I can't allow you to do that. You have to stay in a vertical position, until I figure out what made you lose consciousness in the first place…" Mrs Binoche told the suddenly seething heiress. "It's for your own good. Besides, you don't have to get embarrassed around me. I remember what it was like, meeting my first 'true love'. He meant the world to me, he did. Everything was perfect… until I caught him giving lip-to-lip and tongue-to-tongue resuscitation to my best friend behind the bike shed, but that's another story. I'm sure thing'll work out better for you."

"Fascinating." Chloe growled, not really in the mood for trivial gossip for a change. "Could you just, I dunno, do your actual job so I can get out of this disinfectant-stinking place as soon as possible? I-I need to see someone…"

"Well, as I said, you're not going anywhere for now because I need to make sure you're okay to go home. Health and safety regulations, and also the fact is: I care." Mrs Binoche looked at the heiress sympathetically, before adopting a sterner tone. "Now, roll up your sleeve please. I need to take your blood pressure."

Great, one of those torture gizmos which makes you feel like your arm is caught in a vice. Chloe rolled her eyes in annoyance, but still complied with the instruction. It was as she looked down for the first time since opening her eyes though, that she noticed the soft material covering her wasn't a blanket or duvet at all.

N-Nathanael's J-Jacket. She audibly gulped upon realising that the artist had left behind his precious coat to shelter her with. She'd never seen him without his favourite item of clothing before, which added further weight to the significance of the gesture.

"My oh my, you've certainly got a fast pulse! And, it's only getting quicker!" So entranced was Chloe by the obvious implications of Nathanael's heartfelt act, she hadn't even seen the nurse slip her device over the heiress's arm and begin to take readings. "...You're beginning to turn quite the shade of scarlet, too! Tell me, are you starting to feel woozy again? Would you like me to fetch you a glass of water?"

"No, I'll be fine!" Snapped Chloe, who loathed being babied like this. She was being made to feel so vulnerable, first by this condescending blabbermouth medical practitioner, and then previously by a certain weirdo stalker artist with a hopeless crush, who'd had the temerity to carry her good self all the way here without permission… I'll be having words with him later, you just see if I don't. Stupid tomato head…

"Tomato head, that's a good one!" Chloe chuckled out loud, deciding there and then to use it in all future encounters with that hapless sap otherwise known as Nathanael.

"Are you sure you're alright, dear? You're not making much sense at the moment…" Mrs Binoche looked at the heiress with concern. "I don't want you to end up like Sleeping Beauty over there. No matter how much I've tried to rouse her, she just isn't coming round. I'm afraid that if she doesn't wake up by the end of the day, we might have to call the hospital. Such a shame, and we can't even get in touch with her father…"

As the nurse continued to endlessly babble on, Chloe mentally tuned her out to focus on her own problems which seemed to be rapidly stacking-up by the minute. So, not only do I have to track down a magical flying bug that's made my feet hairy, attend a tedious appointment with a corrupt psychiatrist tonight and convince the rest of my class I didn't get Alya's mother the big heave-ho, I now have an obsessed not-so-secret admirer who seems to think I'm some kind of muse for his amateurish artwork. Great, just great. At least things can't get even more complicated than this…

As many an unlucky person has found out over the years, simply saying those last few words tend to have the reverse effect. As, you may not be surprised to learn, was the case now.

"... Yes, yes. A very sad state of affairs indeed. Anyway, if you can bear to be apart from me for a minute, I think I'll go and check on my other patient." That was Miss Binoche, who'd finally stopped chuntering on about who-cares to cease squashing Chloe's wrist mercilessly with her blood pressure device.

After placing the item back inside the drawer, the nurse wasted no time in strolling over to the blue curtain which separated Chloe from her sick neighbour to pull it aside. Glancing up with disinterest at first to see who her unwitting new roomie was, the heiress showed considerably more attention when she saw the identity of the brunette girl snoring softly a few yards away.

"L-Lila?" She exclaimed in wonderment.

"Yes, of course you'd know who she is. After all, you both share a class together…" Mrs Binoche exclaimed worriedly, while adjusting the Italian's posture to avoid bedsores. "She was found in a storage closet by the janitor just after lunchtime. Of all the places to take a nap… more puzzlingly though, I can't seem to return her to the land of the living. I've run all the tests we can, but I'm afraid a small facility like this has it's limits. It's the clinic for her if she doesn't improve soon…"

Once again, the nurse's chatter soon faded into static in Chloe's mind, but now for a very different reason.

You see, around Lila's facial area were slight traces of a strange glittery powdered substance, which most people would have dismissed as some kind of new teenage make-up fad.

Not Chloe though. She'd been covered in it before, in fact she'd spent almost an hour in the shower the other night scrubbing it off until her skin was red raw. There could be only one source for the pesky, clinging stuff: A glowing trail left by a talking bee creature with a bizarre penchant for nougat related products.

Z-Zzubo…

…..

AUTHOR'S NOTE: A quick weekend update for you lucky, lucky people. I hope, now that my life is a bit less cluttered, I'll be able to work on this story a bit more… no guarantees, though! Caio! :)