It came in an instant, my body toppled to the ground effortlessly. The signs of a major fever exploded into effect as I tried to remain conscious. The figures around me lost their clearness and the last words I could hear were my mother crying my name.
My friend Trey came and knelt beside me. His touch on my arm was warm and comforting. My mind felt at ease as I remained with him.
None knew how it happened but I had just caught the dangerous disease called Procatitis which would normally lead to an almost certain death. Many of my friends and family had already been taken by the disease yet because of your stubborn government and their political problems, they decided that putting money towards finding a cure was pointless.
I could feel a pair of strong arms lift me off the ground, I assumed they were Trey’s for my mother was rather bony in the arms and would have definitely struggled to even attempt to lift me up. It was true however that there were fewer males nowadays as well. The disease seemed to trigger far more often in a male then in any female. For a while I thought I might have been fortunate for although my family was poor, we were able to gather enough food to keep my mother and me somewhat healthy.
I could feel the soft textures of a blanket cover over me once Trey had placed me on a rather old mattress. We weren’t rich enough to afford and good bedding since the government continuously raised taxes over the six year period that we had been fighting in a war against West Germany.
I managed to safely fall asleep after a few spasms from the disease. Darkness and fear shrouded my dreams. Memories of those taken by the disease continued to cycle through my mind as visions of destruction began to frighten me with what was brought on to me.
Light pierced my eyes as dawn approached. I could only open my eyes, moving any other portions of my body seemed almost impossible at the time.
Both Trey and my mother had fallen sleep on either side of me, both of their heads resting on the mattress. I tried forcing myself to move but it seemed to be far too much effort then what I could handle.
My mother had slowly begun to awaken. She smiled as her soft blue eyes fell on me and noticed that I was awake. She grabbed my hand and warmed it with hers; it was rather inviting and pleasant for my body felt cold.
“Feeling any better?” she asked, I assumed she knew I would be unable to answer. She released her hold on my hand before she silently made her way out of the room. She quickly returned holding a bowl of water with a small cloth dangling from the side.
“I dare say we are not in good shape right now, it seems our hot water tank is slowly breaking. This might happen to be the last of our hot water.” She didn’t sound disappointed in the least, in fact she sounded more cheerful then anything.
She pulled the cloth out of the water as she knelt down beside the mattress. She slowly mopped the sweat that constantly accumulated on my forehead. The warm water was refreshing and although the freshness didn’t last, I felt somewhat better by the warm touch of the water.
“How bad is it?” I managed to ask after about an hour of being pampered with the water. She was startled when she heard the soft sounds of my voice.
“Fiora?” she gasped. She quickly wrapped her arms around me in happiness.
“How bad is it?” I repeated. She released her grip on me as she sat up.
“It has to be getting better,” she cried. “In no case before has anyone been able to speak after the disease has taken them. We might even be fortunate enough to survive off of just the medicine the doctors had given us.”
“Maybe,” I quietly said. I tried to smile as I looked into my mother’s worried face. Despair was brightly emitting from her face, but it seemed that happiness was starting to slowly leak through.
“I’m just glad to have you and Trey here with me,” I coughed as I slowly managed to turn my head and stare at Trey.
“I guess I should wake him, he’ll be relieved to see you are up.” She moved over and knelt beside him, rubbing his shoulders to try and awaken him. However no matter how hard she tried he didn’t seem to move from it. She tried for several minutes but her eyes narrowed as she released what had happened.
“What’s the matter with Trey?” I moaned as I tried to get a little more comfortable in the bed.
“I think he’s got the disease!” she gasped in panic.
I tried to look closer at Trey. His breathing was rather slow yet he didn’t seem to have any percolation of sweat coming from his forehead.
My mother placed her hand on his forehead. She removed it quickly with an expression on her face that showed gloom.
“He’s got a fever, just as I assumed, and it seems even worse then the one you have.”
I fell silent again. The disease should never have found its way into his system. He was one of the few I had left and he was going to be taken away from me, just as I would soon leave my mother.
“Is there anyway you can help him? I asked my mother. She glared at me in sorrow.
“All I can do is try and get a doctor. He’s a lot deeper into the disease then you are, and I am quite positive water isn’t going to hold that fever off for long.”
“Then please get a doctor,” I moaned again as tears began to trickle down my cheek. My mother scanned the room for any traces of the phone. After a short search she found it in a small box off to the corner of the room. She quickly dialed emergency and hoped that it went through. Three rings passed before someone answered.
“Hello, this is the hospital, how may we help you today?” said a man on the receiving end.
“We need emergency help; a boy has recently just fallen to Procatitis,” my mother said, her hands somewhat shaking on the phone.
“Rank?” asked the man.
“What?” said my mother in a surprised voice. “Does it matter? A boy is sick…”
“State you rank, or let us return to other dying patients. We haven’t the time to deal with low life people at the moment.”
My mother hung the phone up. Her hands shook like mad as she dropped the phone to the floor.
“Despicable, they don’t even care!” she spat as she moved closer to Trey and me. She checked Trey’s breathing and blood pressure, before a sudden shriek filled the room.
“He, he’s dead!” she cried.
The room went silent other then for the sound of sobbing that came from my mother. I’m sure I would have been doing the same if I weren’t so ill. I cursed the doctors and all those wealthier and higher in rank then my mother and I were. It wasn’t as if it was there fault, he would have died long before anyone reached us, but it seemed to be the only thing that comforted my sadness.
I tried to sit up, and miraculously I was able to, even though from what had happened to ever other case of the disease, I shouldn’t even be able to move period. How was I getting better all of a sudden? My mother stared at me and gave off a small smile.
“At least his death will not be in vein,” she cried. “Trey was rather intelligent for his age, although I’m sure you knew that already.”
“What do you mean?” I said as I was able to slightly feel my breathing grow stronger.
“He figured out that if two people of the same blood type could mix some of their blood, the disease would be devoured by the other person’s white blood cells. He hoped that the two of you were of the same type and it seemed luck was on your side for you were. Unfortunately some of your blood must have gotten into the cut he made to extract some of his blood.”
“He found a cure!” I gasped. “Yet it killed him in the process of trying to save my life. I’m to blame for his death.”
“Don’t blame yourself dear, he never meant for you to feel pain.”
I understood my mother all too well. I would never let the guilt of his death leave me however, for if I did, what he had done for me could never be cherished.
The hospital had come later in the evening to take Trey’s body away. My mother had described o the doctors about the cure and how Trey had thought the methods up. They were very grateful for the information and apologized for our loss.
My body had recovered all thanks to Trey’s sacrifice. It was also thanks to him, that so many others would be saved as well, and soon the disease cleared up from all over the world.
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