The stages of temperatures my body went through during the the first hour of trying to sleep was like a trip from Sahara to Antarctica.

It felt like my skin was boiling at the first ten minutes, yet my extremities went ice cold during that time. Then all of a sudden I started shivering. I was hoping Clay would be asleep by the time my whole body started shaking. I'd just get up, swallow the pill and go back to bed without worrying.

But as tired as he was, once my movements became a tiny bit noticeable, he reacted.

"Liz?" He quickly rolled to my side, and pressed his hand to my neck. He felt so cold on my skin- "Jesus Christ, you're burning!"

My ability to understand what was going on was partially missing. All I knew was that my jaw was getting sore from trying to hide the teeth chattering, but once I realized there was no point in hiding anymore, I let it all out.

I flinched when Clay turned on the lights, and he flinched at the scene of me shaking. The first thing he did was leave the room for a moment and run the water in the bathroom for some reason. Then he started to dig in the medicine box and took out an unfamiliar small packet of tablets that apparently dissolved in water.

My fever-high brain thought he was drugging me for a second, but then again it also realized that I was already dying to begin with, and had absolutely nothing to lose. He helped me gulp down the disgusting mixture before we could do anything.

I felt like I might pass out, I really thought my life was hanging by a thread. The fact that I could see his moving lips, could hear his voice but couldn't understand a word he said, flipped the panic switch inside of me.

I felt his arms lifting my body up, whispering something about my burning skin before I realized that we were in the bathroom. The water was filling up the tub, and judging by the absence of the steam that should've came from it, I guessed that it wasn't hot water. Then I realized that I'm dumb for thinking that it would be hot water.

I was half-responsive in Clay's arms when I understood that his feet were already in the tub and he was slowly sinking down, careful enough to get us in the exact position he wanted; him sitting in the water with my back against his chest, and his arms supporting my body so that I wouldn't just pass out in the tub and drown.

The water was supposed to be lukewarm I guess, but it seemed cold on my skin. He didn't take off a single piece of clothing from either of us. I was cringing from the fact that the shirt I was wearing got wet, and he was quickly trying to cover every bit of exposed skin I had with the water by using his hands, probably trying to speed up the heat transferring process.

He was speaking too, but sadly I cannot remember what he was saying and have no idea what happened during the whole process of him covering me up with water. I don't think I passed out tho, I was just not fully responsive.

"Do you hear me?" Was the first thing I heard in a while. He was gently tapping my cheeks with his wet hands.

"Yes." Either I died and I'm in hell with him, or I got a bit better. My shivers had died down too. I'm sure it was a process, but it all seemed to happen momentarily to me.

We were still in the tub, he was still splashing my neck and face with water, but the water seemed a bit warmer than it was at first.

"Are you fully conscious?"

What are these questions.

"Yes. I think." I didn't know if I was missing something or it was supposed to be like this.

"What's my name?" I almost snorted from his question.

"Cleo." I answered casually, hearing him let out a relieved sigh.

His whole body actually went lax behind me, with his arms getting looser around me and him sinking a bit more down into the water.

"Oh my god," He sounded completely spent, "Oh. My. Fucking. God."

Did I just reincarnate?

"Did I pass out?" I was really curious.

"No, you were just sitting here with open eyes, blinking, looking around, yet not fucking responding to me. Oh my gosh, I'm- ugh."

"For how long?" It seemed like 2 minutes to me.

"I don't know, 40 minutes or more," he looked completely spent, "I was scared to even leave you for a second to make a call, I kept splashing water and shaking you."

We sat there for a while questioning what happened. I was probably more confused than he was. Well if I wasn't dumb enough to pretend like I was okay and go to bed without taking the medication, this wouldn't happen.

"I'm sorry." I wasn't going to tell him the details but I needed to apologize to feel better about myself.

"Don't be silly," the power in his voice was completely missing, "let's get up get dressed. We're going to the hospital."

There was no point protesting anymore. I probably put him in enough trauma already, and I was getting confused from what my body was doing too, so it's better if we take the safe option.

And I just want to block the memory of us both getting ready anxiously, waiting in the hospital reception for a while and then finally getting called in by the doctor. The first thing they checked was my throat, and apparently they hit the jackpot on the first try.

"It's tonsillitis," the doctor explained, writing prescriptions down in the process, "avoid caffeine and nicotine, stay hydrated and take your medications on time."

Adding the final touches, the doctor handed me the piece of paper, "And don't use your voice too much, you'll lose it."