NovelEnglishUNWELL
JESS
"Hey, babe. Are you ready? Everything packed?" | asked Luke as | dragged his suitcase out of the bedroom. He
was so handseven though he only wore a pair of slacks and a navy T-
shirt. I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. He walked to the front door and turned around. Suddenly, his face
changed, and there was blood. Blood on his shirt, his pants. | looked up, and he was choking. | wanted to run to
him, to help him, but I couldn't move. Why couldn't I m "Luke."
"Luke!"
| sat up, gasping for air, just in tto make it to the bathroom.
The nausea had been creeping up
for weeks, relentless and unforgiving, even now that we were back home. I'd thought that leaving Jakarta's
oppressive heat and humidity behind might help, but it hadn't. The sickness remained a constant, unsettling
reminder of everything that had changed, everything that wrong.
This morning was no different. | stumbled out of bed, the world tilting as | barely made it to the bathroom.
Kneeling by the toilet, | gripped the edge, heaving until my body was spent, leavingslumped against the cool
porcelain, my forehead resting on the seat.
20 Mouser
| closed my eyes, breathing through the dizziness. And in that strange half-
awake state, | let my mind wander back to Luke. | could almost feel his presence, steady and comforting, the
warmth of his hand rubbing gentle circles on my back. I could almost hear his voice whispering that everything
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtwould be alright.
| let myself fall into that fantasy, sinking into it, wanting so desperately to believe that he was here, right beside
me.
In my mind, he was holding me, holding my hair back and gently rubbing my back. "You are okay, babe," he
whispered, and | believed him. Even though I still wanted to vomit my guts out, | heard him. Maybe | was
dehydrated and hallucinating. If so, it would be worth it. "We are going to be so happy," | heard Luke say. All of
us." | pulled my head from the toilet and blinked a few times, becoming more aware by the second. Luke wasn't
here. | was alone.
The tears were streaming down my face now, and | wiped them away. What a foolish dream. It was just a
daydream, a hazy mirage brought on by exhaustion and desperation.
But it lingered. No matter how many times | told myself it was just my imagination, that feeling stayed with me.
In my dream - Luke had said, "Us.". If he meant just us two, he would have phrased it differently. But he didn't he
told us like we were a family.
| pulled myself off the floor and stepped through the cool shower like | would in Indonesia when | felt like this.
The frigid sensation broughtback to my senses. | couldn't close my UNWELL
eyes for more than a few seconds without having Luke's face haunt my every waking moment. Something inside
ofrefuses to believe this is how it ends, not after everything.
Something else from that daydream stuck with me, and | messaged Laura to cover.
Hours later, as | tried to distract myself with the TV in the living. room, Laura cbursting through the door,
clutching a white paper bag. She didn't bother to knock or say hello. She just held out the bag, her eyes wide
and pupils dilated.
| should have been the one panicking,
not Laura, but | could see it on hen
face. She handed Mé &dlass of water
ahd Beth Shag down on the coffee
table, her expression carefully neutral
as she watched me. The content is
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"Look, | figured..." She hesitated, searching for the right words, her gaze drifting
n : : n
to the floor. “I think that if..." Laura
saw the uncertainty on my face and
walked back over ieplea
hug befre shoving Ss the
9 [1 .
bSttiroom. The sooner you do it, the
A n
sooner we know what we are doing,
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3 f I
Laura said, and | nodded. She didn't
say more, but her eyes held a silent
message that only | could read. The
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the latest chapter there!
The room felt too still as | stared at
her, my pulse pounding in my ears. |
knew what she Was sayinareveilt
=
Speden sayite t'loud. It was like
€ were both standing at the edge of
something huge, something that
neither of us wanted to name. SAL,
SUN, SAND The content is on
novelenglish.net! Read the latest
chapter there!
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