Chapter Two

 

He had no idea what time it was when he woke but he knew one thing even before he'd opened his eyes – he was coming down with something. His head ached and he had that feeling at the back of the nose and throat which usually heralds the onset of a cold. Even though the cottage was cold the bedroom felt stuffy and humid.

Laying still for a couple of minutes, he struggled between trying to go back to sleep or checking to see what he had in the “medicine cupboard”. This was actually just an old travel washkit with whatever bits and pieces he's managed to accumulate over the years. He decided on the medicines, swinging his legs out of bed and standing up in one movement. Dizziness struck him immediately and he leant against a dresser to support himself until it cleared. Hoping the earlier power cut had been resolved he flicked the light-switch by the door but there was still nothing.

Moving into the bathroom, seeing by the light of the moon but running his hands along the walls for confidence he took the washkit from it's drawer and dumped the contents out on the window-sill so he could see. There wasn't much, a couple of tubes of ibuprofen gel, some prescription painkillers from a couple of years ago and some off the shelf paracetamol. Also in there were the flu sachets he was looking for, five in total, originally from a box of six. Tearing the top off the sachet he poured the contents onto his tongue as directed. After a few seconds he swallowed what was left and washed it down with a glass of water.

By now his eyes were accustomed to the dark and he was able to walk back to his room carrying the glass and remaining sachets. He placed these on the small table next to his bed and lay on top of the duvet. He considered opening the window to let in some fresh air but decided against it. It would probably be in minus figures outside and the last thing he needed was to go to sleep with a cold and wake up with hypothermia.

He dozed off quickly but it was an uneasy sleep, interrupted by the occasional coughing fit. Less than an hour after getting back into bed he was awake again. Whatever the cold remedy had done it hadn't made things better, in fact things were much worse. His head was pounding and migraine like and the earlier signs of a cold had morphed into what felt like full-blown flu. As he moved around in bed to try and find some position which would relieve the discomfort even slightly the fabric around him felt like red-hot needles piercing his skin.

As a child he'd had a really bad dose of flu which lasted about a week and almost required hospitalisation but even that didn't come close to how bad he felt now. He rolled to the side, reaching for the sachets, he doubted he was supposed to take another for two to three hours but he doubted the extra dose of decongestant, caffeine, vitamin c and aspirin would do him much harm. He doubted they'd do him much good either but it was all he had.

It was as he was leaning over the side of the bed that the nausea hit him like a brick. Before he was even aware of it coming he'd vomited down the front of the bedside table and the floor. Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand he stared at the thick greasy liquid, shocked at the suddenness of the sickness. Despite his flu-like symptoms he knew he should clean up the mess but all he wanted was to roll-over and go to sleep. He hoped to wake up feeling better but at the minute he'd settle for not waking up at-all.

Sitting up was slow and painful, when he was finally sat on the side of the bed he was exhausted. He planned to just wipe up the worst with an old towel and throw it in the bin, the real clean-up could wait until he felt a bit better. Again the nausea, this time he had a fraction of a second to prepare so even as the vomit was rising in his throat he was turning towards the existing pool. At the back of his mind he thought it was better to try and keep the mess in one place.

As he coughed the last mouthfuls up onto the floor and let himself fall back onto his bed he decided he had food poisoning and considered calling an ambulance. Was this an emergency or did he just need to sleep it off? Although the migraine and all-over aches were still present maybe the worse was over? Picking up his mobile the display showed his provider had no signal, however the 999 call would be put through be any network with coverage. Despite being fairly remote there was normally good coverage in the area and he was certain he'd get through if he rang.

He felt sick again, this time it was less urgent and although he knew he was going to vomit this time he had some say about the timing. There was probably time to get to the bathroom and whilst there he could grab a towel to chuck over the mess - he'd given up on the cleaning idea but still felt he should do something. Sitting up slowly he moved carefully to his feet and was starting to think that maybe the worst was over. From two spontaneous sessions of sickness he now felt like it was under some kind of control, perhaps he'd throw up this time and that would be it.

Staggering slowly towards the bedroom door he'd made it barely halfway before the stomach cramps hit. He knew this wasn't a warning about being sick, if he didn't get to the toilet quickly he was going to shit himself. He moved as fast as he could but it was a perfect storm of sickness, the pain of moving with the migraine caused a second spell of dizziness but this time he wasn't strong enough or fast enough to support himself against the wall and he collapsed to the ground. Laying on the floor, head reeling, the smell of the vomit already congealed on the carpet triggered his third session of vomiting. This time there was less to come up but it didn't matter, bile burned the back of his throat and nose as his eyes stung and poured with water. As his bowels let go and foul smelling black faeces oozed down his legs he tried to drag himself back towards his mobile to ring for help, gradually losing consciousness until he collapsed totally.  The last thing he saw was the mobile's green LED blinking in the grey of the unlit bedroom.