Lamia Febris

               Jungkook had assumed that another day had passed when his supposed uncle came back. His body still felt numb, yet painful. It was like he was hovering over a pile of needles not knowing if he was going to fall into the pit of pain again or not. He’d been lying in the same position since they needled him down. He felt like if he stretched his whole existence would ring with the cracking of his bones. When the nurse had come in that morning she was scared through her skin. He could feel her shaking as she unwrapped the bandages around his face. Her fingers extremely fragile to the boy she thought was a beast. When she’d finished unwrapping the rest of his face the small light illuminating in the corner became clearer. It didn’t hurt him, but it did come into focus more. Everything in the room was more detailed. Jungkook noticed that the closer and longer he looked at an object the more he thought he saw the particles of matter moving within it. Everything was crisped to the corner as if he was watching his own 1080 hd movie. It was weird, it scared the living hell out of him. When the nurse reached over Jungkook to re-fluff his pillow a smell hit him. It was the strongest scent he’d ever smelt. It was stronger than waking up to the smell of bacon on a Sunday morning. Then he heard it, a small beating. He opened his eyes slowly and saw the nurse’s neck straight in front of his line of vision. The beating was already above average, but it went into overtime once the nurse saw Jungkook’s face. Her eyes widened and fell to her chest pulling her whole body away from Jungkook’s bed.

          “Oh my god,” she said whispering behind her hand.

          “What!? What’s wrong!?” said the half-awake Uncle who was bobbing in the seat not too far from Jungkook near the door.

          “His eyes,” she said almost horrified. She shook her head and stepped back towards the door. “I’m sorry sir I can’t finish it I’ll just get you someone else,” she said running out the door as if she’d seen a dead relative appear in front of her. The confusion running through Jungkook’s head was mixed with fear. Why did she say that? What was wrong with him? He slowly sat up and felt the rush of gravity crush the top of his head. His eyes rolled back in pain as he fell back onto the pillow.

         “Hey, hey you ok? Take it easy,” said his now fully awake uncle moving towards Jungkook’s aid. It didn’t matter how much pain Jungkook was in he was still confused to accept the smallest aid from this man. He leaned away from Yoongi and felt the man’s presence back up a little bit. When Jungkook resituated himself on the bed he looked at Yoongi who was staring deeply into the boy’s eyes. He watched his uncle’s jaw flex his stare not being broken by a blink. At that moment the door opened again and Jungkook looked to see another doctor coming into the room closing the door behind him. The doctor was a young man, a little young to be a doctor in fact. He was handsome in the face and was reviewing the clipboard in his hand.

         “Jin,” said Yoongi a little surprised looking over at the young doctor. The doctor looked up and smiled.

          “Oh hyung, I didn’t know this was a relative of yours. Says that he’s your nephew,” he said looking down at the clipboard. Yoongi nodded and looked down at Jungkook. He sighed deeply at the broken boy laying on the bed.

          “I didn’t know that you were in the hospital too,” said Yoongi looking up at Jin.

          “I was just here to turn in some paperwork from the school to get a couple of students registered. I volunteer on my off days so the nurse that came rushing out asked me to cover this one,” he said gesturing his clipboard at Jungkook. He walked over to the boy and Jungkook looked the man straight in the eye.

         “Hmm,” said Jin not even flinching. Why was his reaction so much more different than the nurses?

         “That’s what I thought too,” said Yoongi now looking back at the boy.

         “This is a bit rare isn’t it?” he said taking out a little flashlight flashing Jungkook straight into his eyes. The blinding light burned the hell out of Jungkook’s iris and he flung his head to the side in pain. He closed his eyes feeling his eyeballs burned in a sizzle like feeling.

        “I think you should probably get him out of the hospital, it seems like his senses are extremely sensitive. We don’t want him to cause any trouble,” said Jin without a waver in his voice. Jin moved to each side and un-cuffed Jungkook from the bed. Jungkook still wasn’t strong enough to bolt for the door, yet alone sit up. Yoongi nodded at Jin’s request and pulled Jungkook’s arm around his shoulder helping him out of the bed. He moved Jungkook’s hospital slippers under his feet and started to walk the boy out the door.

       “I’ll let the nurse know that I accepted your discharge, so take him straight home,” he said more seriously to Yoongi.

     “Thank you,” he said supporting almost all of Jungkook’s weight as Jin held the door open for the two. When Yoongi finally got down to the garage he helped Jungkook lean against the car. The fact that the boy could barely stand on his own two feet made him anxious.

     “I know it’s not making sense now Jungkook but it will soon. Just bear with me till we get to the house,” he said softly forcing Jungkook into the back seat allowing him to lie down. Yoongi closed the door and hopped in to whip the car back to his place.

       When they’d arrived Yoongi helped Jungkook up the porch stairs and into the house. Yoongi lived alone so he always had a spare room. After moving Jungkook up to the bed he pulled the covers back and laid the immobile child onto the bed. Every slight movement going through Jungkook’s body lit fire through his veins, the immense pain nearly maddening. Jungkook’s breathing was rapid and tired from the effort of so much movement. His head was throbbing loud enough to hear in his own ears. When Yoongi had made him sit in the car and on the bed the sensitive touches to his skin made it feel like the glass from the car accident was piercing him again.

      “Ok Jungkook I’ll be right back I’m going to the kitchen don’t move,” he said leaving the room in a rush. Was that supposed to be a joke? With the little movement Jungkook managed he looked around the room. It was dull, dark, completely organized with the little ornaments that were in the room. The drawers had nothing on top of them, the curtains were solid and pulled down, and the night stand next to the bed had only a lamp. Yoongi hadn’t even left two minutes until he was back. It was like Jungkook turned his head to look at the room and turned it back and Yoongi was there.

      “Here,” he said holding a cup of red juice, “drink this.” Jungkook looked at the thick red syrup like liquid in the cup and looked up at Yoongi.

       “Just trust me, if you want to get that snake biting pain out of your veins,” he insisted moving the cup closer. He didn’t have to say anymore to make Jungkook try and sit up. Yoongi moved his hand to support the back of Jungkook’s head and Jungkook sipped the thick liquid.  When the metallic liquid hit Jungkook’s tongue, he most definitely wanted to spit it out. The taste was bitter, iron filled and yet it tasted strangely familiar. When he went to spit it out, his uncle stopped him.

       “Give it a chance just drink it,” said Yoongi still holding the cup to Jungkook’s mouth. Jungkook obliged and drunk the rest of the nasty syrup. He leaned back down and felt a warm rush soothing the electric pains within Jungkook’s veins. He breathed deeply, more like a sigh, because he was finally, momentarily, in no pain.