A Lonely World Where the People Are Blue by Rey S Morfin

A Lonely World Where the People Are Blue by Rey S Morfin

Author:Rey S Morfin [Morfin, Rey S]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2020-04-21T22:00:00+00:00


12

They Don’t Have Aspirin On Z’h’ar

‘Argh!’ Te’rnu shouted.

I jumped to my feet. ‘What is it?!’ I called out to him.

I looked around to find Te’rnu on the floor, clutching his head.

‘No!’ he screamed. ‘The Mutation! It has started!’

Other Arellians in town watched on - but didn’t seem too worried. This definitely wasn’t the same reaction as the locals had had in Te’r’ok. But maybe that was because…

‘Where’s the pain?’ I asked Te’rnu.

‘In my head!’ he cried out. ‘It is awful! And my mouth feels so dry!’

I was starting to get a clue about what was happening here.

‘Isn’t the pain supposed to start in your groin? What’s happening down there?’

‘My groin is fine! It is my head that is hurting!’

‘Hmm.’

I stood up, grabbed a bowl of water for him.

‘Here,’ I told Te’rnu, ‘Drink this.’

He sipped timidly at the water bowl that I gripped in my hands, much as I had done when I had first arrived in Te’r’ok.

‘Yeah… I think we’re gonna have to get you some hair of the dog, buddy,’ I said.

‘Dog hair? What will I need that for?’

‘Not… not actual dog hair. It’s an expression: “hair of the dog that bit you”. It means-’

‘No,’ Te’rnu replied, shaking his head (and then clutching it again when doing so caused him pain), ‘I have never been bitten by a dog. Animals tend to like me.’

‘Oi, listen! It means…,’ I repeated, ‘Having more of whatever ails you.’

‘But it’s the Mutation!’ Te’rnu cried out.

‘It’s not the Mutation, mate,’ I responded, resisting the urge to laugh about it. ‘You just drank too much last night.’

‘Too much? Too much gin?’

‘Yes. You’re hungover.’

Te’rnu moaned. ‘Well, I do not like it.’

‘No. You wouldn’t.’

‘This is why you passed out, back near Te’r’ok?’

I nodded. ‘Yeah. Partially.’

‘I understand now,’ Te’rnu replied, now no longer clutching at his head but instead using his hands to block the sunlight from hitting his eyes.

I laughed. ‘Oh, Te’rnu… You won’t be doing that again in a hurry, will you?’

Did I really just say that? Was I turning into my mother?

I remembered Leya and I sneaking some of Mum’s wine when we were younger. Or rather, I remember us stealing some of her “painting juice” - as she would call it. Once Mum had gone to sleep, Leya and I took turns swigging from the bottle. I didn’t really like it at the time, but my sister seemed to, so I pretended I was having fun too.

Was my current level of alcohol consumption in any way related to that night?

Leya and I awoke in the morning, complaining of flu symptoms. Mum, understandably, was shocked - especially because the flu virus had been eradicated over a hundred years earlier. It didn’t take her long to find the empty bottle of wine hidden under my bed.

My Mum held Leya and I’s hair, as we spent the day throwing up into the toilet and a large bucket, respectively. I assumed that I was assigned the bucket simply because I was younger, and not because there was any favouritism going on.



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