By the afternoon the rash on Damien's chest had widened, but it wasn't itchy.
Instead, it seemed to be draining him of energy as if the gem was drawing out his life force bit by bit. Alas, the poor boy didn't suspect that his symptoms were caused by the curios object.
As such, he didn't want to yield to his sickness—not when he was so close to revealing Ahara's secret. So he went into her room and rummaged through her drawers looking for any pills that could settle his growing fever before drinking an entire bottle after ignoring the instructions written on the pack's label, for his body was now a burning mess.
However, the fever didn't show any signs of settling down, but it hit him harder, and by the time he was supposed to cook lunch for himself, he couldn't even walk properly.
'Better call Ahara before I die,' Damien thought as he struggled to his feet and went into his room to grab his phone and call her, only to be hit in the gut by his shitty life when he saw that it was damaged beyond recognition.
"Well, that's what I get for throwing it roughly on my bed in anger."
Mouthing expletives as he leaned on the walls for support, Damien dragged himself to his neighbor's front door and knocked weakly on it, hoping Lucy was home and not chilling around with some first graders downstairs. His prayers were answered when the door swung open by his second knock and the ginger-haired girl came out, grinning as usual.
It took one look at Damien to knock that grin on her face and push her to take action, grabbing his arm and leading him inside her house to the six-seater couch in their living room.
Like every other house in the complex, the room designs were the same old two bedrooms facing the front door, and one bedroom and the kitchen to its right, but the Monroe siblings somehow managed to make their house look more personalized and unique with their 90s aesthetic vibe.
Just like Damien and Ahara, their neighbors were also orphaned cousin siblings who had joined forces and decided to live together. Lucy said her parents had died in a fire when she was a baby and it was her cousin who had saved her back then.
He was rarely home because of his job in the military, but whenever he came, they made sure to visit Damien's house frequently. As of now, Lucy stayed with their maid who was off today, since it was the weekend.
"Damn, you look like shit," Lucy exclaimed snapping Damien back to reality as she sat next to him. He ignored her sassy remark.
"Thanks for your concern but can I borrow your phone? Mine's broken and I need to call Ahara."
"Roger that," Lucy pulled the device from her dress pockets and gave it to him. "The password is fuck you."
Damien glared at her. "Can't you tell I'm not in the mood for jokes right now?"
"I'm being serious Damien. The password is fuck you in small letters," Lucy defended herself, her voice and expression sincere to the touch.
Swearing to kill her if she was lying, Damien typed the password in and the phone immediately unlocked. Giving Lucy one final defeated look, he headed to her contact list and searched for Ahara's number before calling.
Ahara picked up the call on the third ring.
"What's up, Lucy? I'm kinda busy at the moment so I'll call you back later, okay? Hey, don't pick it up like that!" She yelled.
"Wait!" Damien stopped her before she cut the call.
"Damien? Why do you sound like you're sick?
"That's because he is," Lucy cut him before he could reply. "You better leave whatever it is that you're doing there or you'll come home to your brother's skeleton in my house."
BEEP!
And just like that, Ahara was offline. Damien glared at Lucy once again, but all she did was laugh at him.
"You look like a zombie with malnutrition," she dissed, holding her ribs and flopping on the couch as she laughed some more.
Even though Damien wanted to be angry, he couldn't contain the image his mind conjured up at her silly prompt. His mouth corners curved up and he found himself laughing along with Lucy, except, his laugh came out sounding like a cry, which made Lucy stop in her tracks and sit closer to him.
"Dude, you have me worried now. What kind of laugh was that?"
Damien only shrugged, feeling embarrassed and surprised at the same time. Was his lack of sleep strong enough to make him this useless so quickly?
He was in the middle of overthinking when a knock came on Lucy's door and she rushed to open it.
"Ahara! Wow, you're so fast."
See, even Lucy had noticed.
"Where's Damien?" Ahara asked already stepping inside the house and panting like a madman.
The moment her eyes landed on her brother whose eyes looked like he had just smoked an entire blunt, she went into full-blown mom-mode action.
"Lucy, can you help me place him on my back?"
"Sure thing."
"It's fine, I can walk by myse—"
"Shut up!" The two females barked at Damien and he immediately closed his mouth.
But then he remembered the rock on his chest and how Ahara might be able to feel it on her back once she gave him a piggyback. The thought alone was enough to give him strength as he stood from the couch, letting Ahara hold him for balance.
"Boys and their stubborn pride," Ahara complained but let him walk on his own anyway. It made her feel good watching him behave like a normal kid, unlike the troubled adult act he had been pulling on her lately.
They reached the white Mercedes waiting for them at the gate where Kingston was already opening the door for Damien to enter.
"How's your body son," the guy didn't waste any time trying to annoy Damien. Little did he know that ever since seeing him in his beastly form last night, Damien's fear of the guy had skyrocketed.
As if to worsen the situation, he remembered the threat Kingston had presented to his teacher yesterday and shuddered as Ahara assisted him with seating.
'No wonder Ahara gets mad at me when I disrespect him,' Damien thought to himself, avoiding eye contact with Kingston who was now fastening his seat belt.
"I'm not fine thank you, sir," Damien replied closing his eyes and resting his head on the seat next to him.
Surprised by Damien's sudden respect, Kingston immediately swung into action and started the car, driving out of the complex and speeding down the highway to the hospital. The boy's escalated character development could only be him seeing the doorway to hell for sure unless human fevers made them suffer from multiple personality disorders as well.
*****
In no time they reached the hospital and Ahara took Damien inside, asking Kingston to wait in the parking lot with his car.
Lucky for them, there was no queue outside so getting an appointment with the doctor was an easy feat. The only problem they encountered was the doctor himself.
With his highly defined posh designer suit, a sleek haircut that was held in place by some gel and sharply defined features on his face, Damien couldn't help but feel repelled by him. It was almost as if he was emitting some kind of dark energy that made Damien want to run for his life.
Ahara's grip on his arm didn't help settle matters either. She was glaring daggers at the doctor not in the slightest looking like she was ready to give Damien away.
"Please come in," the doctor announced, his voice a mix of cold and cunning, though the latter was more apparent.
"That's public hospitals for you," Ahara muttered under her breath.
"You may sit," he urged the siblings as they sat on the two chairs facing the doctor.
He took one good look at Damien before squinting his eyes at him and dragging them down the boy's body until they lingered around his chest, cold and predatory as they came.
"Since when have you been feeling weak?" He asked without Damien needing to tell him his symptoms.
"He didn't say he was weak," Ahara hissed at the doctor, her voice rough. Damien shot her a glance. Was she sizing him up looking for an excuse to feed him to the beast she left in the car tonight?
"I know, but I'm a doctor, have been for the past thirty years and I can tell most of my patients symptoms just by looking at them. Now if you'll just let me show off for a little, that'll be more helpful to all of us in here."
Ahara clenched her jaw but remained silent. The doctor was right, he was the professional here, not her.
As for Damien, he couldn't take his eyes off the doctor's face. He's been a doctor for thirty years he said, and yet, he looked like a young man in his twenties to Damien.
The doctor turned his attention back to Damien, a hint of curiosity flashing in his eyes when he made eye contact with the boy. Scribbling something in the little notepad on his desk, he finally gave his next command:
"Can you take off your shirt for me?"
Damien stilled. Why did it have to be his shirt off all things to remove? He had the damn necklace under the garment for goodness sake.
"W-why?" Damien stammered making the doctor put his pen down and sigh.
"I think you have a rash," he gestured at Damien's neck.
Ahara almost snapped her head turning to look at Damien. "You have a rash?" She exclaimed reaching for Damien's neck but he stopped her before she could place her hands there and see the necklace.
"No offense but can you leave? I don't feel so good removing my shirt in front of you."
Ahara's mouth dropped open. She couldn't believe this obnoxious brat. How could he be so diabolical after asking her to strip in front of him so nonchalantly yesterday?
Ignoring the voice screaming in her head and nodding, Ahara rose from her seat. There was enough time to argue with Damien later after he recovered, but for now, she had to be the adult—as always.
Turning her attention back to the doctor, her expression turned cold again. "Don't do anything funny to my brother or I'll end you," she warned.
Damien felt goosebumps erupt all over his body at the warning. If the doctor knew what his sister was, he wouldn't be glaring back at her as she turned to leave after the bitter warning.
Finally, they were alone, and the doctor snapped his attention back to Damien.
"Can you take off your shirt now?"
With a nod, Damien grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head. The moment his eyes met his chest, a chill ran over his skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake at the sight before him.