Chapter 105

Chapter 105
Mae PoV

The pain seeps into every bone, into every muscle, I can’t breathe. It feels like my veins are on fire. It feels like I’m on fire and no one can put me out, no matter how much water they throw over me.

I know that there’s no cure for this, no way to stop the pain, but gods, I wish there was. I pray for it more often than I’d like to admit for someone who doesn’t believe in god. I beg for it with every breath that I take. But it never stops.

The pain is relentless, and it seems to only get worse the longer it lasts, or maybe I just can’t handle it anymore.

The hunter council knew exactly what they were doing to me when they injected me with this poison, they knew what it would do to my body and my mind. They WANTED this outcome.

They wanted me to suffer, and I am. I’m suffering more than I have ever experienced before. But that doesn’t mean that I will give up. I’ll keep fighting.

I won’t give them that satisfaction of seeing me fall into despair.

I wake up in small bursts, the energy it takes just to open my eyes a stark reminder of what they have done to me.

But I’m not alone, my family is always with me in my lucid moments, Mihai is always beside the bed, whispering words of encouragement and love.

I know that I can do this because I have people who care about me for who I am, not what I can do for them. They love me, not my strength. Not my powers. Me.

“Hey sleepy head.” Mihai says softly, taking my hand.

I lick my lips and open my eyes, the light is too bright, the world too loud. I’d much rather disappear back into the darkness.

“How long?” I ask, and I know I won’t need to explain.

He knows what I’m asking.

“Three days.” He said with a small frown, “we don’t think it’ll be much longer, but no one knows for sure.”

“I’m not sure how much longer I can do this.” I whisper, my voice cracking.

How much longer will the poison last? I don’t want to give up, but I’m not sure my body can take much more than it already has.

He hands me a glass of water and helps me take a massive gulp. The liquid was cold, soothing almost and I drained the glass until there was nothing left.

“Careful.” He says, taking the cup away from my lips. “You’ll make yourself sick if you drink it too fast.”

I don’t care, I needed it. I needed to feel something other than this pain and if cold water gives me relief, even for a second: I’m going to take it.

“I’m so tired.” I say, my throat not as dry.

“I wish there was something more I can do.” He says, brushing the wet hair away from my forehead, “do you want to try some blood? It’ll help you heal.”

I shake my head, the thought alone making me nauseous.

“I can’t.” I say honestly, hoping that he’ll understand.

He nods, leaning back a little, the loss of his touch as physically painful as the poison.

Luthor enters the room without knocking, I’m not sure when that started, but once I’m better I’ll be putting a stop to it. This is my space. I want it to remain that way.

“Mae.” he says, sitting down on the opposite side of the bed to Mihai. “I came to check on you.”

I nod, my body in too much pain to go through pleasantries. I don’t want to talk, I just want the pain to stop.

I feel my eyes roll into the back of my head and my body start to tremble and the world goes black for a second.

The pain is too much, all I want is to go back to how I was.

I need it to stop.

When I open my eyes, Luthor and Mihai are still there, waiting for me to come back around.

“How long?” I ask again, knowing that I won’t like the answer.

“Seventeen hours.” Luthor says, checking his watch. “We hope it’ll stop within the next two days, according to the knowledge we do have on the poison. We don’t know much, but people tend to stop seizing around the fifteen-day mark.”

I stare at him, it felt more like seventeen seconds, not seventeen hours. I’m losing too much time. I don’t even know what day it is anymore.

I’ve been in this bed too long, I’ve been in pain too long.

When all this is over, I’m going for the council, no more holding back. They deserve to pay.

I went to the clearing to try and find a peaceful solution, and instead they poisoned me and tried to take me away from my family. Enough is enough.

“Find out everything you can.” I manage to say, my voice cracking. “I want this to be over.”

Mihai takes my hands and holds them, “we will do everything we can to make this stop, Mae, but you just have to hold on a little bit longer, ok?”

I nod, biting my tongue.

I want to scream and shout and maybe even cry, I want to yell from the rooftops about how unfair this is. But that won’t change anything. It’ll only make me feel worse.

I can get through this, I just have to take it one day at a time, one step at a time.

“I won’t give up.” I say to them and watch as their faces instantly relax.

They’re both worried it’ll be too much for me to handle, but I’ve been tortured my whole life, just in a different way. This is much more of the same.

“Water.” I say, holding my throat.

I’m so hungry I could eat an entire pig, but I know that if I try and eat even the smallest thing, it’ll all come back in a way no one wants to see.

Mihai helps me take a drink again, and this time, I go slowly. I’d much rather take in a little and keep it down than take in a lot and vomit it all back.

The pain surges and my eyes go black, but not before I feel Mihai’s lips on my forehead and his soft words of comfort.

I want to thank him. I want to scream at him.

But most of all, I just don’t want to be in pain anymore.

I know I can’t stop it, I know there’s nothing I can do to make it easier for myself, but that doesn’t mean I’ll give up.

I’m stronger than that, or at least, I’d like to think I am.