Page 34 of Spiralling Skywards: Fading
After a goodday and an even better night’s sleep, I was back to feeling like shit. I still had trouble keeping anything down and had spent the morning throwing up, but by four I was comfortably sitting on my couch, sipping water watchingThe Sweetest Thing.I’d just managed not to gag too hard at the sight of the dry cleaner scratching cum off Jane’s dress before tasting it, when Luke came through the door. He took one look at me, grabbed the bin from the kitchen, and came to kneel in front of me.
“Fuck me, Sunshine, you look rough. No wonder he didn’t wanna leave ya.”
I started to sit up but he put his hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t get up, stay there. You want me to get you anything.”
I stretched, yawned, and shook my head.
“Nah. I’m not having a good day. I’ve only been able to keep water down.”
“I can’t believe how much weight you’ve lost. Can’t they give you something to stop all this?”
I didn’t have the energy to explain to my brother the reasons why I wouldn’t take the anti-nausea medication my doctor had prescribed, so I just told him no.
“You want me to build up the fire? It’s freezing out there.”
“That’d be lovely, thanks.”
“I’ll go change first.”
I sat up and tucked my legs under me while my brother changed out of his suit and into a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a hoodie.
“You still watching this film?” he asked as he walked back into the room.
“Only about once every month.”
He shook his head as he knelt down in front of the fire and started to add logs and newspaper.
“You spoke to Del?”
“Only once when he landed. His flight was delayed because of fog and he didn’t get there till lunchtime.”
He stopped what he was doing and rubbed his hand over the stubble on his jaw for a few seconds before turning around to face me.
“If he didn’t get there till lunchtime, I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t make it back tonight.”
“I don’t know why he doesn’t just come back tomorrow anyway. I don’t like the idea of him driving from the airport after such a long day.”
“He didn’t wanna leave you.”
“He has no issue with leaving me any other time. It feels like he only comes home to sleep lately. We don’t even eat together these days.”
Luke looked at me without saying anything for a few seconds before turning back around and lighting the fire. Once it had caught, he came and sat next to me on the sofa.
“He doesn’t like being away from you, but this is a new business, Sares. We’re the new kids on the block, and we need to work hard to get our name out there. You know the situation, we’ve talked about it before.”
“I know all of this.”
“Do ya, though? You make it sound like he chooses to be away from you when that’s the furthest thing from the truth.”
“I just don’t see why you both have to work so hard or why you both have to put in such long hours.”
“Because we’re just getting started. We knew when we first set this thing up that we had between five and seven years of hard work, long hours, and a lot of traveling in front of us. When he agreed to all of that, he hadn’t factored you into the equation.”
“Well, sorry for existing.” I snapped.
“Stop being a brat. That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
