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Jake knew something was wrong when he woke up, he just couldn't place what. He’d been feeling a bit shit all week, a small headache, a dull ache everywhere and a bit nauseous. He’d just presumed he was coming down with a cold.
He’d woken up that morning with a dull, but painful, ache all across his stomach. Jake felt a little cold, which meant he must have a small fever.
His alarm had woken him up at 07:00 every morning like usual. Normally, Jake would get some breakfast (a nutragrain bar or some shit like that) so he could take his pills, which were Anxiety reducers. Then he would go for a shower, come out, get dry, check his emails and relax for a bit before the others woke up.
But that morning, it was all Jake could do to roll over and unplug the damn thing. His stomach hurt, he was exhausted, his head hurt and he felt like shit. Jake managed to roll back over and get some more sleep before Nat walked in.
Nat was normally the second one up, normally before Rooster and Bob. She’d do her morning routine, eat her breakfast and come in to sit with Jake for a bit while they waited for the others. She’d come in like usual, her hair slightly damp. “Whoa, where’s Jake Seresin at? He’s never in bed at…” she checked her phone time, “9 am still. Not unless he’s ill or hurt!” She’d dramatically exclaimed, falling onto the bed like an actress. She’d landed on his legs and woke him up. “What do you want Nat? I’m exhausted,” Jake whined, pushing up so he was propped up on his pillows. His stomach protested slightly and grumbled, but didn’t do anything else. “Did you pull another all-nighter?” She’d asked, chewing her fingernail as she stared at the ceiling. Jake slid back down into the warm duvet and sighed, feeling the chill in his bones leaving. “No… I think the neighbours were either fighting or having sex again. I don’t know,” Lie. He’d been up all night with a contact dull ache. It wasn’t painful enough to hurt hurt, but enough to keep him awake.
“That sucks. I slept wonderfully!“ Nat said in a sing-song voice. Jake rolled his eyes and turned onto his left side so he could use his phone that was still plugged in. He had a few emails from spam pages and work, but nothing worthwhile. He turned it off and dropped it on his bedside table again. “Nat, get off!” Jake grunted as he pulled his legs out from under her body. Nat giggled and rolled so she was sitting cross-legged on his bed. “You can’t stay in bed forever ya know.” Nat had said, playing with the fleece comforter his sister had sent him for his birthday from Finland. “I won’t. I’m coming out in a bit, I just need to get ready.” The answer seemed to satisfy Nat because she stood up and sighed dramatically. “I guess I’ll have to annoy Roo then."
Jake honestly hadn’t meant to fall asleep again, but he did.
He was kind of semi-woken up when people were whispering in his room. It sounded like Rooster was telling Nat to let him sleep in for a bit, cus god knows he doesn’t look after himself properly.
The whispering left, but the pain didn’t.
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Nat.
When Jake finally stumbled out of his room at about midday, Nat could see why. In his dark-ish room, you can’t see well. But in the fluorescent lighting of the kitchen, Nat saw how awful he looked. His hair wasn’t as full of life as it normally was, his eyes weren't as bright, and he was slumped over and shivering slightly. Jake had an old, baggy t-shirt on and some loose-fitting PJ bottoms on. The fact that his hair wasn’t styled and slicked back spoke volumes about how shit he must feel. She stopped herself from saying anything but watched silently. Rooster was dozing on the couch (she thinks, she could never really be sure) and Bob was in the shower. Jake shuffled into the kitchen and let the door close behind him.
Nat got up and followed him in. She stood quietly by the door and watched. She’d made enough noise so Jake could hear, but not enough to startle him when he saw her.
Eventually, Nat gently said: “Would you like some tea?” Jake stopped rummaging through his med box and looked into her eyes. “God, yes please.” Nat filled the kettle up and watched as it boiled. “Jake, do you need help with your pills or something?” She asked.
Nat was one of the only few people in his life that knew about his pills. That was mainly because she’d gone out to get them once or twice when he was sick or because she’d found out herself anyway.
“No, I’m just looking,” Jake's voice replied, sounding distracted. “For what?” Nat asked, pouring the boiled water into two cups. In hers, she’d put a green teabag in, and in Jake’s she’d put a breakfast teabag in. There was no answer, so she turned around to look at him.
“Do we have any anti-nausea tablets? I’m feeling a bit shit.” Nat nodded. “Yeah, in that box I think. Normally I’d get it, but I don’t know where the stool is.” Jake reached up on his tip-toes and grabbed the box down. “Sometimes it pays to be 7 inches taller than you,” Jake said, smirking at her cheekily. Nat swatted at his shoulder and snatched the box out of his hands. She got out 2 anti-nausea tablets and handed them to him with a glass of water. “Have you taken your other pills either?” She asked. Jake shook his head, covering his mouth with his hand as he yawned. “No... I figured as I’m gonna be sleeping or not doing much I’d give them a miss today. I don’t feel awake enough to be worrying about anything else except when can I go back to bed,” He replied, wrapping his dressing gown tighter around himself. Nat bit back a remark of how shit he looked in favour of drinking her tea as she watched him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jake.
Jake managed to get a few more hours of uninterrupted sleep before he was roughly woken up again. His stomach was cramping worse than it had done before, and the anti-nausea tablets had worn off while he was sleeping. Jake slowly rolled over onto his side to check the time and was surprised to see it read 2 pm. He’d slept nearly 2 hours. He groaned softly and pushed himself so his legs were off the bed and touching the ground. Jake’s world warped and spun violently. He put his head in his hands, trying to stop himself from passing out.
His vision slowly spun back to normal, but it left him feeling exhausted, dizzy and nauseous...
Jake slowly stood up, blindly reaching out for something to grab onto. He blindly stumbled towards the bathroom, forgetting to close or lock the door before.
His stomach contracted violently and left him folding halfway at the waist, throwing up into the toilet. His head and stomach protested painfully, but he couldn’t stop vomiting.
He fell to his knees, hugging the toilet as all the dinner from the last 3 days came out. Tears streamed down his face as his stomach throbbed painfully. He coughed and grabbed some toilet paper to wipe his mouth. “Jake?” Someone asked from behind him. It sounded like Nat, but Jake wasn’t sure. Someone pressed a hand to his head, while someone else held his hand.
His stomach contracted again. It took all his strength to just about move his head so his dribble fell into the toilet. His head pounded and his ears fuzzed. All he could hear were bits and pieces of the conversation between the two people in the bathroom with him.
“-11?” That sounded like Nat. The voice was higher and more feminine than the other one. “-worst idea…” there was a slight pause. “-ster to."
Then his world went white with pain and he passed out.
Jake woke up in a completely different room. In completely different clothes.
He slowly sat up, very confused. His stomach throbbed painfully and he suddenly panicked. The pain he felt earlier rushed back in a very unpleasant memory.
“Whoa, steady, there, Mr Seresin. You don’t wanna rip your stitches.” Someone spoke to his left, gently pushing down on his shoulder. “Stitches?” Jake asked. His tongue felt heavy and numb. “Yeah, stitches. Your appendix was about to burst. We had to do an emergency removal. You ended up having a straight line stitch, rather than a keyhole stitch as we didn’t have the time to do a keyhole stitch.”
None of that made any sense to Jake’s drug-influenced brain. He nodded nonetheless. “Your stitches will stay in for 3 months, so try not to rip them. In 3 months, we’ll have you back in and re-evaluate the situation. Regardless of timing, you will eventually have the stitches taken out and replaced with dissolvable stitches.”
Most of it made sense, but a huge wave of exhaustion crashed over him and his eyes began to slide shut. “Ok, get some rest Mr Seresin. I’ll send your friends in later on.”
Jake wanted to say thank you, but the newer dose of morphine rushed through his blood and made him sleep.
Jake slept properly for the first time in over 3 days.