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Wylan and Jesper had moved into their first house. It was old; there were holes in the ceiling, and the wallpaper was peeling, but they both knew that with enough work, it could become a home.
Three days later, Jesper had been at work, and Wylan had been studying one of the walls (whose wallpaper looked especially tasty). It was a light blue color, with little pink dots speckled across it. It was as if someone had simply splattered paint on it without a care in the world. To Wylan, it almost resembled cotton candy.
Wylan had been studying this wall for almost ten minutes when he noticed the corner of the wallpaper was peeling from the wall. He walked over and picked at the corner until a chunk of wallpaper broke away into his hand. He looked at it longingly and then popped it into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully for a minute before swallowing it forcefully. It didn't taste nearly as good as it looked, but, for some odd reason, Wylan enjoyed it. He reached down and took another chunk off, then another. Eventually, he realized he had almost eaten all the wallpaper off the wall. Wylan wondered how he would explain this to Jesper.
A few weeks later, Jesper and Wylan were watching TV when he started to feel nauseous. He had been feeling off all day, but now he was positive he was about to throw up. Wylan quickly got up and ran to the bathroom; he made it just in time, and he promptly vomited into the toilet. He heard Jesper come in behind him and felt his soft, gentle hands pulling his hair from his face. After about five minutes, with practically nothing left in his stomach, Wylan leaned his head back against Jesper's legs.
"Are you ok, darling?" Jesper's voice was laced with concern. Wylan nodded. "I'll be fine; I must have just caught a stomach bug."
Yet almost two weeks later, Wylan felt himself getting worse. He slowly lost feeling in his feet and hands, and his stomach seemed to be waging a war with itself. Finally, Jesper convinced Wylan to let him call a medic.
The medic had done a quick examination and asked Wylan what his symptoms were. When he told him, the medic's face slowly became more concerned, and he stepped out into the hall with Jesper. A few minutes later, Jesper came into the room, fear and sadness evident on his face.
"Wylan…" Jesper came over and sat on the edge of the bed Wylan had been lying in for the last four days. "You have lead poisoning."
Wylan's heart dropped.
He had heard countless stories of factory workers who had died from lead poisoning; they were exposed to lead almost all day with little to no protection, but Wylan didn't possibly know how he could have contracted it.
Then he realized.
The wallpaper.
This house was old enough that the wallpaper had been made before bans on lead paint were put in place.
And Wylan had eaten almost an entire wall's worth.
He started crying, and Jesper wrapped his arms around Wylan, holding him closely. "Is there anything he can do?" Wylan asked between sobs. Jesper looked away, and after a beat, he shook his head. There was nothing they could do.
Jesper tried to extract the lead from Wylan's veins himself, but he wasn't experienced enough. Then he tried to find a more experienced Fabricator and even a Heartrender but to no avail.
Weeks passed, and Wylan felt himself slowly growing weaker. If the lead didn't kill him first, starvation surely would.
Wylan was lying in bed, and Jesper was sitting next to him, their hands intertwined. Wylan could feel himself drifting away. He knew it was time.
"Jesper…" He coughed—his voice was barely a whisper.
"Yes, love, what do you need?" He asked, sounding concerned.
Wylan took a shaky breath and pulled Jesper down to him, holding him tightly. He whispered in his ear, "I love you."
He took in one more breath as the darkness slowly overtook him. The last thing he heard was Jesper's scared voice calling his name.