2. Pain (Patreon)

Pain awoke Aloe.

She tried to move but found herself restricted by a blanket. She tried to talk but found a knot in her throat. She just waited there dazed as the pain returned.

“Argh!” Aloe groaned as her insides burned, kicking away her sheets violently as she spasmed. “Why now?” Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “Did it come early?”

The girl curled into a ball as her stomach itched like a salted wound and her nether regions became hotter.

“Ah!” The next grunt came more powerfully, bypassing any restriction her throat might have had.

Aloe twisted in pain in bed, unable to recall what had happened to her. She didn’t remember what happened yesterday, just that she had just magically woken up in bed.

“Ugh!” The pain was maddening, destroying any concentration she may have. Her thoughts were as dispersed as sand in a sandstorm. “When will... this... end?”

She asked no one, maybe a prayer to the heavens, but she couldn’t actually tell herself. Her mind was but an incoherent mess, the physical pain striking through with such violence that it transformed into a mental one.

Aloe started coughing uncontrollably as her head began hurting. She couldn’t even tell if she was suffering from menstrual pains or a cold at this point. Not that it mattered to her. The pain was the only thing she knew.

As her throat started to throb, heaving up and down in small jerks, Aloe gathered enough presence of mind as she moved her head to the side of the bed.

Just in time as her stomach’s contents were forced out of her.

Vomit poured out of her mouth, falling onto the tiled floor. Only making Aloe even more dazed as she found her stomach fully emptied and her head plummeted on top of the pillow.

“Ugh...” She groaned in mindless pain, her mind a paragon of emptiness.

“What’s happening here?” A female voice rang through the doorway. Aloe tried to raise her head but didn’t find enough strength to do so. “Great heavens! Aloe, are you alright?”

Aloe looked at the figure that had approached her with confusion.

“Aunty Mirah? What are you doing here? Where’s my...”

And her mind blanked out.

{*}

Mirah's eyes shot wide open as the grunts coming from the other room woke her up. Jafar slept at her side soundly, totally unaware of the fanfare happening next door. With a sigh, she stood up from the bed and walked up to the guest’s room.

“What’s happening here?” Mirah asked their guest only to be greeted by a fetid smell. The faint rays of sunlit pouring through the window slit revealed the pool of puke and the defeated girl. “Great heavens! Aloe, are you alright?” She asked, even if the answer was quite clear.

Aloe slowly and sickly looked up to her. “Aunty Mirah? What are you doing here? Where’s my...”

And she collapsed.

“Aloe?” Mirah asked as she approached the girl. “Aloe! Respond to me!” The woman slightly slapped the girl's face, but she didn’t wake up. “Jafar, help!”

She sought aid from her husband in her distress.

{*}

The blinding sun shook Aloe away from her sleep.

“Hey, you. You’re finally awake.” She heard a female voice, but Aloe was unable to look at it as the sun blocked her sight.

Aloe led her hand to her head, not only to cover her eyes but to try to soothe her mind-splitting headache. “Ugh...” She groaned.

“Here,” A hand lent her help as it pushed her back upward. “Drink.”

As soon as she was going to ask ‘Drink what?’, Aloe saw the cup before her. It wasn’t steaming, but it was still hot to the touch. Without thinking twice, Aloe drank from it as her lips were cracked from dehydration.

“Mirah?” Aloe asked after the infusion traveled down her throat, swiftly clearing her mind. “What happened?” Then she looked at the surroundings. She did not recognize them. “W-where? Where am I?”

“You are in my house,” Mirah said with a sigh of exhaustion as she stood up and closed the annoying window.

“H-how long have I been sleeping?”

The housewife looked through the window she had just closed before giving an answer.

“Around three hours from the last time you woke up,” Mirah revealed. “You fainted, Aloe. Twice, mind you. Jafar brought you here last night. He went to look for you after one of his mates told him you arrived in the city. But he told me that as soon as he met you, you fainted. Then he took you in as he didn’t trust you leaving you alone.”

“Why shouldn’t he trust me?” Aloe confusedly asked, after taking another sip from the infusion. “Why would I even fai-“

Realization dawned on her as the memories poured in. Her mind and visage became a grim twisted mess, and she blamed the clarity that the infusion had brought her. An undesirable clarity.

“I-is... is it true?” Aloe trembled, drops of hot liquid pouring out of the cup as she trembled.

Mirah looked at her with an equally grim look. They had never had the best relationship. She didn’t hate Mirah, nor did Mirah hate her, but this was without a doubt the wickedest expression Aloe had seen the housewife do, and it wasn’t directed at her.

“It is,” Mirah responded as she looked down in the ground, unable to muster enough courage to look at the girl in the eyes.

“How!” Aloe exclaimed and she tried to stand up from her resting position, but instantly collapsed, ragged breath following her fall.

“Aloe!” The older woman cried. “Watch out, you haven’t recovered!”

“How?” The girl asked once more, unfazed by Mirah’s words. Though her own voice was weaker than before. “Tell me Mirah, just... how?”

It was hard to hold back the tears.

Everything just felt like a bad dream. The pain but a symbol of a nightmare that didn’t just end.

“The plague.” The housewife continued to not meet her eyes, but she talked. “Even if it doesn’t spread far, it kills fast. Before we even knew it, Shahrazad was on her deathbed.” Aloe saw through the corners of her eyes as Mirah bit her underlip.

“But... how?” She couldn’t still believe it. “Mom was a scribe under the direct orders of the emir, there must be something that could be done!”

“They tried but there was a breach in the palace. A lot of servants have also died and anyone who has contracted the plague has yet to survive.”

“But... but!” Aloe didn’t even know what to say.

“If you want more details, you should ask Jafar when he returns,” Mirah added. “He knows far more than I of the state of affairs of the city as he was stationed on the palace during these days.”

“I...” Aloe was at a total loss of words and didn’t know what to say.

They stood in silence in the room for a few minutes, but as Aloe gathered enough strength and presence of mind to talk, pain assaulted her.

Vicious and dizziness.

A familiar yet hateful pain.

Aloe began hyperventilating as her back fell onto the mattress.

“Hey! Are you okay?” Mirah jumped out of her seat and lunged at Aloe. “What’s happening?”

“N-nothi-“ Aloe’s words were cut as the pain became stronger. She grabbed her torso as if trying to catch up the pain and stop it from twisting her insides.

It was, of course, a useless endeavor.

Mirah looked at where Aloe’s hands were guided and took away the sheets from her legs. She was met by a puddle of dried and new blood.

“Aloe, drink.” She offered the cup once more. “It’s a mixture of jasmine and chamomile, it’s going to make you feel better.”

Aloe tried to comply with Mirah’s directions, but her hands trembled too much from the pain.

“Ugh...” Aloe curled into a ball, the pain darkening her vision.

She just wished for everything to end.

To wake up from this nightmare.

Please, help... Tears flowed from the corners of her eyes.

“Hey, hey! Stay with me, Aloe!” Mirah slapped her, making her regain some consciousness. “Drink.”

And she poured the infusion down Aloe’s throat.

The liquid, now temperate, filled Aloe’s mouth. With great difficulty, she pushed herself to drink. Her mind was a mess, her body a ruin.

Only after finishing the whole cup and having a handful of deep breaths, she managed to stabilize.

“Mirah...” Aloe said as she gritted her teeth and clutched her stomach.

“Yes, Aloe?” The housewife said with the sweetest and gentlest motherly tone Aloe had ever heard.

“Am I a bad daughter?” She asked, her eyes becoming watery.

“Of course not. Why would you even say that?” Mirah grabbed Aloe’s hands and brought them into her own.

“Then why do I feel more pain from my cramps than my mother’s death?” Aloe broke into crying.