The Sickness

Chapter 9

"Okay, Ollie," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. "See that thorn bush over there?" I pointed to a thorny plant.
Ollie nodded.
"You're going to go up to it slowly, telling us what you feel every step of the way. When you're right next to it, touch one of the thorns. Then, prick your finger on it. Okay?"
"Yeah, whatever," Ollie said, pulling away from me. He carefully walked over to the thorn bush. When he got within 2 inches of it, he stopped. "I feel... cold. There's cold air coming from this thorn bush."
"Okay. That's one of the things we were told to avoid. So we know it's bad. You can come away now," I said.
Ollie took a step further. "I want to see what happens if I.. touch it..." He reached out.
"Ollie, sto-" Renee calls, but Ana interrupts her.
"Shush, Renee! Let him do it. We need to see what the actual consequence is."
Renee sighed. "Okay, but first, I'm going to at least try to convince him to stop." She approached him, and stopped when she was 3 feet away. "Ollie," she said.
Ollie didn't turn around. "Shut up."
"Ollie, listen to me. I just want to tell you something, and when I'm done, you can do whatever you'd like." She swallowed. "Before this - before all of this - happened, I had a brother. Ben. Cute little guy, 3 years old. I loved him with all my heart. Then one year, my family purchased a vacation home, on a lake we'd never been to before. When we visited for the first time, we went out in the shallow part of the lake. Ben wore a life vest. The vest was old, but we didn't think anything of it." Renee paused to close her eyes for a few moments, and then opened them. "Ben and I were splashing around, when he saw a beautiful mallard duck a little ways out on the water. 'Ducky!' he called out, walking towards it. His life vest got caught on a tree branch, and tore right off. 'Ben!' I yelled, but he didn't listen. Suddenly, his head went under. There was a drop off. Our father was inside, but I couldn't risk taking the time to go and get him. I swam out to Ben, but the water was murky. By the time I pulled him out, it was too late. Even the ambulance couldn't save him..." She trailed off. "I wanted to kill myself. But I didn't. I pulled through. If I had committed suicide, I wouldn't be here today. I wouldn't have met Kay."
Ollie turned around and rolled his eyes. "Boo-hoo, what a sob story. If you loved him, you would have given him a good life vest. You wouldn't have let him go out on the lake in the first place." Ollie spat on the ground. "If you really loved him, you would have been faster, and saved his life."
Renee's eyes grew wide, and she drew in a sharp breath. A tear rolled down her cheek. "I- I-" she stammered.
Ollie sneered. "Cat got your tongue, lesbo? You're done with your story now, so I can do what I want." He pricked his finger on the thorn, and immediately collapsed.
Ana and I dashed to his side. His skin was growing cold and blue, and his lips and fingernails were purple. Ice formed on his eyelashes. He was shivering violently. Then he was still.
Ana knocked on his body. It made a solid sound, as if she were knocking on stone. She took out her notepad, and beside "cold thorns," she wrote "freeze to death."
I stood up and walked over to Renee. She was quietly sobbing. I gently hugged her. "I'm so sorry about Ben," I whispered in her ear. "You did all you could. It wasn't your fault."
She sniffed, and hugged me back.
We slept next to each other that night, arms around each other's shoulders.