Free The Star Dwellers by David Estes

one
     last breath.
    It doesn’t.
    Tawni is by my side, holding me. The water
     swirls over and around her. It’s as if she’s in an air bubble,
     protected from the current. Not even her hair is wet. Her eyes are
     soft. Still red, but soft. Her lips move.
    “Not real, honey,” she says softly. “Hush—not
     real.”
    I realize I’m yelling something amidst my
     blubbering. I’m not sure what I’m saying, but I stop. The water
     looks strange. Almost too blue to be real. Too perfect.
    Before it begins to ebb away, I know it’s a
     hallucination. The waters subside and I’m left in Tawni’s arms,
     much like she was in mine not that long ago. I’m soaking wet and
     shivering.
    “So cold,” I murmur between blue lips.
    “No,” Tawni says, shaking her head. “Not
     cold. Not real.”
    “But I’m all wet,” I say, hugging myself,
     trying to get warm.
    “Not wet. Completely dry.”
    Even as her words sink in, warmth returns to
     my body and I watch as my clothes stop sticking to me, the
     slickness on my skin vanishes, and the soggy, dripping locks of my
     black hair are replaced by soft, loose locks around my face.
    I take a deep breath, trying to fight off the
     surreal memories of the life-taking water. “I’m okay,” I say,
     wiping the unwanted tears from my face. I’m embarrassed, even
     though I know the hallucination was so real. I knew it was coming,
     but couldn’t combat it. I need to do better with the next one. “We
     need to go.”
    “Maybe we should just stay here and ride it
     out,” Tawni says. Her face is shining with sweat, her white hair
     tight and knotted, twisted together from the sweat on her neck and
     cheeks. Her words are a temptation. I can feel my face flushed with
     the fever and my muscles are battered and bruised. I couldn’t
     handle the hallucination, but I can handle a little
     pain.
    “No,” I say, pushing myself up, biting back a
     groan as my muscles and bones scream at me. “That would be
     suicide.”
    Tawni knows I’m right so she lets me help her
     up without complaining. “I’m scared, Adele.”
    “We will make it,” I say. Won’t
     we?
    With the Flu, things just keep getting worse.
     Thirty minutes later, Tawni is a ghost, pale and gaunt. She looks
     like she’s sweated off ten pounds that she can’t afford to lose.
     Her bony hands are clutching me at the elbow, depending on me to
     stay on her feet. I’m not much better off, but am coping with the
     achy muscles better than she is. I’ve been grinding my teeth in
     determination for so long I can feel the enamel flaking off on my
     tongue, gritty and dry.
    Thankfully, neither of us has hallucinated
     for a while, and, despite the pain we’re in, we are making steady
     progress, although I don’t know if we’re minutes, hours, or days
     from our destination. Nor do I know what to expect when we arrive.
     For all I know, the star dwellers might kill us on the spot. They
     are not the friendliest of people at the moment.
    My mind is becoming a problem. One minute it
     is sharp and clear, and then the next it’s hazy and groggy, like
     I’m sleepwalking through a deep fog. The foggy times are fast
     becoming the majority. I want to slap myself, but I can’t get my
     hand up to my face; nor can I move it with the speed required to
     hurt enough to snap me out of my numbed state.
    Tawni’s fingernails dig into my arm and I
     know something is wrong. I slowly turn my head toward her to see
     what’s going on, but it’s too late. My face swivels right into her
     punch, and I feel a dull impact when her clenched knuckles collide
     with my cheekbone. It doesn’t hurt exactly, but does force me off
     balance, and my legs are in no position to correct my momentum.
    I tumble hard to the earth and try to roll
     away from my friend, who is now my attacker. My body disobeys me
     once more and I remain pinned to the ground. All I can do is hope
     that whatever hallucination is clutching Tawni will