The Royal Contract

She still felt tired from yesterday or probably getting sick. She could not tell since her mind was still cloudy from fatigue. Then, Edison had been grumpy, too, last night. But he seemed to be ok when she left him with Sasha.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but whatever it was, she had to shake it off since she had an early meeting with the board about their trip. “So, pull yourself together.” She mentally pepped herself up.

She ran towards the elevator about to close, but it was already full of employees in a hurry. She had no choice but to wait for the next

one since taking the stairs was out of the question.

“You made it.” She whispered to herself as she tried to catch her breath when she came out of the elevator on her floor.

She did not run or climb the stairs, but she still felt exhausted. Slowly, she made her way to her table, struggling to stay on her feet. Something was wrong with her. She could feel it.

This time, she knew it was not exhaustion or lack of sleep as her vision started spinning. Was she sick? Maybe, but she could not be. She closed her eyes and dropped to her desk as she tried to rest her body.

Maybe she just needed a few minutes to get back in shape. She just had to doze off for ten minutes then she would feel better.

.....

“Are you alright?” Suddenly, she heard someone speak in front of her desk. From the sound of her voice, she knew it was her boss. “You know there is no sleeping on the job.” She jokingly said as she moved around her.

“But I am glad that you are back. We missed you around here.” She could hear her say. “I heard you did great with the negotiation. Sir Alex and Josey would surely give you the job.”

She wanted to respond but did not feel like sitting up and talking to her as she rested her head on her arms on her desk. Then, she continued to close her eyes.

“Hey, what is wrong with you?” She could hear the concern in her voice as Brenda finally walked towards her.

“Oh my! You are burning up.” Her boss mumbled, sounding shocked as she felt a cold hand on her skin. “You are sick. Why did you even bother to come to work?” She seemed to reprimand her and panicked at the same time.

But she could not care less about what she was saying as she felt like her body was full of lead. And her joints seemed to be stuck with pins and needles as she struggled to move. But all she could say were moans of pain and the lack of energy to form words.

“Wait! Stay awake, and I will call for help.” Brenda stated as she attempted to understand what she was saying while her mind swirled around her head.

“Hey, Brenda. Have you seen...” Then, she heard nothing else as everything went blank. Like she was floating in space.

She could not understand what was happening. She knew she had gone to work but who turned the lights off as all she saw was darkness. She also felt confused as her ears strained for any form of noise. But she could not hear anything.

Where did everybody go? Why was she alone as she moved her hands to hold on to something, but her hands felt nothing. That was weird because she knew she was sitting at her desk.

“What is happening?” She kept asking, but nobody was answering. She wanted to move, but where was she going? There was nothing around her but the black, seemingly empty cold space.

“Where am I?” She kept asking questions but to no avail. It was a waste of effort since she could not even hear her voice.

Then, a few seconds later, she finally heard voices. But this time, it was loud and chaotic. Somebody was talking to her, or somebody was talking to someone. She could not tell. She was more confused because she could not open her eyes.

They just kept chatting around her, but she had no idea what they were saying. And who were they? She did not recognize any of their voices. It sounded foreign to her.

Then, she felt the blackness sucking her back. Eventually, it was all quiet again. She was alone again with nothing. She felt trapped in a black box. After a while, she had enough. She wanted to break free.

She forced her eyes open but was blinded by a bright light this time. She had to bring her hand up to cover her face as she closed her eyes again. But it was hard. Her hand seemed to move in slow motion before it reached her eyes.

“Hey, you are awake.” She finally heard a familiar voice. And the noise earlier seemed to have disappeared.

“What is going on?” She asked as she attempted to open her eyes again, slowly this time. Then, she noticed the white paint on the ceiling and the wall. “Where am I?” She knew she was not home or at her office.

“You are in the hospital.” Finally, she shifted her eyes to the source of the voice. “You have a high fever, and we have no choice but to take you here.”

“Zach, what are you doing here?” She was surprised to see him, still confused about what was happening around her. “What again?” His words seemed to jumble inside her mind as she tried to process her situation.

“You came to work sick, and we needed to bring you to the hospital to get treated.” Zach slowly explained to her, hoping she would pick it up eventually. “Do you understand? How are you feeling?”

She finally understood him as the words finally clicked in her brain. Things were getting less fuzzier as the dizziness dissipated. Then, she could see him now when her eyes finally adjusted to the light.

“Better. I think.” She answered his last question.

“Good.” He responded with a smile as he held her hand in his. “Don’t worry. I will take care of you.”

She could not believe that he was here with her. She had been sick before, but nobody cared for her other than herself. Maybe she was still high in fever and a delusional state.