CHAPTER 40: WHAT DO I DO?

"Is this room always dark?"

She murmured as she ventured into the darkened space once more. She had stopped wondering why the door automatically opened for her when it did not do so for anyone. Pausing a bit to make herself get adjusted to the dark space. She instinctively looked at where the bed was but, surprisingly, did not see Ian’s sleeping form.

"Ian?"

She took one step and then another. Suddenly, her feet hit the uneven ground, causing her to stumble.

"Ah!" The sound left her mouth as she felt herself fall, hitting the hard ground.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed as she got up and gathered what had caused her fall. A large quilt.

"Huh? Why is this here?"

She moved with the large blanket in her hand, a bit cautiously this time, not knowing what else could be there.

"Ian?" She called out again and made her way to the wall, trying to find the light switch. Shelby gave up after a while and rather made her way to draw the curtain apart instead. She opened it only halfway, letting the morning light spill in. She did not want to disturb his sleep by letting the morning light in if h was. She just needed enough light in the room to see her way around, so she did not open all the drapes this time.

"Where is h-"

She spotted Ian seated on the floor by the bed, his arms clutching a pillow on the bed. His upper body was on the bed while he sat on the cold floor.

She frowned as she hurried towards him. His eyes remained closed, and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Why is he on the floor?"

She crouched near him, dropping the blanket on the bed to free her arms.

"Ian?"

She shook him, but then,

"Why is he so warm?" She asked herself, placing one hand on her forehead and the other on his. Compared to hers, he was abnormally hot.

"He is running a bad fever!"

"I need to call Mum on this! We need a doctor! How has he been surviving here?"

She sprinted up and walked up to the door, but it wouldn’t budge. It was closed tight as if she had locked it.

"What is it with this damn door!" Her frustration was evident as she hit the door hard.

"Ouch! ouch! ouch!" she wiggled her hands in pain, scrunching her face as well. However, Shelby knew she could not waste any time at all.

She tried again to no avail, and then, turning, she walked around in circles, flustered and knew not what to do.

"Shelby, think!" She rubbed her forehead and then looked back at the man, who was still in the same position.

"Murray! Murray! Can you help me?!"

She looked around for a while and got no reaction. "What am I doing? The man is fiction! Someone needs help, and I am talking to an invisible person! How stupid I am. ... But then, what do I do?" she asked herself as she racked her messed up brain. Seeing the man in that state had affected her in more ways than she cared to think of, which did not make any sense, but Shelby was not in the mood to think of what made sense and what did not.

"Rocky! Yes!" She fished out her phone and dialled her brother’s number. Shelby knew that something strange was going on in the house and was not too surprised about this new occurrence.

’Maybe he or whatever is here doesn’t want anyone to come in. Or maybe, they now decided to lock me up with him...’

"Hey, sis! I was beginning to think that you were neglecting me-"

"Rocky, Ian – he, I – He...."

"Slow down, sis. What’s going on with him?"

"He has a bad fever!"

"So, why don’t you take him to the hospital? I know your new family should even have a personal doctor at their service."

Without missing a beat, she lied, "He doesn’t like random people coming in. I cannot even tell his parents."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yes, what can I do?"

"Sis, you know that I just started my medical degree, right? Let me ask my professor a few questions. In the meantime, check what he has in his medical cabinet."

"Yes, medical cabinet! How could I have forgotten that?"

Shelby randomly opened a couple of random doors and finally found the bathroom. Entering, she looked around.

"Rocky, hold on a bit," she placed the phone by the sink and then started looking around.

’Why is it all mirrors? Where do I even start to search?’ She thought and turned around in circles, but a thought made her approach one of them, and she found cabinets and shelved behind most of them. She found the place impeccably clean with no trace of dirt or dust. Even this nudged her at the back of her mind; in her state, she did not register it as an abnormality given Ian’s state vs his world interaction.

She started opening all of them. The place was so big, so it took her a little while to find what she wanted. Rocky came back, and she got some advice from the professor. She felt a sigh of relief leave her, making her think more concise than earlier.

Armed with a fever reducer and a cold dump towel, she re-entered the room but stopped short at what she saw.

"Sis, you know, you should not panic in situations like these. I am happy that you are getting along with brother-in-law and that is why you got flustered, but haven’t you been doing this at the orphanage? You already help sick children there. Keep a level head, and you can handle everything- Sis? Are you there?"

"Ehhh, Rocky, can I call you back?"

"Sis, what’s going on? Don’t you want me-"

"Rocky, thank you, but I really have to call you back-" Without waiting for an answer, she hung up, and stared at the room in surprise.

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