2019-09-30 - Texts for Days

Fever Haze - Day One

(TXT to Byron) Lilith: How're you feeling today?
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Could be better. Especially today, meeting with an irate tenant in a few. What about you? Probably should get some rest.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Sounds horrible. I almost gutted a customer trying to work today, I'm done with that now.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Feel pretty bleh, need to go raid the drug store.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: I'll probably need to do the same. Still didn't replace everything that Clayton and company destroyed in my medicine cabinet.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I'll get double of whatever I get to dose... whatever this is and send it up with one of your guys.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Sounds good. I'll owe you one. I'll probably go and lie down after this. Or think about going to lie down after this.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Okay, I'll think of something pleasurably creative to owe.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Who knew you'd grow up to have such a dirty mind, Miss Winslow.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I could just be pining over the idea of watching you do dishes.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: But really, it probably involves your mouth. Undecided.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: (There's a long silence between texts) All I can say is right now, my body is hot for you, babe.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: And I may have lost another tenant.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Right now, if you feel like I do, I give you one hell of a fever. Probably literally.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: What was the tenant pissed about?
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: The murders. Everything. My inability to keep them safe despite their paying my rent.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: I may have told them that I hoped a serial killer ghost murdered them, but I don't recall what I actually said.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: I don't think there's winning that couple back.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Spoiled assholes seriously think paying a bigger number on an invoice means safety? In THIS place?
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: They aren't from here Lilith.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: They're from Chicago. It's a vacation apartment.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: They pay the full year. Stay in it for the summer or whenever.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I still kind of want to whack one of them in a copycat murder. Tired of people coming at you for things out of your control.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: This is what happens when you feed me AND fuck me. I get urges to put out in other ways, seems.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: It's not something they'll ever understand. But you're right.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Grr. I wish my body wasn't dying slowly so we could use it for aggression relief.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: That sounds nice right now, even though I'm sure I'd disappoint and fall asleep on you.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I'm going to keep a list of everything that makes us mad and save it for when we can fucking ruin each other.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I think I'd maim and bury Katy in the dumpster, for instance, after today. But her presence also means I don't have to be downstairs.
(TXT to Byron Lilith Isabella Alexander) Erin: I don't know who to text but you may already know. Sometime during the middle of the night on the 22nd, my Uncle Thomas collapsed and is currently at Addington Memorial Hospital, comatose. That's where I am now.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Sorry, was taking a shower. Talking about anger fucking makes me hot and sweaty-- just like this fever.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Shit. Erin blames herself for her uncle being in the hospital. She thinks she's in this alone and might be doing something stupid. I'll try to find her.

At some point there before Byron's last text, Lilith falls asleep and doesn't move again for hours and hours. It's miserable and she's so hot through and through. But at least she no longer has anything left to throw up in her stomach. It saves on bathroom trips.

Fever Haze - Day Two

(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I fell asleep after getting home and dropping that stuff off with your guy. And I've slept most of today too.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: What happened with Erin?
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Thomas Addington collapsed the day after the exorcism. Erin blames herself, believing she did something wrong with snipping 'the cord' between Gohl and her uncle. I think her grandmother blames her too. She won't speak to Erin.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: That took me longer than usual to type. My head is killing me.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Yeah. I don't know which of us got sick first, but... this is horrible.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Though. I don't take back sharing all your germs.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: You didn't actually drive around feeling blah trying to find her, did you?
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: I did for a bit, but exhaustion got to me.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: I let Captain de la Vega know.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Because that's some wishywashy shit compared to how determined she was beforehand and shit talking her gramma.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Good, good.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: She didn't mean to hurt her uncle.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: I think he's in a coma.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I don't see how she expected them to come apart without consequences. I'm surprised he didn't drop dead on the spot, which is why I was asking that night.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: But... doesn't make it suck any less, I guess. My sympathy sucks when I'm sick.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Alexander Clayton burned Kelly's Gym.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Tried to burn Joey too.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Clayton wasn't one of the Three, but I wouldn't be surprised if Gohl took up in residence in him.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Uhh. What the hell? Why? How?
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Clayton being Gohl's descendant.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: All I know is, I think, August Roen is watching over him now. So Isabella told me.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Wonder why... Joey, though. Huh. Guess it doesn't matter because that's pretty out of character in general. He's usually the don't-hurt-them softy about most things, it seems.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: I've been trying to check on the others, see if things are alright. Mainly with the Three. But De la Vega seems fine and I suppose Roen as well, so not everyone at the exorcism seems to be affected. Hell, Gohl could've picked Clayton rather than even the Three.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Maybe so. Blood might have made it easier. But if he's supposedly in a box...
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: We were warned about this though.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: That if Gohl is separated from Thomas Addington, he was supposed to attach himself to the Three until we give him a proper funeral.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Yeah, I guess so, for haunting or whatever, but Alexander wasn't there, so I... yeah. Has to be the blood thing.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I'm irrationally offended he tried to set someone on fire, that's my thing 🙁
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: I didn't really think on that... you're right.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Oh. That might make sense, actually. Shit, I'm accidentally smart with no immune system.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: IMG: Dog is wrapped in a hand towel with yellow and red flowers on it like a blanket. He's posed by some wadded Kleenex and tipped face down onto one of them like he's dying.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: You sure seem well enough to prep Dog up that way.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Lily, just got word that Captain de la Vega is in handcuffs somewhere after a violent episode. He is being looked after.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: That's Clayton, who wasn't at the exorcism, but has Gohl's blood. And at least one person who was at the exorcism: De la Vega.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I'm sick and bored and it feels empty because I got used to your body nearby.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: ... oh woah.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Now I'm curious what kind of violence he was inclined to, as well. If it's fire or a knife or something...
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Fire? Does the Captain have that too?
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Not that I've noticed.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: I could make the trek out there, but I feel like I was hit by a truck full of... bricks. Is that how the saying goes?
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I think a truck hurts regardless of what it's carrying, loverboy. You're pretty, though.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Also I think it's hit by a ton of bricks. I think. Damn. Now I have to google.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: I drifted off there. Thanks for Googling, Lils.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: If I'm being honest, I forgot to do it after opening the browser.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: This is how we become zombies, I bet.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: I still have a few phone calls to make. Want me to stop by? Maybe pick up something to eat but I don't think I could keep it down.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Oh god, please no food. I am on tea and honey and water only.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: But I'd love a whole piece of you. Can you... drive, though?

Byron shouldn't be driving, but he does. When he gets into Lilith's loft apartment that evening, he drops into bed with her and both of them toss and turn the whole night with some semblance of shared, sleeping comfort in their misery. Often it consists of chills where they hold each other for warmth under the blankets and spells of the covers thrown off with sprawled gap between them to catch the air of the blowing fan. He leaves some time in the morning because business doesn't stop for Mister Thorne, sick or not.

Fever Haze - Day Three

(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Bleh, if I die in my sleep, I love your infuriating guts. This is ridiculous. I've never been this sick.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Infuriating? I'll remember that. I love your lack of self-preservation and do or die attitude even more.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Besides being close to death, how are you feeling?
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I'd say something hot about the way you rile me, but... I'm burning up and it's hard.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: It's honestly a good thing I've been too weak to go stab Katy in the eye with a pen for calling every hour.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: What about you?
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: You really need to find someone more independent and trustworthy to work the shop without you. I'm fine. Or as fine as can be for someone who feels like he's about to cough up a lung.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Isabella told me that August Roen found something in Clayton.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: I don't know what he did, but he found something possibly Gohl related, but it's like I'd said before, you know.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Clayton is of Gohl blood.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I really do. It feels easier to kill her than fire her. It's Elm, shit happens, I have a big trash can, it's fine.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Found something... mentally, I guess?
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Possibly, since Roen seems to be able to do that.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Is he still being watched in plantland? What happened with the Captain, any more on that front?
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: From what I know Clayton is still there, yes. Wherever there is. As for De la Vega, Erin said that everything was fine. So I guess this means that she's fine as well.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: You know what I say when everything isn't fine?
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I'm fine.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Part of me wants to call people and nose around and talk to them and see if they're actually acting strange, but... the amount of effort and breath that'd take... ugh.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Isabella said that she had this urge to drown some kids just because they were knocking on her door.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: I don't know how much of it is... us paranoid and seeing or feeling what we expect, you know? But...
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: That's... extreme, but is she sick too?
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: Whatever they've got, I don't watch it. Yes, she sounds like death. Like the rest of us.
(TXT to Lilith) Byron: If she feels as bad as I feel now, I don't blame her for wanting to drown anyone or anything. Kids. Adults. Dogs. Cats.
(TXT to Byron) Lilith: Me either, really. Kids come to play on my doorbell at the overnight pawn window with me feeling like this, I might just set them on fire to teach them not to be dicks.

Lilith falls asleep again after the last text and the dreams... they're getting so terrible and confusing and bad with this fever burning the constant haze. She wishes she could ask him back to sleep with her again, but it's really better for him to rest and not drive and... how much do they really want to see each other suffering like this? The phone just has to do for now, doesn't it?