Through Hell

Copyright 2021 by Kat Thomas

All rights reserved.

Cover design by Canva Kat Thomas

Book design by Kat Thomas

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Due to many thefts of online work This copyright notice will be there on every online posting from now on. I will also say I will take action on any person or company who posts my work without permission.

The doctors all told him it would be like this, but he didn’t want to believe them. He wasn’t ready for this to happen. He had not told her yet. She still believed that he did this for some reason, like getting out of work, not the truth of the fact he was deeply in love with the small woman. She had to of seen the truth over the two weeks he cared for her, living in her house and watching over her. He knew she had to have seen it regardless of the words not being said aloud.

She had two good days. It looked like she was getting better. The fever that had

Taken hold of her body had eased. When he had called the doctors office with that news, they told him to watch closer. This was a sign. She had more energy on those two days then she had in weeks prior. He had thought that the infection had been beaten finally. The nurse that called back had warned him, but he was too hopeful to listen.

She was burning up now. Her swallow breaths coming hard and labored. Her eyes closed a few hours ago and had not reopened despite him begging and pleading with her to open them. She was too tired to move from the couch, and she had told him before if it was her time, she would find her place. She wanted the couch curled up under the soft fake fur blanket she favored. She was in the corner of the v-shaped couch. Every few minutes, it seemed like time would standstill as the longer it took for her to take a breath.

It was getting close. His heart was breaking with every second she was struggling. He had to tell her. He needed to say the words even just once. He moved closer to her along with a box of frozen ice packs, and he scooped her up into his arms with ease as he settled back into the same spot she had been in before. She had chosen her place, but he would adjust that. If she was going to die, it would be in his arms as he told her the truth.

“My love, can you hear me?” he asked as he started placing the ice packs around her gently. She didn’t speak, but he felt her move slightly closer to him. He took her almost lifeless hand in his and intertwined his fingers with her tiny digits. He brought it to his face so she could feel his face one more time as he then brought the tiny hand to his lips. He spoke again this time as he held her hand against his face, cupping his cheeks. “Sweetheart, I know you think that I volunteered to take care of you because I wanted to get out of work or some other stupid thing. That isn’t the truth, though, I hope you know that. The fact is I had feelings for you that even I didn’t understand until maybe a week ago. Princess, I can’t let you go without you knowing the truth. I don’t want to let you go at all. I love you. I need you to stay with me. I know it is hard right now. I know your tiny body has fought so hard, but goddamnit, I need you. Please don’t leave me.”

He never wanted anything in this life more than for her to return to him. He began to mutter to himself something he remembered from school,“over hill, over dale,

Thorough bush, thorough brier,

Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire!

I do wander everywhere,

Swifter than the moon’s sphere;

And I serve the Fairy Queen,

To dew her orbs upon the green;

The cowslips tall her pensioners be;

In their gold coats spots you see;

Those be rubies, fairy favors;

In those freckles live their savors;

I must go seek some dewdrops here,

And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.”

He wished fairies were real at this moment, and he could call on them to fix her.

Her blue eyes flickered open slightly. He knew that was more than he could have asked for. She tried moving her arm, he could feel the muscles trying to work. He helped it up and let her direct it to his shoulder. She moved her finger against his neck and tried to look him in the eyes. She was struggling with her eyes, and he didn’t want her to use her last bit of energy to appease him in some way. He continued to place the ice packed over her in a last-ditch effort for some miracle to happen.

Hours past. He never moved from the spot with her in his lap, cradled against him as he hummed or even sang to her to keep her going. Her arm slung over his shoulder would flicker with moment every once in a while. Her breathing was still swallow but seemed slightly more eased. He was afraid to fall asleep, though. If this was her last night, he wanted to be there till the end. He had a cup of ice that was mostly water at this point, but he would dip his fingers in it and find a chip or two and placed it in her mouth. On the few times he couldn’t, he would place his dripping finger on her mouth to at least try to keep her hydrated. He was now also burning, but only because of the heat she was producing.

His eyes fell. His head went into the corner of the walls and rested there. Every so often, he would wake with a start, and then he would remember and stare at her. She was still breathing. He would then rest his head again and then drift off for a few minutes. He did that throughout the night. When daybreak happened, and he saw the new days light for the first time, he again remembered the tiny woman in his arms. He looked down at her and waited. It seemed like forever. He just stared at her. Her cheeks had paled throughout the night no longer flushed with the raging fever she had the night prior. It seemed her hand had gripped tighter onto his shoulder. He was frantic for a moment when he realized her breathing has ease and was not so loud as to echo throughout the silence of the large room.

He felt her move, and he released a breath of pure relief. Though he had slept some, the first few moments had already worn him out completely. He brushed a finger down her soft skin of her face. She was cooler now. Still had the fever, but she was cooler than the night before. He let out a chuckle.

“Only you could laugh like that.” She said softly.

“Do you remember last night, my love?” He asked softly.

“All of it, Mitsuhide.” She replied and tried to smile, and it came out looking lopsided.

“All of it?” He asked as he peered into her eyes.

“Did you mean it?” She asked softly.

“Of course, I meant it,silly girl.” He chuckled. “I’m surprised though that you actually heard me. I thought it was time.”

“It was.” She said, even softer. “I can’t explain it. I wasn’t really here, though.”

“You were here, my love.” He said, looking down at her.

“No, Mitsuhide, I wasn’t. My body was here, but I was not. I heard you, though. You seemed so far away at the time. I knew what you were saying, and as soon as you said it, I felt differently. I’m not saying I was in a white light or something like that, but I was dying.I could feel myself shutting down and not being able to do a damn thing about it. Then you spoke.” She spoke with a dry throat, and it was still raspy and forced.

“And That did what exactly?” He asked as he brushed the hair off her face as he looked into her eyes.

“It made me want to fight.” She said evenly.

“It did?” He was shocked.

“I needed to know you were here.” She said as she touched his neck and shoulder lightly. “The more I could feel you, the more I wanted to fight.”

“So, what happens now?” He asked softly.

“We fight.” She tried smiling again.

“We do, how?” He asked.

“Western medicine isn’t helping. In fact, I think it is making every single thing worse. We treat it my way now.” She said softly. “Give me a reason to fight Mitsuhide. I am not better now. I just have more fight now.”

“Okay, princess, we will try this your way.” He said softly as he bent and kissed her forehead. “At this point, what do we have to lose?”

“Everything, Mitsuhide, now we could lose everything.” She whispered as she closed her eyes. He touched her back softly as she snuggled closer to him. He hoped he had not just dreamed that whole thing. He had hope again. She had indeed survived the night. She was a fighter. She was a warrior. She was so much stronger than him, and she wanted to fight because of him. He looked down at her with so much open love he wished she would open her eyes just to see it. “Stop staring at me.”

He chuckled to himself and kissed her forehead again, “never my love. For this moment on, you are the only woman I see, and I will look as long and as hard at you as I want to. Get used to it.”

“I could just die, you know.” She said softly.

“Doesn’t matter anymore. In this life or the next, I will find you and love you then too.” He said to her softly as her breathing became more even. “Now sleep, my love. You need your strength more than ever.”

He was holding his phone and was looking up things to help her when she opened her eyes. He knew there was many things that he needed get. He was looking up where to get the different things. He was making plans to get everything that day if she could sit long enough in the car. He was continually reading different articles and different treatment options. He knew the hardest thing to combat was the infection in her blood. The first round of antibiotics did nothing for her, except make things worse. She had a allergic reaction to the medication, and it seemed she went downhill from that day. She had gotten worse instead of better since the horrid reaction. That had to be the first thing he help her attack so she could start to get better.

“Sweetheart, can you sit in the car?” He asked.

“I think so, why?” She said.

“While you have been sleeping, I have been researching things.” He stated as he brushed his fingers through her hair slowly.

“What did you find?” She asked, trying to sit more up on her own and failing. He helped her and handed her a glass of water.

“Some things that we can try.” He said as he handed her a slip of paper. She looked at the list and nodded.

“I think this might work. You want to get my chair into the car?” She asked.

“I will just carry you.” He said as he looked at her.

“I want to go into the store with you.” She said.

“No.” He said.

“Why not?” She asked.

“I can’t leave you here, but I am not going to expose you to anything more to fight off.” He said, and she began to pout. He shook his head, “Princess, you can get mad at me all you want. I will not risk you like that.”

“Fine.” She said with a huff.

“Come, my love, let us begin a new treatment for you.” He said. “Let’s begin to fight this together.”