Delirium

The following week was the longest one of the sibling’s lives. Alexandra spoke rarely, ate even less and despite P.J.’s best efforts only left her room to use the shower. He considered the fact that she was maintaining good personal hygiene a positive, if not the positive he wanted.

He couldn’t shake the sound of her crying to herself behind the closed bedroom door from his head, it had been haunting him since the first night, the second, and the third too. He was starting to lose a grip on whether she was always crying or if he was just hearing it on repeat in his own mind. He couldn’t understand where her spark had gone, and was starting to wonder exactly what kind of life she had been exposed to in London...

On the seventh day of her shrugging off his request for her to eat something, he finally got to the end of his patience. She was going to waste away and he couldn’t have that responsibility on his shoulders. With his usual lack of subtlety he banged loudly on her bedroom door before swinging it open without waiting for a response.

‘I don’t care if you’re not my baby sister anymore, but god dammit you’ll eat three meals while you live here.’ He ranted in one frustrated breath.

She didn’t even make eye contact at his outburst, just stared aimlessly at the ceiling with a little bit more conviction.

‘I’m not hungry, P...’ She breathed out slowly. She really wasn’t. She couldn’t remember the last pang of hunger she’d felt, nor the last time she’d eaten. She couldn’t bring herself back from the brink of this lack of feelings. She’d turned off any emotion years ago, and buried any ability she might of once had to care about herself, deep under the heavy clouds of lethargy.

‘Well eat anyway, you might find you’re hungrier than you think,’ He insisted, ‘I’m not leaving until you promise me you’ll eat what I make you. Or we can get take out. Anything you fancy.’

She turned her gaze to him, dazedly recognizing the old stubborn streak of his shining through. She’d never won once he’d made his mind up about something, and she realized she wasn’t going to start winning now.

‘Make anything, you know what I don’t like. I’ll try.’ She lied straight to his face. She wouldn’t keep it down. It was a waste of food, but if he insisted...

Satisfied, he left her to go and conjure up some chicken soup. He suspected that her stomach wouldn’t be up to much else after so long. He was pleased she’d given in without a fight but was suspicious. When they were kids he’d always win the fight through standing his ground, but Alexandra was a tricky one, she had a habit of getting him back when he was least expecting it; she was the stealthy child.

‘Here,’ he handed her the tray carefully so she could sip her soup and hopefully dunk a bit of the crusty bread in it, ‘I made your favourite soup. Careful though, it’s hot.’
‘Thanks...’ She murmured and sat still, examining it warily. Even if she didn’t want to admit it, boy did it smell pretty good.

‘I’ll be back for your bowl.’

Without another word he left. She watched him retreat to the rest of the house while she sighed deeply to herself. She was overcome with a guilty sensation. He had done well by her since she’d called him up, and spent more than enough time and money in bringing her back to the States with little hassle. She’d not promised him she’d eat, but she supposed she ought to try – to keep her word.
The guilt trip didn’t work for long. It was less than a few sips in that she was rushing to the bathroom feeling nauseous and vomited violently. She wiped her watering eyes with a grimace. She gulped down some water trying to expel the metallic flavour of bile from her mouth where it clung tightly to her tongue. She flushed the toilet and watched it swirl her insides around and suck them away with regret and anxiety building up inside her chest. A single tear escaped her eyes and she swiped at it angrily.

Sniffing heavily she heaved her body off the bathroom tiles awkwardly, feeling exhausted and light headed as the blood rushed around her body. Her vision blurred and her ears popped like she was at a high altitude. She clutched onto the sink as everything began to spin and then there was...