It's been 3 days of radio silence.

No calls. No messages. No super chats in the comments.

Nothing.

I waited like an affection-starved puppy, or hungry cat, for a knock on my door to sound their arrival.

But nothing came.

And what's worse is that my sickness persisted.

It was the worst fever I'd ever endured, as what had started as a light cold morphed into something hideous.

I couldn't see straight, my ears rang constantly, and I was in a constant state of never-ending hunger while being unable to eat anything.

And the constant pounding in my head made me want to end it all.

"You still alive?" Carol's voice sounded from my speaker.

"Eeeeerrrrhhhhh!" The groan sounded worse than that of a Hollywood zombie trying to go for the Best Actor award.

"Better than hearing silence." She grumbles as she scribbles away on her notepad.

I wondered if I'd probably caught a space virus, but I quickly waved the notion off as I've had similar rare moments of extreme sickness like this back on Earth.

But Carol would hear none of it.

"You DEFINITELY caught some sort of deadly disease from those walking gelatins. That's why they ran away so fast. Before you'd be able to catch them and beat the shit out of them."

The energy to argue or even entertain Carol's mad ramblings just wasn't present, so I tried to drift off to sleep (or blatantly pass out) to escape her tirade.

But the sweet escape of unconsciousness refused to come to me right now.

Oh, the betrayal.

I huff out a defeated groan in a frail attempt to get her to shut up.

My throat hurt like a bitch and my heart rate was going mental.

Maybe I did catch something from them?

No. Impossible.

Wouldn't I have gotten infected the first time we interacted? Maybe the virus needs time to attach to its host or incubate in its newfound body??

White hot terror licked through my exhausted body as the idea of an alien space worm festering inside of me and bursting out of my stomach overtook my tired mind entirely.

I was in closer proximity to Leo and Dion than I'd ever been before. We even spent the whole night in each other's company as opposed to just the few minutes to an hour we usually spend.

Then images of Leo holding me tight came to mind, and the gut-wrenching feeling of fear quickly got chased out and replaced with butterflies.

He wouldn't do that to me. They wouldn't do that to me!!

Images of the both of them holding me tight while I had a breakdown, while we were swimming underwater, Leo leaning on me, Dion getting close and mustering up the courage to touch me.

If I'd gotten infected by them from close proximity, it would've happened MUCH sooner. There's just no way.

Also, I know and trust they wouldn't willingly infect me with anything.

Unless they didn't know they could infect me...

That was a whole nother topic of debate I literally didn't have the mental capacity to dissect.

I turn over on my side gingerly, careful not to move too fast to make me throw up, and feebly pull my blanket over my shivering form.

Finally, sleep overtook me.

                                                                                    *          *          *

Wild beeping woke me up.

I was covered in sticky sweat as I tried to shove my blankets off and get my barrings.

The effort it took me to sit up was ungodly, and I had to wheeze out hot breaths from my mouth because my nose was fully blocked.

I groaned again at the pain and discomfort I was in and notice my stream was still ongoing as I see blurred words flash by quickly on screen.

Then my ship started to tip to the side.

".......WAKE.......UP......AJSGAJ!....."

My ears were picking up noises but God help me if I understood what a word of it meant.

I pry open my sticky eye booger covered eyes and try to see through the mucus that desperately tried to hold my eyes shut.

Deep breaths....deep breaths...and....UP!!

It took all my willpower to sit up straight, even more to wipe the crush from my eyes and concentrate.

Everything was spinning but I used muscle memory to slide out of bed and to my computer that was screaming at me like bloody murder.

"Where's the dang off button...?" My voice was several octaves lower than normal, harsh, and came out in desperate crocks.

Pulling myself up the panel I focus all my remaining energy to read what was going on on the screen.

Oh, Carol is still on video call?

Why is she jumping around like a monkey?

Pfft! Her internet bill is gonna be a biiiitch this month....

Between the ringing in my ear, and the loud blasting sirens of my ship, there was no way in hell I was going to hear anything she said.

I feel bile rise up my throat and it was a miracle to find a bin to retch into.

While I acknowledged that'll be a pain to clean up later, being sick momentarily allowed me to feel better just enough to register and understand what was going on around me.

I was about to die.

But what else was new?

Something was happening on Titan but I was too sick to do anything about it.

Being out for 3 days meant I wasn't able to put the safeguards in place to even allow my ship to automatically respond to whatever threat presented itself.

I was thoroughly fucked.

And between the blaring sirens, Carol's panicked yelling state, and hundreds of comments flying by, I saw the one lone golden one for the briefest of seconds.

[💛Mel. Get up and fight. I refuse to watch you die this way. A sinkhole is forming triggering a whirlpool. Get outta there before it becomes a maelstrom-💛]

*Comment has been deleted*

The comment vanished as soon as it appeared. Even the alert saying it was deleted got scrubbed.

[WAIT! Was that just a golden comment??? 😱]

[WHAT DID IT SAY!?!? 💀🔥]

[SHIT! I didn't catch it 😭]

[Fr! It popped by so quickly I barely saw it, as I was distracted 🤦🏽‍♀️]

[I feel lyk I am once again obligated to remind u all to not take anythin u c seriously & calm down, coz dis is all stage d propaganda to take away our guns & promote the g a y agenda-]

*Comment has been deleted and user banned for 3 days*

Looks like Carol wasn't playing around as she took over the duties of moderation for a bit.

Personally, I'd have banned them for a week to a month.

Focus.....

My feeble brain tried to coral me.

I doubt Carol was the one to delete the golden comment. But regardless a whirlpool was forming and my ship was being dragged down.

At least it wasn't a 90-foot-tall tsunami or those abominations from hell.

And as if to remind me just how serious the situation is, my ship suddenly and violently tips to the side. Lunging me away from my computer and my head gets smacked across the edge of my bed.

Oh God, just kill me. I simply cannot deal with this right now.....

A tangy metallic taste overcomes my mouth and suddenly....I'm pissed.

"Fuck ALL OF THIS!!!" I yell harshly.

As the sudden rage of all the absurdity hit me and gave me a sudden burst of Olympian levels of strength to haul my ass off after that nasty hit to the head.

Or maybe it was because of the hit that I had this sudden burst of strength.

I turn around to see where I'll be flung as my ship tips violently again in the opposite direction.

But I was ready this time.

I had a goal and destination to reach.

I allow the tilting of the ship to slide my body over to the right side, around my bed frame, and into the small alcove on the left where I had a bunch of shelves hidden under and slightly to the side of my streaming setup.

I snag my hand on the handle of a cupboard and pull myself towards it. Throwing my weight and flapping it open to prevent me from falling further into the ship.

The contents of the cabinet were in disarray. But that all didn't matter as the object I desired was still fully intact.

"MEL, NO!! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!!!" I finally hear Carol scream her first legible thing since I woke up.

But it was too late to heed words of caution.

I reach over and pull out a syringe and a long needle.

Ripping apart the protective layers that caged them with my teeth, I see the reflection of my chat go ballistic as they too understood what was happening.

And the fact I wasn't explaining or walking them through things as I usually do was another cause for concern.

My silence and lack of goofing around sent a crystal clear message.

The time for talking was over.

Only action was required now if I had a hope in heaven of living to take my next meal.

Which better be soon cause I'm Goddamn hungry!!!

I connect the needle to the circular tip and gently shake the contents of my injection to mix my unholy concoction before plunging the needle into my forearm and pressing down the other end.

A slight squeal and cry of pain rang out as the ship justled and skewed the needle while still embedded in my flesh.

But as I ejected the fluid into my bloodstream and dumped the contents of it inside me, I feel my heart rate rush.

My pupils dilate.

My body began to quiver and my teeth began to chatter in response.

"Dear God Almighty Mel, I hope you know what you're doing...." Carol's tone was the rare one of fear and pure anxiety.

I cackle at her as I was now easily able to stand up.

"Foolish Carol," I look over at my screen to look at her, catching my reflection bouncing back at me through the dark spot with the sheer look of madness on my face. "I never know what I'm doing."

I turn and bolt for my front door with a speed wholly unnatural bordering on supernatural.

For you see, the concoction I'd injected myself with was a special, totally definitely maybe illegal, brew I'd created for my journey when I first left Earth in case of emergencies.

And I'd only made 3.

I'd used it the first time when I was stuck in an asteroid belt and needed more energy to stay awake and get through it.

And now I've used the second injection.

Consisting of my special brewed mixture of three pumps of Adrenaline, a dash of Steroids, just a hint -barely a whiff- of Cocaine, and some Radioactive juice as a final kick.

God help us all I get through this crisis before my heart explodes.

Or Titan finally manages to kill me.

Either or is honestly fine with me. I want to be done with all this and take a nap. A short or indefinite one is a coin flip up to fate at this point.