The Raven and the Hawk - Episode 6

Hawk

By four o'clock Hawk's illness had him in bed. At first it was just a dull ache, but now he could barely stand the intense pains that coursed through every inch of his body. It felt as if his insides were stretching and bulging. Michelle was gone. She had left long before Hawk almost fainted on his way to bed.

Hawk lay flat on his back, arms and legs stretched taught. He gritted his teeth against the pain. And suddenly he was terrified, terrified of dying alone. There was something he had to do. Something he needed to...to what? Fear allied the virus and a cold rush of ice froze his blood. Hawk cried out, arching his back. He clawed the headboard, leaving scratch marks in the wood. He blacked out.

Hawk floated, suspended in darkness for what seemed an eternity. A voice whispered in his mind, so softly he could barely hear it.

"Who are you?" Hawk's voice echoed loudly in this emptiness.

"...know..."

"I can't understand you!" He reached out to the darkness and began to fall. Down, down, down he spun in an endless spiral. His hands reached for something to grab, anything. But there was nothing. Abruptly, the darkness disappeared. Hawk no longer fell, instead, he stood in a vast red desert. He knew where he was! He'd been here many times, for as long as he could remember.

"Someone, please help me!"

He heard the voice clearly this time. It was a girl. Hawk ran towards the sound, towards a huge cavern, gapping like a mouth in the red mountain. Fire immersed the inside of the cave. And the girl was standing in the middle. Her horrified cries cut into Hawk like a serrated knife. Without thinking, he rushed towards the flames.

"I'm here! I'll help you!"

She turned her head towards him. He braced himself in preparation of her burned and blistered skin. Instead, she was beautiful. Untouched by the flames, even her long black hair only reflected the firelight. He stood transfixed, forgetting about saving her. When her frightened eyes met his, she disappeared. And so did the fire.

"Hawk! Wake up!"

Hawk stirred, and he opened his eyes. The room was dark. His clothes were soaked with sweat, plastered to his skin as if he'd been drenched in a rainstorm. The pain was subsiding, not nearly as intense as before the dream. The dream. He couldn't remember the dream.

"Hawk! Are you okay?" Michelle leaned close to his face. The green light of his alarm clock illuminated her face so she looked almost alien.

"I can't remember the dream!" he said, agitated.

"Don't worry about that. There are more important things to be upset over. Like, what is wrong with you? Jimmy, come here."

"I'm sick," Hawk tried to stand but his limbs turned to jelly and he fell back onto the bed.

"Is he awake?" Jimmy asked as he opened the bedroom door. Light from the hallway chased away some of the gloom.

"Why is it so dark?" Hawk switched on the bedside lamp, squinting against the brightness.

"He's awake, but not well." Michelle put a hand on his forehead. "He does not feel feverish."

"But I ache everywhere," Hawk complained.

"We should take him to the hospital," Jimmy whispered to Michelle.

"Don't talk to me as if I'm not here. And I'm not going."

"Listen, Hawk, you've been delirious for the past two hours. Just now you were rambling about the desert being on fire." Michelle said.

That fragment of his dream came back. Red rocks, orange flames licking them...and...and...

"I'll start the car," Jimmy said. He turned towards the bedroom door.

"No! No hospital!" Hawk stood up, his knees threatened to buckle, but he fought the weakness and remained standing. "I'll be fine tomorrow. If I'm not, then you can take me to the hospital. Right now, i just need to take a bath. A nice hot bath."

"But--" Jimmy protested.

"It's no use," Michelle said. "As stubborn as he is, we'd never get him into the car."

"You're doing it again. I'm not dead yet." Hawk slammed the bathroom door shut. He filled the tub with hot water. As soon as he slid into the water, his aches melted away.

The song he'd been composing echoed in his mind. Desert Dawn. That's what he should name it. Desert Dawn.