Monday, April 20, 2009

Spinning

Rowan sat up, then thought better of it as the world seemed to spin around her.  She groaned and let her head flop back down onto the pillow, then groaned again as she realized that wasn't a particularly good idea either.  She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling.

The room wasn't spinning as much now that she had laid back down, but it wasn't quite still yet, either.  Her head was pounding, like her brain cells had all mutated into quarterbacks in a huge football-style free-for-all inside her skull.  Her sinuses throbbed, feeling as if they had been stuffed with cotton balls while she slept.

Rowan groaned again before rolling onto her side.  The change in position made her sinuses drain strangely, the left side of her head feeling suddenly more congested as the right side made little popping sounds.  She reached for the remote control that she had shoved under the pillow the night before and punched the power button.

The television came on, the volume causing her to wince even with her plugged-up ears.  She frantically mashed the volume button until it subsided to a reasonable level.  Rowan turned her head just a bit, more a downward tilt of her chin than a real turn, to see the television screen.  Infomercials - just what one needs when sick, she thought, a bunch of hyper men trying to sell her crap.  She pushed a few more buttons on the universal remote, turning on her DVD player and starting the movie that was still in the machine from the last time she had been sick.

As the opening sounds of a young boy's video game filled the room, Rowan finally smiled.  There was nothing like The Princess Bride to make you feel better when you were sick.  Now if she could just get some chicken soup, everything would be perfect - well, as perfect as it could get, given her current state.

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