Blood Drinker

Xell picked me up for dinner last night. Earlier he said he had something to do. It turned out that he planned to meet his friend last night, but he had it cancelled. So he went to meet me instead, knowing that I had not eaten anything for dinner yet.

He was late, I thought he was cancelling the plan of going out for dinner with me. Just like a few days before when he promised me that he will take me out for dinner, he could only accompany me. He had already eaten at home earlier.

He showed me a place where he described as "having the best Western food around here." But we didn't go to that place. We went to someplace else instead, they serve Thai food. The server was cold. He pointed to a white board near the counter when I asked for the specials.

I ordered some rice with Tom Yam Pokteh and Kerabu Mangga and a glass of pineapple juice. He ordered a warm glass of Nescafe. We waited for quite a while for the food to come. It felt like forever.

When the server came with my food order, the first thing Xell did was to give the Kerabu Mangga a taste. He said the one we had at the Chicken Rice Shop last weekend tasted better, but he preferred this mango. I gave it a taste. Well, it was not sour enough to my likings. Maybe that's why he preferred this mango. Most people I know don't eat sour stuff, and most of them don't understand my love for extremely sour mangos and preserved fruits.

I gave the Tom Yam a taste. It was the kind of Tom Yam with fish, crab and the usual squid and prawn inside. I liked the one I had near the University Xell is enrolled in. But I ate the Tom Yam anyway. I can say that it is quite rare to find a place that serves this kind of Tom Yam. Maybe I just have to look around harder.

I was enjoying my food when suddenly I felt that something was wrong with the food I was eating. I tried to shoo the thought away and continued eating. The next spoonful of rice proved my thought was right. I pretended like nothing happened in front of Xell. At first he didn't notice anything, but he started asking when he saw me checking my spoon before taking another spoon of rice.

"Nothing." I gave him a short answer. I kept on sipping my pineapple juice the whole time. I continued eating, but stopped for some minutes a while later. He didn't ask why. I felt the blood filling my mouth. I had somehow cut my tongue again. I had no option other than washing the blood down my throat with the juice.

I waited for a few minutes for the blood to stop. It somehow refused to. I looked at the clock hanging on the wall. I knew I will be late if I don't continue on eating. I ate, ignoring the blood in my mouth. I managed to finish whatever thing I can still eat on the table.

I washed my hands and grabbed some tissue paper to dry them. Then I took another piece of tissue paper and pretended like I was wiping my mouth. I actually put the tissue paper in my mouth, covering my act with my hands. I looked at it. The white paper turned red. The second time I dabbed the paper in my mouth, the bleeding seemed worse. I did it several time, knowing that it would not get better. But swallowing my own blood made me feel sick.

Xell noticed, so I had to confess to him. He asked me to take more papers, just in case the bleeding got worse. He even joked about my name. I was always known by my friends by the name Dracula and Blood Hunter. I just let a small laugh. It wasn't really funny.

I joked on the various bleeding that happened to me in a short period. The nose, the tongue. And I am having my Big M day coming in a couple of days. He laughed at it.

He drove me around for a while before sending me back to the Residential College. The bleeding had stopped by then. I was grateful I don't have to bear the taste of blood in my mouth for long. Twice in one day is too much for me.

I felt sleepy once I reached my room. It was midnight. I was thinking of doing my laundry when my eyes felt really heavy. I switched off the light and was ready to climb up the bunk bed. Suddenly my view went clear, so I grabbed my clothes and the brush and detergent and started washing.

I finished washing at around 2.30 a.m. I was very exhausted, and I had switched the fan at full speed. The night was somehow warm. I kicked the blanket away, trying to make myself comfortable.

I closed my eyes, trying to get some sleep when I felt a sting on my skin. A mosquito was having her meal. Urghh... I hate mosquitoes. And I hate squishing that thing to death because it will stain my stuff. That's even worse than being bitten. It made me feel disturbed though.

Then came some more. They feasted on my blood and didn't even move a bit when I moved around, trying to scare them away. They left only after they had feasted enough.

I managed to sleep and I woke up at the usual hour here. No, a bit earlier, because my tummy was aching. I went back to sleep before waking up at 7 plus.

I checked on my arms for bites. Nothing obvious. Wow. That's kinda weird. I thought they had more than enough last night. Like the nights before. I have to admit that I hate the Residential College because the whole mosquito thing. Heck! They even have mosquitoes at the Faculty!

Everyday I would give my skin a quick scan for red spots. There are small bumps here and there, and I thought I just developed a mild fever yesterday. I don't care much about the mosquito bites, I just don't want to develop yet another weird rash all over my body. No more staying in the ward for nothing please! At least give me some news saying I am down with so-and-so rather than assuming that I was just having measles. (Right now I was remembering the hospital stay I had a year ago, when the doctors failed to give me the right description of my condition.)

Right now I guess I don't have to worry much about that. I just have to worry about my blood loss. *crossing fingers* I hope I don't have to lose more blood than I should.