Yang remained in his bed as Yin came slowly walking into the room. Her nose had become completely red, and felt a little sore, from her sneezes in the bathroom. She absentmindedly sniffled and rubbed her nose with her arm, enduring the pain that resulted from doing so. Yang sulked when he realized that he had infected Yin with his cold.
"Yang?" Yin said, completely congested. "Cad I cub idto bed wid you, please? I thig I hab a code, too."
"Yeah, sure." Yang moved over to make some room for Yin. She stumbled in, slightly moved the blanket and entered the bed, pulling the blanket over her body and shivering.
"Thag you." Yin gave a weak smile, which quickly faded as an itch assaulted her nose. "I'b really dot... heeeeeh... feeling so good..."
"Be deither," Yang said, almost completely oblivious to Yin's problem.
"Yang... Heeeeeh...! *sniff* I'b gonna sdeeze... Heeeh!" Yin tilted her head back and her arm snapped to her nose. She was going to try to cover her sneeze as best as she could. "HEEEEEH! HEEEEETCHEEEEEEEEW!"
Yin tried her best, but she just couldn't stifle the sneeze. Another trail of mucus stuck to her arm, and when she noticed that trail, she quickly grabbed a tissue and cleaned her arm off. She then blew her nose to clean it of the snot, only for another sneeze to build up from the blow. She wanted to hold it in, but it was just too fast for her. "HEEEEETSHHHHHHHH!"
She sneezed and blew her nose at the same time, then removed the tissue, balled it up and set it on the blanket over them. She then rubbed her nose with her forefinger as Yang looked at her, eyes widening in surprise.
"Wow. Sounds like you hab it worse than be," he stated, and Yin simply nodded in agreement. If you asked her, he couldn't describe her much more accurately. "So..."
As Yang tried to come up with something else to say, Yin's head flopped back onto the pillow and she closed her eyes, falling into a deep sleep. As her head hit the pillow, a small feather pushed out of a small hole in the pillow. It flew up into the air, and then floated down until it reached something--Yang's nose. It really tickled, but thinking about how much it tickled caused another sneeze to build.
"Ah... Ah!" Yang inhaled without moving his head. He couldn't sneeze now, not while Yin was sleeping. Well, he could sneeze, but he'd have to do it quietly without waking her up. As the feather floated off his nose and landed on the floor, he put his hands over his nose and mouth. "AH! Chooooooo!"
As Yang released his much-quieter-than-normal sneeze, Yin moved a little bit, but remained asleep. Yang removed his hands and rubbed his nose with his forefinger before wiping his hands off with the blanket over him.
"That was close," he thought to himself. He was glad that even though he sneezed, it wasn't enough to wake his sister up. Maybe he could keep this up until she was finished with her nap. But this hope was trashed when another itch built in his nose. While it wasn't from the feather that was on his nose, it certainly felt like it. Wait, more than that. It felt like there were a billion feathers tickling his nose, inside and outside, in an attempt to make him sneeze.
"Ah... Ah... Ah..." Yang brought up his left hand and pressed the forefinger directly under his shivering nose, but the sneeze was coming. He couldn't cover or stifle it without soaking his hands and arms in his mucus. His nostrils were flaring behind his finger, which was barely doing anything to stop it. Yang began to rub his nose to ease the itch. "Ah... Ah... Doe... Ah... Dot... Ah... gonna... sd... sdeeze..."
"Ah... you... Ah... you stupid... Ah..." As Yang tried desperately to fight with his sneeze, Yin continued to stir in her sleep, but her eyes remained shut. It was as if they were glued and taped shut, but Yang was still worried. She was sound asleep, and he was trying to keep his sneezes quiet, but this sneeze was going to be a big one. If he sneezed now, even once, she would definitely wake up. He had to keep it in. He began to rub faster.
"Ah... Ah... Ah..." The faster he rubbed his nose, the stronger the urge got. The stronger the urge got, the more dramatic his inhales became. His nose felt slightly sore, so he slowed down, ever so slightly, as his inhales progressed. "Ah...! Ah...! Ah...!"
By the third inhale, his finger had stopped moving altogether. His hand slipped off his face, and his head turned to look at Yin and check if she was still asleep. Through his watery eyes, he saw her stretch her arms, but she didn't open her eyes. She was still sleeping, but Yang refused to sneeze. He tried to think about something other than sneezing to get his mind off of it. He imagined himself getting out of bed and leaving the room to get a glass of water, and maybe make some soup for him and Yin. He walked down the stairs and entered the kitchen. The itch in his nose eased a little bit, but not enough to destroy the sneeze.
Yang imagined himself turning the stove on and taking a pot from the cupboard. He filled it with water and put it on the stove before taking a can of ramen soup. He opened it with a can opener, and poured it into the pot before he picked up a wooden spoon and began to stir. As he waited for the water to boil, he went to the sink, got a cup, and filled it with cold water. He quickly gulped it down, but a burning sensation surged through his throat. He put the cup down and went back to the stove, sampling the soup to check if it was ready. It was, but it tasted a little flat. Some seasoning should do the trick. Yang looked in the cupboard for condiments, only to find one pepper shaker inside. He sighed and took it, shaking it over the pot. It was a small amount, but the pepper smelled extremely potent. The itch increased in size until it became absolutely unbearable. Yang couldn't take it, he had to snap back to reality.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" Just thinking about the pepper reminded him of his sneeze. How long had he been fighting it? It must have been about five minutes, because it had become irresistible while he was busy trying to forget about it. Hopefully, Yin had already woken up, but even if she wasn't, Yang didn't care. He was accepting his fate and surrendering to the sneeze. He moved the tissue box close to him, but didn't bother pulling a single one out. This sneeze, and any others alongside it, had to be set free uncovered. "Ah! Ah! Ah! CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! AHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! CHOOOOOOOOOOOO! AH! AH! CHOOOOOOOOO! AH! AHHH-CHOOOOOOOOO! Ah! Ah! Ah! AH! CHOOOOOOOOOO! AH! CHOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Yang recovered from his sneezing fit and tried to catch his breath. He sniffled, only to realize that his nose was flowing with mucus. He grabbed a couple of tissues and blew his nose wetly. The tissues quickly became soaked, so he grabbed some more and continued blowing before wiping. Yin slowly opened her eyes and sat up. She looked over at Yang, who was still rubbing his nose.
"Wow. Bless you." She knew Yang was going to sneeze, but she didn't expect a fit like that.
"Ah?" Yang stopped and looked over at Yin. He gasped. "Oh, I'b so sorry, Yin! I really had to. It was just too buch!"
"I was albost dud adyway." Yin rubbed her nose on her hand.
Yang sighed, partially in relief and partially in discomfort. Yin may have forgiven him, but this was going to be a long week.
Much too graphic. Worse than raw sex or gruesome violence! But I love it! A refreshing look at a malady that so many of us try to hide but have a sloppy, snotty memory of. Like when my handkerchiefs would turn all wet and green by the end of the school day where I may have infected 10 or more of my classmates in passing.
A naïve councilman and a down-on-her-luck single mom try to save their county’s last stand of forest from greedy developers and a dysfunctional government.
