Night came again. Everyone, including Jeremy, was asleep. Aelita opened her eyes and laid there on her back. She started thinking about what Jeremy had said day. But, what was even more important then thinking about what Jeremy said, was thinking about Jeremy himself. She smiled when thoughts came to her mind. Perhaps this was how she fell asleep, but, whatever the reason Aelita thought about him.
It became even later into the night, about 2:27am. Aelita was now fast asleep. Then she woke up as she heard strange noises coming from up stairs in the dorms above her. She speed walked up the stairs and slowed down as the noise got louder. It seemed to be coming from Jeremy’s room. She slowly opened the door. Jeremy was bending over putting one hand on his bed for support and the other on his stomach. Aelita quietly closed the door behind her and rushed over to Jeremy.
Jeremy quickly turned his head toward her. He was taking quick breaths. “Jeremy?!” Aelita asked in concern. “What’s wrong?! Did you have another dream?”
“N-No,” he gasped. “It hurts!”
He yelled and fell to his knees.
“Jeremy!” she rushed over to him and bent down to his face. “You should stop trying to find the rest of that message so you can fix your virus,” she told him.
“I c-can’t,” he replied.
His eyes began to fill with water from so much pain. Aelita’s eyes did the same, but, because she was worried about Jeremy. He fell to the floor and laid there on his back with his eyes closed.
“Jeremy,” Aelita whispered as she bent down to him. “You have to. You can’t take too much of this. You could really damage yourself. Please,” she started crying. “Just find some way to fix it. Maybe I should get Jim…”
“No!” Jeremy grabbed her arm. “D-don’t. They can’t f-fix it. If they f-find o-out they’ll shut d-down Ly-oko…”
He let go of her and laid back down on the floor.
“Oh Jeremy,” Aelita said, still crying.
“Pl-plus I f-found out another p-peace of the m-message,” he hesitated. “What?” Aelita said in a teary voice.
“Xana,” he answered.
“Yes?” she leaned down near his face.
“Xana,” he said again. “H-has a new source.”
The pain burned inside every inch of Jeremy’s body, like a fire that couldn’t be put out.
“Ah!” he screamed, tears rolling down the side of his face, his eyes were still closed. Aelita put her hand on Jeremy’s chest.
“Don’t worry, Jeremy,” she said. “I’ll be here for you, always.”
