Estella couldn’t hold back anymore and gazed up at the boy with teary eyes. “My tummy hurts so much…”
Sniffing remorsefully, she went on, “It’s all my fault. Ms. Jarvis, Archie, and you could’ve enjoyed the day, but I’m in so much pain.”
Benny wanted to console her, but all of a sudden, he felt a sharp pang of pain that rendered him unable to speak.
Upon noticing that the two of them had collapsed to the ground, Archie ran over frantically. His voice was laced with panic and worry as he called out to them, “Benny, Essie!”
Benny and Estella were suffering from stomachaches so bad that they could not pay Archie any heed at all. Estella was crying loudly to herself, oblivious to anything else.
Benny wanted to soothe her, but when he opened his lips to speak, he could only moan in pain. Gritting his teeth, he tried to restrain his groans and suppress his tears.
I have to be brave for Mommy! I can’t fail her over a little pain! The situation made Archie anxious, and he wanted to go and get Roxanne.
He recalled that the herbs were not far from where they were. I should be able to return quickly! As he was about to leave, he caught sight of Estella rolling in pain on the ground.
She was in so much pain that she did not care in which direction she was straying. As she writhed wildly on the ground, she slowly got further and further away from the tent.
Archie paused in his steps and, with some difficulty, pushed Estella back to the tent. He knew that he could not go far with Benny and Estella in such a state.
After some contemplation, Archie brought his wrist up to his face and pressed a few buttons on his watch. At that moment, Roxanne was focused on foraging for herbs.
She had initially just planned to take the children camping and had not expected to stumble across such a pleasant surprise.
Thus, Roxanne was elated to find the patch of herbs.
As she was gathering the herbs, her phone rang.
Roxanne paused in her foraging and fished out her phone while wondering who could be calling her at that moment.
When she saw the caller’s name on the screen, her expression shifted uneasily. She immediately stood up and turned to look in the direction of the tent.
It was Archie calling her.
Did something bad happen to them?
With the phone pressed to her ear, Roxanne quickly picked up the basket of herbs and hurried back to the campsite.
“Archie, what’s wrong? What happened?”
Archie’s voice was full of anxiety. “Mommy, come back quickly—”
However, before he could finish his sentence, a sound could be heard from his end of the line, interrupting him. After a few seconds of confusion, the line was cut.
Roxanne pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it with a frown. Her heart grew heavier and heavier as each second ticked by. She quickened her pace toward the tent.
As soon as the tent came into her view, she caught sight of Benny and Estella rolling on the ground, clutching their stomachs in pain.
Archie knelt by his siblings, looking worried as he tried to stop them from rolling too far from the campsite.
“What’s wrong?” Roxanne immediately rushed to their side and bent over to check their temperature and breathing.
Archie’s eyes were bloodshot with anxiety and panic. “Benny and Essie suddenly had a stomachache! Mommy, take a look at them, quick! They’re in a lot of pain!”
He had initially wanted to go and get Roxanne from the herb patch himself.
However, when he saw how much pain his siblings were in, he had not dared to leave them alone. With no other choice, he had resorted to calling Roxanne instead.
Roxanne nodded reassuringly. “Don’t worry! I’ll make sure they’re okay.”
She leaned over Estella and tried to gently pry her little hands away to feel her stomach.
However, the little girl seemed to be in excruciating pain. Her little arms were wrapped around her stomach tightly. Roxanne could not move her arms away no matter how firmly she tugged at them.
“Essie, let me have a look at your stomach,” Roxanne begged in distress.
Estella looked up at Roxanne with big, tearful eyes and whimpered, “Ms. Jarvis, it hurts so much…”
Ever since Roxanne arrived, Estella had kept her head buried in her chest.
Now that the little girl had lifted her head and Roxanne could see her face, Roxanne felt her heart crack.
Estella’s face was drained of all color. Oh, she must be in so much pain!
Without wasting any more time, Roxanne turned to examine Benny.
Benny was also in immense pain, but the little boy was handling it bravely. He cradled his stomach without even a whimper.
When he saw that Roxanne wanted to have a look at his stomach, Benny removed his arms without a fuss. Roxanne caressed Benny’s forehead. Her eyes were filled with distress.
However, after examining the two children, Roxanne still could not arrive at a diagnosis. As time passed, the children’s pain became increasingly severe.
Roxanne felt immensely helpless and powerless at that moment. She blamed herself for having brought the children out to camp but failing to watch over them properly.
Her guilt and distress were plainly written all over her face. Archie noticed his mother’s mood and approached her quietly. “Mommy.”
His voice pulled Roxanne out of her reverie, and she forced herself to calm down. Then, she said, “I brought a medical kit with us. Can you go get it from the tent and bring it here?”
The children were in excruciating pain, and yet, Roxanne had not managed to locate the cause of it. At that moment, she could only do her best to ease their symptoms.
I’ll give them some pain medication first! I can’t go wrong with that!
Archie reappeared in a few minutes with the medical kit, which he placed on the ground next to Roxanne.
Roxanne shook several painkiller pills into the palm of her hand. She fed one to each of the two sick children and sat back to wait for it to take effect.
“How are you two feeling?”
She could only think of two possibilities for the cause of their sudden illness. One was that the kids had overexerted themselves while playing and caught a cold. The other was that they were somehow infected by a bacterium out here in the wilderness.
However, this did not explain how Archie had somehow escaped the same fate.
In fact, Archie was not exhibiting any symptoms at all.
Archie frowned and patted his stomach. “My tummy hurts a bit, but only a little bit.”
As he spoke, he gestured at Roxanne with his hands, showing her that he really was not in much pain.
Suspicion flitted across Roxanne’s face. Her eyes drifted to Benny and Estella again.
It had been five minutes since she had administered the painkiller. However, the two children showed no signs of any relief from the pain.
Estella was in so much pain that she had ceased writhing about. She was curled against the edge of the tent as a sheen of cold sweat covered her small face.
Seeing the children’s pain, Roxanne was so distressed that she could hardly breathe.
“Mommy…” Archie called out suddenly.
Roxanne’s heart clenched as she turned to look at him.
With his brows tightly pulled together, Archie looked solemn. “I think I know why Benny and Essie are sick!”
“What is it?” Roxanne’s expression shifted into one of hope.
She thought that he wanted to tell her what they had been up to while she was gone.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.