I groan as I turn my head in the direction of the kind voice. It’s my boss Carolyn Sharp. The head of nursing. She’s been visiting me every day since I was admitted.
After a year of nursing in this hospital, I’ve found myself on the receiving end of my job. I’m sicker than I’ve ever been in my life, and no one knows what’s wrong with me.
Gentle fingers brush my forehead. “Janie?” she repeats. “Try to look at me, hon.”
I blink my eyes open even though it takes effort. I’ve been burning with fever for days. I don’t know how many. I’ve lost count. I lick my dry lips, and Carolyn rubs them with a wet cloth.
She takes my hand in hers next. “We’ve had an unusual request. Can you focus on me, hon?”
I nod slightly. “What request?” Maybe there’s a study someone is doing and an experimental drug. I’d do anything at this point. I’m starting to believe I won’t get better.
“There’s a doctor staying at Club Zoom. He’s offered to take a look at you.”
I open my eyes wider, more of the fog lifting. “Club Zoom?”
She nods. “Yes. He arrived four days ago. I think he knows your friend Olivia.”
I gasp, my head spinning. “He knows Livy?” A tear escapes my eye, but I’m too weak to lift a hand to swipe at it. Livy left this planet with an Eleadian male a year ago. She was my best friend in the world. We went to nursing school together.
The day we graduated, I dragged her to Club Zoom for a fun evening, thinking we could see what all the excitement was about. That plan had bitten me in the ass when Livy fell and broke her arm. There had been an Eleadian doctor there that night too. He’d come downstairs to help her. I’d barely had a chance to say goodbye before he’d claimed her and taken her from me.
Carolyn is smiling kindly, stroking my hand. It should be soothing, but everything hurts. My entire body. “My initial instinct was to deny the request and never tell you about it, but I’ve had some time to think and decided that I can’t make that sort of decision for you. It’s not fair. You deserve to know about the proposition and decide for yourself.”
I swallow. My head is spinning at the implication. “What does he think he can do?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve been told their knowledge of medicine is far superior to ours. Perhaps he can figure out what’s wrong with you. Maybe he can even cure you. I don’t know. It’s a long shot, but we don’t know what’s making you sick, Janie. I’m growing more nervous every day.”
“Is anyone else sick like me?” I ask. I’ve asked this every day. Surely another nurse or a doctor or a patient we treated recently?
She shakes her head. “Still no one. It’s completely baffling.”
I stare at her, considering her words, trying to stay coherent and awake. “How would I get there?” I murmur softly.
“Ambulance. It’s the only way to move you without making you feel worse than you already do. I’ll pull some strings.”
I close my eyes. This doctor knows Livy. Even if I weren’t sick, I would meet with him in a heartbeat. I want to know she’s okay. I want to know she’s happy and thriving. I miss her.
“I’ll go,” I mutter, not at all sure Carolyn can hear me.
“I’ll make the arrangements,” she responds. “Try to rest.”
She doesn’t have to order me to rest. I fade away in seconds.
* * *
The next time I open my eyes, Carolyn is hovering over me again. Two men are in the room with us. I recognize them as medics when I glance around and remember my boss’s proposition. It was real. I’m really going to be moved to Club Zoom to see a doctor from another planet.
“Hey, hon,” Carolyn says. “You with me?”
I nod.
“You still okay with taking a little trip to Club Zoom?”
“Yes,” I mutter.Livy. My God, this man knows Livy.
Livy and I were friends for three years before she left me. I pretended I would be fine, and it wouldn’t matter, but I’ve been lonely without her. I don’t have any blood relatives. At least not any I know of. Livy was my family, and then she left never to return.
“Janie?”