Kathryn
38
When the phone rang at eight on a Friday night, Kathryn ignored the ominous buzz on her scalp. It was quick. A blip. She wondered if she’d imagined it.
She hoped it was Heather calling to check in. Her scalp prickled again, and she was suddenly scared.
“Hello?” she said, her voice shaking.
“Hello, Ms. Gordon? This is Kyle. Heather’s in the hospital.”
Short and sweet.
Her heart thudded to her feet. Her hands suddenly ice.
“What happened?”
“She woke in the middle of the night with a fever. I gave her Advil and monitored her temperature as best I could without a thermometer, checking her every twenty or thirty minutes. It never went down. I mean…I couldn’t tell.”
Kathryn shook from cold, or fear, or—she didn’t know. She wrapped an arm around herself and shifted from foot
