CHAPTER FIVE
I wanted to get up because it seemed like I couldn’t. I tried pulling myself into a sitting position. My head felt like a bucket filled halfway to the top with water that sloshed around inside my skull, knocking me off balance.
I fell back against the pillow.
My head throbbed.
Lifting my arm felt like trying to lift up the back end of a car.
The room seemed to spin.
I closed my eyes. Opened them. Mom looked at me. I looked away.
She probably thought I was going to fall out of bed, despite the bed rails. That’s how I felt. Like a baby bird perched at the edge of a nest a hundred feet off the ground.
I just wanted to get better and get out of here.
Mom walked over to the bed. Her lips moved but I heard nothing—not her steps, not her words.
Suddenly, the head of the bed
