Hi! I'm back! You may notice a change in the writing style as this story continues as I started writing it when I was about 13 and my writing style matured a lot since then.

Chapter 2

While Stevie was at the hospital visiting Alex, Carole, Lisa and Phil had just finished moving the bales of hay and they were standing back, admiring their handiwork. "How about we test out the dance floor?" suggested Phil holding out his hand to help Lisa up from her position on the floor.

"Maestro, if you please." said Phil to Carole. Carole immediately began to whistle a waltz and Phil and Lisa began to dance to the music that Carole was making. When Carole's tune ended Lisa and Phil burst out laughing. Phil offered his hand to Carole and Lisa, who couldn't whistle as well as Carole, looked around for inspiration. She spotted some barrels with different amounts of grain in each barrel. Nearby, there was a box of tools. Lisa picked up a few screwdrivers and tentatively began to tap them against the barrels. When she began to tap out a beat, Carole and Phil were momentarily surprised but then they started to get into the beat and danced along to the music that Lisa was providing.

When Mrs Reg arrived back at Pine Hollow she immediately went to the feed barn. As soon as Mrs Reg walked through the door, the joyful music stopped and she was bombarded with questions.

"Is Stevie OK?" asked a worried Phil.

"What about Alex? Did you find out what was wrong with him?" asked a pale and petrified Lisa.

"Is there anything wrong with him? I mean it could have been a false alarm, right?" said Carole who was trying to lighten the mood.

"Yes, I'm afraid there is. Stevie's OK as far as I can tell but a bit subdued so I could be wrong. Alex, I'm afraid he has Meningitis." Replied Mrs Reg.

"MENINGITIS!" squeaked a terrified Lisa and any colour left in her cheeks drained from them when she heard this statement.

"Yes, all of the Lake family have had vaccinations to protect them from getting the virus as well. They are all at the hospital now so there is no point stopping by their house on the way home to see how he is as I am sure they will be there to very late at night. Lisa, you wouldn't remember but Phil, Carole do you remember when Lisa was in a coma? Do you remember how late her parents stayed at the hospital?"

"Yes, Stevie and I stayed nearly as late but we weren't allowed in before school." Carole said reminiscing about the time when Lisa had fallen off Prancer trying to jump a fence that was too high for her level and ended up in a coma until they brought Prancer to see her and she woke her up.

"Stevie wouldn't have been able to wake up that early if it hadn't been to visit Lisa in hospital!" Phil said remembering how Stevie would be late for school every day if her mother didn't go up to see what was taking her so long.

"That will make her poor mothers life easier." Said Mrs Reg grimly.

"Do you mean that he's in a coma too?" asked Carole.

"Yes it happens all the time with Meningitis. The tricky thing is that the coma could last for weeks or even months." Mrs Reg replied. She glanced around at the others. Carole was twirling a strand of her tightly curled hair that had fallen loose of her ponytail. Phil was pacing up and down behind the two girls with a worried expression on his face. Lisa on the other hand was completely speechless. She had a petrified expression on her face and she was staring at the floor with her brown curls falling in front of her face shielding it so that nobody could see the tears that were currently leaking from her crystalline blue eyes.

Mrs Reg left the feed barn and went to find Max and explain what had happened. When she left Carole whispered,

"I can't believe it. Meningitis. I thought he just had a cold."

"Me too. What do you think Lisa?" Phil and Carole looked over to where Lisa was standing and saw that she was very pale.

"Are you OK Lisa?" asked Carole and when she got no answer she went over and took the screwdrivers that she had been using to tap out the beat for Carole and Phil to dance to. When Phil saw Carole trying to steer Lisa over to the gallery he came over and helped.

"I think she's in shock." Phil commented when Lisa was sitting on the bales of hay and she was still as pale as before.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." Carole said to Phil before leaving the feed barn.

Please let me know what you think!