It was late on a Friday night and it was the first time in a long time that I had nothing to do. Danny was exhausted after visiting with family earlier in the day that he went to bed early while Tom and Harry were off with these two girls they met at some club we all went to last weekend so I was stuck in the house, watching some lame horror movie.
I yawned and stretched out on the couch, getting myself comfortable as the opening credits finished and the first gory murder began. I wasn't much of a fan for horror movies but when it came down to that or some woman's coming of age tale, I say bring on the blood.
Just as the killer was about to stab the helpless blonde victim, a small cry caught my attention from upstairs. "Dougie." Debbie called from her room.
I got up off the couch and walked to the bottom of the stairs. "Deb, you okay?"
"Dougie." She called out again, her voice sounding very weak and scared. "Doug…"
I ran up the stairs, two at a time, and walked right into her room. Debbie was lying in bed, her covers pulled tightly around her. Even from the doorway, I could see that she was trembling and the sound of her moaning set me into a panic. "Debbie." I said, crouching down beside her bed and pulling her blanket down away from her face.
She was ghostly pale, sweat was practically dripping down her face and she was struggling to just keep her eyes open. I wiped her bangs out of the way and placed my hand on her forehead. "You're burning up." I sighed, pulling the blankets off her and, gathering her up in my arms, I carried her downstairs and placed her on the couch.
"I don't feel good." She whispered weakly, immediately curling into a ball the moment she was on the couch.
"I know you don't." I said, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and covering her shivering body with it, rubbing her arms and legs to help generate heat quicker for her. "I'm going to run into the bathroom and get the thermometer and a cool face cloth. Do you need anything else?"
She shook her head but added in that she was feeling nauseas so I made sure to grab the trash bin on my way out from gathering everything I need.
Her situation was worse than I expected. She was running a fever of 104.5 degrees. I turned the thermometer off and set it down on the coffee table, looking down as she seemed to be falling asleep before she jolted up and promptly got sick in the bin, I was lucky enough to pull her hair away from her face just in time.
Once she had emptied her stomach, I laid her back down and pulled the blanket back over her. "I'm going to get you some water then I'm calling dad, okay?" I jogged into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and grabbed the cord less phone.
Dad was pulling an all nighter at the office with his team, working over their latest project, so I dialed his office number and paced back and forth as I waited for him to answer.
The line picked up about four rings later and his assistant answered. "Yes, I need to be connected to extension 2483, please…I understand he's in a meeting but I'm his son and I need to speak with him…Yes, I know it's rather late but it's an emergency…God damn it will you just connect me!" I shouted only to have her hang up on me. "Bitch!" I shouted into the phone again, tossing it onto the chair.
I pulled at my hair as I tried to think of something else to do but nothing came to mind. I couldn't call for an ambulance, I wouldn't be able to get in touch with dad but I couldn't handle this on my own.
Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. "Deb, I'll be right back. I'm going to get some help." I said and scrambled up the stairs to my room.