-Community General Hospital; December 21-
Mandy and Andrew walked down the hallway together. They passed under a sign that read: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Mandy closed her eyes. Andrew pushed open the fourth door on the left. Mandy walked in and saw Faith lying in the bed, an emergency respirator mask held to her face. Machines beeped around her.
"We got a bit of information on her from hospital records. Her name is Faith Anna Lewis. She's four and a half. Her parents, Scott and Angela, both died in the fire. She has no other relatives."
"What's the verdict of her condition, Andrew?" Mandy asked sympathetically.
"As we thought at first, she's paralyzed from the waist down. But we found something else, Mandy, that I thought you'd want to know."
Mandy looked at Andrew. His expression was hard to read, except for the pain in his eyes.
"Faith has cystic fibrosis." Andrew explained "She already had a lot of scar tissue in her lungs. That's to say nothing about the damage from the smoke and ash inhalation."
"What are you saying?"
Andrew looked at Mandy. "I think you know what I'm saying."
Mandy sat in the chair. "Sh-she's not going to make it, is she?"
Andrew shook his head sadly. "No one in her condition could survive the damage done by the smoke and ash."
Mandy shook her head. "Ho-how much time?"
"I don't want to upset you." Andrew said
"Just tell me how much time. I need to know."
Andrew sighed. "Four to five days at the most."