Chapter 2
The shrieking of Ray's alarm shook him from sleep. He looked up at the clock. It read 6:45. Rubbing his eyes, it occurred to him that he didn't hear Emily's usual morning routine in the bathroom. He hurriedly pulled on a sweatshirt that was in a crumpled heap on the floor. Padding down the apartment's cold wooden floors, he knocked briefly on Emily's door before slowly pushing it open. His sister was lying in the same position he'd left her the previous night.
"Hey, Em! Come on, wake up!" Ray whispered urgently to her. Emily shifted her position slightly, muttering something incomprehensible. "You're going to be late, let's go!" he tried again.
"I don't feel so good," Emily mumbled, shifting again, this time sticking her nose in her pillow. Ray felt her forehead, which was burning up.
"Whoa," he said, reaching for the thermometer he'd left on her desk from the night before. He gently put it in her ear, waiting again for it to beep. "103," he said when it did. "Do you hurt anywhere else?" he asked.
"Yeah, my throat and my head," she said, "And I'm so tired."
"Sounds like it could be mono," Ray said. "You're going to need a blood test, honey."
"I don't know if I can, I feel like I can barely lift my head up."
"Okay, well we'll figure something out," he answered. "I'll be back in a little bit, all right?"
Ray went into the living room, grabbing the phone off its cradle. Dialing a number, he perched on the sofa arm listening to it ring.
"ER," said the voice at the other end.
"Hey, Frank, it's Ray. Look, is anyone around?"
"Yeah, Abby's right here," grumbled the desk clerk. Covering the receiver with one hand, he said, "Here, Abby, Ray's on the phone."
"Ray, you better not even be thinking about calling in sick today!" Abby said as soon as she picked up the phone. "We're short staffed and getting swamped already!"
"Yeah, no, but it's good to hear you're in such a jolly mood this morning!" Ray said sarcastically. "Actually, it's my sister, Emily. I think she may have come down with mono. I need to bring her around this morning to get her a blood test. Would you mind helping me out when I get there?"
"Um, sure. What time do you think you'll be by?"
"I don't know, probably within an hour. Thanks in advance, though."
"Yeah, no problem," Abby said, hanging up the phone.
Going back into Emily's room, he laid his hand on her forehead and knelt down beside her.
"Hey, in a little bit we're going to go down to the ER okay? We're going to run a couple tests," Ray said quietly. Emily sighed in response.