Parallel Visions Read Online Free PDF

though I usually want her to stop hovering, right now I ’ m glad she ’ s here.
    I can feel the medication working. My lungs ease up a little, clench less—but every breath hurts. I suck in as much medication and air as I can.
    I didn ’ t know I could do that—relive a vision, slow it down, even turn it to see another angle. It ’ s kind of amazing. But it ’ s made such a deep pain in my chest, I almost don ’ t want to breathe. I had to do it, to save Jenna. I just never want to do it again.
    The medication sputters out and I take off the mask. I breathe in tentatively and only cough a little. I rub my aching chest.
    “ You had me worried for a while there, ” Mom says.
    “ I ’ ll go make you some hot water with lemon and honey, ” Dad says, smacking my door frame. “ That always helps your throat. ”
    “ Thanks, ” I croak as he leaves. I turn to Mom. “ I forgot to take—” I take a breath, “ —my night meds. ” My voice is hoarse and throaty from all that coughing.
    “ That ’ s not like you, Kate, ” Mom says, her eyebrows furrowing.
    “ I was so tired after the other attack, I just fell asleep. ” I cough, then rub my chest. “ And...I was distracted. Worried. ” With good reason! Mason is going to kill Jenna today—unless I stop him.
    “ About Jenna? ”
    “ Yes. ”
    Mom sighs and clasps my hand in hers. “ You really believe Mason is hurting her? ”
    “ I know he is! ” I cough again.
    “ Deep breaths, ” she tells me. “ Don ’ t go getting yourself all upset again. ” Mom squeezes my hand. “ Okay. I ’ ll invite Jenna and Mason over for dinner tonight. I ’ ll get Jenna on her own and talk to her. ”
    I know she doesn ’ t really believe me—but at least she ’ s trying.
    I take a deep breath, cough again. “ Thanks. ”
    “ You ’ ll stop worrying, now? ”
    I shake my head. “ I can ’ t, Mom. I know you don ’ t believe my visions—but I do. ” At least I do right now.
    “ I know you do. ” Mom kisses my forehead. “ And if something is really happening, Jenna will tell us. Now get some sleep. We can talk about this more tomorrow. ” She turns off my nebulizer and gets up from my bed. She ’ s got that army-sergeant look about her, now: firm, rigid, and controlled.
    “ After school? ”
    “ You ’ re not going to school, missy, ” Mom says, wagging her finger at me. “ Not after three attacks in one day! ”
    “ Mom, I have to! Please? I have my inhaler. I promise I ’ ll remember all my medication—”
    “ Why do you have to? ” She sits back down.
    Mom won ’ t question where I am if I slip out of school early to get to Jenna ’ s. But if I stay home, I never know when she ’ ll call or pop in. I go for the truths I don ’ t normally tell her. “ I ’ m out so much, it ’ s like I don ’ t belong there. It ’ s hard to make friends. Annnnd there ’ s this boy I like... ”
    “ Ah. A boy, ” Mom says, smiling. She smoothes back my hair. “ He ’ ll still be there when you get back on Wednesday. ”
    I bunch up my sheet. “ But it ’ s so much harder every time I ’ m out. No one talks to me. I ’ m the sick girl who misses school all the time, and wheezes when she ’ s there. And I have to scramble to catch up with all the work I missed. I ’ m always behind and I hate it. ”
    “ I know you do, ” Mom says, her eyes tearing up.
    “ Please, Mom—just let me go to school. I ’ ll be careful. If I have an attack, I ’ ll call you and you can take me home. ”
    “ We ’ ll see. I ’ ll check your peak air flow in the morning. If it ’ s in the yellow or red zones, you ’ re staying home. If it ’ s green, you can go. ”
    “ But it ’ s yellow so often! You know I can still be okay. ”
    “ We ’ ll see, ” Mom says. “ Now get some rest. ”
    I ’ m too jumpy to rest. I pull out my origami paper and start folding butterflies and flying pigs. It ’ s a technique a nurse showed me to help calm me