When It All Falls Apart (Book One) Read Online Free PDF Page A

right and you’ll see the beds.”
    I held myself back from running down the hallway and worked on assuring myself that David had to be over reacting. Unlike David, she was a deep sleeper and could be hard to wake up. She was probably sleeping so deeply because she was sick. Hopefully, she was awake by now. By the time I reached the corner, I had calmed my heart and my breathing was starting to return to normal. When I rounded the corner, I ran into a bustling nurses’ station with nurses, doctors, and emergency personnel rushing everywhere. No one was still. Patients were being wheeled in and out. Loud cries and moans were coming from behind one of the blue curtains. I walked up to the desk and interrupted a man in a white coat who was flipping through files.
    “Excuse me. I’m looking for my daughter. She’s in 3C.”
    He gestured across from us without looking up. I turned around and took a deep breath before pulling the curtain back. Rori looked so small. Her body only covered half the hospital bed. She was lying on her back still dressed in her Dora pajamas from the night before. Her eyes were closed, but she didn’t look like she was sick or in any kind of distress. She simply looked like she was sleeping and would open her eyes to smile up at us at any moment. David stood next to the bed, running his hand through her dark hair over and over again. The air in the room was still as if none of the frantic energy going on outside the curtain was happening. I moved to stand next to David and put my arm around him. He turned to look at me.
    He looked horrible. All the color had gone out of his face. His eyes were wide and his hair was haphazardly sticking up from running his hands through it like he did every time he got nervous.
    “Has she woken up?” I asked.
    “Yes. Thank God. When they put the IV in her. They said it was a good sign,” he said. “She’s opened her eyes and mumbled something since then. She’s kinda acting like she has a fever even though she doesn’t. She hasn’t run a temp all morning. I’ve been checking.”
    I leaned over next to her and kissed her on the cheek. “Hi, honey. Mommy’s here,” I said softly. I kissed her again. Her eyes stayed closed. I caressed her arm softly and noticed her other arm was taped up in a splint like it was broken. The needle from her IV went into her arm and there was white tape wound around it with a flat board underneath it. “Why’s her arm like that?”
    “I guess they do it to all the little kids. It keeps them from pulling the IV out because they move so much,” David said.
    “What’d the doctor say?” I asked.
    “No one has even been in here to see her yet. It’s just been nurses. They took a bunch of blood while they were putting her IV in. They’re going to run some tests on her blood. Oh, and if she has to go to the bathroom, we have to have collect her urine.” He pointed to a sealed plastic specimen container on the small white counter next to her bed.
    “Did they say when she’ll see a doctor?”
    He shook his head. “This is ridiculous. She needs to see a doctor. Like now. We need to know what the hell is going on.”
    I squeezed his shoulder. “I’m sure it’s fine.”
    He jerked his arm away. “Fine? She’s laid out in the emergency room. She’s not fine.”
    “Kids get sick all the time. I’m sure she has some nasty flu. Everyone who gets sick this year gets really sick. Even adults. I think it has something to do with the flu shot. I swear. I really do,” I said. He didn’t bother to respond. He just kept staring at her.
    “I can’t stand this,” he said. “I’m going to find someone.”
    “David, just–”
    He wasn’t listening anyway. He was already on the other side of the curtain. My gaze returned to Rori. She was going to be okay. She had to be. I stared at her chest watching it move up and down in a rhythmic motion. It wasn’t long before David returned looking dejected.
    “They said they’ll