Emily woke up one morning feeling unusually weak, her breathing heavy and labored. Her body ached all over, and her throat felt like it was on fire. Trying to sit up, she was hit by a wave of dizziness and a coughing fit that forced her back down. Despite her instinct to dismiss it as a minor illness, the severe symptoms could not be ignored. "Oh man—this blows… please be an allergy, please be an allergy," she thought, feeling Daniel’s memories acutely—a familiar panic from when his chronic illness flared up.
It became acutely obvious that this wasn’t a mere allergy or symptom that sleeping could resolve. Pushing past Daniel’s instinct to rationalize and minimize symptoms, Emily was forced to accept that this was not something she could manage alone. "Mom," she called out weakly, her voice a hoarse whisper. Even in this state - she was taken aback by how much strain it took to speak.
She waited, but there was no response. Panic began to set in as even more memories of Daniel's past sicknesses and the loneliness he felt came rushing back - memories of lying in bed alone while his nerves burned internally. Summoning all her remaining strength, Emily called out again, louder this time. "Mom…I need help!"
Sarah appeared what felt like almost instantly, concern etched across her face, at a speed eliciting a chuckle from Emily despite her discomfort. Looking at Emily lying looking frail and clearly unwell, Sarah unconsciously surmised the situation. "Emily…hon…what's wrong? She asked, placing her hand on Emily’s forehead.
Something is wrong—I feel really sick," Emily managed to say before a violent cough overtook her. Memories of a pandemic from Daniel’s world made her worry about infecting her mother. "You wouldn’t happen to have a mask... don’t want to infect you…"
Sarah paused, briefly struck by the unusual concern from such a young child, but quickly refocused on the immediate crisis. "Don’t worry about that now," she reassured, her tone soothing yet urgent, as she felt the heat from Emily’s forehead. "Just rest - I'm calling your dad."
Sarah darted to the phone and dialed Thomas, her hands fumbling slightly as she fought to maintain her composure. As a PT, she knew the importance of staying calm, but as a mother, her heart was racing with fear - having never seen her child this sick before. "Thomas, it's Emily…she is very sick…yes - we need you here now’ " she said, her voice unsteady. Thomas, stunned by the gravity in Sarah's voice, excused himself from his practice and rushed home.
As she waited for Thomas to arrive, Sarah took a deep breath - attempting to steady herself. Observing Emily's symptoms — the high fever, the labored breathing, the deep cough — she feared that it could be a severe respiratory infection. Fighting her own anxiety, she nevertheless tried to keep her voice calm soothing Emily who was clearly frightened. "Try to take slow breaths, Em" Sarah internally praying that this was nothing more than a severe cold. "Your dad will know what to do as soon as he gets here, okay?"
Thomas arrived and immediately sprinted up the stairs to Emily’s room - seamlessly transitioning into his clinician persona albeit fatherly concern shadowed his moves. He checked and verified Emily's temperature, listened to her labored breathing with his stethoscope, and examined her throat and pupils.
"Her fever is high - really high, and her lungs don’t sound good. " Thomas declared his calm faltering as he grappled with the reality of his daughter's condition. His brow furrowed with worry, he added "We can’t chance it - this isn’t something we can resolve at home. We need to get her to the emergency room right away."
Sarah and Thomas quickly bundled Emily into the car and drove to the hospital. Emily faded in and out of consciousness, her reality blurred by the fever-induced delirium. She had vague memories of being carried down the stairs, the car's swaying motion, and feeling her mother hold her close in the backseat. "I’m getting dizzy... might pass out soon... Maybe it's for the better," she thought weakly as breathing became increasingly labored.
In the ER, the beeps and noise melded into a confusing cacophony, the smell of antiseptics triggering Daniel’s fear of hospitals and exacerbating her anxiety. She recollected the nurses moving quickly around her, their actions yet blurred in her delirious state. A blood draw sharply brought her to a spell of alertness as she channeled Daniel’s aversion to needles. "Oh not this again…" she murmured as she saw the needle approaching, instinctively leaning into her father for comfort. "Come on, Emily—be brave for the kind nurse," her dad gently encouraged her, ever a calming force as she braced herself for the prick.
The pediatrician who examined her was unexpectedly gentle. Even in her daze, Emily could not help but wonder —had Daniel's doctors ever been this compassionate, or were these memories distorted? Were doctors generally kinder to children? Nevertheless - the doctor diagnosed Emily with a severe case of pneumonia. "You got her here just in time," she stated with urgency. "She needs to be hospitalized for a few days to ensure proper treatment."
Emily's feverish mind oscillated between Daniel's fierce distrust of the medical system in his time, and her own instinct and longing to trust her family. Consequently - she tried to initially downplay her symptoms. "Just give me some antibiotics and an inhaler and send me home. This ain’t anything special," she murmured feigning strength. Nevertheless, her body betrayed her as she slipped in and out of consciousness more rapidly leaving her increasingly vulnerable and scared. None of this was surprising — hospitalization had always been one of Daniel's greatest fears. The isolation, the fear of not recovering—it all haunted her now, echoing Daniel's unresolved traumas.
The pediatrician having raised her eyebrows at a seven year old’s unexpected utilization of medical terminology, Noticing the doctor's reaction, "She does that," Thomas quickly chimed in with a slight chuckle. ‘I run my own practice - I think she picks up jargon from me when I talk about work at home.’
Sarah squeezed Emily’s hand gently "Honey, the nice doctor is right - you need to stay at the hospital to get better. We’ll be here with you the whole time okay?" Thomas nodded, his tone supportive, "I know hospitals aren't fun kiddo - but you’ll get better soon’.
In the hospital, Emily vaguely remembered being hooked up to IVs and oxygen, changing into hospital clothes and placed on a bed. At first, she was too overcome by fever-induced delirium to notice the oxygen mask snug against her face. It was only as she began breathing easier and that the fog lifted that she felt its presence—cold, constricting, a seemingly alien thing forcing air into her lungs. She reached up in a mix of irritation and tried to pull it away.
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"Easy, Em," Sarah's voice was calm, her hand gently but firmly guiding Emily's back down. "I know you don’t like it but you need this right now to help you breathe..’
Emily scowled under the mask irritating at this strange object seemingly violating her personal space. After a pause, a spark of her usual humor flickered. “So this is why Vader was always angry at the world,” she murmured grumpily, her voice muffled but the tone unmistakable.
Her comment elicited a surprised chuckle from both her parents. Sarah, relieved to hear a hint of levity from her daughter, smiled warmly - "I suppose it could get quite annoying," she agreed, playing along. Thomas, ever the Star Wars fan, grinned, adding, "Well, let’s just stay on the good side of the Force okay? ‘
While this moment of mirth provided a much needed respite, it did not detract from the the gravity of Emily's illness as her health fluctuated unpredictably. She seemed to, on some days, momentarily improve, only to relapse into delirium as her fever resurged. During these bouts, Daniel's old fears surfaced, intermixing with her own thoughts. "I can’t be sick... so much work... all those meetings," she murmured during one such episode, her words startling her parents.
‘Meetings? Is she talking about school projects or homework maybe? Maybe a play date?’ Thomas asked, trading a puzzled glance with Sarah.
Sarah, smoothing Emily's hair gently, reassured her, dismissing the comment as the ramblings of a sick child ‘Honey, you don’t have any homework. Just rest.’
One particular night, as the fever raged, Emily slipped deeper into delirium. Visions from Daniel’s life bled over into her own relentlessly haunting her —his lonely hospital rooms, the seemingly endless nights wracked with pain, begging night and day for relief.
She saw him was strapped to a hospital bed, his anxiety spiking as he braced for a biopsy. The cold, sharp press of six needles against his neck was terrifying, the anesthesia failing to numb the piercing pain as the needles burrowed deep into his neck. He fought to keep silent, fearing any scream might cause irreparable damage to the organs in his neck, feeling paralyzed and more trapped than he could have imagined.
She then saw him in another stark room, this time for a nerve block procedure. "We need real-time feedback," the doctor had explained, his voice concerned but clinical. ‘I am sorry, but this will hurt. She felt him take a deep breath and grab the bed he lay on with both hands. As the needle sunk into his flesh, Daniel felt every agonizing adjustment, the pain a cruel betrayal of his body's desperate need for relief. She felt his tears, his frustration, and hopelessness mounting with every adjustment the doctor made to the needle.
The flashbacks continued, unrelenting. Daniel was walking on a seemingly normal day, surprised that his pain appeared to have abated. The brief illusion of health shattered as pain explosively shot up from his feet, resulting in him toppling to the ground in agony as the pavement bruised and scraped his skin causing its own surge of pain.
The most crushing memory was in a dimly lit doctor's office.as a grim-faced doctor delivered news that forever cemented Daniel's lifelong distrust of the medical system. "I'm afraid the condition is incurable…" the doctor said, unable to meet Daniel’s eyes. "Had we caught this earlier…steroid treatment might have been possible. But the best we can do is now manage symptoms. I’m sorry…’. Emily felt Daniel’s heart sink, his spirit crack and shatter into a million fragments as this life sentence was declared.
The next moment, the image changed to reflect broken mirror fragments as Daniel stood, panting, a man worn beyond his years filled with resentment and self loathing, nursing a bloody hand which had been used to punch the mirror.
Back in the hospital room, Emily cried out weakly , a mix of Daniel's despair and her own synergized panic, "Please don’t leave me alone," she pleaded, her cry woven with the remnants of past and threads of present pain. ‘It doesn’t end, it just doesn’t end—the pain—it always comes back...it’s cruel, it's treacherous. I improve, I feel I have a chance, and then it strikes again, breaking me a little more each time…’
"We're right here, Emily. We're not going anywhere," Sarah whispered, her voice breaking slightly. Thomas joined them, his face etched with concern. "Emily, you're safe. We’re here with you," he reassured, though his mind raced worry at the strange, almost adult-like coherence in her ramblings.
Despite the severity of her illness, Emily slowly began feeling a strange sense of peace. Her condition slowly improved as the treatment took effect. Her rational mind took more control, she realized she wasn’t in fact alone or abandoned. Her family’s presence was a constant source of comfort, something Daniel was able to rarely experience during his treatment.
With each passing day, Emily's recovery accelerated. She regained her physical and mental strength, moving from slow walks to jogging lightly around the hospital garden under the watchful eyes of her relieved parents. Her appetite returned with a vengeance, and she humorously lamented the quality of hospital food. "Gosh, what I wouldn’t give for ramen," she once murmured thinking back to Daniel’s memories at his favorite Japanese restaurant, eliciting a curious glance from Thomas. "Ramen? When did you ever taste ramen?" he asked, amused. Emily hastily covered, "Oh… I don’t know… maybe Lucy brought some to school once… she's from California…"
Eventually, her friends visited, each bringing their unique energy that contributed immensely to her healing. Lucy’s vivaciousness filled the room, lifting spirits with tales of school and her cat, although she had to be eventually reminded to quiet down as Emily's energy reserves waned. Lily's gentle presence brought a heartfelt warmth, her quiet support as comforting as ever. Nate, ever enthusiastic, shared plans for video games and a home laser tag kit he was eager to try with Emily. Their visits reminded Emily yet again of the support network she had in this world. In a quiet moment, she thought to herself, 'Wish you’d had this too, Daniel. But… let’s recognize and appreciate this moment… for both of us.'
The day of discharge finally arrived. Emily gingerly stepped out into the bright sunlight as the hospital doors swung open, feeling the breeze and warmth invigorate her. The world outside seemed more vivid, more alive, than she remembered - perhaps a symbol of her renewed hope and gradual recovery.
TURNING BACK, SHE LOOKED THROUGH THE HOSPITAL'S DOORS - WATCHING THE SMILING FACES OF THE DOCTORS AND NURSES WHO HAD EFFECTIVELY BECOME HER TEMPORARY GUARDIANS THROUGH THIS CHAPTER. THEIR FACES, MARKED BY GENUINE CARE AND EXCITEMENT AT SEEING THEIR WARD ON THE UPEND, REMINDED HER OF THE COMPASSION THAT HAD ENVELOPED HER DURING HER STAY.
"THANK YOU ALL, FOR EVERYTHING," SHE CALLED OUT, HER VOICE STEADY BUT HER EYES DAMP WITH GRATEFUL TEARS. AS THEY WAVED BACK, EMILY FELT A FLICKER OF HEALING IN THE DEEP-SEATED MISTRUST THAT DANIEL HAD HARBORED AGAINST MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS. 'MAYBE... IT WILL BE DIFFERENT IN THIS UNIVERSE?' SHE WONDERED SILENTLY, ‘MAYBE THIS UNIVERSE WILL BE KINDER?’
AS SHE WALKED AWAY, SUPPORTED BY HER PARENTS, EMILY FELT THE TANGIBLE REALITY OF HER RECOVERY. THERE WAS STILL WORK TO BE DONE, STRENGTH TO BE REBUILT, FOLLOW-UP VISITS, AND THE DREADED HOMEWORK TO CATCH UP ON - BUT A PROFOUND TRUTH ANCHORED HER SPIRITS: SHE WOULD NOT FACE IT ALONE. NOT THIS TIME. THIS REALIZATION IMBUED HER WITH A PEACE , A RECOGNITION OF THE SUPPORT AND KINDNESS THAT SURROUNDED HER, BOTH SEEN AND UNSEEN, IN THIS UNIVERSE AND PERHAPS, IN SOME WAY, FROM THE ECHOES OF DANIEL’S EXPERIENCES.