FOUR

Martha’s heart was still in hear throat when they arrived at the doctor’s office. It was incredible how this boy could drive. About three times she thought they were going to crash but he managed to keep the car on the road every time. Carrying Madelyn in her arms she got out of the car. The boy opened the door to the doctor’s office and they walked into the waiting room.

There was an old lady in the waiting room. She gave Madelyn’s blood-spattered clothes one looked and said right away, “You go first.”

The doctor’s assistant, a young freckled blonde woman left her desk to meet them. “Martha? What happened to Madelyn?”

“I don’t know,” Martha said. “She became very ill all of a sudden.”

“Just a minute,” the assistant said and knocked on the examining room’s door. She opened the door and said some things to the doctor Martha was unable to overhear. But whatever it was, the assistant waved them over. “He will see you right away.”

“I want the boy to go in with me,” Madelyn pleaded with her weak voice.

“I don’t see a problem there,” the assistant shrugged.

The three of them went into the examining room. The doctor, a fifty-something bald man with a greying beard and kind eyes welcomed them inside. “Hi Madelyn, hi Martha. And?”

The boy smiled. “Hi, friend of the family.”

“Right, right,” the doctor said. “Doctor Joseph Krueger. Have a seat while I have a look at the little lady.”

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Gently he took Madelyn from Martha’s hands and put her on the examination table. While he put his hand on her forehead, he asked Martha what happened.

“She just started vomiting blood out of nowhere.”

“I feel so weak,” Madelyn said.

Dr. Krueger took his stethoscope and gently shoved up Madelyn’s dress, listening to her heart. He then proceeded to look into her eyes with a little light.

Martha was wringing her hands. She had a look at the boy. He was watching the doctor’s every move closely. He looked almost as worried as she felt. Such a good kid.

“Let’s have a look at your tongue,” Krueger said. He got a spatula and asked the girl to say “aah”. As she opened her mouth suddenly she vomited up more blood, splattering his face.

Martha screamed, Krueger started wiping his face like crazy. The boy walked over to the girl, worried about her. He held her hair back while she vomited some more blood on the floor. When she was done she started to cry.

“I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die,” she cried.

Martha tried to comfort her daughter. Her pain eating her up inside. “Hush, baby… Hush… Don’t worry, the doctor will make you all better.”

Krueger was cleaning up his face with a towel he’d wetted from a little tap in his examining room. “I’m actually not sure what this could be. I think we should take her to the hospital to do a few more tests.”

“I don’t want to. I don’t want to leave mommy,” Madelyn said, tears constantly running down her cheeks.

“Don’t worry, I won’t leave you alone,” Martha said.

“I’ll call an ambulance,” Krueger said.

“I just don’t understand,” Martha said. “She’s never been ill before. And then, just after she’d been playing outside with this new friend in the woods things get crazy.”

“A new friend?” Krueger asked. “That’s interesting. Maybe she caught something contagious. An exotic virus. Do you know the name of this friend? Or where she lives? This friend might be in danger as well.”

Martha shook her head. “No, I have no idea. I didn’t know anyone lived in the mountains over there aside from us.”

“It might be important to find her,” Krueger said.

“Then I will go ahead and find her,” the boy offered.

“Great, great. You go to the hospital with your little girl, Martha. And we’ll try to find out if this mysterious friend has anything to do with this.”