code blue | l.r.h

prologue

In a matter of seconds, your life can drastically turn for the worst. It doesn't matter where you are, but when your fate is in the hands of some higher power, there will always be a curveball heading straight for you.

For Marlee Pierce, this curveball struck her on a Thursday afternoon in the middle of her Organic Chemistry lecture. From that day forward, her life would never be the same.

She was sitting beside her best friend, Michael Clifford, typing notes into her computer at an inhuman speed when things started to feel off. The type of feeling you get when you realize you forgot the most important question on an exam or when you get dumped in the pouring rain.

Marlee Pierce was a workaholic, whether it came to the part-time jobs she carried through high school, undergrad, or just when it came to her school work. Michael was the opposite-he never planned anything, always going with the flow. So how did she not know what was happening to her? Maybe it's because every day she pushes herself to the limit, far too focused on the characteristics of every disease she knows of, or maybe her best friend finds far too much enjoyment in distracting her.

He was cracking jokes left and right, while simultaneously glancing over at the girl to take in every one of her reactions. Michael's brows furrowed when it occurred to him that she hadn't let out a muffled giggle from trying not to get caught by Dr. Levi, their professor. He was surprised when instead of finding a tiny grin pulling at the corners of her lips, he found her brows raised and mouth hanging slightly open. Marlee looked as if she'd seen a ghost.

"You alright, Mar?"

"Yes...No. I don't know, Michael...'M not feeling right." Marlee whispered to her best friend, who was sitting to her right.

"Hungover, much? Blame it on all those tequila shots you took last night, Mar." He chuckled lightly, trying not to get caught by Dr. Levi for not paying attention. He recalled last night's Wine Wednesday, which quickly escalated into a spur-of-the-moment Tequila Thursday by one in the morning.

"No, Mike, I feel like I can barely breathe." She gasped out, feeling like she couldn't take a deep enough breath to push the air back into her lungs.

Marlee was beginning to lose focus on the presentation in front of her as an overwhelming sensation of dizziness seeped into her head and the pit of her stomach. When the room started spinning, she grew more worried by the second, which only alarmed Michael further. Marlee gripped the desk in front of her, not trusting herself to stay upright in the rolling desk chair the university had laid out in front of the lines of tables. Her fingers turned white from the rough grip she had, making Michael reach out and touch her hand, but almost in the same instant, he retracted his hand when he noticed how cold and clammy his best friend's hands were.

Suddenly, Marlee gasped in pain as both arms felt like they were being repeatedly stabbed, the dizziness becoming too much to bear to the point where she was on the verge of throwing up. "Marlee, do you wanna leave?" Michael whispered to her.

"I don't know if I can get up."

Michael was distraught now, knowing Marlee was never one to get sick. He leaned over and dug through his backpack, hoping he had anything that might help the girl. He pulled out a bottle of room temperature water and a redbull, rolling his eyes at his stupidity but sliding the water next to her anyway.

Marlee had taken a turn for the worse in a short time, now starting to attract the attention of her other classmates, who were all turning around with worried eyes and whispers of concern. Everyone knew Marlee was an excellent student who wouldn't disrupt class, especially not if Dr. Levi was the instructor.