Class Stories

Demon Fever

Five years ago Kara Miller, age 31, died of unknown causes. After two months her brother Adam died, supposedly of the same thing. They were the first to get the fever.

It's scientific name is L-42Hb-6, little kids call it "The Bad Fever", but it's most commonly known as Demon Fever. T't way more common nowadays than it used to be. From one in a million to one in a thousand people having chance of getting the fever. I'm a one out of a thousand.

Let me introduce myself and my friends. My name is Lizbeth JoAnne Keen, or Liz. I'm twelve years old and have brain cancer. I've had it since I was four. No one knows how I got it, but one day I passed out in preschool and woke up in a hospital. I've been cured twice already, so this is my third time in chemo. I'm not alone, though. I live in a hospital with my friends Sarah, 5, Kena, 8, Evan, 9, Ally, 14, Millie, 15, and Daniel, 16. They all have medical problems, too, but some might say being kept in a quarantine room, like we were, is harsh. Well, if you had Demon Fever, like us, you wouldn't think so.

Our story begins on a early morning in May, we think. Us kids had been in there for a while. I was sitting on my bed playing Barbies with Sarah when a crumpled ball of paper hit me in the head. I picked it up, unfolded it, and smoothed it out. It read: Ander in T-minus half a minute. Hurry up!

"Dr. Anders is coming, clean up," I whispered to Sarah. She nodded and went over to help Kena and Evan, who couldn't really clean up because they both don't have legs, and Evan doesn't have any arms either. I picked up the dolls and shoved them in a box labeled "Sarah's Toys". I then helped Ally pick up the dishes, she has no arms, and put them in a box for dirty clothes and dishes. Millie flashed ten fingers at me. Ten seconds. I quickly pulled Kena and Evan onto their beds and sat down on mine. No more than a second later the lock on our steel door clicked and the door opened.

The man who stepped into our room was Dr. Anders. He was tall with dark hair and intimidating eyes. Let me get this out plain and clear, we all hated him.

"I have the results," he said, getting right to the point. We all sucked in air at the same time. the result would tell us if our symptoms of Demon Fever were from being fevr positive. If we could leave this hospital, more like lab. If we could see our family again.

"I've had them for a while. Actually, the whole time you've been in this establishment. You see-" he started.

"Get to the point already!" exclaimed Ally.

"Yes, yes. Let's see, Sarah Lynne, Daniel Paine, Ally Fleming, Lizbeth Kee-" he began again.

"Liz," I corrected him.

"Liz, right. Evan Louis, and Millie Terwilliger," he finished. We all strained to hear him. He pretended to flick through his papers as if he was looking for something. Millie started to stand up, but I gave her a he-won't-tell-if-you-punch look. When Millie got angry, she got physical and dangerous, with the intent to take it on the person she's mad at. Her focus right now was on Dr. Anders. One look at her and he continued.

"You're all positive," he said hastily, "Now, bye." He ran out of the room before Millie could get to him. Unfortunately, he didn't forget to leave the door unlocked in his haste. You may think that being outside our room was unsafe, but let's face it, would you want to spend the rest of your life in that room?

We were all dumbfounded. Positive? All positive? Our symptoms had been going away, so we thought we were in the clear. Did the signs of Demon Fever go away after a while? I didn't know.

I had been so lost in thought that I hadn't noticed Sarah coming over and hugging me. She was bawling and squeezing the air out of me. 

"Sarah, it's going to be okay, uh, maybe not, hopefully," I said, trying to not tell the truth to her. I just couldn't lie to this little girl, even if it was the best thing for her. Of course, though, what I said made her cry harder and squeeze me tighter.