DISCONTINUED - Kirstie's Heart

Chapter 1

Kirstie was bored in class, silently praying for time to go faster. It was almost the weekend. Over the past few weeks, various other people in the class had been home sick with a new strain of flu. Melissa had been a little worried about still sending Kirstie to school, but Kirstie wasn't bothered by it. She just had to make sure that no one sneezed or coughed in her general direction. In a school as big as hers, that was a lot easier said than done.

In her last class of the day, the boy behind her started coughing. Kirstie didn't think much of it, all she had to do was make sure her hands were clean and try not to touch her face. However, convincing her subconscious of this proved a little trickier. In complete autopilot, she must have moved her hair away from her face and rubbed her eyes quite a few times and didn't catch herself. It was Friday afternoon, she was tired and she wanted to go home. A tired brain can spell disaster.

As Kirstie had such a weak immune system compared to her siblings, any bug she picked up always presented itself so much faster than if one of her brothers got it. On the drive home from school, with Avi driving them as he usually did now, Kirstie began to feel off. She was in the middle in the back of the car, but with the rate a headache was building, she wished teleportation was real. She wanted to be in her own bed right now.

She was the last one inside when they got home and she knew she had homework, but right at that second, she couldn't care less. Homework could wait for a time when her head didn't want to fall off. She said hello to her parents and traipsed up to her room. Her bag was left by her desk and she fell onto the bed. She summoned the energy to drag the covers over herself and curl up. She was asleep in seconds, so she didn't notice that her door was still slightly open, and Olaf came in to cuddle with her. He knew something was wrong and wanted to be close to her.

Henry was a bit concerned when Kirstie came home and wasn't her usual self. He was used to at least getting a hug, but she just went straight up to her room. For a moment he dreaded to think that this was her teenager ways showing through all ready. He wasn't ready for his little girl to become a teenager. It felt like just yesterday she was barely an hour old. Henry knew that something else might be bothering her, as she had done something like this before, so he went upstairs to check on her.

He expected to find her at her desk finishing up her homework. Instead he found her cuddled up to Olaf, fast asleep. Olaf had clearly joined her after she had fallen asleep, but him being there wasn't the worry right then. Kirstie only ever went straight to bed when she wasn't feeling well. With the new strain of flu going around, Henry's head went into overload. It went to all the worst possible scenarios, no room left for any logic when your child has a weak immune system. Anything too much to handle, and you can lose them.

Henry grabbed the thermometer off Kirstie's shelf, they always kept a spare in there, and put it in Kirstie's ear. The beep woke Olaf, but Kirstie didn't even flinch. Olaf looked up at Henry and gave him a pitiful look, before resting his head on Kirstie's side.

"It's okay Olaf. She'll get better. It's probably just the flu. We can handle it. Good boy for staying with her." Henry said. Olaf wagged his tail at the praise and licked Henry's hand when it was offered. Feeling comfortable leaving Kirstie with Olaf, Henry ran downstairs with the thermometer in hand.

"Melissa!" he called.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Kirstie's got a fever."

"How?"

"Not sure. She must have picked up the flu from someone at school."

"Damn it! I knew I shouldn't have let her go."

"It's okay. It's just the flu. Everyone gets it at some point."

Kirstie woke up to find that she had been changed into pj's and her curtains were drawn. Her clock showed that it was near 11pm. How long had she been asleep? She remembered getting home from school, but then nothing. Had she had that much of a headache? Hearing noise from Kirstie's room, Henry almost sprinted to check on his daughter. Lo and behold, she was awake and looking very confused.