Month Twenty-Eight: May
Isla woke to Sera screaming.
Not unusual. Nightmares happened. Toddlers woke up. Isla stumbled to Sera's room—
And found her daughter burning with fever. Limp. Barely responsive.
"Sera? Baby, wake up." Isla touched her forehead. Scalding. "Mara! MARA!"
Mara appeared, took one look, grabbed her phone. "I'm calling 911."
The ambulance arrived in eight minutes. EMTs took Sera's temperature. 104.7 degrees. Dangerously high.
"We need to get her to the hospital. Now."
Isla climbed in the ambulance. Held Sera's hand while the EMTs worked. IV fluids. Cooling measures. Monitoring.
"What happened?" one asked. "When did the fever start?"
"I don't know. She was fine at bedtime. I checked on her at midnight—normal. Now she's—" Isla couldn't finish.
At the hospital, they rushed Sera to pediatric emergency. Blood tests. Chest x-ray. Spinal tap to rule out meningitis.
Sera screamed through all of it. Reached for Isla. "Mama! Make it stop!"
