silent

38

• LORENZO •

An hour later, Amalia is curled up on my lap, half asleep as the doctor takes her arm, sticking a needle into it slowly before getting some blood from her. She squirms, and I keep a tight hold on her as she attempts to wriggle away from it.

     She lets out a whine when he takes the needle out, stuffing her head against my chest. I put my hand on the back of it, trying to hide her eyes from the small drops of blood coming out of the small prick in her arm that the nurse quickly wipes away. It's not a lot, but she whispered to me that she doesn't like needles when she woke up and the doctor told her he'd need to take a blood test to realise what was wrong with her. If anything is wrong with her.

     "It's okay, baby." I whisper. She moves her head into the crook of my neck, as Xander watches worriedly from the other side of the small hospital room.

"Okay. The doctor will send these off to the lab soon, and the results will be here in a few days. Four, at maximum."

I sigh, but nod. I have to wait up to four days to make sure my daughter's alright? "Okay, thank you."

     She smiles politely before getting her clipboard. She ticks something. "Great. We'll contact you when we get her results back. For now, keep giving her medication to help keep everything at bay for at least a little bit."

     I nod again and stand, bundling her up in my arms. She leaves the room, and then Xander and I follow her out, walking down the stairs and toward the exit. As we step outside, warm air greets us. Amalia leans her head on my shoulder as we make our way over to the car. Xander climbs into the passengers seat, and I gently pass him his little sister before rounding the car and getting into the drivers seat.

• AMALIA •

I wake up. It takes a while for the pain in my head to set in, but when it does I immediately wish I was asleep again. Then my stomach begins to ache, and it's like being in hell.

I turn over onto my stomach slowly and groan. Then, a heavy hand lays on my back before it begins to turn in circles.

     "Amalia?" Xander's deep voice questions. "Are you awake, princess?" He adds softly.

     I nod tiredly. He pulls his hand back after a moment, as though he's afraid of hurting me.

     "Dad went to get you some medicine before the Chemist shuts. He should be back soon." He explains. "Do you want anything? Water?"

     I nod. I feel him stand, the mattress easing back up now that his weight is off of it. "Okay, I'll be back in a second."

     I hear the sound of retreating footsteps before the door opens. About thirty seconds pass before my oldest brother returns. He sits beside me again. "Here, let me sit you up." He mumbles, almost to himself, before putting both hands under my arms and turning me onto my back. He adjusts me so I'm sitting up, then tilts my chin toward the ceiling a little bit and puts the bottle to my lips. Some water spills on his hand—since I'm so tired I can hardly hold my head up—but he doesn't seem to mind. Once I've had enough, he sets it on the bedside table and wipes the water off my lips with his sleeve.

     "I'll open the window, it's stuffy in here." He says. He stands again, walks over to the window and opens it, letting in a quick breeze of fresh air, before returning to his spot beside me. He pulls the blanket up to my chin, then tucks it into my sides so I'm completely cocooned within the thick sheet. He adds another blanket on top of that, even though I already feel like I'm on fire.