“Dumped it. Thanks for leaving your trash in my car, by the way.”
“I’ll just run to the water fountain before homeroom,” she muttered to herself, glancing at the old analog watch her father had given her for her sixteenth birthday.
“Don’t you think it’s kind of weird that your dad makes you take pills for something you don’t have?” Seth asked, eyeing Lilah sideways as he turned into the school parking lot.
“What do you mean?” Lilah shifted in her seat uncomfortably. She was antsy to get out of his car and into class, where she could get away from his gross-smelling cigarettes and his increasingly petulant mood – for a few hours, at least.
Seth put his cigarette out in an old McDonald’s cup that had been repurposed as an ashtray. “I mean, my cousin Rick has actual epilepsy, and he walks around his college campus with a foam helmet because he blacks out at least twice a week. It’s not like you ever black out. All you ever do is complain about headaches.”
Lilah picked at one of her green fingernails self-consciously. “My dad says I used to have seizures as a baby. The medicine prevents them from happening now. It doesn’t always work for certain kinds of epilepsy so Dr. Kreuter says I’m really lucky that the medicine works so well – otherwise I would be walking around town with a foam helmet. Can we go to class now?” she asked, pulling her backpack strap onto her shoulder. Without waiting for a response, she stepped out of the car, being especially careful not to slam the door after Seth had yelled at her about it last week, and started walking briskly toward the front doors. With noticeably few students loitering about the snow-covered lawn, Lilah couldn’t help but groan. First period would be starting in less than a minute and she had already racked up enough tardies this semester. One more and Mrs. Cameron would be stringing her up by her toes – something she had publicly threatened to do the last time Lilah skidded into class, nearly ten minutes late.
Seth jogged beside her, already out of breath despite the short distance they’d traveled. “I’m just saying, have you ever tried not taking them? Just to see what happens?”
“As much fun as it sounds – you know, walking around with protective head gear and randomly keeling over in the cafeteria – I think I’ll pass,” Lilah replied dryly.
For the first time all week, Seth grinned at her widely, and the spray of freckles splashed across his cheeks caught a beam of sunlight poking through the early morning clouds. For a moment, he looked like the best friend Lilah had known since third grade, the sweet boy who was always laughing and joking and offering heartfelt hugs. But it was only a very brief moment.
“I mean, look at it this way: Worst-case scenario, if you pass out in the middle of class, Jace might finally notice you.”
Lilah rolled her eyes, just as the warning bell chimed. “Nice. I gotta go. See you at lunch!”
Before Seth could reply with a likely-sarcastic comment, Lilah ran into the old brick building, not bothering to stop at a water fountain on the way to class. Even if she didn’t actually string Lilah up by her toes, Mrs. Cameron had all but promised her detention if she showed up late one more time that week. And even though it was Seth’s fault that she was about to be tardy yet again, he’d kill her if she had to bail on their concert plans later because she was stuck at the school cleaning whiteboards. Besides, she’d taken her pill an hour late in the past and nothing bad had ever happened.
Maybe Seth’s right, she couldn’t help but think to herself as she raced through the nearly empty hallway. Maybe I should skip a day or two, just to see how I feel. Even Dr. Kreuter said that plenty of kids outgrow childhood epilepsy as they get older.
The thought seemed reasonable enough. If she skipped a dose and didn’t feel well, at least she’d know for sure that she hadn’t outgrown it. And if she really didn’t need her medicine after all, it would mean that she could finally do all the things that everyone else in her grade got to do – like drive herself to school. Her mind made up, Lilah felt a surge of exhilaration – choosing not to take her medicine provided her with a small taste of the independence that she had always wanted. And the risk seemed small enough; after all, it was just a day or two without pills. She smiled to herself as she pulled the door open to her classroom.
What’s the worst that could happen?
Chapter 4
A Mother’s Intuition
The hospital was thankfully quiet that morning, probably because all the sane people in town were still sleeping. After the Quinns filled out the paperwork for baby Lilah – which only took a few minutes, since they were forced to leave most of the intake pages blank – Stanley and his wife sat down in the waiting room. Marie held the baby to her chest tightly, checking several times a minute to make sure the poor thing wasn’t having another episode. Meanwhile, Stanley kept his eyes glued to his wife, watching her like a hawk for any sign of change to her features. He couldn’t shake the horrible image from before. For a moment, it was almost as if… as if Marie were just a few ragged breaths from her grave. But how could that be? She was twenty-seven years old and had always been as healthy as a horse. As goosebumps erupted across the skin of Stanley’s arms, he rubbed them away feverishly.
When they were finally escorted to a room inside the hospital, a nurse arrived to ask them intake questions.
“How old is your baby?”
Seated in one of the chairs with Lilah sleeping snugly in her arms, Marie looked up at her husband, who squeezed her shoulder tightly. “Well… We’re not exactly sure,” she admitted.
“I’m sorry?” The nurse looked up from her clipboard.
“She was left on the doorstep of the fire station sometime last night. We brought her here for a checkup after we noticed something… odd.”
“I’m sorry… You found this child? And you didn’t think to call the police?”
Stanley shifted on his feet uncomfortably. “We figured you would write up a police report here. Our first concern was the baby’s health.”
Marie gave him an approving smile. “My husband is the new Fire Chief,” she added with a note of pride.
“Congratulations. I’m going to go get the doctor. Don’t go anywhere.”
The nurse ducked out the door quickly, and less than a minute later, a middle-aged man with hair nearly as white as his coat stuck his head in the room. “Mr. and Mrs. Quinn? My name is Dr. Kreuter,” he said, adjusting his spectacles. “Now, Karen tells me that you found a baby outside the fire station, is that right?”
Stanley nodded, somewhat bleakly.
The doctor’s voice was oddly cheerful. “Well, that doesn’t happen every day, now does it?”
“I’m sure there’s a protocol for these types of situations, but I just sort of… panicked,” Stanley explained, a hint of peevishness touching his voice.
Marie patted his arm reassuringly.
The doctor clicked his pen. “You were right to bring her in. Oftentimes children are abandoned by parents who are struggling with addiction, and unfortunately those problems can happen throughout the pregnancy, which can of course negatively impact the health of the newborn.”