Robert felt tears streaming down his face.
— “Yes, buddy. She was here.”
— “She’s my best friend,” Pete said, his eyes drifting shut again. “She said she’d make me better.”
He fell back into a deep sleep, leaving Robert alone with his thoughts and a tiny, impossible spark of hope. By the time the sun was high, Robert finally stepped out to get some coffee. He hadn’t eaten since the day before and was starting to feel lightheaded.
In the hallway, he ran into Dr. Miller, who was conferring with two other physicians.
— “Mr. Harrison,” the doctor called out. “I need to speak with you.”
Robert’s stomach tightened. More bad news, surely.
— “We just got Pete’s morning labs back,” Dr. Miller said, looking at his tablet. “There are some slight changes.”
— “What kind of changes?”
— “Nothing definitive, but some of his markers have improved slightly. His white cell count is a bit less critical. His kidney function shows a marginal improvement.”
— “That’s good, right?” Robert felt the hope surging again.
— “Mr. Harrison, please,” Dr. Miller held up a hand. “These are minimal. They could just be natural fluctuations. It doesn’t mean the prognosis has changed. Pete is still in very critical condition and…”
— “But he didn’t get worse,” Robert interrupted. “You said he had five days and that he’d decline rapidly. But he’s improving, even if it’s just a little.”
The doctor couldn’t deny that.
— “That’s true,” he admitted. “But I’ve seen this before. Sometimes the body has a final rally before… before it gives up.”
— “Or,” Robert said, “maybe it’s the start of something else. Maybe he’s responding to something we aren’t measuring.”
— “Like what?” Dr. Miller asked with genuine curiosity.
Robert wanted to mention the water. But he knew how that would sound. The doctor would think he’d lost his mind from the stress.
— “A friend,” he said instead. “Studies show that emotional state can trigger physiological responses. Maybe having his friend here is helping him fight.”
Dr. Miller considered this.
— “There is clinical evidence for that,” he conceded. “The mind-body connection is powerful. If Pete is happier, if he has a reason to fight, it can show up in his labs as a psychosomatic response.”
— “Then we’re going to keep doing it,” Robert said. “Lily will be here every day.”
— “If it helps his morale, then yes,” Dr. Miller agreed. “At this stage, anything that keeps Pete calm and happy is a win.”
After the doctor left, Robert went back into the room. Pete was still sleeping, his breathing steady. He did look a bit more “present,” less like a ghost. But Dr. Miller was right. This could just be a temporary rally. He couldn’t let himself get too high.
A few hours passed. Robert tried to do some work on his laptop, answering urgent emails from the office, but he couldn’t focus. The words on the screen were meaningless. How could he care about quarterly projections when his son was fighting for his life?
Around 2:00 PM, his phone rang. It was Claire.
— “Robert, I just saw your messages.” Her voice was frantic. “What’s happening? Did the doctors find something new?”
Robert closed his eyes. He’d sent her a series of texts during the night, but she’d been at a late-night gala and must have had her phone off.
— “They gave us a timeline,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. “Five days. Maybe a week.”
The silence on the other end was deafening.
— “Five days…”
