Of Hospitals and Migraines

"I'm sorry, we did everything we could." Josh couldn't believe his ears.

"How did that happen? When we left last night she was doing fine and the only reason you wanted her to stay here is for tests. And now you tell me… she's gone?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Mackenzie," said the doctor and placed his hand on Josh's shoulder.

Josh looked at Stella who was standing beside him. Her bright red dress didn't seem fit for what was happening.

"What happened, Uncle Josh? Where's Mommy? Uncle Josh? Uncle Josh?"

Josh sat up. He looked around and saw that he was in the den. The TV was still on though there was nothing showing anymore but the pixels of gray, black and white moving all over the screen. He was breathless and drenched with sweat. He had been dreaming — and a bad dream at that.

"Uncle Josh?"

He looked at the direction of the voice, surprised that he heard it.

"Yeah, sweetie. Why are you still up?" Josh asked Stella who was standing beside him. Her small, delicate hand on is shoulder, while the other hand held a doll that Alynna gave her on her second birthday.

"Did you have a bad dream, Uncle Josh?" Stella asked, ignoring Josh's question.

"Uhmm, yeah. Yeah, I think I did."

"What was it about?" Stella adjusted the doll on her hand and waited for an answer.

"Uhmm… Actually, you know what? I don't remember anymore," lied Josh. He could still vividly recall what the dream was.

"Why did you go down, sweetie? Did you need anything?"

"Yes, a glass of water please," said Stella.

"Okay. One glass of water coming up." Josh stood up but sat back down again. His legs felt wobbly. For the first time since he woke up, he noticed he was shaking. He tried to stand again, this time more slowly. He carefully walked to the kitchen, Stella following behind him. He filled a plastic cup with water and then gave it to Stella. Stella drank it all.

Josh looked at his watch. It was almost 1am.

"Go back to bed, okay?"

"Will you tuck me in, Uncle Josh?"

Josh nodded and went back upstairs with Stella. He tucked her in and went downstairs again to wash the dirty dishes.

. . .

"Uncle Josh? Uncle Josh?" Stella shook Josh.

Josh opened his eyes. The sun was up and was beating on him on the couch where he slept.

He looked at his watch. It was close to eight o'clock. He rubbed his eyes and stretched a little. And then he realized that he hadn't informed Maia yet that he won't be able to report to work that day. He jumped off the couch and frantically looked for his mobile phone. Stella was watching him, bewildered.

When Josh found his mobile phone, he called Maia and informed her he can't come to work that day.

"But Alynna's alright?" Maia asked, concern on her voice.

"Yeah, she's okay but they need to run some tests. So I need to take care of Stella today."

"Sure, I understand. Tell Alynna I hope she feels better soon. Keep me posted." At that, Maia hang up the phone.

Josh was relieved. At least for that day he had an excuse not to go to work and he wouldn't have the chance of running into Mandy. He just wouldn't know what he would do should that happen.

"Uncle Josh, I'm hungry," Stella said as she tugged on Josh's shirt.

"Of course you are," answered Josh. "But we don't have anything to eat here except for dry cereal. So if you want, you can eat dry cereal for breakfast and then we can grab breakfast along the way going to the hospital. Sounds good?"

Stella nodded, obviously half-hearted. But she followed Josh to the kitchen anyway. She can't wait to see her mother.

. . .

"What's my schedule for today?" Mandy asked Jenny as soon as she arrived.

"You have a meeting at ten o'clock with the managers and lunch with the Vice President. That's it so far. It's a slow day today," Jenny smiled. She followed Mandy to her office and continued to update her.

"You look tired," Jenny observed. "You didn't sleep well last night, did you?"

"To be honest, I didn't sleep at all. My head feels so light and I feel a migraine coming" Mandy gently massaged her temples. "Please get me Ibuprofen from the clinic. If this becomes a full-blown migraine, I'm gonna end up in an Emergency Room."

"Sure, Miss Mandy. I'll take care of it. Would you like coffee?"

"Tea, please, not coffee. Thank you," replied Mandy.

Jenny wrote something on her notebook before she left Mandy to get her tea.

Mandy worked for about an hour but her headache was starting to get to her. She had taken the Ibuprofen Jenny had given her but it wasn't taking effect.

"Miss Mandy." Mandy heard Jenny's voice through the intercom.

"Yes, Jenny?" Mandy replied.

"I just want to remind you that you have a meeting with the managers in 10 minutes. I have prepared the conference room for the meeting. Some managers are starting to arrive."

"Okay, thank you Jenny." Mandy leaned back on her executive chair. She closed her eyes and prayed the meeting won't take long. Her head was killing her.

After about 5 minutes, Jenny knocked on the door.

"Come in," Mandy called out.

"Miss Mandy? We are ready for you at the conference."

Mandy stood up. She squinted her eyes. The throbbing in her head was like someone poking her head with a wooden pole.

"Are you okay, Miss Mandy?" Jenny asked.

"Honestly, no, I'm not. My migraine is getting worse."

"Would you like to cancel the meeting?"

"No, don't. Everyone's there already. Let's just go through it and hope it doesn't take long."

When they arrived at the conference room, Jenny opened the door for Mandy to go in. As soon as the managers saw Mandy, the room fell silent and the managers stood up to acknowledge her.

"Please sit down," Mandy said, sounding as confident as she possibly can. She took a quick scan of her audience for that day. She saw Maia and Josephine. But what surprised her was to see Xander, standing in the far seat in the room. She smiled.

. . .

The meeting took longer than Mandy had hoped. She kept massaging her temple, though discreetly. But Xander noticed it. He knew something was bothering her.

Mandy's eyes were starting to blur because of the migraine. She tried many times to close her eyes but she didn't want to look disrespectful. She wanted to sleep so bad.

When the meeting had ended, Mandy stood up so suddenly that she felt a throb in her head, followed by more throbs. She held her head, hoping to stop the pain. Her knees began to feel weak.

Xander, as he saw all these happening, quickly came to her side.

"Are you okay?" Asked Xander as he held Mandy by the waist and by one of her hands, trying to hold her up.

"My head," Mandy said. That was the last thing she said. After that, she passed out.

. . .

Mandy woke up in a hospital bed.

She looked around but found nobody so she sat up. Her head still throbbed, but it was tolerable now. She tried to recall what happened and remembered that she was in the meeting. She scooted to the side of the bed, trying to find her shoes.

"What do you think are you doing?" A voice said from behind her.

Mandy turned around to see who it was.

"Xander! You scared me! What happened? Why am I here?"

"You don't remember?"

Mandy shook her head.

"You passed out. And I brought you to the Emergency Room. You scared us."

"What! Oh no! That's so embarrassing! What will the managers say?" Mandy buried her face in her hands.

"Tsk! Don't worry about them," Xander reassured her. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. It's just migraine. I get it when I didn't have enough sleep."

"And why didn't you get enough sleep?" Xander asked.

Mandy shrugged her shoulders. There is no way she is going to tell Xander about Josh and what she found out about him.

"Okay, if you don't want to tell me, that's fine. Just please will you take care of yourself? I won't always be there to catch you when you go unconscious in meetings."

Mandy laughed.

"I assure you," Mandy said, "that I have no intentions of repeating that."

They were both quiet for a while. It was an awkward silence.

"I missed you being my neighbor at the apartment."

"I missed you, too." Mandy was surprised she said it. "Because I miss your instant ramen noodles."

Xander laughed. "I got plenty of instant ramen at home. You're free to drop by anytime if you want one."

"Are you sure? I might drop by while your girlfriend is there," teased Mandy.

"I don't have a girlfriend…. But I am interested in one girl right now," Xander said, almost whispering the words.

"Really? Do I know her?" Mandy asked.

Xander smiled. "I don't know."

"I would love to meet her," Mandy said.

Xander thought for a moment.

"I would love for you to meet her, too. But the problem is, she passes out on people when she has migraine."