Chapter 4

Lugo spoke in incomprehensible Spanish to the nurses.They smiled and moved away.“Come in my office.Did you get some sleep?”They moved back to the small room where Steven had spent the night.“Sit down,please.”

Steven sat down,hands twisted in his T-shirt.He didn’t like the doctor’s sober tone and he didn’t like feeling so helpless and stupid.

Lugo tapped the keys on his computer;the sound irritated Steven.“Ah,here it is.The labwork is partly back,it is as I suspected.Your friend has bacterial meningitis.”

Steven’s stomach knotted.Oh,shit.“So,what does that mean,exactly?”

“It means he is in serious condition.I have him on saline solution with ampicillin and dilantin for prevention of more seizures,but there is no change yet in his fever.105 is dangerously high.If it sustains…”Lugo looked down to his papers.“He could have brain damage already.”

“Please let me see him.”