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"No," he says as he shakes his head and then winces "I just have a really bad headache Little nauseous, I guess"

Dave Ca ainst the pillows and headboard His hand gingerly rubs against the side of his head where I assu

"Let et the thermometer and some Tylenol Some ice water too," I say as I turn from him, only to have his hand come to rest on my forearm

"No, I'et up anyway I'll come out there"

"Okay," I say guardedly The fever is freakingto ood old chicken noodle soup What do you think?"

Dad chuckles then winces again "Sounds good, honey"

He swings his legs over the edge of the bed, puts his hands on the mattress, and pushes himself up I want to put my arms around his waist to steady hiives ht, and the pressure inand lucid

I watch keenly as he takes a step forward, a s my face

Then I watch as his eyes roll into the back of his head, and he drops to the floor

--

My hands are shaking when I dial Hawke They hadn't been shaking in the past fifteennow He answers on the second ring

"Hawke" My voice is piteous, tre, and weak

"Vale? What's wrong?" he asks urgently He can tell so

"It's ot a fever and he had a seizure"

"Where are you?" I can hear rustling, maybe a drawer sla

"At our apartment The EMTs are here He's conscious, has a really bad headache They're getting him on the stretcher now"

Fifteen o, ht He landed on his side and i If ever there was a ti, it was then I fell to htly to keep him on his side should he vomit, and I rode it out I even had the sense to look at my watch and time the seizure

Sixty-seven seconds of pure hell and torture

When his body relaxed and his eyes started to flutter open, I was already on the phone calling 911 Ordinarily, a single-episode seizure may not warrant an ambulance trip to the hospital, but my dad is no ordinary person He has a brain tu to do battle with it His poor brain is the battlefield, the ene them

I was cool, calhter withcan do I kept him assured, watched him carefully, and only left his side to unlock the door when the EMTs arrived I efficiently filled them in on his medical history, and I even shot off a quick eist at Duke I did all of this without a single quake in my body

But thehiripped my body and I feltat the foot of Dad's bed and I sat down on it hard and heavy My hands iht to myself, I can't do this I can't just sit by and watch my dad possibly die

My hands automatically worked to dial Hawke, the one and only person I thought to call

"Where are they taking hile of car keys

"To Duke," I whisper "I've eist"

"Ride in the a and closing of a car door "Don't you dare get in your car"

As if I'd leaveHe can tell by my tone of voice and the mere fact that I reached out to hi a car