When I touched his forehead, heat shot into my palm.
I lifted him.
He barely moved.
“Emily,” I said.
No answer.
I shook her shoulder.
“Emily, wake up.”
Her skin was burning too.
For maybe one second, a strange calm passed through me.
The kind of calm that arrives when your mind refuses to accept the size of what is happening.
Then it shattered.
I screamed for my mother.
The sound that came out of me did not feel human.
Mom ran in.
Ashley came behind her.
They stopped in the doorway.
They did not rush toward Emily.
They did not reach for Noah.
They froze.
Not like people witnessing tragedy.
Like people seeing proof.
“What happened to her?” I shouted.
My mother’s mouth opened and shut.
“She was fine last night.”
“Fine?” I said. “She’s unconscious.”
Ashley stepped back.
“Maybe she’s acting,” she said. “She always wanted attention after the baby came.”
I looked at my sister.
For one second, I forgot every Christmas morning, every school pickup, every childhood fight, every family photo that had taught me she was mine to protect.
I saw only the woman standing in a doorway while my wife and son burned with fever.
I wrapped Noah in my hoodie.
I lifted Emily from the bed.
She was heavier than I expected because she could not help me at all.
Her head fell against my chest.
Her breathing was shallow.
I ran outside barefoot.
Our neighbor, Mr. Harris, opened his front door when he heard me shouting.
He was an older man who kept his lawn perfect and usually complained if anyone parked too close to his mailbox.
That morning, he did not ask a single question.
He saw Emily in my arms, saw Noah against my chest, and grabbed his keys.
We climbed into his SUV.
I sat in the back with Emily across my lap and Noah tucked against me.
My mother and Ashley followed in their own car.
Maybe they came because they were worried.
Maybe they came because they feared what I would say.
I still do not know.
During the drive, Emily’s head kept rolling against my shoulder.
Noah made one tiny sound.
Then he went silent.
That silence almost destroyed me.
I kept repeating his name.
“Noah. Noah. Buddy, stay with me.”
Mr. Harris drove through a red light with his horn blaring.
