Amber sits up and drinks a gulp of water beside her bed. It’s still too dark outside.

The water does not ease the itch in and she violently barks her insides out. She lies down and tries to go back to sleep. But fifteen minutes pass and she’s still rolling in bed with occasional coughs coming up.

Her doorbell rings and it sounds ten times louder than usual. Her head throbs with each ding and Amber decides she has no choice but to get it.

She has no chill. With a headache, a terrible cough, and a hard time sleeping, she loses her little ounce of patience and rushes (as fast as she could – like a sloth) to get the door.

She coughs again far too many times, wrapped in her fleece blanket and fuzzy slippers. She just hopes the cause of the ruckus is still outside when she gets there.

Another cough before she can actually open the door, wondering who would even visit her at five in the morning.

With her hazy vision and half-lidded eyes, she sees a girl about as tall as her, with long straight locks. Said girl is holding a casserole with mitten-covered hands.

“I can hear you from my apartment at the end of the hall so I made you soup. Now please eat and rest the whole day.”

Amber nods and clears to talk but ends up in a coughing fit once again. The girl smiles and pushes her way in, putting down the hot soup on the kitchen counter.

She heads out as fast as she came in with a “Goodbye. Stay in. And um… see you later.”

Amber is in a daze as the girl leaves.