It’s really hard to open my eyes. It must still be the middle of the night. But I feel light hitting my eyelids, so I force them open. Something about my room looks different, but I can’t figure out what it is. I sit up, realize how quiet it is. I don’t hear Flora moving around. I don’t hear Flora breathing.

Suddenly wide awake, I shoot out of bed and yell, “Flora!”

No answer. I look around my side of the room. The window looks out onto the hallway, not the outside world. I feel like I’m trapped in some parallel universe.

“Flora!” I yell again.

I open the curtain. Flora’s bed is empty and she isn’t there. It must be a dream. I rub my eyes really hard, slap my cheek a little. Wake up, Oliver!

Then the door opens and I see someone in a hazmat suit, but they’re in a shadow. Then I hear, “So, what do you think of your new digs, Romeo?”

“Joey?” I say carefully. It could still be a bad dream. I still can’t see his face.

Joey slowly steps out of the shadow. Or, at least, it looks like Joey. He stares at me quietly for a second, then yells, “Boo!”

I shriek, and he laughs hysterically, clutching his belly.

“What’s going on?” I say over his laughter. “Where is Flora? Is she okay? Why does my room look different?”

“Wow, you really are a lightweight, Romeo. We gave you sleeping medicine during one of your vitals checks in the middle of the night and moved you. Dr. Demarko knew if we told you the plans when you were awake, you wouldn’t agree to it.”

“Wait, what plans? You still haven’t told me if Flora is okay!”

“Take a look for yourself. She’s just across the hall,” he says, bored.

I run to the window and look into the room across the hallway—the room Flora and I were sharing. Flora is sitting on her bed. She turns her head toward me, waves weakly, and smiles.

“What happened?” I ask, slightly relieved I’m not trapped in a parallel universe.

“Her fever spiked overnight,” Joey tells me. “We knew it’d be less risky to move you rather than Flora. Less chance of spreading any germs.”

“So you guys just drugged me and moved me … while I was asleep?” I say sarcastically.

“Yep.”

“Um, how is that legal?”

“Um, because you’re a minor, and your mom agreed to it,” Joey says sweetly. He checks my temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and writes down the results.

“Joey!” I call as he’s leaving. He turns around, still looking bored. “Tell her I said hi?”

Joey smirks but doesn’t say anything, and leaves.