Page 30 of Silent Echo
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
I ’ve been up all night with Sebastion, and he’s not getting any better.
His fever hasn’t broken, and now his stomach is distended.
I looked up the symptoms for appendicitis, and he has some of them.
I don’t know what to do. If it is appendicitis, he’ll need treatment, but then we’ll be exposed.
If I don’t take him to the hospital, and it is appendicitis, he could die.
On the other hand, if it’s just the flu, then I could risk our getting caught for nothing.
I never knew motherhood could be so hard.
All these decisions and no way to know what the right one is!
I decide to give it a little longer. When I looked it up, it said that complications don’t usually occur until after forty-eight hours.
So, we still have a little time. And besides, it’s probably not even that.
I always have had a tendency to jump to the worst conclusion.
This is either a twenty-four-hour flu, or just a stomachache from being on the road and him not going to the bathroom. He’s probably just constipated.
We’re in a fleabag motel off the highway, but they didn’t ask for any ID when I slapped some cash on the counter. Sebastion is curled up on the bed, crying, and I’m pacing the floor, wishing he would just be quiet so I can think.
“Any better?” I ask, leaning down to put a hand on his head.
He shakes his head. “It hurts, Mommy!”
“Maybe it’s gas. Let’s see if you can go to the bathroom.” Now that I think of it, I can’t remember the last time he had a bowel movement. I pick him up and carry him to the bathroom and seat him on the toilet. He doubles over again, his little arms wrapped around himself.
“I can’t,” he says, tears running down his face.
“Just try for a few minutes, you might feel better.”
He shakes his head pathetically. Why can’t he just try harder? This could totally be just gas.
“Just sit there until you go. Then you’ll feel better. I promise.” Maybe I should give him a laxative. I saw a drugstore around the corner. If he doesn’t go in the next hour, I’ll run out and get him one.