Emily staggered down the stairs after breakfast. She rubbed her eyes, scratched her head, scratched her side, then stretched.

"Éy látelh í:meth." Sísele smiled. "Li chexw we eyó?"

Emily sat down and nodded. "I feel better." She yawned. She reached down and pulled her nighty up to scratch her knee.

Darcy walked into the kitchen from the bathroom. She seen Emily raise her nighty and stopped walking. "What happened to you?!" She demanded.

Victor looked back from the sink.

Sísele looked at Darcy.

Emily looked at her mom, confused.

Darcy rushed over to Emily and turned her in her chair. She bent over and looked at Emily's knee.

Emily looked at what Darcy was looking at. She gasped. She lifted her leg to see it better. Her knee was black and purple with bruising. She gaped at her mom. "I-I don't know what happened. I don't know where they came from." She stammered. She checked her other knee. It looked the same. Her knees were bruised. They looked like someone hit them repeatedly with a bat.

Darcy looked at Victor. He came running around the island. He bent over to take a look. He frowned hard. "Are you sure you don't know where they came from? They look like they came from a hard hit. You should've felt something."

"Maybe when I blacked out....."

Darcy shook her head. "You didn't land on your knees. You wouldn't have gotten these bruises from that."

"Well they look like you dropped onto your knees. Did you drop onto your knees anywhere?" Victor asked.

Emily shook her head. "No. The only time I was on my knees, that I remember, was at Sísele's. I was in her crawlspace looking for stuff."

Darcy looked at Victor. Victor looked at Darcy, still frowning. He shook his head. "You shouldn't get bruises like that from crawling around. What about soccer? You get hit with the ball? Anyone kick you?"

"Dad, that was how many days ago."

"That doesn't matter. Sometimes it takes a day or two for a bruise to show."

Emily thought. "No." She shook her head. "I don't think so."

Darcy didn't say anything.

"Okay. Well, let's just say it was soccer, for now. And we will keep an eye on it." Victor suggested. "And if another bruise shows up like this then we'll have to see the doctor."

Darcy nodded. "I agree. Let's just keep an eye."

Emily nodded slightly. She turned her stool toward the counter. She frowned at Sísele.

Sísele rubbed Emily's back.

"Did you want something to eat, Em?" Victor asked. He went back to the sink to set up the dishes. "We have some leftover breakfast here. It's still warm."

Emily shook her head. "I'm not really hungry. I think my stomach is still feeling weird."

Victor nodded. "Okay. Well, it's there in the pan if you want any. Just heat it up if you'd like."

Emily nodded. She slid off her stool and went upstairs. She wanted to go to the bathroom to wash up and brush her teeth.

When she entered the bathroom, she felt a little dizzy. She sat on the toilet and waited for the spell to pass. She blinked a few times and took a deep breath. She figured she must've exerted herself too much. She was still healing from her flu.

Emily stood up and walked to the sink. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was gaunt. No amount of make up would help her. Her eyes were dark and sunken in. Her cheeks lost colour and shape. Her lips were pale. Emily shook her head and turned on the water.

There was a knock at the door. Darcy turned to answer but it swung open.

"Good morning Emily's family!" Piper bounced in. "I came yesterday but no one was here. I wanted to make sure I caught you. So I came in the morning." She smiled proudly at Darcy.

Darcy smiled back. "Right. I'm sorry Piper. We had to bring Emily to the hospital again. But she's okay. She's home and upstairs."

Piper's face dropped. "Did she faint again?"

Darcy nodded. "If you have her homework I can take it from you."

"Oh." Piper peeled off her backpack. She crouched low to the floor and opened the zipper. She pulled out a few books, binders, papers, a pencil case, a box of pencil crayons and a duotang. "Here you go Mrs. Conners." Piper smiled.

Darcy went to take the stack. She had forgotten the amount of homework there was in middle school. And it only gets worse. She put the stack on the counter. "Thank you, Piper. Emily was adamant that you pick up her homework."

Piper nodded. "Yeah, we take notes the same. Can I go see Emily?"

Darcy thought.

"Yeah, sure. She's right upstairs. I think she's brushing her teeth." Victor said.

"Great! Thank you." Piper bounced up the stairs. She went down the hall toward the bathroom. She could hear the water running in the sink. She knocked on the door. "Em?" She called.

No answer.

"Em? Can I come in? You decent?" Piper called again. She could hear the water running but there was still no answer from Emily. She checked the knob. It turned.

"I'll wash those." Darcy said. She walked over to the sink. "You cooked."

"So what? You make breakfast every morning. And you do the dishes after. And you make lunch and then the dishes. Dinner then dishes. Let me do this for you. Your mind is distracted."

Darcy frowned at him. "Are you okay?" She asked. "You don't usually fight to do these chores unless you're trying to distract yourself."

Victor shook his head. "Emily's sick. I don't like it. She's bruised and we don't know why. Isn't that enough reason to keep busy?"

"Okay. Well....."

"Mrs. Conners!!" Piper screamed from upstairs.

Darcy spun around and gaped up the stairs.

"Mrs. Conners!!!" Piper screamed again.

Darcy and Victor started running up the stairs. Their hearts were pounding. Darcy though maybe Emily fainted again and hit her head on the sink. Or the tub. Or the toilet. What if she was in the tub and she fainted in the water. Her mind was frantic.

They got to the top of the stairs. Piper wasn't anywhere in sight. Then she appeared. She ran out of the bathroom. Her expression was fear. She looked like she was going to cry.

"Come on! Come on!" Piper waved her had aggressively toward her. She looked into the bathroom.

Darcy noticed Piper was looking down.

"Hurry! I don't know what happened." Piper started crying. She jumped out of the doorway to let Darcy and Victor through.

Victor was the first one there. He slammed into the door frame to stop himself. He looked in the bathroom. He seen Emily sitting on her heels on the floor. Her hands cupped her mouth. Blood was dripping from her hands.

Darcy slammed into Victor and looked in. She gasped. She ran into the bathroom and draped her left arm around Emily's back. Her right hand wrapped around Emily's wrist. "Get towels!" She demanded.

Victor was stunned. He hadn't seen that much blood before.

Piper ran down to the linen closet and grabbed as many towels as she could. She ran back to the bathroom and pushed past Victor.

Darcy took the towels and started to lay them on the floor. She took a smaller towel and moved Emily's hands from her face. Darcy noticed the blood was coming from Emily's mouth. She pressed a towel to her mouth and instructed Emily to hold it there.

Piper started to help lay out the towels on the floor.

"Victor! Go get a hand towel!" Darcy demanded.

Victor didn't move.

"Victor!" Darcy hollered.

Victor shook his head. "Uh-uh-um...hand towel." He stammered. He turned and ran to the linen closet.

"What happened?" Darcy asked.

"I don't know." Piper answered. "I knocked and she didn't answer. But I heard the water. I thought she didn't hear me so I came in. I found her like this." Piper spit out. She was trying hard not to cry.

"Emily, what happened?"

Emily looked up at her mom. Terror filled her eyes. She was too afraid to speak.

"What happened, Emily?!"

She shook her head. She pointed to the sink.

Darcy stretched her neck to look. She got up from the floor. The counter and sink were covered in blood. Emily's toothbrush lay on its side beside the sink. Darcy could see dental floss covered in blood in the sink. She looked at Emily. "You were flossing your teeth??" Darcy asked in disbelief.

Emily nodded.

"Seriously Emily! What happened?!"

Emily pointed to the sink again. This time more aggressively.

"You can't possibly get this kind of bleed from flossing."

Emily nodded.

Darcy went back to Emily. She pulled the towel away from her face. The bleeding slowed.

Victor came back with a hand towel.

"Get it wet with cold water." Darcy instructed. Victor ran the cold water. He watched the blood start to flow down the drain. He stuffed the towel under the water. Once it was soaked, he pulled it out and wrung it lightly. He made sure to leave a little bit of water in the towel. He handed Darcy the towel.

Darcy took the towel and removed the other towel from Emily's face. It looked like it slowed down a bit more. Although it looked like a lot, the bleed wasn't as aggressive at she thought. Darcy handed Emily the wet towel. "Stick this in your mouth. The cold water should help rinse your mouth and help coagulate whatever's bleeding." Darcy lifted the toilet lid. "Spit in there." She turned and looked at Piper.

Piper was sitting on the floor leaning against the tub. She was terrified. She looked like she was caught between shock and crying hysterically.

Darcy crawled over to her. She grabbed Piper's hands and looked at her. "You did good, Piper! You did good! Okay?"

Piper didn't respond. She stared at Emily.

"Piper!" Darcy called.

Piper looked at her.

"You did good! Okay? You're going to be fine."

"Well of course I am!" Piper argued. "I'm not the one bleeding profusely from my mouth!" She looked back at Emily.

Darcy raised her eyebrows. She realized then that Piper wasn't in shock. She was scared and concerned and didn't know what to do or how to handle it. Darcy nodded at pipe and went back over to Emily.

"Should I call the ambulance? This is a lot of blood." Victor asked.

"Not yet. Let's see how she's doing first. If she's dizzy from blood loss then, yes." Darcy answered.

Emily sat on the floor with her wet towel in her mouth.

"Did you fall?" Victor asked.

Emily shook her head.

"Did you bang your teeth on anything?" Victor asked.

Emily shook her head.

"She claimed to be brushing and flossing." Darcy said. She was frowning at Emily. It didn't make any sense. "If we don't have to take her in, we have to make a doctor's appointment on Monday."

Victor nodded. "Yeah."

Emily took the towel out of her mouth.

Darcy leaned in to get a closer look. She tilted Emily's head back to use the light. No more blood came out. "Let me see your teeth."

Emily pulled her lips back and put her teeth together.

Darcy examined them. She couldn't tell if her gums were cut up. They seemed fine, aside from them being covered in blood. She frowned and took a deep breath. "It doesn't look like you're bleeding anymore. What happened?"

"I told you." Emily said. "I was brushing my teeth. I noticed some blood on my toothbrush but I figured it was cuz I hadn't brushed proper in a few days. Since Thursday. But when I started flossing, my gums started to bleed more. And it wouldn't stop."

"Ok." Darcy said. "Well your gums don't look cut up. They seem fine."

"They feel fine." Emily said.

"How's your head? You dizzy?"

"No." Emily shook her head.

"Well just sit there anyway." Victor said.

Emily nodded.

Darcy took the wet towel from Emily and started wiping at her face. The blood had dripped down Emily's neck and arms. "Can you get Emily something to change into, please?" Darcy asked. She looked over her shoulder at Piper.

Piper nodded and got up from the floor. "What you feel like wearing, Em?" Piper asked.

"Whatever." Emily shrugged. "T-shirt. Shorts."

Piper nodded and walked out of the bathroom. She seen Sísele in the hallway.

"What happened in there?" Sísele asked Piper.

Piper walked up to Sísele and looked behind herself, as if to be sneaky. "Emily was bleeding from her mouth. It looks really bad. But Emily seems fine. It's strange." Piper frowned.

Sísele looked past her. Light from the bathroom poured out into the hallway.

"She's fine and talking. It was really scary. All that blood." Piper shook her head. "I have to get her some clothes though." She walked past Sísele and into Emily's room.

Sísele let out a Shakey breath. She was too afraid to look. But she wanted to see Emily. She slowly started down the hall. She heard Victor and Darcy talking.

"Maybe we should bring her in anyway." Victor said.

"No. She seems ok." Darcy said.

"She lost a lot of blood."

"Seems like a lot. But she's not even dizzy."

"Right now. She didn't stand up yet."

"Okay. Emily? I need you to try to get up on here." Darcy tapped the toilet. She dropped the lid down and got to her feet. "I'll help you."

Sísele entered the doorway. She seen towels all astrew on the floor. Emily had reached for her mom's arm and attempted to pull herself up. She got up just enough to slide onto the toilet lid. Darcy backed away to watch her.

Sísele gasped. Even though Darcy wiped some of the blood away from Emily's face, there still looked like a lot.

"You have to admit that this is really strange. To bleed like this from flossing?" Victor asked.

"Yeah, well they'd probably tell us it's from the flu and that she needs rest. Besides, she doesn't appear to be dizzy. And your body makes blood. So give her some time. She'll be ok."

Sísele felt a tear fall from her eye. She didn't say anything. What could she say? Emily really was sick. She was now convinced that there was something more than just the flu.