Page 74 of A Night To Remember

“He’s next to Mommy.” Kristy laughed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Everyone gave Kristy a strange look. “There’s no one there, honey.” Moira pointed to the empty space beside Charlie.

“Yes, there is!” piped in a little voice behind them. The voice belonged to Helen and Jason’s second youngest son, five-year-old Caleb. Everyone turned to the little boy. “Nana, he’s standing right there beside Auntie Charlie. Can’t you see him? He’s a brown man, and he’s wearing a light blue shirt.” Caleb pointed to the apparently empty space next to Charlie.

All the adults looked uneasily at each other.

“Caleb, what did Mommy tell you about lying,” Helen scolded, coming forward to take her son’s hand.

“I’m not lying, Mommy,” Caleb said indignantly. “He’s standing right there. His shirt has footprints all over it with a ram in the front,” Caleb described.

Charlie froze. No. It couldn’t be. “Caleb, can you recognize letters yet?” Charlie asked.

“Of course he can. My son is no dummy.” Helen glared at Charlie.

Charlie ignored Helen and knelt down in front of Caleb. “Are there letters on his shirt?” she asked the little boy. Caleb nodded solemnly. “What color are the letters?”

“White.”

“What do they say, honey?” Charlie prompted.

“Oh come on. These kids are obviously tired, they must have talked at some point and they’re sharing the same hallucination,” Helen dismissed.

“Pipe down, Helen. I would like to hear what Charlie has to say.” Bill chided lightly.

“What do the letters say?” Charlie asked again.

Caleb turned and looked up at the empty space beside Charlie as if he were in a daze. “U-N-C,” Caleb read proudly.

Charlie passed out.

Charlie came to on the couch in waiting room with someone fanning her face. A nurse was standing over her. “What happened?” Charlie asked, shaking her head.

“You gave us a bit of a fright but I think the events of the day have just overwhelmed you. I suggest you go home and get some rest. It will be a while before Mr. Fox regains consciousness,” the nurse advised.

Charlie shot up. “No. I’m not leaving,” Charlie protested with a determined gleam in her eyes.

The nurse looked like she wanted to argue but thought better of it. “Well, you’re in for a long wait.”

“I don’t care.”

“Suit yourself, but take care of yourself, or we will have to admit you too,” The nurse warned before going off.

When the nurse was gone, Moira came to Charlie’s side. “Charlie, you scared us for a second.” Moira knelt down to feel her brow.

“I’m fine. I think I just need some air,” she said.

“Okay. I’ll walk with you.”

“Where’s Kristy?” Charlie looked around.

“Carl took the children down the hall to the vending machine to get something to drink. Don’t worry. She’s in good hands. Come on.” She helped Charlie off the couch.

When they stood outside of the hospital doors, Charlie felt a little better. She hated the smell of sickness that saturated the hospital.

“Are you feeling better?” Moira asked.

“Yes, much better. Thank you. Moira, I appreciate you being so nice to me,” Charlie said.

“Why shouldn’t I be? Don’t let Helen get to you. Her bark is far worse than her bite.” Moira shrugged off the incident.

---