The Fever by Diane Hoh Page B

make a person imagine all kinds of horrible things?
    No . . . she was positive someone was trying to kill her. She couldn't have imagined the terrible scene in the shower.

    Or . . . could she?
    And no one had believed her. They were all so sure her life hadn't really been in danger. How could they all be wrong? How could she be the only person who was right?
    Smith's dark head appeared in her doorway. "Just checking," he said as he moved toward her bed. "I see you're awake. Feeling better?"
    Smith planned to be a doctor. Someone had said he read a lot of medical books. Maybe he could answer the question that was racing around in her mind. She would rather ask Dylan, but Dylan wasn't around.
    "Smith," she began as he stood over her, looking down, "could a really high fever make a person imagine the kind of thing that happened to me today? I mean, it seemed so real. The light going out, the door to the shower stall opening, being pushed to the floor, the knee in my back ... I know I have bruises to prove it. I can feel them."
    Without waiting for an invitation, Smith sat, carefully, on the edge of her bed. "Let's look at it logically," he said. "Made anyone mad enough to want to wipe you off the planet?"
    "No, of course not! I mean, I know I'm not the world's best patient ..."
    Smith laughed. "Boy, is that an understatement! But I've seen worse patients and as far as I know, no one ever attacked any of them in the shower. So . . . unless you can come up with a logical reason why someone would want to get rid of you, I guess

    the answer to your question is yes, a high fever can make you think all kinds of things."
    That wasn't the answer Duffy wanted. "But my bruises ..." she protested.
    Smith shrugged. "Doc Morgan's probably right. You must have fallen. Knocking up against ceramic tile could turn anyone's skin black and blue."
    He didn't believe the attack had really happened.
    Kit would have. Kit would have believed her. And then he would have helped her figure out why it had happened.
    But Kdt wasn't there.
    "Look," Smith offered, *if it'll make you feel better, I'll camp outside your door tonight. I'm off tomorrow so I can sleep late. I'll park a chair there and read, okay?"
    No, not okay. Because he didn't believe her. He was just humoring her, as if she were a psychiatric patient up on the fifth floor. "Don't do me any favors," she said haughtily, turning her back on him. "Since you're so sure it's just my fevered little mind attacking me, I don't see why you'd think I need protection. Just go away, please. Leave me and my feeble brain in peace, okay?"
    "C'mon, Duffy," he said in exasperation, "you dskedl I just told you what I thought."
    "Go away," she repeated stubbornly.
    With a heavy sigh of resignation, he turned and left the room.
    Duffy was overcome with nausea, attacking her

    in huge waves. She fought it successfully and when it had passed, she thought about what Smith and the others had said. She wished she could believe their theory, and accept it. Wouldn't that make her feel better, if the whole horrible thing had been unreal?
    Well, if they were right, there was no reason why she couldn't try to relax and get some sleep. That would make morning come faster and another miserable night in this awful place would be behind her.
    She was just drifting off when she heard voices again, outside in the hall directly beyond her door, which stood slightly ajar.
    "I don't know, doctor. I haven't seen it."
    Duffy recognized the voice. The young ponytailed nurse.
    "I was just going off duty, doctor, but if you want me to look for it, of course I'll be happy to."
    Then a deeper voice, unfamiliar. "You do that. I don't care if it takes all night, I want that bottle found. In the meantime, if any of the patients start complaining about nausea or dizziness or happen to mention visual problems, for instance that the lights look funny, pay attention. It could mean we've found our missing digoxin." The voice deepened, became