Chapter 2
"Well, Ms. Hawkins, I don't know what to tell you, from what I see your little Arianna is perfectly healthy."
"Are you sure, Doc?" Ms. Hawkins questioned, glancing in her daughter's direction. "She hasn't been herself lately. No appetite, she hasn't been sleeping well-"
Chris Stark interrupted her mid sentence, "Ms. Hawkins, I'll tell you what, if your daughter doesn't improve in. lets say, two weeks, you can bring her back and I will have my colleague have a look, ok?"
"Doctor Stark," Ms. Hawkins said, giving him a smile, "I'm glad that I came to you, you are one of the best doctors I know."
"Well thank you, Ms. Hawkins," if only I could have cured my father of his alcoholism, "that means a lot to me, I take care of all my patients on a personal level."
Ms. Hawkins and Arianna left as Chris Stark plopped into the nearest chair. The past couple of weeks have been quite stressful on him. The bills seemed to grow bigger, the hours longer, and his profits smaller. And to top it off, his father's birthday, June 17th, was approaching faster and faster, and this did little to ease his mind, even though he and his father lost touch when he was eighteen years old, he still felt extra stressed around that date. He's been so busy for the past year that his steady girlfriend, of a year and a half got frustrated with him.
He always dedicated himself to his work, leaving little time for Michelle Dumbralski. Chris always wanted to ask Michelle to marry him, but I guess, her leaving him for a French guy, was his omen not to.
"Hey Chris, I need you to consult on this patient for me."
Chris looked baffled as his colleague walked into the room, and he was astonished to find himself crying, "Huh? Yeah, who is it?"
"This little girl, about 8 years old, her white blood cell count is elevated, she is showing signs of drastic weight loss, and she's complaining about chronic fatigue."
"I guess cancer doesn't care who you are, huh? Chris looked as if his best friend had just been killed in front of his eyes. "I'll tell the family. Could this day possibly get any worse?"
"What's the little girl's name?" Chris questioned.
"It's Selena, why?"
"Remember what I told you when we started this practice together?"
"Umm. yeah.."
"Well that's why."

It was about midnight, when Chris arrived home, from his long day at work, when he heard the phone ring. Who the hell could that be? Chris picked up the phone and answered, "Hello?" There was silence. "Hello?" He answered again. There was nothing but eternal emptiness on the other line. "Fine, whatever, be a fuckin pussy."
Chris crawled into bed, around 1 AM, after watching a late night comedy show on Channel 8, when the phone rang again. Grrrrrr he thought to himself. He reached over lazily and picked up the phone, "hello?" Chris asked. Nothing. Nothing except heavy breathing... "If you don't stop calling, I'm going to call the authorities," he snapped, as he slammed down the phone. He laid awake a minute longer, anticipating the phone call. but surprisingly it never came. He laid his head down that night, with the curiosity of who the mysterious breathing was on the other line.