How did I end up so lucky?

In all my life, I never thought I'd really be able to get all that I have been given. The great family, a wonderful boyfriend, and great friends. David had asked me on another date the next weekend and I gracefully accepted. Before that date would come, however, I'd have to get through another week of school.

"Ally!" someone called. I walked over to the rooms adjacent to mine and saw Corinne curled up on her bed, crying.

"Corinne, what's wrong?" I asked, sitting at her side, brushing a fiery lock from her forehead.

"My back and my chest are burning!" she screamed, now turning about in her bed. It alarmed me so much.

I pulled down the collar of her shirt to see that right under her neck, there was a red patch that went all the way across the top of her chest.

"Let me see your back," I said to her, gently pushing her over. It was the same on her back, right across her shoulder blades.

"Beth," I called. She came to the doorway. "Get your things and go to Lucy's room. You are to sleep there and not come in here unless I say so. Go get Seth and tell him to bring ice or something. Tell him to bring the phone," I ordered. Beth did as I said and I helped Corinne lie back down and I rubbed her head soothingly. She was still crying and I didn't know what to do to help.

"Corinne, what's wrong?" Seth asked, coming into the room with ice and the telephone. I took the bags of ice from his hands and set one on her chest.

"Crush this, she has to lie on it," I told Seth. He obeyed and started smashing the ice with his hands before using the hammer from the other day and continued crushing it.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked. I remembered reading about this in my mom's journal. I never got to the end result. She said she had three days of the burning before it got better. Exactly three days.

Maybe it was a family sickness or something, maybe it had to do with the fact that my mom was a witch. That's what it seemed like when I read the journal. She had referred to the fact that she thought Corinne and I were most probable to carry the gift of the blood line. That while ago, when I saw the picture, I didn't understand exactly what it meant. I get it now.

Corinne was going to be a witch. That's the only thing that made sense.

"Go get Mom's journal," I ordered Seth. He gave me a questioning look then followed my orders.

I felt Corinne's forehead and it was 'cool as a cucumber.'

It was all too weird. This was exactly what happened to my mother. She was really hot on her chest and shoulder blades and she went unconscious the last two days out of the three-day illness.

When Seth came back with the journal, I opened it up and read the passage.

Ally and Corinne are both showing signs of the gift. I'm waiting for the illness to overtake the two of them. I wonder if it will be the same as mine. I'm hoping it's shorter. The last two days were not the bad ones once you were unconscious but the first is the one I don't want them to go through. I mean, it's a whole day of burning, like you're in a fire. It's the worst feeling.

I hope we have ice when they are overcome, that's the only way to help. It doesn't help the greatest amount but it helps a little. I'll have to remember to tell their dad to keep their temperature up, with all that ice, it could get too low.

That was all the information I had.

"Alright Seth, here's the deal. According to Mom's journal, Corinne has some gift or something and it's a three-day illness. The first day she'll be conscious but we have to keep the ice on her but make sure the rest of her doesn't freeze. The last two days she'll be unconscious so we have to let her rest," I informed him. He looked at me like I was crazy but nodded. Even though I didn't make sense all the time, he trusted me enough to let me work through it.

"Corinne, I want you to tell either myself or Seth if you're too cold. I'm going to put the ice on your back and chest but if your arms or feet or anything are cold, tell me right away. I'll be keeping your temperature. It'll be over soon Honey, I promise," I said. She nodded and closed her eyes.

"So, I'm gonna go, just watch-"

A burning attacked my chest and shoulders. Whatever this illness was, I had it too.

"Seth, take me to my room fast, I think I have the same thing," I said with urgency. "Don't let anyone else get near us, especially the girls," I ordered. He complied and lifted me up, taking me to my room. "Call Dad and let him know what's going on."

Seth set me on my bed and put me under the covers up the my stomach. "I'll be right back with some ice," he said, running out of my room. My eyes watered with the constant pain and burning that I felt. I wanted to scream but I knew that if I was afraid of something, I could just as easily create chaos by scaring everyone else.

-=-

After everything I had gone through, I could remember the best was that pain, the burning feeling. It was a relief when I finally passed out.