Phantom stayed sick for a long time, a lot longer than Tigree thought he should be sick. He got even skinnier, and he stopped yelling at all. He didn’t move much, and he wet the bed rather than get up. Trevor didn’t yell at him though, even though he yelled at Sunny for wetting the bed when she was still just a baby.

Trevor was waiting for something, Tigree decided. He was waiting for Phantom to do something and he had to be really sick first. Tigree had never particularly liked Phantom, but she really hoped that he wasn’t dying, because she didn’t want him to die.

Phantom was still sick when the woman came and took Tigree away, leaving little Sunny in with sick Phantom all alone. Tigree shouted and tried to run because she didn’t want Sunny to get in trouble because she wasn’t there.

The woman took Tigree to a room that was different then the room that she had always been in, but was shaped the same and was the same color. The only difference was that there was no bed or blankets, and there was a counter along one wall. The woman did what she normally did in the other room, checking Tigree’s heart and lungs and eyes. But this time, when she was done, there was no medicine for Tigree to take. Instead, the woman had a needle and an apologetic smile and Tigree’s eyes widened, scared. The woman had always been nice to Tigree and to Sunny, but now she looked like she was going to do something bad, and Tigree was scared.

The little girl couldn’t do much but cry as the woman injected her with whatever was in the needle. Three shots, and then she was done, and Tigree was a sniffling, snotty mess.

“Shh, it’s alright, Tigree. It’s just to make you better, alright? You might not feel good for a little while, but you’ll be okay.” The woman said to Tigree, using her gentle voice.

“L-like Phantom?”

“Yes, like how Phantom is.”

“Phantom is sick. Phantom dying.”

“He’s not dying, Tigree. He’s only sick. He’s going to get better, and then he’ll be better than he ever was. You will too. How about you take a nap here, and we can go back to the room with Sunny and Phantom later.”

Tigree sniffled once more, wiping tears and snot across her cheek. “Okay.” She sobbed, nodding. The woman nodded and got a cup of water and put something in it before giving it to Tigree to drink. The young girl drank all of it quickly, and then she felt sleepy. The woman handed her a blanket that she had gotten from a cabinet. Tigree was already feeling calmer and sleepier, so she took the blanket and curled up into it, closing her eyes. She fell asleep on the floor of the room, with a nauseous feeling growing in her stomach.