Dead Tomorrow

followed him into Caitlin’s bedroom. Luke stood there, looking bewildered, holding Caitlin’s hand. In the dim glow of the bedside light, perspiration was pouring down her face. There were scratch marks all over her neck and arms.
    ‘Hello, Caitlin,’ the doctor said. ‘Tell me how you are feeling?’
    ‘Actually, you know what?’ She spoke in a breathless rasp. ‘Not great actually.’
    ‘Do you have an acute pain?’
    ‘I’m in so much pain. Please–pleasestop the itching.’
    ‘Where exactly is the pain, Caitlin?’ he asked.
    ‘I want to go home,’ she gasped.
    Ross Hunter frowned. ‘Home?’ Then he said gently, ‘You are home.’
    She shook her head. ‘You don’t understand.’
    ‘It’s OK,’ Lynn intervened. ‘She’s talking about where we first lived. Winter Cottage.’
    ‘Why do you want to go there, Caitlin?’ he asked.
    She stared at him, opened her mouth as if to answer, then appeared to have difficulty in breathing for some moments.
    ‘I think I’m dying,’ she gasped, then she closed her eyes and let out a long, dreadful moan.
    Ross Hunter gripped her wrist, checking her pulse. Then he stared into her eyes.
    ‘Can you describe the pain in your tummy?’
    ‘Awful,’ she gasped, her eyes still closed. ‘It’s burning. I’m burning.’
    She suddenly thrashed, twisting from right to left, then back, like some crazed animal.
    Lynn switched on the overhead light. Caitlin’s face, and now her eyes too, which sprang open, were the colour of nicotine.
    Inside, Lynn was burning too. Her whole insides felt as if they were being twisted into a tourniquet.
    ‘It’s OK, darling. Angel, it’s OK. It’s OK.’
    ‘Can you show me where it hurts exactly?’
    She opened her nightdress and pointed. Ross Hunter placed his hand there for a few moments. Then he peered closely at her eyes. Then, telling Caitlin they would be back in a few moments, he took Lynn’s arm and led her out of the room, closing the door.
    Luke wasstanding, ashen, on the landing.
    ‘Is she going to be all right?’ he asked.
    Lynn nodded at him, trying to give him reassurance, but wanted a few moments in private with the doctor.
    ‘Would you mind fetching me a glass of water, Luke?’
    ‘No–er, sure. Yes, of course, Lynn.’ He disappeared downstairs.
    ‘Lynn,’ Ross Hunter said, ‘we need to get her into hospital right away. I’m extremely concerned at her condition.’
    ‘Please, Ross, can we just wait until tomorrow? Tomorrow afternoon? She does have moments when she seems really strong–then she relapses. She’ll be OK for a little longer.’
    He put his finely manicured hands on her shoulders and stared hard at her.
    ‘Yes, she might rally every now and then, for a short while, when she gets a build-up of strength, but don’t be fooled. Those are her very last reserves she uses up, every time that happens. Lynn, you need to understand that without emergency medical treatment, she might not survive until tomorrow afternoon. She’s suffering almost total liver failure. Her body is being poisoned by her own toxins.’
    Tears began streaming down Lynn’s face. She felt giddy, felt his firm hands steadying her as she swayed. Got to be strong , she thought. Come all this way. Got to be really strong now. The German woman was coming to collect her at midday. Just a few hours’ time. Have to hang on till then.
    She stared back at him, determinedly. ‘Ross, I can’t, not tonight.’
    ‘Why on earth not? Are you mad?’
    ‘I can’t let her go into hospital to die. That’s what’s going to happen. She’s just going to die in there.’
    ‘She won’t die if she getsimmediate treatment.’
    ‘But she will die without a new liver, Ross, and I don’t have any faith they are going to find her one.’
    ‘It’s her only chance, Lynn.’
    ‘I can’t tonight, Ross. Perhaps tomorrow afternoon?’
    ‘I don’t understand your reluctance.’
    Luke was coming up the stairs with the water. She took it gratefully from him, then he stayed, listening. She could hardly tell him to go away.
    ‘I want you to give her something yourself, Ross.’
    ‘I’m not a liver specialist, Lynn.’
    ‘You’re a fucking doctor, for Chrissake!’ she snapped at him. Then she shook her head at herself. ‘I’m sorry–I’m sorry, Ross. But you must be able to give her something. I don’t know, some boost for her liver, something to stop the damn pain, something to perk her up, a shot of vitamins or