Chapter 1

Lila rolled over in her bed and stared at the clock. 3 am. Wonderful, she thought. Just wonderful. The vacation of a lifetime has just turned into her worst nightmare. All she had wanted was the beach and Disney. That was all. It was the perfect spring break. The arrangements had been made months ago. Lila, her roommate Marie, and another close friend, Ellie, had planned to come down to see Ellie’s best friend Julie, who went to college in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Lila’s own best friend, Becca, (it was short for Rebecca, but most people preferred to call her Becca), was to meet them there. Lila and Becca had been best friends all throughout high school. The general rule that high school friends always drift apart didn’t seem to apply to them, for it was their junior year in college, and despite the thousand miles or so that separated them, they were closer than ever. Becca went to a school in Texas, close to their hometown of San Antonio, while Lila and her two friends attended college up in Virginia. They had been looking forward to this trip forever, and now that is was finally happening, Lila was sick as a dog.

At first, Lila had dreaded the thought of going to Florida. Anywhere but Florida, she had thought. I’d rather be abandoned in Antarctica in a tank top. That had surprised her friends. They knew that something had gone wrong when she had been there, but she had never told them exactly what, despite their pleas. And it would stay that way.

She had finally relented and agreed to the trip, but only because they were nowhere near West Palm. She had sworn to herself that she would never again set foot there, and it was a promise she intended to keep. God Himself couldn’t make her go back, and that was that.

The plan was to meet up in Ft. Lauderdale on Friday, and spend Saturday night there together, giving them the chance to talk and catch up on things. After that they were headed to Orlando. It was now Saturday night, and Lila was miserable. She had started feeling sick on the plane, and once they were there she was stuck with a full-blown case of the flu. She felt horribly guilty, her friends had cut their evening short just because of her. Who else would be in bed by midnight on a Saturday night on their spring break? It was just typical. They had done this partly to help cheer Lila up. Marie knew how difficult things had been for her lately, and wanted to make sure she had a fun vacation and get the chance to visit with her best friend. And now this.

She tossed and turned for a few more moments, and then reached over to the nightstand and fumbled around for the box of Kleenex. Empty.

“Shit,” she muttered.

Lila couldn’t take it anymore. She hauled herself out of bed, her aching body screaming in protest. She almost tripped over Marie in the process, who was bedded on the floor. The five of them had decided to squeeze into one hotel room while they were in Ft. Lauderdale, saving the extra money for Disney and the beach. She threw on whatever clothes she had laying around, and grabbed her purse. She had to get medicine of some kind. She peered through the darkness at her reflection in the mirror. Yup, she thought. I look about how I feel. She half-heartedly grabbed a hairbrush and ran it though her blonde hair. She tucked the long strands behind her ears and turned around to the still form of Becca in the double bed they shared. She went over to her and shook her arm.

“Bec?” she whispered. Nothing. She tried again, this time shaking her more violently. Still no reaction. Lila should have known better, it was virtually impossible to wake her friend up. It was a running joke they had, trying to see what creative ways they could come up with to wake her from the dead. There was still no surefire method. She was the soundest sleeper Lila had ever seen.

She gave up on her and crouched down by Marie. Lila and Marie had been roommates since their freshman year in college. They knew all of each others habits, quirks, and secrets only people who lived together could know. They were great friends. Marie could be woken up. She just didn’t like to be.

“Marie?”

Her eyes opened just a slit.

“Yeah?” she croaked. “What is it, Li?”

“I’m going out to that little corner shop to get something for this cold. I’m about to kill myself here.”

“Why don’t you just go to the gift shop? They have all that stuff,” she mumbled sleepily.

“Because I don’t think that they’re open at 3 in the morning.”

“Oh.”

“There’s a little gas station on the corner with a store that’s open 24 hours. I’m going to go there and be right back, ok?”

“Sure, sure. Whatever.”

Lila stood back up, and paused for a moment to let the nausea pass her by. She grabbed one of the hotel keys lying on the dresser, and snuck quietly out the door.

The warm Florida breeze struck her face as she exited the hotel doors, washing over her body and playing with her hair. It was the best she’d felt since they’d landed. Even this late, the temperature was perfect. She headed quickly over to her destination. She prayed that this would go away quickly. They were going to Disney on Monday, and she didn’t care if she was on death’s door. She was going. After a few days there, they were headed for the beach.

She pushed open the doors of the small store, and glanced around. She spotted a haggard looking woman behind the counter, flipping listlessly through a newspaper. She looked like someone who wished her life had turned out any way other than what it was right now. Lila sympathized with her. A man who appeared to be in his forties was browsing the beer section, (he looked like he had had a few already as it was) and another woman who looked as if she’d just gotten off work somewhere was picking up a few groceries.

Lila found her way over to the medications, and began looking for something that would subdue her misery.

***

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