Chapter Text
When Julienne woke, she immediately realised something was wrong. Her head was pounding, and she had a sore throat. She wracked her foggy, newly awaken brain for an explanation, but she couldn’t really follow her own thoughts. Finally, she had woken enough to realise that this wasn’t an unusual start to the day. She hadn’t been drinking enough water yesterday, and after sharing a room with sister Evangelina for over a decade, she knew very well that she snored (something that her sister had mocked her about ever since they became roommates). But at the same time, she felt a pang of worry. Nurses Franklin, Dyer, Anderson and Crane all had the flu, and there was a slim chance that she might have it too. “Well,” she said to herself, shaking the thought away, “They’ve all isolated themselves, so it’s quite unlikely.”
As she got dressed and went down for lauds, she could see sister Hilda looking at her with a worried expression. She offered a, hopefully reassuring, smile as they went into chapel. But she couldn’t help wondering if she really looked as bad as she felt. She would take a few aspirin after prayer to fend of the headache, she decided.
As they started their chores though, it started to feel more likely that she might be ill. She kept hoping the aspirin would help, but it only seemed to make her more tired than she already was. She was just about to go into the kitchen to start on breakfast when sister Hilda approached her.
“Sister, is something the matter?” she said, trying not to show that she was feeling vile.
“I ought to be asking you the same thing,” her sister said, clearly worried, “Have you gotten any sleep at all? Do forgive my bluntness, but you look terrible.”
“Yes, thank you. If you’ll excuse me, I’d better get started on breakfast.” As she stood up, her vision went grey at the edges, and she leaned against the table to steady herself.
“Sister! Is everything alright?” Sister Hilda’s voice seemed far away, but as the world steadied, she tried to offer another reassuring smile.
“Yes, I’m fine, just stood up too quickly.” And with that she went into the kitchen.