Influenza

Molly Hooper can't remember a time when she's been this sick. Yesterday, it just felt like a cold, but after a sleepless night of coughing and blowing her nose, she feels about a thousand times worse.

It takes a lot to keep Molly out of work, but this morning, she's barely even aware that her alarm went off. Her head feels like it's about to explode, her throat is raw and painful...generally, every inch of her aches.

She's curled on her side under her layers of blankets, eyes squeezed tight in a feverish half-sleep. She can't even get up the energy to call in sick. It's probably afternoon by the time she manages to make herself find some food in the kitchen and feed Toby, and then right back to bed, right back to sleep.

The next day, Molly's no better. She coughs harder with no effect, digs through her cabinet and finds no medicine. She'd go to the doctor, but it's just the flu, it's just going to run its course anyway. Somehow, she summons the energy for a shower, then collapses back into her bed. But she doesn't seem to be healing. Her cough is getting even worse, and every breath hurts. She's barely eaten anything in the past few days, a combination of being too weak to get anything and too sick to have an appetite.

Still, there's no one to help her, so she suffers on, wondering if she's going to have to force herself to the hospital.