Chapter 48. Time for a Celebration

"Just come back here, hon. You don't need that job. It's safer here. For you. For us."

"I know, Mom." Jessi sighed and stood by the door. Some hesitation still lingered in the back of her head, but the worry and impatience in her mother's frail voice ultimately defeated her stubborn logic.

Considering the emotional rollercoaster she was going through, her recent hospitalization, and the growing number of positive cases here in California, leaving Los Angeles to live the small-town life again sounded much smarter—not a setback at all if she wanted to make it to her next birthday.

Sure. The treatment worked. The medical staff did their best, helping her and the other infected patients recover fast after the strict hospital confinement. But it didn't mean she was already out of the woods.

Reports of reinfection had been spreading all over the news. Meaning, her full recovery from the dreaded viral disease would not guarantee immunity from reinfection. And worse: