“It’s time to get up,”Jory’s mom called through the door.

“I can’t go to school today,” Jory called back, panicking slightly.

“Are you sick?” her mom replied.

“Uh, yeah,” Jory said, knowing she didn’t sound convincing and the fake cough she followed up with didn’t help.

“Look, I think school should still be canceled too, but it’s not, so you’re going.”

“No, I really can’t go today.”

Her mom was clearly losing patience as the doorknob rattled.

“Unlock the door,” her mom said with a bite of frustration.

“Mom, please,” Jory’s panic continued to grow and she thought she might start crying.

“What’s wrong,” her mom’s tone softened and it was clear to Jory her anxiety was coming through a bit too obviously in her voice.

Knowing she couldn’t really win this battle and arguing would only prolong the inevitable, Jory walked over to the door and unlocked it. She was still bundled up in her blankets so only her face was showing but when her mom opened the door it was more than enough to show her why Jory was so concerned.

“Your face is glowing,” she gasped. “You’re glowing…pinkish.”

“Uh huh,” Jory nodded, biting her lip to keep it from quivering.

They both stood there in silence, neither quite sure what to do or say next. It was Jory who finally spoke.

“I have the Starfall sickness,” she said in a whisper as if just saying it too loudly would condemn her further.

“Well,” her mother began, “we know what to do.”

“No!” Jory shrank back. “No one comes back once they get sick.”

“Jory, it’s barely been a week since Starfall. No one knows what’s going on so I’m sure it’s just a quarantine for everyone’s safety.”

“I don’t want to go,” Jory muttered as she stumbled back onto her bed. “Just tell the school I’m sick.”

Jory’s mom came over and sat beside her on the bed, putting an arm around her and pulling her in close.

“I know it’s been a crazy week,” she said. “First the stars all vanish, then new stars appear. Astronomers are saying nothing looks familiar, so of course the news is making it out to sound like we’ve been transported into another dimension or something. Everyone’s shouting about aliens or the end of the world. And now people are,” she glanced at Jory’s glowing face, “changing. It’s a lot to take in.”

“Please let me just stay home today,” Jory begged as she leaned on her mom like she used to do when she was little.

“Alright,” she conceded. “Just for today. How are you feeling, overall?” She added after a moment’s thought.

“I feel fine.”

“Good, then I still expect you to get up and do your chores.” Her mom grinned and winked at Jory. “Just don’t go outside or stand in front of the windows. Now I’m going to go call your school and let them know you’re sick.”

“Thanks mom.”

Jory’s mom got up and left the room. Jory remained where she was on the edge of her bed for a few minutes but eventually got up and started getting ready for the day. Despite the warmth of the season, she opted for a long sleeved shirt and jeans in an effort to hide as much of her glowing skin as possible.

Her chores, normally done after school, had her vacuuming and sorting her laundry. She was almost ready to start the first load when the doorbell rang. She almost answered it but her mother caught her.

“Glowing!” she hissed and Jory ducked out of view while her mother answered the door.

“Good morning, is Jory home?”

Jory didn’t recognize the male voice.

“I’m sorry, she’s not feeling well,” her mother replied.

“Yes, we’re from the department of health,” the unknown man said. “Please excuse our attire. Her school notified us that she’d called into school sick. We’re checking up on sick students to make sure none of them have Starfall syndrome.”

Jory waited for her mother to reply but, like herself, her mother seemed to be at a loss for words.

“May we come in?” the man pressed.

“No, please, she’s just not feeling well. I want to let her rest,” her mom finally stated.

“As a matter of public safety, I must insist we be allowed to check on your daughter.”

An idea struck Jory and she hurried away and down the hall towards the bathroom as quickly as she could. She just hoped her mom could delay them long enough. As fast as she could, Jory began doing her makeup, layering on the foundation especially thick until her glow all but vanished. She had to cover all of her visible skin. Neck, ears, even her hands, until her glow vanished. The entire time she could still hear her mom arguing with the people from the department of health. It sounded as though she’d tried to shut the door but that one of them had put their foot out and stopped it. They were getting more and more animated.

“If you force us to come back here with the police, we will,” the man was saying. “If we find you’ve been concealing a case of Starfall syndrome, you could be arrested!”

Jory didn’t want that to happen so, taking a deep breath, she stepped out and around the corner and into view.

“Mom, what’s all the shouting about?” she asked in as sick a voice she could muster.

Her mom spun, shock on her face until she saw Jory. The shock turned to confusion and then concern as the man pushed passed her at last and into their house.

“I just need to do a quick physical to make sure you don’t have Starfall syndrome,” he said in a far calmer voice. Both he and the woman he was with wore full hazmat suits and each carried a case of, presumably, medical tools.

“I’ve just been throwing up,” she lied, “ate something that didn’t agree with me.”

The man’s expression twitched and he looked from Jory, to her mom, and back to Jory.

“I see,” he said guardedly, and took a step closer to her. He withdrew an infrared temperature scanner and pointed it at her forehead. “What did you eat that made you ill?”

“Leftover chinese,” Jory said.

“Is there a place you could sit so we can do the examination?” he asked.

“The dining room should be fine,” Jory’s mom said and led the way.

Jory pulled out one of the dining room chairs and sat down while the man pulled out a blood pressure cuff.

“Could you roll up your sleeve?” he asked, gesturing with the cuff.

Immediately, Jory began to panic. She’d only put makeup on her hands and a little ways up her wrists. If she pulled back her sleeve she’d expose her glowing skin.

“Can’t you just do it over the sleeve?” she asked. “I hate how long sleeves bunch and pinch when I have to roll them up that far.”

“That’s fine, you can go change if you’d like. We can wait,” the man replied.

Slowly, Jory stood up and walked towards her room. All the while she was wondering what on earth she was going to do. She knew she only had a couple minutes at most to figure this out. The idea of somehow covering her entire arm in makeup wouldn’t work because it would rub off on the cuff.

“You doing alright in there?” the man called out to her after a minute or so had passed.

“Sorry, just feeling really nauseous again,” Jory replied.

“Could we do this some other time,” Jory heard her mom say.

“I’m sorry but the law’s the law. We’re in the midst of a global health crisis.”

“Is Starfall syndrome really that bad?”

“Honestly we don’t know, but we don’t want to take any chances. We don’t know how it’s spread, don’t know if there are any long term health effects –

The doorbell rang, cutting him off. Jory was about to begin changing into a short sleeved shirt, even though she still wasn’t sure how in the world she would conceal her glowing arms, when her mom shrieked.

“Get your hands off me!” she shouted. “What are you doing? You can’t go in there! She’s getting dressed!”

Jory hurried up and put the long sleeved shirt back on just as her door opened and the man from the health department barged in.

“Take her,” he said and an unfamiliar pair of men, also in hazmat suits, strode forward.

Behind them, Jory could see her mom being wrestled to the floor by more people in hazmat suits. It was a bizarre sight but she had no time to dwell on it as the men pulled out zip ties.

“I haven’t done anything!” Jory cried out, backing up and stumbling against her bed.

The men grabbed her and secured her wrists behind her back with the zip ties.

“Look at that,” one of them said as they pushed up her sleeves. “Glowing.”

“Get her into the ambulance,” the man from the department of health said.

“What are you doing to my mom?” Jory demanded as they pulled her passed her mom who looked like she was being arrested.

“Interfering with an official investigation during an public health emergency, resisting arrest, assaulting an officer,” the man rattled off. “I promise we will be as lenient as we can be. We’re not the bad guys here, but you can’t be allowed to potentially spread this or endanger others.”

“But you said you didn’t know if it was contagious.”

“We can’t take any risks right now,” was his reply before Jory was pulled from the house and strapped down inside the ambulance.