Oddly enough, unlike his mother, she stayed for a while and played video games with him to make him feel better before leaving him to rest. He closed his eyes, hoping sleep would fix things...
He woke up around noon, and headed downstairs to find Kyla sitting at the dining room table, working from home. She turned around, and he suddenly felt faint again. She looked ten years older. The thin teenager who had taken him to the doctor had turned into an attractive woman in her late twenties.
"Do you feel up to lunch?" she asked.
He nodded, mutely. She made him toast and ginger ale and they talked for a little while. She seemed more authoritative as an older woman. It was easier to act like she was his mother. Yet she was different...like they'd brought in someone to play his mother, but she did it different. She liked to talk about his video games and didn't insist they were a waste of time, for one.
She was acting more tender as she tucked him in, and he went back to sleep.
