‘What are you doing with that?’ I say, mouth furry with sleep.122

He stops, eyebrows right over his glasses this time, like he’s wearing doubles.

‘It’s a stethoscope,’ he says, holding the curls of black plastic out to me, silver medal dangling from one end. ‘We use it to check the patient is breathing correctly. I’m sure you’ve been to the doctor before with a bad cough or cold?’

He leans over Kayleigh with the silver medal in his hand.

‘I’m going to rest it on her chest, that’s all. I’ll be able to listen to her heartbeat and establish whether she’s got fluid in her lungs. We know she’s got an infection, we just need to find the source of it.’ He pulls the end of a tube out of one ear. ‘Would you like to listen too?’

I jump as a plastic cup of water appears between us in the nurse’s hand.

‘Listen? How?’ I say, taking the water without looking at her. If I pretend she’s not here maybe she’ll just disappear.

‘I’ll show you,’ he says, medal hovering above Kayleigh. ‘But I’m going to put this on her chest first, OK?’

‘Won’t you wake her up?’ I say, crunching the plastic cup into my hand.

‘No more than you will.’ He nods at the cup splintering in my palm.

I glare as he eases the medal under Kayleigh’s blanket and waits before moving it around a bit and waiting again. I don’t know what he’s waiting for, but the only thing that stirs are her eyelashes, fluttering against her cheek as she dreams. It was just a bad dream, I’ll say when she wakes up. Just a bad dream. They’re the only ones I have, and I’m OK.

‘Here,’ he says, leaning over her body to pass me the ends of the tube. ‘Put them in your ears. You’ll be able to hear her heart.’

The buds on the tube feel warm in my fingers as I plug them into my ears, a low thump suddenly flooding through my head. If I didn’t know better, I’d say I was the one dreaming, but I’ve never had a dream like this before. I’m struck dumb by the sound of my 123sister’s heartbeat, pure, strong and regular, ringing around my head like nothing else I’ve ever heard. Doctor Twena smiles as he presses the medal down into Kayleigh’s chest, connecting me with the deepest insides of her soul. I press down on the buds inside my ears. I never want to let go of this tube.

‘Do I sound like that?’ I say, between thuds, voice foggy like I’m underwater.

‘Probably,’ he says, lifting the medal off her chest and passing it to me. ‘Here, have a go yourself. Press it slightly to the left, below your collarbone.’