This morning, one of my bosses walked in. I looked up, gave him a smile, and said good morning. He returned my smile with a somber look, glassy eyes, and, "Did you hear?" ... never a good sign.
I sat in my receptionist's chair as I listened to my boss struggle to tell me what happened this past weekend. The former receptionist, Allison, had contracted the flu where it apparently damaged her heart, and she passed away yesterday. She was 30, a tall, skinny, blonde with a confident outlook on life and a bright future ahead of her. She had quit her job to move to Boston to be with her boyfriend, and had been there a week before this tragedy occurred.
I had only known her a week and the news of her death still hit me pretty hard. The entire office is in serious shock still, everyone's just walking around in a complete daze.
What strikes me as odd is how she died. Something tells me that it wasn't the flu that killed her, but a virus, and only the flu-like symptoms had shown up. The week she trained me, she came down with a stomach flu, but bounced back within a day or so. Now, I'm not a doctor, but I doubt it's common for a healthy 30 year old woman to be struck with the flu twice in a 2-3 week span.
The fact that I was minutes away from emailing her to catch up when I heard the news is really eating at me. Seeing my bosses completely torn up about the whole thing is not helping either. All I can do is keep doing my job while I wait for more news.
What a way to start the new year/week...
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