"Ashley! Ashley!" Alisha said, waving her hand in my face. I looked up at her confused, "Are you okay? You haven't been acting like yourself. What's wrong?" Alisha asked with a concerned look on her face.

I shook my head and that made me dizzy so I grabbed my head, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel a little off. I feel like I have a hangover but I didn't even drink," I said. She put her hand to my forehead, "You don't feel warm? Do you think you're catching a bug?" she asked.

"I don't think so," I said sitting up in my makeup chair. I felt my heart rate starting to speed up, so I started taking deep breaths. "What's going on!?" she asked worriedly. "Nothing, my heart is just beating really fast," I said, going to stand up but that made it worse. I started to feel really hot and dizzy. "Ashley, sit down! You're scaring me!" Alisha yelled at me.

I sat down on the couch, because I got out of breath. My heart rate felt like it was at 150 and I was extremely hot. "Do you need medical attention?" Alisha asked. "No, I'm fine. I just need some water and to relax," I said laying down trying to get my heart rate back to normal.

Alisha scurried to get me some water. "Here," she said, putting the straw to my lips and helping me sit up. "You're scaring me. When do you go to the doctor?" she asked. I swallowed my water, "He couldn't see me until tomorrow," I said laying back against the couch. "And you called 2 days ago? Girl, if you don't pull some strings with your name. Hell, let Michael get involved. He'll threaten to buy the whole clinic if you don't get seen," she said, making me laugh.

"How many looks do I have left?" I asked wanting to get this photoshoot over with. "2 more. So after this one, you just have one left," she answered and I nodded. "Let's get this over with, so I can go home," I said standing up feeling my heart rate rising again.

Kevyn and Marina came in to touch up my hair and makeup to get ready for my next look, but I was honestly scared. I was not feeling okay at all. I was dizzy, I have hot flashes, my heart rate is sped up, and overall I just felt off. Even putting on my clothes was a struggle because I got out of breath.

"Ready?" Alisha asked as I stood up out of my chair ready to shoot my next look. "Yeah," I said, making my way towards her. As we walked out of my dressing room, I felt my heart rate speed up again and I started getting really hot. "What time does Michael get in tomorrow?" Kevyn asked from the side of me.

I wasn't paying any attention because I heard a ringing in my ears and my vision started to blur. I stopped walking and blinked hard a few times. "Ash?" Alisha asked worriedly. "Um-um, he'll be back in the afternoon," I said walking back up to them but I felt my heart beating faster and faster.

"You're sweating!?" Alisha said with a worried tone. "ASHLEY!" I heard before I felt myself falling as all my surroundings around me went black.

"No," I said flatly looking around at the table as their conversation ceased, "I want to release the teaser just a few days before the album like I intended. This is my work and that is what I want. I'm not negotiating any other offers. This is my album, so I," I said pointing at myself, "get the last say," I finished.

I was in a meeting at Sony headquarters with the execs and Tommy Motolla. They were trying to take control of how I wanted my teaser and album released, but as far as I am concerned, they didn't write a single lyric or come up with a simple string.

The room was silent as I sat back in my chair, chewing obnoxiously on some bazooka bubble gum. I looked around at all of them, knowing they were upset with my decision, but I didn't care. "Okay," Tommy said and I slowly smiled. "Great. Nice doing business," I said looking at him then to John Branca, "I want that in writing," I said to him and he nodded.

We heard a knock at the door. "Come in," Tommy said and in walked Wayne. "Boss, phone call," Wayne said, holding up the phone. I pushed my chair out and swiftly got up out of the chair and walked over to Wayne. "Who is it?" I asked as Wayne opened the door for us to go out in the hallway. "Alisha," he said and I frowned.

"Alisha?" I questioned and I heard her stuttering over her words. "Woah, woah, calm down. What happened? Where's Smiles?" I asked, getting worried. My heart rate was speeding up and this phone call was making me anxious. "Ashley, she-she," she cried, "She passed out and she's not waking up. She's getting rushed to UCLA medical right now," she said and at that moment my heart dropped.

Next thing I knew, I was on my jet heading back to LA within 15 minutes trying to get to the hospital.

I sat in the waiting room, tapping my foot, scared out of my fucking mind. "Mommy how much longer till I can see sissy?" I heard Ashton ask Ashley's mom beside me. I smiled looking down at him, "Hopefully soon baby," she said, picking him up and sitting him down on her lap.

I looked around the waiting room and everyone was here. Ashley's entire family, almost all of Michael's family, and even Josephine. Everyone except Michael. "Has anyone heard from Mike?" Jermaine asked, looking around. It stayed silent and everyone just shook their heads. "He's probably freaking out," Rebbie said sadly.

I looked over at Ashley's parents and the look on their faces was heartbreaking. Ashley's dad had his elbows on his knees, leaned over, shaking his leg with his hands in front of his face and Ashley's mom's face just said it all. Janet walked over to Ashley's grandparents and parents, "I'm going to go down to the cafeteria, do you guys want anything? Food? Water?" she asked.

"We're good, Janet thank you," her parents said and she nodded. She looked over at Ashley's grandparents and they said the same thing. "Mommy can I go?" Ashton asked and Janet heard him. "Of course, yeah, come on," she said, holding out her hand. Ashton jumped off Cary's lap and grabbed Janet's hand. Everyone watched her and Rene walk out with Ashton.

"Hey you okay?" Josephine asked, hugging me. "I'm just so scared," I said, feeling tears cloud my eyes as the moment replayed of her falling on the ground unconscious. "She's gonna be okay," Josephine said and I nodded wanting to stay positive.

About a minute later, Michael busted through the door to the waiting room, looking around, "How is she!?" he asked frantically. You could tell he had been crying the entire duration of the flight, because his eyes were bloodshot red and he had tear stains dried on his face. He looked how we all looked, frightened and anxious.

Katherine got up out of her seat and walked over to him, "What happened to her!?" he asked, getting really worried that no one had responded to him. Katherine walked up to him and grabbed his face. He looked down at her, "What happened to her!?" he asked with his voice cracking.

"We don't know anything yet. The doctors haven't come out ," Katherine said slowly and I watched as a tear fell down Michael's cheek. Michael started crying and Katherine grabbed him, hugging him as she rubbed his back for comfort.

Everyone had a sad look on their face as we all watched Michael cry on his mother. "Nothing can happen to her. She can't leave me! She can't leave me, I need her!!" he cried and at that moment everyone's heart broke, "I can't lose her!" Everyone's faces turned sad, "Shh, you're not going to lose her. She's strong. Whatever might've happened, she's not going to give up. You know that. I know you know that. You know she wants to be here with all of us, especially you," Katherine said in his ear, squeezing him a little tighter.

He sniffled, nodding and pulling away from his mother's embrace. He looked around at everyone in the room, "Hey everybody. I'm sorry for not saying hi," he said wiping his tears but everyone waved him off, "It's totally okay. We understand," Ashley's dad said. Michael walked up to them and gave them hugs as well as her grandparents and aunts and uncles.

After saying hi to everyone, he came over and sat down next to me, "What happened?" he asked sadly. Everyone looked at me as I got ready to tell the story again. I sighed, "Well, she's been out of it all day. She just wasn't herself and she had like this little episode in her dressing room. She kept saying her heart rate was elevated and that she was dizzy. I was concerned but she kept saying she'd be fine once she got home and laid down. So we continued business and as we were walking out of set, she was acting really weird. She even stopped walking and I saw her starting to sway but she caught her footing and blinked her eyes a few times and that's when I noticed she was sweating profusely, so," I said taking a breath, "I asked what's wrong and she didn't answer. She tried walking to catch up to us and that's when she just took two steps and collapsed." Everyone shook their heads in shock.

Michael put his head in his hands, "Oh my god," he mumbled. Jackie came over and rubbed his back, trying to console him. He looked up, "What happened after that?" he asked. "Well, luckily as Ashley was falling, Kevyn dove and caught her head making sure her head wouldn't hit the cement floor. Wes and Devon ran over, checking her pulse and it was weak. Devon called 911 and Wes patted her face trying to wake her up but she wouldn't," I said starting to cry and that's when Ashley's grandma got up and left the room, crying and Cary cried to Ashley's dad.

Tears fell down Michael's face as I continued, "The ambulance was there in like 5 minutes luckily and they rushed her out of there so quick and that's when I called you," I said finishing as I tried wiping my tears.

Michael got up and started pacing the waiting room back and forth. The story had got everyone riled up again trying to process what happened. "Michael," Ashley's mom said and he stopped and looked at her in tears, "Did she mention anything to you? Was she feeling sick before? I just don't get how all of this just happened today. She had to been feeling off?"

Everyone looked at Michael, nodding their heads in agreement. Michael stood in thought, "Actually, yeah. A few nights ago she mentioned to me that she had been feeling really tired and dizzy. She also wasn't eating," he said and I saw him trying to piece things together in his mind.

"I noticed she wasn't eating when she came home either," Ashley's mom said. "Alisha, have you noticed anything?" she asked. "Just everything you guys have mentioned. She kept saying she was off too," I answered. Michael sighed and sat back down next to me.

He put his head in his hands and shook his leg nervously. It went silent again and about 5 minutes later, Janet and Rene walked back in with Ashton talking and eating ice cream. "You're ice cream that good?" Ashley's grandpa said jokingly. "No kidding," Ashley's dad said and everyone laughed. Ashton had strawberry ice cream all around his mouth. He stopped eating it and laughed, making everyone laugh even louder. "He's so cute," Josephine said and I nodded at her still chuckling.

Ashton looked around and as soon as he saw Michael his face lit up, "Applehead!!!" he screamed running towards Michael. Michael smiled and opened his arms for him. Ashton ran into his arms and Michael hugged him back, swaying him, "Hi Applehead!" Michael said sniffling.

Ashton pulled back and Michael laughed at him, "Look at all that ice cream. Here hold on," Michael said, grabbing a tissue and wiping his face and nose. Ashton looked at Michael, studying his face. "Applehead, don't cry. Sissy is going to be okay," Ashton said, licking his ice cream, "She's just a little sick right now, but the doctors are going to make her feel all better."

Michael smiled with tears in his eyes. "She's gonna get better and we're going to make her go on all the rides at Neverland," Ashton added and everyone laughed. "Ashton, give her some time to do that," Cary, Ashley's mom, said.

"Yeah, we'll give her a few weeks for that," Michael said, rubbing his head, "But you're right. The doctors are going to make her all better." Ashton smiled and shoved his ice cream in Michael's face, "You want some ice cream? It'll make you feel better. Ice cream always makes me feel better, especially when I go to the doctors," he said and everyone laughed again. "No, I'm good. Thank you though," Michael answered.

Ashton brightened the mood a little and everyone talked amongst each other as Ashton and Michael played slide.

The door opened and in walked the doctor. Everyone stood up, anxiously awaiting the doctor to speak. "Wow," he said, taking off his glasses, "Everybody's here. Ms. Richmond has a lot of support, I'm glad to see that."

Everyone looked at him, wanting him to tell us what's going on with Ashley. "So," he began, "Where are Ms. Richmond's parents?" he asked and Ashley's parents raised their hands and stepped up.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm guessing you guys will be her power of attorney?" he asked and they nodded, but Cary waved Michael over. "Michael too," she said. "Great, hello Mr. Jackson," he said and Michael nodded.

"Do you want me to share the information with everyone here or privately?" he asked and everyone looked around at each other, "No offense. I just have to ask. Hospital code of ethics," he said, putting his hands up. "No-no, that's fine. Everyone can be here," her dad said and he nodded.

"Okay, so," he said, putting his glasses back on and flipping through a chart, "Ms. Richmond is in a very serious situation. She is extremely dehydrated, malnourished, and her blood count was extremely low. Extremely low," he emphasized, "She was detrimental. She could've lost her life if she didn't get to the hospital as soon as she did." Everyone's faces got extremely worrisome.

"How is she?" her mom asked with his voice shaky. Everyone's nerves were through the roof as the doctor stood there, looking around at everyone. "She's okay," he said and everyone let out the breath they were holding in.

Chatter went around the room, everyone happy that she was okay. "We were able to stabilize her but-" he said holding up his finger, "we have to run a few more tests." He pointed at Ashley's parents, "I need your guy's approval in order to start treating her and helping her get back healthy," he said and Ashley's parents nodded eagerly.

"Where-where are they? We'll sign them right now!" Ashley's dad asked. "I got them right here," the doctor said, holding up the papers. "What's the plan of treatment?" Michael asked.

"Well, as I said, she was dehydrated so we'll give her fluids through IV and also food through IV later on because she was malnourished," he said but Katherine spoke up. "Why food through an IV?" she asked.

"I'll explain that right now," he said smiling, "As I said before, her blood count was extremely low. Extremely low. We're running tests because we don't know why her count was so low. The minimum blood count a person should have is 9 pints. Ashley had 5.4," he said and everyone gasped.

"That's what she could've lost her life over. That is extremely low. Has she struggled with low iron? Low blood in the past?" he asked and Ashley's parents shook their heads, "She was diagnosed with anemia back when she was in high school but never to this extent," they said and he started writing stuff down.

"Okay, we'll figure that out by the tests, which is why Mrs. Jackson," he said pointing at Katherine, "We're not sure where or how she was losing blood, which is why we will perform either a colonoscopy or an endoscopy to see if she's still bleeding and if she is that'll determine if she'll need surgery or not to stop it. We suspect it's her upper digestive tract, so that is why she can't have solid food, because we want her stomach empty and we also don't want her to regurgitate and/or upset her stomach during the tests."

Everyone nodded, taking in the info. "What about the treatment for the low blood?" Ashley's grandpa asked. "We'll be giving her a blood transfusion so we can get her count back to where it needs to be."

"Okay, when does that start?" Michael asked. "We'll start that as soon as I go back there. We'll start everything; the fluids included," the doctor said and everyone nodded.

"That's all I have. Any questions?" he asked and everyone looked around at each other. "When can we see her?" I asked and the doctor looked at me. "She's currently resting. We gave her a sedative because we need her to relax. Her heart rate is still elevated because of low blood count and we don't want her overworking her heart and possibly going into cardiac arrest," he said and everyone 's heart dropped again.

"I don't think that'll happen, but I have to let you all know that it could be a possibility," he said, "So, we'll start the IV's and then we can allow her visitors, but I ask that we keep it to 3 people at a time and if she's resting, let her rest, because she needs it."

Everyone nodded, "How long will the transfusions take?" Janet asked. "Well, we're going to give her 3 pints and each bag is a pint and to go through one bag, it takes 2 hours," the doctor answered and everyone nodded.

"I have a question," Michael said, "The blood transfusion, is it one of us giving her blood?" he asked and the doctor pointed his pen, "We could do that way or we have blood donated here."

"Is it screened though? Been checked for diseases and things? I was friends with Ryan White, so I know the risks of blood transfusions," Michael said sadly." The doctor looked at Michael sympathetically, "I'm sorry for your loss, but I assure you Mr. Jackson that since that unfortunate circumstance, every donation is screened thoroughly multiple times," the doctor explained, "But if someone here is a match for her blood, we could do that, but I wouldn't recommend it, because of the long screening process and Ms. Richmond needs blood as soon as possible."

Everyone nodded, "How long will she be in the hospital?" Katherine asked. "I suspect a few days because we need to make sure she doesn't have a reaction to the blood since it is slightly foreign. Also to run some more tests and figure out why she was losing blood and if we have to do surgery in the case she's still actively bleeding, recovery will be a few days."

"Thank you so much doctor," Ashley's dad said, "We can't thank you enough for helping our daughter." He smiled and shook Ashley's parents hand, "Absolutely."

He also shocked Michael's hand and he waved to everyone else and turned to walk out of the room. "Give us like 20 minutes to get her on her IVs and start the first bag and then we can allow 3 people max to see her."

Everyone thanked him again. Ashley's parents hugged Michael in happiness and a sigh of relief flowed through the room. I was sad that this happened to my best friend but so grateful that she was going to be okay.