The Fall of Forever {A MyStreet FF}

{4}: The Explosion of the Ticking Time Bomb

Tick.

Nothing was making sense.

Tick.

And yet, everything was starting to add up.

Tick.

He tried to piece the word Leukemia together in his mind. He tried to make it make sense.

Tick.

He would practice saying it out loud. "Leukemia, blood cancer," were the only words he was ever able to make himself say.

Tick.

The sterile smell of alcohol and sanitation had hit him in the face the second he walked into that hospital that they were referred to.

Tick.

He watched the doctors sedate his son for scans. The little one cried as his parents held him, just trying to assure him that it was alright. That they would be right there when he woke up.

Tick.

Everyone knew about the possibility now. Everyone had processed it but the boy's parents themselves.

Tick.

"Can someone turn off that vexatious clock?" He muttered.

To Garte, those last few days had seemed unreal. Zianna didn't believe Garte at first when he said something was very wrong.

"This isn't the flu, Honey. He's only getting worse," Garte had said, trying to avoid telling her the news Zack had brought to him.

"G, you're getting yourself worked up," Zianna replied, in an effort to calm him down.

Garte felt his blood boil; anger ran through his veins, "And you're not getting worked up enough! Our son is deteriorating before our eyes and you don't even care!"

He regretted those words since the second he said them. And yet, he was thankful he had said them. It was what gave Zianna the push to schedule another appointment with the pediatrician, and what had her back Garte up when he insisted to the doctor that something was wrong.

The couple sat in the silent waiting room. The repetitive ticking was something Zianna, drowned in her own thoughts, was able to block out. Every tick made Garte's nerves rattle more. He was usually able to hide how hard it was to sit still for an extended period. It so happened that, in the hospital, this wasn't the case.

No doctor would say that cancer was likely, but both Garte and Zianna knew it was. Zack had to take one look at him to come to that conclusion. At this point they knew that it was not just likely, but probable.

Both parents tried to imagine their everyday lives turned around by the debilitating diagnosis of childhood cancer. In their minds, they planned out what seemed to be entirely new lives. Everything from sanitizing the house to intimacy between the two crossed their minds. They craved the everyday chaos that was their normal just weeks prior.

"Mr. and Mrs. Ro'Meave?" A voice spoke up.

Garte and Zianna turned to the door of the waiting room to see a young doctor with radiating dark skin standing at the doorway. She gave a courteous smile and stood in front of the worried parents. She extended out her hand in greeting and shook both of their hands.

Upon shaking her hand, Garte's eyes jumped to her name tag. "Oncology" it read.

Garte felt his heart drop. His breathing became shallow. And once again, he was only able to hear that horrendous clock ticking away.