From The Start (1st Draft)

Chapter 38

He grinned, shrugging. "I'm glad I could help."

"So what you're trying to say..." Alex suddenly spoke, his voice raspy and shaky as well. "Is that I'm cured?"

"What I'm telling you is that you have headed into remission. All of the cells in your blood stream are normal," he replied to him, us all staring into Alex's amazed eyes.

"You are perfectly serious right now?"

I laughed, taking his hand. "Yeah he is serious," I answered for him, kissing his cheek.

"I'm actually very surprised, to be perfectly honest, because I was getting ahead of myself and coming up with a backup plan for you," he chuckled, putting the clip board down on the table and folding his arms proud across his chest.

"And now he's cured? He doesn't have cancer anymore?" Stephanie shrieked, laughing, crying a little, and running out of the room. "Mom! Darlene!" We heard her yell frantically.

"How can this be?" Alex asked him, the sun shining in through the window, even though only seconds ago it was raining.

"You vomited blood, do you want to know why?" he asked, us both nodding. "Because it's a sign, showing that your body has been able to respond to the chemotherapy. It was most likely letting you know that the dosage you're on is getting too strong now, and usually when that's the case it is a good thing."

"Wow," he smiled, tightly squeezing my hand. "I can't even believe this..."

"You do have anemia, however," he stated, Nancy, Darlene, and Stephanie rushing into the room.

"Oh, Alexander!" Nancy said, emotionally leaning over the bed and hugging him.

He hugged her back and laughed, while Darlene stood silently in the corner. "I know," he said, with a smile on his face.

"It worked," she said, repeating it several times before letting him go.

"Looks like it," he answered, glancing at me and staring into my eyes. "God must have gotten my prayers."

I rolled my eyes, knowing he was still trying to get me to believe in him again. "Sure," I whispered, softly.

"Doctor," Nancy spoke, walking over to him and holding onto his arm.

"Yes, Mrs. Sheffield?"

"Where do we go from here?" she happily asked him. "Are his treatments over?"

"Oh, of course not. In order for him to stay in a complete remission, Alex will need to continue the last treatment of chemo, and it happens to be scheduled on this coming Saturday morning. He will remain here until tomorrow afternoon, and today we'd like to give him some blood," Dr. Carter explained, looking back at Nancy, while she stared at Stephanie, who was just silently gazing at the ground.

It was quiet, but suddenly Stephanie spoke up. "I'll do it," she whispered, catching Alex's eyes.

He was very unreadable at first, but he smiled, and that was all we wanted to see. "Are you sure?" he asked her, carefully.

She nodded, slightly grinning, and then sighing. "Yes, Alexander. You're my brother. I'm your twin, we have the same blood, so of course I'll do it..." she answered, looking over at my uneasy face.

I hid it though, because I didn't want to ruin the moment. I secretly wished I was her.

"Alright, that is a very mature choice. If you would come with me Stephanie, I'll get this procedure started," the doctor explained.

"Procedure?" she pleaded, looking scared out of her mind. "Won't it just take like, ten minutes or so?"

He quickly shook his head, tilting his head down. "Not exactly," he told her, looking at Nancy.