Taking Chances (Remember to Forget Sequel)

Chapter 27

Luke's POV

My mom has been back home for a week now. It's been three weeks since her first treatment. She's doing pretty well. Her side effects have gotten a little better, but she's obviously not feeling good by any means. The doctors think she's getting better though and everything is on track. As long as everything is going well, that's all that matters right now. Hopefully in a few months she'll be her regular self. Or, close to it. 

Today we're heading back to the hospital for another treatment, but she can come home afterwards now. My parents said I don't have to keep going to every treatment because they know how I feel about being in hospitals. 

Going to the hospital is kind of helping me, as strange as that may seem. I'm becoming more comfortable there now, I don't get nervous every time I walk in. It's helping me overcome my anxiety over hospitals and having flashbacks. In a way, it's also reassuring to see people going through similar things as my mom. It shows that she's not alone and people come out of this okay.

My dad drops my mom and I off at the hospital because he needs to run some errands. I walk through the familiar corridors of the hospital to the waiting area. My mom checks in and within a few minutes, her session is started.

"You don't have to stay in here, Luke," my mom says after a few minutes.

"It's okay, I don't mind."

She sighs. "Go see if your friend is here. Jordan, right? I don't want you to think of your teen years as just being spent in hospitals. Go be a normal teen."

"Mom, I'm nothing close to a normal teen," I say laughing. "And even if I'm with Jordan I'm still in a hospital."

She smiles. "But you're not sitting in here for an hour watching your mom get chemo. Go for a little. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? What if-" I don't want to leave her. I'd be so nervous that something might happen and I wouldn't be here. If I'm here, I don't have to worry that I'm missing something.

"Luke, there's nurses. I'll be okay."

"If you say so. I'll go for maybe 10 minutes if you really want me to." I smirk and laugh. 

She waves her hand, as if to shoo me away. "Have fun."

I walk down the hall to Jordan's room. We talked a lot while my mom stayed in the hospital, but I haven't seen her in about a week. She said she'd still be here for the next few weeks. I wonder how long she's actually been here.

Jordan's door is open, so I peek inside. She's sitting cross-legged on the bed, reading a magazine. She always seems to be reading.

"Hey," I say quietly, "Mind if I come in?"

Jordan looks up slowly. "I mean, I guess so." She smiles.

"I can go back to my mom if you-"

"Luke, I'm joking. Of course you can come in." She laughs and closes her magazine. 

"Oh, right. I knew that."

I sit in one of the chairs in the room. Jordan's room is  more decorated than any hospital room I've ever seen. It's clear she's been here for a while and that this room is basically permanent. She has posters on the walls and pictures everywhere. Half the pictures are when she was younger, and some are more recent. It's like her whole life story is in this one room. Each picture could hold different meanings.

I look at one of the photos of her, she looks about 13 years old. It's before she was diagnosed, I'm assuming. She's with some other girls and everyone looks really happy.