The Girl In Room 417

Untitled Part 14

Sitting in the hospital lounge the next day, I try and stay calm, for Emily's sake. She looks more relaxed than I do, however.

"Ben, would you stop?" She says, slapping my leg which had been jiggling up and down in anticipation.

"I'm sorry, what's taking him so long?" I ask, jerking my head in the direction of the doctor's office.

We were supposed to be discussing Emily's progress, something I was very anxious to know about, but instead we have been kept waiting. I'm not a patient man at the best of times. What if it's bad news? My leg starts jiggling again. Our father was supposed to be here, not me, he would know what to say to reassure her. Here I am, acting like an idiot instead.

Emily shrugs and glares at my leg but doesn't make a move to stop me. My nervous leg jiggle is halted when we hear a wailing resonating from the room. It sounds like a woman in a lot of distress. I gulp, glancing over at Emily who now looks mortified at the prospect of entering that room.

There's a faint murmuring, and I'm assuming that's the doctor. Whatever he says doesn't seem to help.

Another voice chimes in, higher pitched than the doctors and is somewhat familiar. The wailing only gets louder, now an unbearable racket which has my chest feeling very uncomfortable.

The door opens sharply and I inhale quickly.

Abby is stood in the door way looking very panic-stricken at the sight of us. She shuts the door immediately and smiles apologetically. Her hand brushes her hair away from her face and settles into the wheelchair that a nurse is ushering her into. She's wheeled away quickly, whilst the wailing from the room in front of us gradually lessens.

Five long minutes later, a woman exits the office, dabbing her cheeks unnecessarily. She's well-dressed and would appear to be a professional woman if it weren't for the smudges of makeup on her cheeks.

She glances at me and nods. Her gaze moves and lands on Emily, which seems to undo her fragile composure. A sob wracks through her chest and she all but runs away from us.

I clutch Emily's hand in mine, but the damage is done. I curse the witch that made Em feel uncomfortable.

Dr Wells pokes his head out the door and motions us to enter.

"Hi Emily, Ben. How are we this morning? I'm sorry for the delay, I had to break some unfortunate news." He says lightly. I can't help but wonder what it was that had her so upset, was there something wrong with Abby?

Emily mutters a faint reply and Dr Wells asks her some straightforward questions concerning her mood and physical health.

"So, getting straight to the point. Emily's blood work has come back and it's looking very promising. She took her time getting started, but we're now very pleased with the results. In my professional opinion, I think it would be best if we continue with the scheduled cycles of chemotherapy and radiation, however I am very optimistic that we'll be seeing you in remission in the near future."

I can feel my shoulders collapsing with the relief and I exhale harshly, not having realised that I was holding my breath. Emily's beaming, lighting up the room with a 100 Watt smile and I grin back at her, pulling her into a tight hug.

"I'll have a conversation with your father as soon as he's available, explain the details. It's still early and of course, things do change, treatment is different for everyone, but having found the cancer at such an early stage I am very pleased with your progress so far." He continues, seemingly unfazed.

I nod and stand up.

"Thank you, Dr Wells, that's amazing news." I shake his hand firmly and he smiles at me, his gaze flicking to Emily who looks in a dreamy state.

"It's a pleasure to share such wonderful news, I wish it was always this easy." He says with a sad, tight smile and I nod, choosing nod to dwell on it.

I wheel Emily out and we skip down the hall, much to the displeasure of the nurses.

"I'm going to the cafeteria, we'll celebrate with slightly stale muffins and a packet of M&M's." I say merrily and Emily nods furiously.

I chuckle and walk out, a pep in my step as I go. Passing Abby's room, I glance in as I usually do and my steps falter. The same woman is in there, less hysterical than before but appears to be yelling, expressing herself with loud gestures and facial expressions.

I watch Abby roll her eyes and mutter something in response which seems to have this woman furious. It's the first time I've ever seen anyone in that room other than Abby or a nurse. Abby doesn't have visitors.

My mouth falls open as I watch the older woman lunge at Abby, her hand whipping out and slapping her across her delicate face. My face feels as though it's a 1000 degrees and I can almost see the steam coming out of my ears.

My feet move towards the door and I fling it open.

"How dare you hit her." I hiss, my voice deeper than usual and she whips round to face me. She looks very panicked before regaining her composure.

"I did nothing of the sort." She replies snottily. My fists clench and I feel the urge to hit her grow.

"Get. Out." My voice is growing louder and more impatient by the second and now she really does look scared. She remains rooted to her spot so I raise an eyebrow at her. She wants to play? Okay, I'll play.

I stroll towards the button beside Abby's bed and slam it. A nurse is stood in the doorway in seconds and I idly think to compliment them on their response time.

"Nurse? I just found her trying to beat her, she slapped her before I could stop her, see? I'm so sorry but she threatened me and Abby, please get her out." I state, gesturing to the harsh red outline on Abby's face. Abby's heart monitor is racing and it seems to be the icing on the cake.

It seems that my drama teacher was wrong about me in high school, satisfactory my ass, Mrs Smith.

I hear the nurse, who I think is called Janet, escort her outside and I smile when I hear her threaten to report the incident. I look back at Abby, whose face is tainted in disbelief and confusion. Her hand grazes her pink cheek and I tilt her chin, getting a better look at it.

"She hit me." She murmurs, her hand trembles slightly and I cover it with mine. Her doe-like eyes look very frightened and she looks like a child in this moment.

"I'm so sorry." I say gently. Her cheek looks angry but it would go down eventually.

"My mum hit me." She utters quietly, as if in a trance and I stiffen beside her.