Chapter Twenty-Three ~ Boneheads
Excuse mistakes, for I have yet to proofread
I can't express this enough, this chapter- and possibly the next few- will be written in third-person omniscient, meaning that it will almost be like I'm reading or telling this story to you, instead of Ava. The reason to this is because my usual first person Ava, who explains the story isn't aware of what is happening right now, so she cannot explain it to you and may never able to either. So this way you'll be able to know what's exactly going on even if Ava's not there.
And another thing I can't express enough is that this book is fictional, this means it's made up. Sometimes things may not add up scientifically/medically because unfortunately I'm only a fourteen year old girl and I get most of my knowledge from the internet. I've tried to make this as realistic as possible and do correct me politely if you see a mistake but if you do not know what you're talking about- then leave it be. Enjoy & happy readings.
Third Person View
Cooper was frantic from the moment Ava showed signs for loss of breathe. Somehow it had become difficult for Ava to stand straight, speak coherently, or breathe easily.
Cooper had jumped to her assistance immediately and made her sit down and relax on the ground before he called the ambulance in fear she could have a panic attack.
Some could say it was drastic to call an ambulance but Cooper acted on instinct from that moment on. Obviously something was going wrong, anyone could figure that out- What? Cooper figured a Doctor would be best to go to.
Fortunately Ava could hear muffles of Coopers voice or she might of went straight into a major panic attack but her vision was becoming blurry and she hadn't even realized she was fighting herself from going to sleep.
"Ava, Baby cheeks, just keep your eyes open for me." Cooper's voice was probably heard from around the whole block- He knew he didn't need to yell but his own panic had probably made him not even realize he was yelling, not to mention Ava barely even hearing it. "The Ambulance- They're- They're coming."
The usually calm neighborhood had ambulance sirens now circling the streets towards their current destination, some of the residents started to come out and check what the noise was for, and Cooper was cursing at how long they were taking.
Obviously Cooper knew they were coming as fast as they could but could you blame him for how he reacted.
Now in most cases it wouldn't have been as dramatic as this, but with the amount of emotions both of the two were feeling before added to it.
Finally the ambulance arrived, strapping her onto the stretcher for extra precaution and giving her oxygen to help her breathe. Cooper became worried that they wouldn't allow him on the ambulance with her because he wasn't family but he was relieved when they allowed him on without a question.
Sure, ambulance rates can cost as much as a small car but when Cooper called in, he easily accepted paying for it as long as she's okay. Especially when the ambulance could get her to the hospital way better than a motorcycle.
They arrived at the hospital within a good 3.38 minutes, not that Cooper was counting. Once they began rushing Ava in for immediate tests because they had no idea of what was going on, Cooper hadn't even thought about his fear for hospitals like all his other trips with Ava. This time all that was on his mind was her, and only her.
But Cooper defiantly was getting uneasy, not because he was in a hospital but because the thought of anything happening to her was, well it was almost unbearable.
☯
By the time they got there, apparently Ava's doctor already had an answer to what was happening.
"So explain again what you mean by that?" Cooper asked seriously irritated that someone could have carelessly mixed up something that affected Ava's mental health.
"You were the boy who brought Ava here weeks back, Correct?" Ava's doctor spoke with a heavy accent.
He nodded his head.
"It's seems as if Ava did not just have the flu like we confirmed."
"What do you mean, she didn't have the flu?" He said doubtfully.
"We have just ran some tests to confirm our suspicions but it looks to me that your girlfriend had a virus that attacks the heart."
"The virus is rare and is extremely hard to catch because symptoms only show signs of the common flu. Luckily Ava has those necessary tests done every checkup because of her heart transplant years ago, so we have an answer earlier than usual."
"Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle, in Ava's case because she had virus attacked her immune system too, and it acted as if it were only a common virus, only to be silently attacking on her heart as well." The doctor looked down to close her book and only to look back at Cooper with pity in her eyes. "Sometimes the Myocarditis isn't as serious and can be treated with the same medication to prevent heart failures but unfortunately Ava's heart is already failing and it would be recommended to put her on the waiting list for another heart transplant."
Cooper took in intake of breathe and rubbed his eyes probably to keep from the overwhelming information to hit him.
"I understand this is going to be a big decision
To make but there isn't very much time to wait. Ava is an exceptional candidate for a heart transplant. With her previous recovery with the surgery, prime age, and remarkable health, I feel confident in finding her a heart in time."
Cooper's mind got stuck on the way she said "in time" before she left.
Cooper knew he needed to contact some source of family but he quickly came up blank. Parents gone, no siblings, and her grandma was just recovering from a stroke- in no condition to be hearing or dealing with this.
Before calling both Cooper and her friends, anyone in the hospital waiting room would be able to confirm he did break down in front of all of them with his head in his hands and his body shaking on the floor.
☯
"Can we go see her?" Grace asked Cooper after he explained to both her and Braxton what had happened. They had arrived in a hurry with Grace was hysterical and Braxton calming her down, not seeming to want to leave her side.
"I'm not sure." Cooper mumbled. Even though Braxton and Grace could tell he had been crying with his red eyes and pink cheeks they didn't mention it what so ever.
Grace wasn't pleased with Coopers answer and immediately shook her head and walked over to front desk muttering something under her breathe along the lines of "Boys".
The boys weren't exactly sure what Grace said to the nurse when she first shook her head at her, but in the end after what seemed like a very heated discussion, Grace came back with the room number and floor.
"What did you say?" Cooper asked as soon as they began making their way towards the elevator.
"That I was a very pregnant best friend and I wasn't going to leave without her room number even if I had to make a scene."
I don't think anyone caught Coopers eyes go wide at this new information that he certainly did not know about, but he just pushed it off for another time, already putting the pieces together.
"But I was seriously thinking about important things on the way too actually." Grace declared to the boys.
"If we do plan to put Ava onto the waiting list for a heart transplant, which I'm assuming we are, how are we?" She raised a brow at the boys.
"What do you mean, isn't it obvious?" Braxton chuckled. "We'd ask the doctor to put her on and-"
"I don't mean that bonehead." Grace exclaimed. "I mean only immediate family is able to actually put her on the list, They won't allow bonehead teenagers do it, and I doubt they'd allow her grandma do it either since she's not quite mentally fit."
Neither of the boys had thought of that, and they both furrowed their brows after receiving this new piece of information.
"That's what I thought." Grace shook her head. "Must I do all the thinking around here?"
The boys stayed silent, none ready to object.
"Well lucky for both of you, I have thought of something. Ava most likely will be spending her birthday in the hospital considering it's less than a week."
"How is that a good thing?" Cooper said, wanting to of spent the day with her and throw a party.
"She'll be eighteen." Grace smirked.
Both boys showed no sign of catching on to what Grace was saying, making her mentally face palm.
"She'll be old enough to sign the papers herself!"
"But will she be here to sign the papers herself?" Braxton thought out loud, the same thing everyone else was thinking.
☯
The three of them arrived at Ava's room shortly after their conversation.
Ava was asleep from the moment they arrived and none of them seemed to speak after their last conversation that put them all on the edge.
Ava's doctor arrived soon too and seemed to notice them all very much on the edge.
"I can tell you're all just dying to ask something, go ahead."
Grace was the first to speak. "If a patient doesn't have any immediate family deemed qualified to consent to surgery and the patient was turning eighteen in a matter of days... would she be able to consent?"
The doctor took a breath in and scanned the six hopefully eyes before smiling comfortably.
"If you are talking about Ava, She is able to consent now actually as long as fully knows what she is getting herself into and knows all the risks."
All three had obviously not known about that when all their worries fell out.
"I'm assuming you do want to put Ava on the waiting list?" They all nodded their heads. "Well when she wakes up for breakfast tomorrow, if you'd all be here and go over everything with me, we could get her consent right away."
They all agreed gleefully.
☯
Not too soon later, Cooper had decided he needed a break from the hospital before he went back tomorrow.
Hoping on his motorcycle after having Braxton drive him to where it was parked across the town, he decided on taking a short road trip to the one person who had been always good at these sorts of situations.
Cooper knew his mother didn't like it when he took the hour long trip to Toronto on only his motorcycle, especially with its rush hour but Cooper almost actually found Toronto's traffic calming- almost just as much as boxing- and seeing his mother would just be the icing on the cake.
If you could imagine this now, Cooper freely riding his dads Harley Davidson down the freeway with his navy blue shirt barely blowing through the wind with his leather jacket on, black jeans, and probably pleasing Ava- His helmet.
Of course Toronto traffic was much different than their small hometown of Pine heights, But being that Cooper and his brother, Jack, lived in the big city of Toronto for a year or two after the accident made Cooper familiarize the big city and all its bonehead drivers.
Cooper hoped he had not wasted his time driving here, only to find out his mother was not accepting visitors again or that she was out for lunch with her fellow friends.
Most people would also find it a hassle to find the centre where his mother lived but again after living here for the past year or so and visiting her three times a week; it was pretty much engraved in his brain.
While Cooper pulled into the visitor parking and paid the mandatory four dollars, he found himself thinking how long it had been since Jack visited their mother- or even- how long it had been since he had visited his mother.
The last time he had visited his mother was the night he and Ava boxed together. He remembers how she wanted to keep hanging out only to find he already had plans; she thought plans with another girl- Plans with a woman actually.
As Cooper entered the fenced building, he noticed his favorite nurse Rosie was on- his favorite because how well she treated his mother and the other residents, not as a charity case but as a close friend.
She immediately waved cheerily at Cooper with a bright smile forming on his lips as she typed something onto the front desk computer. Rosie was dressed in pink and white scrubs; although she was a bit older she could easily pull off the red lip stick she sported with her blonde pixie cut.
"Hello Rosie." Cooper said while embracing her in a hug even though she had to reach over the counter.
"Cooper! I haven't seen you at least for a month, where have you been?" She exclaimed, maybe a little irritated that he may have pushed his mother aside.
"You know mom doesn't like it when I travel in." He excused.
"And that never stopped you before."
"Maybe I've suddenly noticed the importance to a mother's word?" He laughed with Rosie, although she could tell something was off about him, she didn't push it. "Do you know where she is?"
"You're mother? Yes, she's in the swimming pool with Shawna and Carry."
"Great." Cooper said sarcastically, preparing himself to see a bunch of older women in their bathing suits.
Once Cooper arrived at the swimming pool, he found his mother and her two girlfriends sprawled out in the middle of the pool doing synchronized swimming with their flowery swim caps on and matching bikinis.
Cooper had tried to be subtle when arriving, hoping he could enjoy watching her for a few minutes but quickly destroyed that idea when he let the door slam behind him making a loud 'bang' throughout the pool.
Immediately when Cooper's mother's eyes caught his, a smile exploded across her face but she didn't move- as if she didn't believe it was him.
So Cooper decided to do something he and his Mom always used to do to each other at home.
"Hunny, I'm home!" he yelled throughout the pool in a few octaves lower than his actual voice, before letting a wide smile spread across his face, matching his mother's exactly.
"Cooper!" She yelled before running out of the pool towards him.
"Hey, no running on deck!" He yelled at her, before grabbing her before she fell, not caring if he got himself wet.
"My boy!" She smiled bright and kissed his cheeks after she finished hugging him.
Although she was much shorter than her, she managed to pull his face down to her level and continuously kiss his cheeks.
Coopers mother, Robin, was short and petite were both her boys got her husband's frame. Her brown hair that both her boys got, was down to her hips where she had a flower tattoo placed with the name of her husband, Cyrus dancing around it in waves.
She also had few more tattoos. By the bone of her wrist- two little red hearts resembling her two boys. On her fingers were roman numbers on each knuckle or sometimes further up just before the fingernail. Lastly she had a tattoo that looked to previously been a drawing made from a child of a family; her family, with the scribbled name at the bottom, By Jack.
His mother had high cheekbones and thin pink lips that went well with her small frame but if anyone were to come across her, the first thing they'd notice was her eyes. She had eyes that unfortunately neither of her boys had a bright electrifying green.
"Let's go up to my room so I can change." She nodded, pulling Cooper by his forearm with her.
"And now she needs a heart transplant." Cooper finished his story on everything that had happened while he was gone, finishing with today.
"She's defiantly going to need her friends the most right now." His mother concluded while she was wrapped in her satin, Japanese themed robe. "And knowing from experience, lots of people don't like to donate their loved ones organs, but the ones that do are some of the bravest, and most generous god could offer."
"I was there when she caught the virus; I should have noticed it was more than the flu."
"Even the doctors couldn't, what makes you think you could my boy?" Cooper sighed to his mom and shrugged. "Did you know your dad's heart went to a little girl and saved her life, from what I know she's still healthy and well today."
"Did you donate anything else?" Cooper wondered out loud, forgetting it could be a sensitive subject.
"His eyes actually." Mom proudly told him. "Saved a little boy from becoming permanently blind." She smiled.
Cooper knew his mom was always the giving type, before the accident she worked at the soup kitchen, volunteered at benefits, and even though she was an excellent artist she often put her work in charity auctions.
"I hope I can come home soon and meet this girl." She smiled hopeful. She was right though, she had been showing huge improvement throughout the last few months and Cooper had talked previously to her doctors and nurses that it won't be long until she'll be able to return home.
"If this girl lives."
"Cooper Tyrone Kingsley, don't you dare speak so negatively!" Robin yelled before hitting him across the arm angrily. "It's negativity like that that got your father killed and soon get you as well!"
"Yah yah." Cooper waved it off.
"I'm serious Cooper, he couldn't look at the good in the things when something went wrong and I believe that's what killed him." She said seriously. "If you think talking about him will get me to relapse then you're wrong, talking about him is what is getting me better and looking at the good of things is what will get both of us better."
"What's wrong with me?" Cooper laughed at her for including him.
"You're too much like your father." She laughed with him shaking her head.
Later when Cooper was saying his goodbyes to his mother and Rosie, he received a text from Braxton.
Thinking it would be one of his usual lame jokes, he opened it ready to rate it out of ten of how lame it was like they always did.
But instead it read
Braxton: They found a compatible heart.
Long time no see my loves!
I know that this is medically possible on what Ava is going through for I had just attended a benefit that my gran hosted for a close family friend who is going through something similar to this. His name is Dwayne and he is one of the sweetest guys I've just met and always has a smile on hi face even though considering the situation. Please send your prayers to him even though he's a stranger for his time in need because he is defiantly one of the better people in life that doesn't deserve this.
But on the bright side, we raised $30,000 for him with just over 200 people attending the benefit.
I know I've taken a while to update but in all honesty, I'm not sorry. It took me a while to get the creative juices flowing and if I wouldn't of taken this long it wouldn't have been as good as it was, I'd rather it take a little while than expected than have a shit story. I also have been quite busy lately with Volleyball lately and i'm actually currently at provincials writing/finishing this for you guys.
QOTD: what's your favorite subject? Mines math, Mostly algebra.
Anyways, I'll see you all soon.
For now my loves,