Heyo! This IS the chapter!!! The chapter you’ve alllll been waiting for! And OMFG. Only two chapters left after this one, some finalization and then the epilogue. And YES, I have to make this into a five-book series. If you all will support me for that long, that is. But things will be a lot more detailed in the books that consist of her years at college and STUFF. So, yeah, EXCITED at series, sad that this book is going to end. *tear*
Chapter 23-White Room
“It’s a miracle . . . You say she fell . . . ? Yes. . . . Oh yes. . . . Of course. . . . Not for a while, no. . . . No. . . .”
The words were coming through my brain slowly, slowly, as if a messenger snail was bringing them. HURRY THE FUCK UP YOU STUPID MESSENGER SNAIL.
I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids were too heavy. What the fuck? I tried and tried but they would just not lift. Did they tie fucking BRICKS to my eyes or something?
Fight . . . fight . . . fight. . . . Sleep . . . sleep . . . sleep. . . .
NO! FUCK YOU! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
Sleep . . . sleep . . . sleep. . . .
FIGHT.
Sleep. . . .
Fight. . . .
Sleep. . . .
Sleep. . . .
And with that I was lost to unconsciousness again.
***
“Margarita . . . Margarita . . . Margaritaaa. . . .”
Who the fuck is calling me Margarita?
“Dun cowl meh doot,” I mumble, trying and failing to get words out.
A babble of excited whispers broke out, and I could tell that they were shocked that I had actually mumbled. Bitch please. I got this.
“Margarita, it’s okay to wake up. Wake up now.”
Buuut I still couldn’t. Fucking eyelids.
“Done CULL meh dat,” I mumbled again, brows furrowing.
“Her brows furrowed . . . oh my god . . . more progess . . . then I thought. . . .,” a man whispered, but he was so far away that I only caught a couple words.
“Margarita, come on, wake up!” a quiet voice pleaded softly, and this time it came with a little shake.
“Don’t CALL me that!” I yelled, my eyes flying open and shooting daggers at the doctor who was trying to wake me.
“Oh – um – sorry – Margarita, um – your family,” the doctor stumbled, but all my friends and the Bradleys were pounding through the door, throwing hugs on me, a couple kisses on the cheek from the Bradley boys, including Alex *eyebrows raised*, and a full on love-kiss from Clarke. I missed my Clarkey-boy.
“Elle!”
“We were so worried!”
“Sweety, are you all right?”
“How are you?”
“Any pain?”
“You know, they wouldn’t let me come in here while you were sleeping. . . .”
The last one came from Nick, who I promptly punched in the arm so hard that he yelped.
Clarke quickly scooted next to me on the bed, pulling me to him, burying his face in my hair – er, wig. I hugged him with all my might, ignoring the others, just wanting this moment, this one moment, for the two of us.
“What happened?” I asked as I drew away, rubbing my eyes.
A monitor stood by monitoring my heart rate and various other rates that I had no clue what they were. The bed was with white sheets, the walls were white, the doors were white, and the doctors were in white coats. Why so much white? What do the African-Americans think when they come here? No racism intended, of course.
They all went silent, their faces closed, and they took a step back. Someone who must have been the head doctor stepped forward.
“Well, um, it seems, Elle, that your bone cancer has spread to, um, your kidney, which could result in – er – a fatality,” the doctor said, shifting nervously, the clipboard in his hands rattling.
“A what?” Clarke growled through clenched teeth. He was clutching me even harder now, as though afraid I would disintegrate any second.
“A fatality. It means she could die if the cancer kills her kidney, which, as you know, cleans the blood flow and stops infection. If you have a kidney failure, Elle, you could die.”
The whole world seems to have stopped. My heart was pounding, and I got the confirmation from the rapidly beeping monitors. I tightened my grip on Clarke’s hand so hard that I thought he must be losing feeling in his fingers, but he did nothing to stop me.
“D-die?” I stammered, my voice weak and fragile.
“Yes. I’m so sorry. We’re doing all we can,” the doctor said, and with that, he left with a sweep of his white coat.
Another doctor stepped up, fixing his glasses.
“Well, Elle, this is a bit complicated, but I’ll try to explain. The type of kidney cancer you have is renal cell carcinoma, or RCC. A symptom of this was your extreme tiredness. According to our records, you have a family history of kidney cancer, as your mother smoked in her youth, as did her mother and grandmother. Now, uh, treatment is tricky. Usually, for adults, as you are now classified as an adult, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are not necessary. We don’t know yet if the cancer has spread to other areas, so we don’t know if we’ll be able to remove the tumor on your kidney or not. We’re waiting for the test results. If we cannot cure the cancer with surgery, we may use cryotherapy, which is freezing the tumor, or radiofrequency ablation, which is burning the tumor away. These are not used as standard treatments yet, though, so we may have you take a variety of medicines. That’s all we have to work with now,” the doctor said, shrugging and adjusting his glasses again.
*A/N: OH YEAH, I did my research!*
“O – Ok,” I stammered out, trying not to start bawling in front of everyone.
With a curt nod, the second doctor strode from the room.
“At least it’s curable,” Clarke said, pulling me to him again.
But now that the doctors had left, Alexander had his eyes fixed on Clarke, almost menacingly.
“And who the hell are you?” Alex asked, cocking his head at Clarke.
Uh oh. FUCK.
“Her boyfriend,” Clarke hissed, slowly getting off of the bed and standing before Alex.
“Oook I think we’ll leave,” Mary said, and she directed her children all except Alex out of the room.
“Last time I remembered, I was her boyfriend,” Alex spat, and I sat there, stunned.
THE FUCK?!
“Not since you broke her heart and STOMPED ON IT by telling her she was DISGUSTING and totally IGNORING her,” Clarke said, and he was yelling now.
“We never officially broke up! You had no right! She was mine!” Alex cried, waving his arms around furiously.
“Mine!”
“Mine!”
“Mine!”
“MINE!”
“MINE!”
“MIIINEE!!!!!”
Okay, NOW they’re starting to sound like those seagulls from Finding Nemo.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I yelled, and they both stopped to look at me, and burst into a furious tirade.
“Can you believe him, Elle? After all he did – “
“We never broke up! How could you go for him – “
“Don’t you love me, Elle?”
“Hey, she said she loved me!”
“You don’t love this joker do you – ?”
“STOP IT!” I cried, grabbing my hair with both hands. “Just STOP IT!!!! If you’re going to fight over me, then NEITHER of you gets me! Now GET OUT!”
They opened their mouths, but I threw my water glass at them, which hit the wall and shattered into a thousand pieces. They quickly exited, and I could hear them barking at each other in the hallway.
I sank back onto the bed, curled up in a fetal position, arms wrapped around my legs, and my forehead resting on my knees.
And I cried. I bawled. I sobbed. There were no nurses or doctors to hear me, so I let it all out. No one came to see me. Clarke and Alex did not return.
I don’t know how long I sat there, curled up, not willing to interact with the world.
How could they make me choose? If they were going to make me choose, then I didn’t love either of them! How could they? Alex knew we were broken up, Clarke knew I loved him. But if they were going to be like this, then . . . then. . . .
Should I choose? If so, which one? Alex, the first one I had truly fallen in love with? The one who I met on the street so many months before?
Or Clarke, the one that had stopped me from jumping off of the dorms roof? The one that had fended off Andrew? The one that had comforted me with all his kisses and hugs?
But Alex, the one who had shown so much disgust toward me, had completely ignored me.
But Clarke, the one who had been blind for so many years, dating so many skanks, and finally realizing my true feelings when I finally got up the nerve to kiss him.
Who?
Who?
~~~
Woooooah, Mamasita! A lot goes on in the next chapter! It’s gonna be a LONG one. She had 2 choose. . . . Who will she choose?! Whose side are you on?!
Comment, vote, ALL THAT GOOD STUFF. I want to know what you guys think, because I might base it off of the fan’s reactions ^.^ EVIL MEH!
Well, bye-bye! Toodles! Tata for now!
xoxo
xx
HHR4ever
<3