"I'll stand by you. I'll stand by you. Won't let nobody hurt you. I'll stand by you." - The Pretenders
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Recap
"You only have two months left to live."
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I froze up, letting what Doctor Mark just said sink in. Then I immediately started choking on my own saliva. Not the subtle choking where you can kind of hide it in the back of your throat. Oh no, I was full on choking. Coughing loudly and panting. I was a whole mess. Once I caught my breath, I spoke up.
"W-what does this m-mean?" I already knew what this meant, though. I mean, when somebody tells you you have two months left to live, it's pretty self explanatory. I will die in two months.
"Day, it means that you will only live for two months." Mark said softly, like I was a piece of China that would break very easily. "The cancer has spread all throughout your brain, and it will kill you."
I sighed and looked down. In the stories, when you read about people hearing bad news, they normally make a big deal out of it. But right now, I felt calm. I didn't feel sad, or scared. It was almost like I had been expecting this all along. "Should I call my father to come home?"
Mark nodded and I stood up to grab my phone. The phone rang three times before he picked up. I was kind of nervous as to how he would react when he got home.
"What is it, darling? Are you okay?"
Would he get sad when he heard the news?
"Um, yes dad. I'm great. I just need you to come home. Please."
I sounded pathetic. He obviously knows somethings up.
"Is it urgent, or can it wait? I'm a bit busy with some business things, darling."
I don't know, is my death urgent? Or can it wait?
"It's urgent dad. The results to my most recent tests from the doctor came in."
Yes, guilt your busy, single father into coming home by mentioning your doctor and test results. Perfect.
I heard him sigh on the other end.
"Okay darling. I'll be home shortly."
He hung up and I put my phone in my pocket. I walked back over to the couch Mark was sitting on and rubbed my face. I've been sighing a lot lately, it just sort of comes out naturally.
"Everything is going to be okay, Day. He'll be glad you told him to come home early once he hears the news." Doctor Mark wasn't only my doctor, he was like my 37 year old friend, too.
"I know," I sighed for the thousandth time today. "But he might be more stressed out with work and dealing with his dying daughter. He's a busy man, Mark. He runs a high end company and has a lot of work to do. I feel bad, he's been very stressed lately."
I look down at my hands, and Mark grabs them. He then stands me up and hugs me. I relax a little. "Day, he knew that when he took this job offer, he was going to be busy." Mark sat me back down on the couch. "He made the choice to take care of you and deal with a stressful job, but he's a hard working man. He knows how to deal with two things at once. Don't ever feel bad about getting in his way, he loves you and wants you to be happy. He would gladly put down anything he's doing to be with you." Mark gives me a smile and I smile back. Then the door opened and in walked my father. His black hair was messy and his eyes looked tired. I instantly looked down at my lap, feeling tears brim in my eyes. Mark rubbed my back and stood up.
"Please sit down Antonio," Mark said calmly. I wanted to cry. I hardly ever cry, but I really wants to pour out all my feelings. My father sat down and yawned a bit. He looked awful, so tired and stressed.
"These are Day's test results. Please look them over and I will explain what everything means." Doctor Mark handed my dad the folder, and my dad started reading everything carefully. I wanted to throw up. My dad would be even more busy dealing with me and his work. I felt bad, really bad. I guess if you think about it, though, he'll be stress free in two months. Or sooner.
I get pushed out of my thoughts when I feel Mark shaking me a little. "You okay, Day?" He asks silently as my father looks at me expectantly. "Oh yeah, sorry. What did you say?" Mark lets out a laugh, but then says, "Tell your father about your test results, please."
I look down at my hands. I have to do this, he needs to know. He may be even more stressed, but he needs to know. "Dad," I start to say shakily. The tears are burning my eyes, threatening to spill out. "I only have, um, t-two more m-months to l-live." The tears I've been holding in spill out as Mark brings me closer to him. My dad looks at me in shock, he obviously wasn't expecting that. He looks over to Mark to make sure this isn't a prank, and once he realizes it's true, he stands up immediately. But he doesn't stay up for long because he goes crashing down to the floor. It looked like his legs just gave up, as he sat there on the floor. Tears stream down his face as his head hangs down. "Why," he says, but not to anyone in particular. "Why me? Why my beautiful, young daughter? Why her?"
The waterworks kept on flowing from my father and I as I stand up in front of him. I kneel down and hug him tightly. I've never seen my dad cry, and I never wanted to. "It'll be okay, papa." I whisper to him. I only call him papa when he's sad, or worried. "Things will be okay. I believe everything happens for a reason. It'll be okay. I promise."
He hugs me tighter and let's his head rest on mine. After a few minutes we both stand up and thank Mark for everything. He leaves and my father and I snuggle on the couch. We play Disney movies on loop until we fall asleep.
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I woke up to a blinding light. Who opened the darn curtains? I stretch out and roll over. Then I fall. My eyes shoot open as I hit the floor with a 'thud'. I was in the living room. I instantly remembered falling asleep with my father in the couch. Speaking of father, I heard footsteps running down the staircase. My dad runs over to me and picks me up. "It's okay, Day. You're okay." My father cradled me in his arms like a baby. I try to hold back my giggles, but they escape quickly. "Dad," I say with another giggle. "I'm okay, it was only about a foot fall anyways."
He let out a breath of relief and set me down into the couch. I laugh as he walks into the kitchen. I turned the TV on and the same gossip show from yesterday was playing. I didn't bother changing the channel as I scrolled through Instagram.
"Today on CelebGossip, we will, yet again, be discussing Tyler Freeman."
My head snaps up instantly as I move my focus from my phone to this TV show. I've been hearing a lot about this kid Tyler lately, I just don't know what to think. I'm sure he's just another stuck up, rich celebrity like most of the people that are on this show.
"We hear he announced his moving somewhere in Florida on his Twitter account last Friday. The fans are all wondering what town he'll be moving to. Up next on CelebGossip, we'll be talking about Shawn Mend-"
I change the channel. Not because I don't like Shawn, I love Shawn. I just hate that show. It's honestly awful. I walk upstairs to my room. I probably smelt awful since I haven't taken a shower yet. I walk to the bathroom and do all the normal hygiene things. After I freshened up, I decided I was going to go out with my father for some shopping. I run downstairs in my black leggings, a red tee and some white converse.
"Hey dad," I say, casually walking into his office where he was seated.
"Hello darling, how are you feeling?" He asks as he looked up at me. He surprisingly looks well rested, his face was glowing.
"I'm feeling great, actually." I reply, smiling at my father. When he doesn't have bags under his eyes, he's honestly so handsome. He looks more alive, too. "I wanted to know if you wants to go shopping?"
He taps his pen on the desk, thinking for a quick moment before he asked; "What kind of shopping did you have in mind?"
"We could go to one of those cute antique shops uptown and get you more decorations for this boring old office." I replied happily. I love those antique shops, they're honestly so amazing. They just make me feel some sort of way.
"Sure, honey. Let me get my shoes on and we can go." I smiled to myself, this was going to be fun.
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This chapter honestly went no where, sorry it was a little boring. But we did find out how much Day cares about her dad, and how much he cares for her. Soon, you'll learn more about her mother.
Until next time,
Stella