10-15-2019
Emery
I know that for some reason, things happen to us. Why they happen, you may ask? That, I am not so sure of. Maybe we did something in our past lives that made us deserve our fate. I'm still wondering.
Finding out news that is unsettling can destroy the way you view the world. Then you have someone come into your world and further change everything you ever believed in. It's crazy how fast you change because of someone. That's what happened to me. I'm not the same. I don't think the same, I don't look the same, I don't feel the same. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to the beginning.
_________________
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Sunlight filters through my curtains slowly. I glance over to my alarm clock and mentally groan. I forgot to change the time last night. It's only 7:15. I'm going to the doctor today to get blood work done for school. My appointment was at 9.
"Emery, if you don't shut off that annoying alarm clock soon, I'm going to make sure it never goes off again!" I hear my brother shout from his room down the hall. I laugh under my breath. "You idiot! You're supposed to be up by now!" I hear a loud thump and a series of curse words from down the hall. He must have fallen out of his bed. Again.
I full on laugh at that. Snorts and all. Then I fall out of my bed as well. "F*ck that hurt!" I scream. That's gonna leave a bruise, I think while standing up and rubbing my thigh. Mason walks into my doorway and looks at me while laughing. "It's not that funny, you jerk."
I walk to my closet after he leaves to pick a comfortable outfit. I grab a short sleeve t-shirt with a dinosaur on it, I'm pretty sure it was my brother's, and a pair of leggings. I don't normally wear short sleeves in autumn, but since I'm getting a needle shoved into my arm, it will be easier to get it into my arm.
I throw my hair up into a messy bun, and when I say messy, I mean so messy birds would mistake it for their nests. As I walk downstairs, I hear moaning coming from my parent's room. I shudder thinking about what goes on behind that door. I know I came into this world somehow, but knowing it and hearing it are two very different things.
When I walk into the kitchen, I see Mason eating my Lucky Charms. No one eats my cereal. "You're such a d*ck." I grumble and reach for the cereal box from the pantry and pour crumbs into my bowl. "YOU FINISHED OFF MY CEREAL?!" I see Mason cringe, knowing that he f*cked up. "Sorry sis." He then scoops more of the cereal into his mouth using my designated ice cream eating spoon. "I can't believe we are related." I say to the d*ck eating my food.
"Hey honey." My mom says while sauntering into the kitchen. Her hair is a mess and Mason and I share a look knowing why. "Hello, Mother." I formally say with a british accent. She chuckles. "Good morning, sweetheart." My dad says from the other side of the room. "No it isn't."
"What's wrong now?" My dad asks sarcastically. "Mason ate all of my cereal!" Mom laughs and smacks Mason on the back of his head. "Well honey, that's okay, you wouldn't have time to eat it anyways. The doctor called me and said that he needs us in earlier to get all the bloodwork done because he has to be somewhere by 10, and we all know how long it takes to put a needle in you." Mom says apologetically.
"Wait, seriously? It's going to take me at least 30 minutes to brush my hair! And I have to make sure everything is clean, and I have to call Olivia and Charlotte, and WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER?" I say in one breath. I tend to panic if I get news. "Hon, you can brush your hair in the car. Let's go." I huff and grab my checkered vans and hop in the car.
Luckily I had a brush lodged under the seat, and tried to make myself presentable before we got to the doctor's office. I took my hair out of the messy bun from earlier and tugged it into a ponytail, and attempted to smooth out the bumps. "After the appointment I'm going to drop you back at home, but I'll be back at three to pick you up and then we have to go to your brother's game." I groan. Mason's games are so boring, and he doesn't even play! He went out for QB, but the bad boy, Kaiden Martin, got it instead. I hate his guts.
The thing about Kaiden is that he only cares about himself and his friend, Carter. Kaiden and Mason used to be inseparable and I remember seeing him and Mason running down the halls. Mason and Kaiden are only a year older than me, so I grew up with him as well. When they hit 10, they stopped hanging out suddenly. I used to pester Mason as to why, but he wouldn't budge. I was bummed when that happened because I had a slight crush on Kaiden, but I knew that it would neve happen between us because he viewed me as a little sister.
________________
We pull up to the dreary doctor's office, and I take a small but deep breath. I have to get a check up because I've been having a few issues that have been affecting my daily life. I send a quick text to Olivia and Charlotte, my only friends, to let them know I can't call them today. We normally Facetime every morning as we get ready, and it's throwing me off that I can't do it today.
I hop out of the car and feel the splash of a puddle from the recent wave of rain. "Shit!" I scream. "Language Emery!" My mom corrects me. I already don't want to be here because I hate doctors and now I have to put up with her too. I've always hated doctors. My dad was in a serious accident when I was 4, and I still have flashbacks to sitting in the waiting room while the screams and coughs of patients surrounded me. Then my grandmother got cancer, and I would accompany her to her chemotherapy sometimes when Grandpa couldn't do it. I hate the smell of medical places, the bleach burns my nose.
We walk in and I go to sit down immediately and leave my mom to fill out the forms. I'm still a minor, so my mom wants to take care of them. It's not like I'm 8, I'm 17. I can handle filling out my own forms. But no, I might give myself a paper cut or break my wrist while writing. I'm surprised my mom lets me go to school with no supervision with the way she treats me.
About 15 minutes later, this stout nurse calls my name out and I get up and send a glance to my mom to tell her to let me go alone. I walk into the room and sit down on the crinkly sanitary paper covering the cot. She takes my blood pressure and temperature. "99.4. That's a little high sweetheart." I know that it's not concerning for most people, but normally my temperature runs at 97.2. It's nice to have a doctor that you always see so he knows exactly what our normal is. Everyone is different and you can't always go by textbooks numbers.
She leaves the room and goes to get Dr. Malcom. He's a very tall, intimidating man. I always have to crane my neck to see him, and he has a full bodied form. If he wasn't a doctor, I could see him being a fighter. "How's my favorite patient?" He asks me while pulling up his computer screen. "I'm okay, but I've obviously been better." I say with an awkward chuckle.
"So what's been going on Emery? Your mom mentioned that you've been rapidly losing weight over the phone." Of course she did. "I have, but you know I eat a lot, so I don't understand why. Now that I think of it, I haven't had that much of an appetite either." He nods and notes all that I tell him.
He comes over and takes my pulse. His hands are freezing. "Emery, have you been bruising easily or having recurring nosebleeds?" I think about my thigh, and how I saw a bruise forming. "Yeah... I've been bruising a lot. But why is this relevant Dr. Malcolm?" He just hums and calls someone on his phone.
"Yes, this is Dr. Malcolm, I need the materials for a blood test for 3B... Yeah... Ok... Room 6. Thank you."
I start to panic at this. I knew they would most likely be drawing blood but I was hoping that it wouldn't come to that. I'm a notorious hard stick. They always end up drawing blood from my hand after it takes them an hour to find the vein in my inner arm. The hand just hurts twice as much. I start to mentally prepare, and take calming breaths. The PT walks in with the test and I lie down.
"Hey honey! My name is Cheryl and I'm gonna need to get some of your blood for tests. Don't worry it's not a lot, just about this much." She holds up three vials that are about the size of my ring finger. Phew, I've had to have more drawn before, so I'll take the small victory. "Can you just go straight to my hand for the vein, my arm doesn't tend to work." I say in a slightly shaky voice. "Of course I can!" And she does just that.
After the blood drawing is done, she covers the puncture with a small piece of gauze folded up. She walks out with my blood, and I sit back up. Dr. Malcolm walks back in after leaving to check on another patient. "We should have those results to you tomorrow morning, so how about a 10:00 appointment?" I just nod my head and hop off of the exam table.
As I walk back to my mom, I contemplate what I'm going to do for the rest of the day. It's only 9;30, so I could go to school, but I don't really feel up to it. Maybe I'll just binge watch some more Grey's Anatomy again. I may hate hospitals and doctors, but who can pass up Patrick Dempsey shirtless?
My mom isn't in the waiting room and I see her already in the car. I sigh, and walk out to her. "I have an appointment tomorrow as well," is all I say to her as i sit down and look out of the window.
__________________
4 hours of crying at Grey's Anatomy later, I hear my mom's car pull up and I go downstairs and hop back in the car. We head silently to the (American) football game, and I secretly wish I was still at home and not here. I'm just hoping that Mason gets field time.
When I get out of the car I head towards the field. The person running the ticket booth knows me and lets me through. At school, I'm kind of popular, but I don't like having many friends because big groups of people give me anxiety. I see the familiar blur of red hair and head towards Charlotte. Olivia is standing next to her but her attention is towards the bench. The bench where only my brother is sitting. Olivia has always liked my brother ever since we were 13.
"AAAH! OMG Char!" I scream as loud as my lungs will possibly let me go. She grins widely and embraces me in a warm hug. "Em! I missed you at school today!" She screams into my ear because of how loud the stadium is. Olivia walks over to me as well and gives me a hug on top of Charlotte. "Hey Em!" She says.
We all giddily sit down and wait for the game to start. Olivia always brings blankets and she hands me one. Char sits the entire game, but I don't blame her because she's constantly tired. She's studying to go to Harvard Medical. She has her entire life mapped out, and I don't even know what I'm doing tomorrow other than the doctor's appointment.
________________
Our school wins the game, with no help from Mason. Kaiden, as much as I don't like him, is a good football player. I can tell he's not passionate about though, just by the way he doesn't celebrate with everyone else after having over a 10 point lead on the other school because of him. Kaiden insteads sneaks off to the corner and I can't help but notice the miserable glance he sends at Mason before he leaves the stadium. I wish I knew what happened between the two of them. After they stopped being friends Kaiden started skipping school and hanging with Carter, who comes to school once a week, if that.
Why are you thinking so much about Kaiden, Em? He's a jerkbag.
I walk over to Mason and congratulate him on his excellent bench riding skills. "Bitch.." He mutters. "Wanna say that louder so that Mom and Dad hear you?" I say. Our dad is the coach of the team so you'd think that Mason would get some field time, but Mason sucks. Really sucks. He's only on the team because our dad pulled some strings so that his prize boy could experience the "joys of football".
We all head back to the car after I say bye to Char and Olivia. I snuggle up in the backseat using Mason's hoodie that he left back here. I always steal his clothes because all of mine are too tight and frilly. I prefer the styles of guy clothes in all honesty. It's all loose and not so constricting. Don't get me wrong, I'm not transgender or anything, I just like the freedom they give me.
I head to bed immediately and make sure to set my alarm to an appropriate time. I text the girls that I won't be able to Facetime again and they both understand. They saw how crappy I looked at the game. The minute my head hit my pillow I was out.
____________________
10-16-2019
When I wake up, the first thing I notice is how quiet it is in my house. There's normally the sounds of my brother trying to quickly get ready or my father screaming into his phone about games. Since they both left for the school, it's only me and my mom, and she's busy in her office working from home.
I thump down the stairs and eat a banana. I haven't had my appetite lately, but I will make sure to eat a big lunch or dinner to make up for the lack of breakfast. I then get ready. I put on an oversized sweater that is the color of the deep ocean and a pair of dark grey leggings. I throw on some Navy Blue Converse and curl my long brown hair. When the clock hits 9:30 I go downstairs and see my mom waiting for me with the car key in hand. I would just drive myself, but my mom doesn't trust me. We go to the car and drive to the office.
_______________
When we arrive Dr. Malcolm is waiting in the waiting room for me. His face is set in a grim position and I feel chills go down my spine. He gestures for both my mom and me to come back with him into the same room I was in last time.
"Mrs. Williams, Emery, the results from your blood test are back. I'm sorry to say that the results are not good." My mom reaches over and grips my hand firmly. I start to panic. He hands my mother a piece of paper and I glance over at it. None of it makes sense. "We will work with you closely on it to make sure it doesn't progress rapidly." To make sure what doesn't progress? "I can tell you're confused Emery." He says.
"What are you trying to stop, Dr, Malcolm?" I ask hesitantly.
He says in a calm and passive voice, "Emery, you have Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia."
AN: So that's the chapter. Updates will be slow but I'm really happy with how this chapter came out. I do research on the illness before I write about it, but if you know anything about ALL please don't hesitate to inform me if I got any information wrong. Thank you guys :)
-V
Word Count: 2847 Words