The Story Of Us

I Can Handle It

They soon connected Mitch up to this drip that had a orange type liquid in it. It kind of looked like orange aid. A wire came down to go into Mitch's catheter in his hand.

"That tickles." He giggled as the liquid slowly trickled down the pipe and into a vein. Mitch pulled his legs up so that he wasn't stretched out the full length of the bed. "You should sit up there." He patted the space at the end of the bed.

I sat down gladly. The bed was much more comfortable than that chair that I had been sat in. I crossed my legs, resting my elbows on my knees and my head on my hands.

"Can you reach for my bag?" Mitch asked. I had gone home earlier and packed a bag for him, with pjs, clothes and wash stuff. He told me specifically what bag to bring.

I leaned over and placed his bag between the two of us. He reached his left arm up and rummaged through it, reaching deep into the bottom. His hand soon emerged with a black box in his hand. "Cards against humanity!" He shrieked dropping it down in front of me.

I threw his bag to the floor and gave Mitch seven of the White cards, doing the same for me. Flipping over one of the black cards I announced, "What are my parents hiding from me?"

I looked down at my cards and scanned them, my eyes immediately fixating on one of the cards. I took it out and placed it upside down on the bed. Mitch did the same smirking at me.

I flipped over the cards. "What are my parents hiding from me? I said, Grandma!" I stated, Mitch laughed but I could tell he thought his was better. "What are my parents hiding from me? You said, Harry Potter erotica." I barely finished the sentence before I burst out laughing.

The day carried on like that. It took two hours for the whole bag of chemo to go through Mitch. They then monitored him for another three hours. He slept for an hour and a half of them. Then they told him he could go home and he couldn't of been happier.

They gave him a portable oxygen tank that had to be attached at all times. They gave me three other ones and told me that they would last until we next came to hospital. They also gave us one for nights. They filled two bags with bottles of pills. They gave both of us instructions of when and how many to take. They also showed me how to connect and disconnect the oxygen tanks.

He seemed to walk slower than usual though, a subtle limp appearing every now and again. The nurse walked down with us, she stood on the other side of Mitch. She gave me pitiful looks every time I looked at Mitch.

I helped Mitch into the car and she stopped me before I could get in. She handed me a card. "Call us if anything happens. I'll be over tomorrow afternoon. You need to know, that limp is going to get worse. His bones are growing hollow. He'll be stiff after even a little walk. He won't be able to pace around the mall or run around the city." She said to me.

I turned to look at him sat in the car, his head tilted back against the head rest of the seat as he tried to regain his breath. "I can handle it." I whispered, opening the door of the car and sitting in. "Thanks." I said.

I closed the door and looked at him. He breathed in deeply through his nose. That's where the cannula was sending oxygen. He opened his eyes and turned to me.

"Here we go." Mitch said, his breath returning to normal. He smiled at me and I started the engine.

When we got home I forgot that our place only had stairs to get into our apartment. I looked at Mitch unsure of how he'd take it. He was nearly asleep on his feet anyway. I think a flight of stairs would just knock him out.

I swiftly scooped Mitch into my arms, pulling the oxygen tank onto my back, careful not to disconnect it. He wrapped his arms around my neck and rested his head against my chest. I began to walk up the stairs, carefully watching my footing.

When I reached the landing I stopped for a breath. "My hero." Mitch whispered. His eyes were drooping closed and his grip around my neck loosened.

"We'll get you into bed in a minute little one." I knocked on the apartment door with my foot, hoping either Mitch's parents or one of the boys were home. I had text them to tell them what was going on and when we'd be home.

Recently we had moved to a new apartment with Alex, Chris, Justin and Hayden. It was a much bigger apartment. And it was great to have more of my best friends around. Although now I was going out with Mitch. We had separate rooms but Mitch mostly stayed in my bed.

The door cracked open and I saw Alexander standing in the doorway. He looked down at Mitch and frowned. I could tell he had been crying. Everyone cried when they found out but that was natural.

I walked through the door and smiled at Alex. "I'm going to go put him to bed." I whispered.

I walked down the hall to his bedroom and tucked him into the bed. Sitting on the side of the bed I watched his face relax. It was weird seeing a long tube of plastic running under his nose. I'd have to get used to that one. I slowly leaned down and gently pressed a kiss against the side of his head.

I crept out of his bedroom closing the door and walking back to the sitting room. Alex was sat on the edge of the sofa ready to ask me a million and one questions. I looked around for Mitch's parents. "Where are his parents?" I asked. I had text them that morning to tell them that we would see them back at the apartment.

"Went out for food. They both cried all of last night. I didn't sleep much. Then you text me and...." He stopped himself. I could tell he was trying not to cry.

I walked across the room and placed Mitch's bag down on the couch next to me. I emptied out his clothes and wash stuff, carefully folding them and placing them on the couch. Then I came to the two big bags of pills. I removed each bottle and placed them on the side.

When I had finished they were all lined up on the coffee table. I could feel Alex's eyes burning into my skull. I counted each bottle. There was probably ten there. Some liquids most tablets.

Alex moved across the room and sat down next to me. I felt the tears prickle my eyes. "He doesn't deserve this." I whispered letting a tear slip down my face. Alex wrapped his arms around me and I let myself cry.

"He doesn't need to do this on his own, Scott." Alex reassured me.

"Yeah, but what happens when I buckle under the pressure. There are ten bottles of medicine sitting on our coffee table. That is to be consumed by one person in two weeks." I took a sheet of paper out of my pocket, almost ripping it in the process. "You see this? This is the schedule for taking those pills." Alex took the piece of paper off of me and his eyes widened. "Five times a day. Four different pills." I said.

I immediately stood up and walked out of the room, out the door and down to the car. I lifted two of the oxygen tanks onto my back, the other two piled in my arms. They weren't that heavy. I brought them up the steps and placed them down in the sitting room.

"Scott, you don't need to do this on your own." Alex said as I began to frustratingly go through all the pills and see when I had to wake Mitch up.

"Yes, I do. This is my fault. If I had ignored him and took him to the doctor earlier he would not have been stage four. He would have been able to recover and get back to life. But no. Mitch has always stuck by me. Everything he has done for me. He is the one person that has done everything for me and this is the least I can do to repay him." One of the bottles dropped to the floor as my voice got louder and louder.

I looked down at the bottle which rolled away from me. The noise of it rolling along the floor was the only thing I could hear. It was too much. Too much and I had only just started. I fell back onto my knees. Mitch is going to die and there was nothing I could do about it. I felt the weight of a thousand suns fall onto my back as the tears spilled over my eyes and down my face.

He can't leave me. He couldn't leave me! I wouldn't be able to live without him!!

A/N
Hope you liked
Vote/comment/share

Social media
Tumblr ciaraturner1310
Twitter @CiaraTurner5