His last thought

01| 194

"Hey Morgan" nurse Noel says as I walk into the hospital.

"Hey, I have my volunteer form for you to sign." I say and hand her a piece of paper.

"I'll get to that really quick, but Avery has been asking to see you all morning." Noel says.

"Then I'll head down there." I start walking down the hallway until I reach room 208. The door was already open, so I knock on the doorframe before walking in.

"Morgan!" Avery yells before putting down her book and jumping out of bed to give me a hug.

"Hi Av, how was you're birthday yesterday?" I ask her. "Sorry I couldn't come, what did you get?"

Avery is 10, she's smart for a 10 year old. She has long blonde hair that's almost always in a ponytail or in braids. She's been in and out of the hospital for her heart problems ever since I started volunteering here.

"It's okay, the party was good too. My mom brought cupcakes and we opened presents and some of my friends came." Avery says and jumps on her bed again.

"That sounds fun." I say and sit at the end of her bed. "I have a present for you."

Avery smiles and I pull out a small box from my purse. She unwraps it and opens the small box. Inside were some gold small hoop earrings.

"Can you put them on?" She asks. I gently clip them in and show her what she looks like using my phone camera. A smile appears on her face and she hugs me again.

There's a knock on the doorframe, and I turn around and see Ms.Hunter, aka Averys mom standing there.

"Hi Morgan." she says and walks in.

"Hey." I say and stand up out of bed. "I was just leaving."

"Mom look what Morgan got me!" Avery tells her mom, and shows off her new earrings.

When they were talking, I snuck out of the room end went back to the front desk.

"How come the door to room 194 is closed?" I ask them.

"New patient, stage three brain cancer, Glioblastoma. He just moved to town a few days ago for looks at a new treatment plan." Noel tells me.

"How long has he had it?" I ask her.

"Over three years. He's had chemo therapy twice and radiation." She tells me. I nod, and walk over to his room. The door was still closed, so I knock.

The door swings open. Standing there was a brunette boy with messy hair and green eyes. He had a white champion hoodie on and black sweats on. He looked around my age, which confused me.

"Can I help you?" He asks.

"Are you the new patient?" I ask surprised.

"No, I just hang out in hospital rooms for fun." He says sarcastically. "I'm just here for a few days."

I nod, and he slams the door shut but I stop it with my foot.

"Are you alone?" I ask. "Like, no parents, so siblings here..."

"My parents are working and my brothers at school."

"It's Saturday?"

"College, dumbass." He says and sits down on his bed so his back is to me.

"You know you don't have to be an asshole, right?" I ask, then hear a flick of a lighter.

I walk around the bed and see him smoking something, and I snatch the cigarette out of his hand.

"What the hell?!" He yells. "That's mine!"

"What the hell?!" I repeat. "Do you want to get fucking lung cancer too?!" I stomp on the bud to put it out.

He stares at me in shock. "How do you know that?"

"It's a simple question to ask a nurse." I tell him. "And if I'm being honest, when I walked in here I thought you'd be like 8."

"So you're asking around about me?" He asks with a smirk.

"Again, I thought you'd be 8."

It was quiet for a little bit before he spoke up again.

"Why are you still here?"

"I was going to try and cheer up a new patient but I guess this ones just a asshole." I say and walk out.

"Wait." he yells from the doorway. "What's your name?"

"Morgan." I yell. "You?"

"Asshole." he yells back, then I hear his door shut.

Not going to lie, that made me chuckle a bit. I walk back over to the front desk and see Paige there instead of Noel.

"Can you tell me about the boy in 194?" I ask her.

"Good morning to you too, Morgan." she says sarcastically. "How come?"

"We had a..weird encounter." I tell her.

"Yeah tell him not to scream asshole so the whole hallway can hear." Paige says and pulls out a file. "Caleb Hall, he moved here from Mississippi. 16 years old, 120 pounds, stage 3 brain cancer and needs to be cleared for school."

"School doesn't start for a week." I tell her.

"Good things he's here now. These check-ups can take a day or two. You know."

"Why didn't Noel tell me that he was 16? I walked in there thinking that he was 8!"

"He's 16 and really grumpy today." Paige says.

"I saw."