This Little Light of Mine

7: 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐃𝗼𝐧'𝐭 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐌𝐲 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐲

August 3rd, 2030

    "Mama, Daddy!" were the words that could be heard early that early August morning. Bennett had come running into her parents room, and climbed on their bed almost immediately. "Well good morning to you too, princess," Tim said, as Lucy laughed. "You must be having a good morning" Lucy said, as the five year old nodded. "I was playing with Max and Kojo, Mama!" Bennett said happily. "Well, that does sound like quite a lot of fun, kiddo," her parents agreed.

    The family all got up, and got ready for the day. They were at the tail-end of Bennett's radiation, they only had a few more days of the back and forth to the hospital, and then radiation will be completed. Only a few more days of the trauma, both parents thought.

    "Hey, Bennie," Lucy said, as the family got ready to head out the door. Bennie turned to face her mother, "Yes ma'am?" The little girl asked. "After your treatment, you can pick anywhere you want for lunch, and maybe we can take you to the park to eat it" she informed her daughter, as Bennett's eyes grew wide, and a smile shot across her face. "Yes please, Mama!" Bennett said extremely excitedly. The parents knew that this treatment session would go just the same as it had over the last few weeks. She'd be fine until they go to the room, and then meltdown. Bennett was just as terrified of needles as she had been, but she was becoming more afraid of the people that actually had to stick her.

    Nonetheless, the parents knew they needed to do it. They had made it this far, and only had a few more days before Bennett would have another MRI completed, and would meet with the doctor to discuss the results, and confirm their visit for the upcoming trial in New York.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The family arrived at the hospital only ten minutes early. They didn't want to get there too early, as that would cause the anxiety to ramp up for Bennett. Since the visit would already be tough and traumatizing for her, they wanted to minimize her anxiety about it as much as they were able to.

    Lucy, Tim, and Bennett headed in the double doors, and down the hallway to check her in. Per usual, Bennett spent the remaining time before being called back playing with some of the toys that the hospital had for all of the children that would come through the doors to play with.

    "Bennett Bradford," came the voice Bennett had heard too many times during this whole ordeal. But, this day was different. In a good way. Bennett put down the toy she had been playing with, before standing up, and taking one hand from each of her parents in her own.

    Bennett walked back to the room with Lucy and Tim. The parents would glance at one another as they walked down the hallway to the room. They were confused. Why was Bennett in such a good mood? They knew it would all come crashing down once she saw the needle, however.

    The family took their standard positions once they had made it into the room. Tim held onto her to keep her from hurting herself or someone else, while Lucy held one of her hands. This time, the fight was minimal. Yes, there were tears, but the screaming? The thrashing of Bennett's small body? Nonexistent.

    Once they had exited the room to wait for her treatment to finish, Tim and Lucy looked at each other. "That was different. She's normally a different kid for this," Tim said, as Lucy nodded. "Very different. I can't say I'm mad about it, though." Lucy said and laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Lucy and Tim were reunited with their daughter not too long after. The greatest part about these treatments was simply how short they were. Granted, the trauma was massive, but they weren't there for longer than two hours, which always helped.

    Bennett was released very shortly after the reunification. Sticking to her promise, Lucy made Tim swing them through a drive-thru, once again picking up Bennett's favorite food: tacos. After they had picked up their lunch, they headed to the park that was near their house. They ate their lunch altogether, before Bennett went to play. "She seems better today, Tim." Lucy said, as the two of them watched their five year old play. Tim nodded his head in agreement, before he said, "I think you're right. She's running, playing, eating way better than she was. Maybe this means the radiation is helping." Lucy nodded, "I hope it does. Either way, I guess we'll find out next week."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The two and a half hours the family was at the park seemed to fly by. So, it was time for them to head back to the house, check on the dogs, and rest a little bit.

    Per usual, when they got home, Bennett's first stop was petting the dogs. Once she had the chance to greet both of them, she headed over to the couch, before playfully flopping down onto it, giggling as she did so. Max, of course, climbed up right beside her, and laid down, no more than five or ten feet away from her. Lucy and Tim watched in pure joy as their daughter was seemingly better than she had been. She had been having a truly great day. It couldn't get much better than that, but little did Tim and Lucy know, was that it was about to get a whole lot worse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Bennett's bedtime routine went off just as flawlessly as it did everyday. Bath, a little extra playtime, and then bedtime stories. Her parents tucked her in just like they did every night, before each of them planted a kiss on her forehead, and headed out of her bedroom. They then cleaned up the rest of the house, before going to their own bedroom, which was right down the hall from Bennett's.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Everything was fine. Until around midnight, anyway. Lucy and Tim were still awake, they had been discussing what they were going to take to New York, things they believed they'd need, and where they were going to stay while they were there.

    That was when they heard the noises coming from Bennett's room. They rushed out of their own bedroom, and rushed down the hallway to hers. There they found their daughter, sitting up in the bed, after having vomited all over herself and the bed. "Oh, baby girl," Lucy said, as they made their way over. Tim immediately went and started a warm bath, for Lucy to get Bennett cleaned up. While they did that, Tim took her sheets, comforter, and anything else that had been hit down to wash them, and replaced the sheets with another set.

    That wasn't the only time she got sick that night. She got sick three other times between midnight and seven the next morning. Lucy and Tim had put her in their bed, to keep an eye on her. It was then that Bennett began complaining that her "eyes were blurry", and that her head was hurting. That was the radiation. After so long of minimal to no side effects, they had hit sweet Bennett, and they hit her hard.

    They had a good day, even calling it a great day after her treatment. The side effects worried them, but they knew it was the price they had to pay. Anything to buy more time with her. And it broke them to watch her struggle. Little did they know, the struggle will only get worse over the next few months.