His Song

Chapter 19: The Hardest Part of This is Leaving You

Brendan's P.O.V.

I wake up around ten on Sunday. Last night with Brianna was amazing. It was almost as amazing as our first date. The worst part about that one was it was ruined.

 I go downstairs to see my mom laying on the couch.

 Dad was probably still asleep. Mom was laying on the couch with a bottle of ibuprofen and a glass of water on the coffee table. "Are you okay?" I ask. She nods and replies, "Yeah, I'm just feeling crappy today. I'll be fine." It was probably her period. She didn't want hysterectomy done, so she still menstruates.

I walk into the kitchen and brew some coffee. I only drink coffee when there are creamers and sugar in it.

I pour some of the hot black liquid into a cup. I find the sugar and cold creamers to pour in there. Pure cane sugar with hazelnut and Coldstone ice cream creamers. I stir the coffee to mix it. I take a sip with caution because it was probably still very hot. It tasted perfect.

I walk back into the living room and sit down on the sectional and scroll through my phone on Instagram. (Go ahead and call me a loser.) I got a notification saying: You were tagged in nine posts. I touch each one and they were all pictures of me and Brianna with #favoritecoupleday, which was yesterday. To show some respect, I liked each picture.

Mom sits up and tries to get up. I shoot up and say, "I'll get you some coffee." She looks at me and says, "I don't need coffee, I need to pee." Well, that was embarrassing. I nod and sit back down. As she's walking slowly to the bathroom, she starts to walk funny. "Mom," I ask, "are you sure you're alright?" She nods and says, "Yes, baby, I'm just fine." As soon as she finishes her sentence, she faints. "Mom!" I yell in fear. "Dad! Get up! Come in here!" I hear my dad reply, "What's wrong?" He walks in and sees his wife passed out on the floor. "Call 911," he demands. I nod and call 911 with my phone.

~~~

An ambulance arrives and we follow behind in my dad's car. I was terrified. What was wrong with her? We arrive at the Memorial Hospital, the same one I was at, and walk (more like run) into the emergency room. A doctor comes up to us and starts asking questions. "Has she taken any medicine in the past 24 hours?" I answer, "I saw her with a bottle of ibuprofen this morning when she was laying down." He nods and continues. "Has she been in pain lately?" Dad and I both nod. The doctor writes down some stuff and says, "We're going to run a few tests to see what's wrong. In the meantime, she'll be in room 517." My dad nods and says, "Thank you." The doctor nods politely and walks away. "Well," I say, "we better get to the fifth floor."

We find a nearby elevator and go up to the fifth floor. We find some chairs across from the room Mom was in and sit with anxiety. I was praying silently in my head for her. I didn't want to offend somebody, hence why I did it quietly.

After an hour, the same doctor from the ER walks up to us and says, "Adrienne is awake. You can see her if you'd like."

We walk into the small room and see Mom laying in the hospital bed. She looked horrible. Her face was pale and her lips were chapped and lost all color. "Hey guys," she says with a weak smile. I smile back trying to fight back the tears. "How did the tests go?" Dad asks. She answers, "They should be back with the results soon."

After a minute of silence, a doctor walks in and asks, "Mrs. Truscott?" We look in his direction and he says, "The results came back." My dad and I exchange looks in hope and fear. The doctor continues. "I'm sorry, Adrienne, but you have leukemia." No...no! She can't have cancer!

I grab the table beside me to keep my balance because I felt like I was going to pass out. So much was going through my head. First my brother, now my mother?!