Trauma-ridden and adopted by matpat

Sick

-the next day-

I woke up to ringing in my ears. An irritating bell that I couldn't shake out of my head. After a little bit of that torture, I realized that it was my alarm. I tried to reach over to grab my phone but I barely could move my arm. The room started spinning and I fell onto the carpet. I flicked my finger onto the off button and mustered up the energy to stand up. However, I immediately lost balance and toppled over onto my bed. As soon as I hit my mattress, I collapsed into sleep like a trained marine.

A few minutes, or was it hours? I had lost all perception of time. Steph came into my room and clicked the light switch on. The light seemed to give me a throbbing headache. I buried my head under the covers. "Y/N, get out of bed. You have to catch the bus in half an hour." "Everything hurts." I weakly groaned. "Oh, are you still having side effects from the chemo?" She sympathetically asked. "I think so." I quietly responded. "If you are feeling that unwell, I'm not going to make you go to school, kiddo." "Thank you." "Just try to get some more sleep. The best thing that you can do is rest." She slowly left the room and shut the light off. The splitting pain lightened when the cool darkness took over the room again. "Love you, feel better soon." I would have responded but the sleep fairy struck me again with her wand and I faded into a dream.

-three hours later-

I woke up again, but unlike I had anticipated, I somehow felt worse. Before, it felt like the room was spinning. Now it felt like the house, no, the city. I desperately wanted to hop off this rapid amusement park ride called Earth. I could barely open my eyes, let alone call for help. Luckily my phone was attached to the charger that was in close reach. I used what strength I could give to tug the charger to me. My phone went along with it and I grabbed it. I called Mat. To my relief, he instantly picked up the phone. "Hey, y/n. What's up?" "I am in even worse pain. Am I allowed to take painkillers after the chemotherapy?" I desperately asked. I fought to keep myself from crumbling into a pathetic dusting of ash. "Oh geez, I don't know. I'll call the doctor right now." "Thank you so much." "No problem." Now all I had to do was wait.

After ten minutes Mat came into my room with a glass of water and a single Tylenol. "I heard back from the doctor. Over-the-counter painkillers should be fine." He came over to my bed and saw what a sweaty mess I was. He instinctively placed the back of his hand onto my forehead. "Oh my god, you are burning up." He said, shocked. "Hang tight for a second, I'm going to get a thermometer." He left in a flash and came back barely 20 seconds later with a thermometer in hand. He placed the metal end into my mouth and waited for a few moments. Soon, I heard three consecutive beeps to indicate that my temperature was completely evaluated. His eyes widened to the size of oranges, like in exaggerated cartoons. "103.1 Fahrenheit! This is definitely more than just side effects! I was starting to lose my battle to stay awake and then everything blackened.

The next thing I knew, I was in a generic blue chair in the hospital waiting room, still in the light purple pajamas that I had woken up in hours ago. On one side of me was Steph who was frantically filling out the sheet of paperwork that they made her do. On the other side of me was Mat. My head was rested on his shoulder, his arm around my head. He was holding a bag of ice wrapped in a cloth up to the side of my forehead. He noticed that I was awake and started showering me in questions. "Are you okay? Are the symptoms worse?" "Still hurts." I sickly moaned. Then a spike of pain hopped around my brain, chasing me to recoil into a ball. "Why me?" I complained under my breath.

"I don't know. You just have some horrible luck, don't you?" I wish that you didn't have to go through this. Along with your mental health issues, cancer, and trauma to begin with." Mat empathized with me.    He held me a little bit firmer. "Although, I guess everything happens for a reason. Without the cancer, we would have never met and you would still probably be suffering from abuse." "Yeah...that's weird to think about." I unsurely said. Right...I went out of my way to give myself that stupid cancer in the first place. I had dug this own grave for myself and now the consequences were coming back to bite me. But if I hadn't, it's true, I would still be living with my biological father who I didn't feel comfortable calling my Dad anymore. He would still be alive and hitting me. I would have never met Mat, Steph, Birdseed, or any of the other people that I have encountered in North Carolina. As I was thinking this through, my name was called by the receptionist.

At this point I could walk again, albeit, slowly. But I could make my way down that short walk to the doctor's office. I did with some assistance and once I got there, I promptly shut down yet another time. Despite how much I attempted to answer the doctor's questions, my brain was on lockdown mode and I just couldn't. My parents had to answer them for me to the best of their abilities because I was unable to. I could still pick up on what they were saying, though. The doctor took my temperature again and it had lowered slightly. It was now at 102.7  degrees Fahrenheit. "It looks like the fever peaked a little while ago, so she is well on the road to recovery! From what I can tell, it isn't the chemo, but she had caught an illness because her immune system was compromised. Since it had weakened the immune system so much, a virus that could have easily been warded off actually turned into a more intense sickness. I would recommend continuing to ice the forehead until the fever is broken and Tylenol or Ibuprofen for the pain." "Thank you, doctor." Steph graciously thanked. "It's my pleasure." He pleasantly said and sent us out of the room.