The New Light of Hope: Books I to VI.

Chapter XXVII: Good News.

TW:

- Mentions/use of alcohol.

Summer:

Date: June 27, 2020.

On that day, Kyle had to handle some business with his brother and his friend and I was left hame alone. Yet still, I was filled with concern for Autumn after hearing that the anesthsia she was given had worn off mid surgery two days ago, and wanting to know so badly if she was going to be okay as the hospital hung up afterward. Then my worries began to drown when I went back to the same old, yet wrong habit I had developed when my father had passed away: Drinking. Ever since the day I turned twenty-one back in 2016, one year after my father's passing, I began drinking, but stopped after that same day and I only drank on a few occasions. But come 2020 and after the death of my grandfather, the start of the pandemic, and the death of my mother, I began to develop the habit of drinking excessively to the point where I was in a bibulous state and did things against my own will whenever something bad happened to one of my relatives and I would begin drinking out of my fear, stress and worry for them and their well-being or to get my mind off of their passing or to drown out the shit that was going on outside of my house-- it's wrong to drink and it is bad for your health, I know, but back then, I was so stressed out about what was going on in my life, I couldn't control it even if I tried to; things were complicated back then. And I ended converting back to that old habit when I came back home the night Autumn was rushed to the hospital, which I am sure you probably remember this because I told you about it. But, my worries would go away sooner than I thought. And here is how it happened.

Fourteen days; it had been exactly fourteen days ever since we were informed that Autumn was in the hospital due to a failed stint placement, and yet we still had no answers as to whether or not she was okay! A simple "Yes" or "No" answer with a reasonable explaination is all that we needed to hear from the Goddamn hospital! I mean, was that too much to ask for? I continued to ask myself just why in the hell the hospital hadn't given us any recent updates all while I was sitting down on the couch in the living room, drinking Bumbu rum by pouring it into rum glassware, and I began drinking from there. The cold, vanilla, sweet caramel, and cinnamon-like taste touched my lips and tongue as I drank every last drop of the first drink before drinking another one-- then another, then another, and then another and continued from that point onward.
But then, something happened; just when I got through drinking my eighth drink, I heard my phone buzzing. I looked to see the call screen with the number "803-323-2015" the phone number of the hospital Autumn was rushed to that night. They must have an update on Autumn! I could not ignore this call now; whether the news was good or not, I had to know what they had to say and find out what was going on with Autumn and so I picked up the phone and drownly answered: "Hello?"

Nurse (On the other end): "Hi, is this Summer Smith?"

Summer: "Yes, ma'am. And who is this?"

Mrs. Cromwell: "This is nurse Amy Cromwell from Felicity Oak Hospital. I am calling to inform you that the surgery to replace Autumn's stint was a complete success! And while the anesthsia did wear off in the middle of the surgery, we managed to again numb her body and continue on with the surgery and all paid off in the end and she is on her way to making a full recovery and gain her strength back. We do apoligize in advance for not updating you on the situation especially what happened the other day when you were cut off. I do deeply apoligize for that and I can promise you something like that will never happen again. And I would also like to infom you that Doctor Brian has been terminated from his job after getting involved in an altercation between him and another person and a few others and we found that he is in fact not an actual doctor with years of experience as pretended to know what he was doing all for the sake of earning money and he will never bring harm to anyone with cancer ever again."

Oh my god, all those night of what I thought were saying useless prayers to the God above in the hopes Autumn would be okay really did work and it paid off in the end! She was okay! My sister pulled through and that bastard was fired for what he had done to her and said to that nurse and he would never hurt another sick person ever again! Oh, how happy I was to know she was going to be all right after spending almost an entire month in the hospital! Thank you, Jesus! Now, I may have been drunk at the moment, but at that moment, I just broke down crying when I heard that Autumn was okay and was on her way to making a full recovery. "Are you all right, ma'am?" She asked when she heard cry over the phone. I replied to her by saying: "Thank you for saving her."

Mrs. Cromwell: "I totally understand that this is a huge sigh of relief for you and practically for the rest of your family and in-laws as well knowing that Autumn is on her way to making a full recovery from her surgery."

Summer: "It really is right now! Thank you so freaking much for saving her and not given up on her even when it seemed like she was a another 'lost cause'! If I wasn't drunk right now, I would go right ahead, drive on over to the hospital, and disobey the CDC guidlines and just hug you right on the spot even though I'm not supposed to! But fuck it, if I wasn't drunk right now, I would drive over to the hospital and hug you! Thank you so freaking much for everything!"

Mrs. Cromwell: "You are most certainly welcome. Now, is there anything else we can help you with while we are still on the line?"

Summer: "Is it okay if I could come to the hospital and speak with her tomorrow? I don't want to speak with her now if she's trying to rest up to regain her strength and she probably needs to rest up after undergoing surgery."

Mrs. Cromwell: "Of course, Mrs. Smith."

Summer: "All right, I will let you go now. And thank you again so much for what you have done!"

Mrs. Cromwell: "You're most certainly welcome, Mrs. Smith. Have a good day."

Summer: "You too. And thank you again for everything. Bye."

Mrs. Cromwell: "Good-bye."

Then we ended the call and I went ahead to call up everyone to tell them the good news that Autumn was going to be okay. God, was I happy to know my sister was going to be okay. It looks like all of those which I thought I was praying only for nothing to happen was worth something after all and I was just impatient during... well, everything. I just worried myself way too much during the whole situationwith Autumn being in the hospital and I felt like I was pushing myself way too much just to get my mind off of the fact that my sister was in the hospital and her life was on the line all because of a family rival opposing as a doctor just for money.

And now I knew... that everything was going to be okay. At least... for now, that is.