Letting you go [COMPLETE]

Chapter 25

Unedited.

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It's been a week. A whole week of lying on a hospital bed, IV drips in my arms, monitors constantly beeping in my ear. The only times I've been allowed to get up is to shower and use the toilet. Both those times I've had someone with me the whole time, holding me up. And, it has to be said, a stranger, nurse or not, holding you up when you have nothing on is the most uncomfortable experience in the world.

There's unfair rules. No quick movements. No moving without someone monitoring me. No standing. Mum and dad aren't allowed to visit, unless it's between the hours of nine and twelve in the morning. For dad, who works during the day, that's means he's only had the chance to see me once this week.

The only company is the nurse constantly checking my vitals. Sometimes they strike up polite conversations about the weather or what they're doing that night. They don't ask how I am, avoiding the question like it's the plague. Anything personal or about my health they avoid at all costs.

Most of the time, they work silently, even if there's two of them in the room. I try to ignore they're there, pretending

Since they've banned me from using my phone, I can't even entertain myself with a game. Texting isn't an option, though I don't have anyone to text anyway. Rachel is out, considering I haven't spoken to her for at least a month. Besides, there's nothing to say. We can't meet up anywhere. I can't tell her that I'm in the hospital because of cancer.

I've been tempted to break the rule a few times, just to say something to James. He'll want to know what's going on, and I just want to talk to him.

But I haven't picked up my phone to text him.

He's put up with a lot. A meltdown. Needing to sit with an oxygen machine constantly. The last thing I need is for him to see me in hospital, pale and ill. No one wants to see their girlfriend in the hospital.

Girlfriend.

I can't help but grin—the nurse in the room glancing at me warily. I have a boyfriend. I'm someone's girlfriend. It's still too surreal to believe.

With nothing else to do (aside from sleeping), I've been thinking about James and I constantly, wondering how it even started. It's fitting really. Outside of a hospital, just after I'd almost died. From there it had been texting. Then a trip to the city, where we'd acted like children splashing at the beach. After that, a meltdown at his house. Then he'd asked me out.

Now we were dating.

It was hard to believe that it had all taken place in two months.

Two months ago, I'd have laughed at anyone telling me I'd have a boyfriend in the future.

"Miss Adams? Lie back, would you? I need to take a blood sample."

I glance at the elderly nurse, face lined with wrinkles. She's always smiling and somehow manages to keep up the façade. Wordlessly, I do as she says, lying flat and glancing at the white ceiling. It's the same ceiling in every hospital room, though the layout of each room varies.

For the first two days, they'd kept me in the oncology ward, where they'd completed tests throughout the day. Once they'd all been completed, I'd been taken to the children's ward. Five days later, I'm still there.

Every day, a nurse comes in to take a blood sample. Used to the needle, I just give them the inside of my elbow, closing my eyes as it pierces my skin. It's to monitor my vitals, they say, and so they can tell in advance if anything is fluctuating. Truth be told, I don't actually know what they mean by 'fluctuating' but I just nod as if I know.