Saving Max

Chapter 13

 I walk in to the small hospital room, a sigh escaping my lips. "Britt, honey, are you awake?" I whisper, my hand falling softly on to her shoulder, my eyes sad as I take in her frail appearance.

I came in to work today, instantly being told the terrible news concerning Britt's health. Her parents have decided that they don't want to go through with the surgery to remove the tumor, seeing as the risks are just too high. And even if the doctors do succeed, there's still a very high possibility that Britt could have life long brain damage. Her parents want her to live her life health, laughing and smiling all the way through it, not as a lump hooked up to life support, laying motionless in a hospital bed. They'd rather see her happy and energetic forever, even if her forever is ending sooner than they hoped.

She's very weak due to all of the pain killers they've been pumping into her body for her aching head, and she's tired almost all the time.

I decided to take my dinner break early and bring her and I in some crappy cafeteria food. Britt's mom and dad are in a meeting with the doctors right now, so they couldn't eat with us, unfortunatly.

"Hmm?" she stirs, making me sigh in relief. After I shook her gently, she didn't move, and it was beginning to worry me.  "Bella?"

I smile, running a soothing hand through her short hair. "Yeah. It's me, I'm here."

She slowly sits up in the bed, me only putting a guiding hand on her back to assist. She's very independent, and doesn't like the fact that she has to let all of the people here at the hospital take care of her. Even at her young age she's nothing short of incredible, and it never ceases to amaze me.

"I'm hungry." she puffs, making a grin form on my face as I reach behind me and pull out the two cafeteria trays.

"If I had the time, I would have snuck us in some Burger King, but I was really busy tonight. Sorry, kiddo." I hand her the food, receiving a grateful smile from the small girl in front of me.

We eat in silence, Britt content to just shove forkfuls of mashed potatoes in her mouth, barely pausing to breathe between bites.

I'm a little slower with my food consumption, taking my time with it since I went out to eat with Josh and his 'girl that's just a friend' before coming in to work three hours ago. I didn't do a lot of talking, seeing as the two 'friends' were doing enough talking for an entire family, much less the three of us. But I didn't mind, to be honest. It was mildly entertaining, actually.

And I got a free Mushroom Swiss burger and large Coke out of it, so I wasn't really in the position to be petty because they didn't let me in on much of the conversation.

"So, how are you feeling? Any better?" I question Britt, pushing my half eaten tray on to the small bedside table.

She shrugs, letting out a rather long breath. "My head hurts all the time, no mater how much medicine they give me, so that sucks. And I'm going to be losing my hair soon, maybe. But the doctors said that they might not even try chemo, so maybe not. They said that since it didn't work the first time it probably won't work this time, either."  My eyes go wide at her words, anger filling me. They're not even going to try? They're just going to give up? They can't-I won't let them. "Are you going to eat that?" Britt points to my uneaten food, a small blush on her face.

"No, you go ahead and have it." I wave it off, the full sentence not even coming out of my mouth before my tray is in her hands, food stuffed in her face.

She stops suddenly, corn falling out of her mouth as she speaks. "Sorry." she smiles sheepishly at me. "They don't really give me all that much food because I can't keep it down. I hate it. Just because I throw it up doesn't mean that I'm not hungry."