PaperTowns: Book Two

The Hospital

I wake up to the sound of the beating of the heart monitor. Mom and dad beside me. Margo, where is she. She should be here next to me keeping me company as I am going through all of this. Like she said, she would always be there for me but today, nope, no sign of her, no sign of her what so ever. Of course there would be no sign of her today. Especially this day but why, why does this have to be so. Why does it have to always be like this when ever I am going through something difficult she cannot be beside me. For example as I am laying down in this hospital bed in pain, and possibly slowly dying? If she has some what of an idea of what is happening to me, she should be on her way here right now this very second. She should be hopping on the next bus to come to me. But no, she probably isn't. She probably is sitting in some alley way in New York city smoking some weed with some of her crazy friends. 

    Mom squeezes my hand as she is basically studying the heart monitor. "Richard? Do you think that he s going to be alright"? Dad looks over at mom annoyed, "Malia, how many times do I have to tell you that I do not think that he is going to be okay. We did all we could by taking him to the hospital like you wanted remember? Remember how you literally would not stop asking me to take him to the hospital"? My mom nods and looks down at her hands folded in her lap and frowns, "Richard.. I really need you to SHUT UP RIGHT NOW! Our son is in CRITICAL CONDITION AND YOU WILL NOT SHUT THAT TRAP OF YOURS! Im sorry but you really.. jeez". 

    Dad looks at mom with a pissed off look on his face, "Malia, listen, you know deep down that I do care about our son and I,". Mom slams her hands on my hospital bed, "RICHARD WHAT DID I TELL YOU TO STOP TALKING? DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!  BECAUSE YOU REALLY SEEEM TO NOT GET IT AT ALL"! Dad looks down and all sad and shakes his head in disagreement. Mom looks back towards me and lays her ice cold fingers on my forehead, "Crap, his fever seems to be getting worse. He is heating up like an oven. I am scared Richard, what do we do from this point on"? Dad looks back towards mom, "I thought you told me to SHUT UP MALIA"?!  Mom nods and looks down, "I know I told you that honey but Im sorry thats all you need to know, I am just having a lot of stress right now and our son is on the brink of dying"! Dad puts his hand on moms shoulder, "Malia. Listen. I am here for you both and it is going to be okay. Do not worry what so ever. Okay"? 

      My eyes suddenly start to twitch. My heart starts to speed up. My body starts to heat up even more. Almost hotter than the oven it feels. Sweat starts pouring down my face again. My muscles start to tense up even more than they were before. "Honey! Its starting again! He is having another one of those seizures", mom says in a concerned tone of voice. My eyes start to roll back and my body begins to start shaking really hard. Mom presses the nurse call button on the side of my hospital bed, "NURSE! NURSE COME QUICK! HELP! SOMEBODY", mom screams as loud as she can in panic. A tall man almost looks like a doctor comes into the room, "Hello, Good evening, my name is Dr. Drake. I will be caring for your son today. I heard the deal back in the labs that he is developing some type of cancer in the brain. What is happening is here, when you look at these ex-rays here on these sheets, you can see a little outline of the cancer cell that is starting his lower lobe of the brain. As far as we know he has a little under a month to live. I am terribly sorry". Mom looks shocked, "A month? You gotta be joking"!? says mom in a concerned voice. Mr. Drake nods, "Yes a little under a month. If the cancer doesn't spread to fast he might be able to live two months before the brain entirely shuts down as well as the cancer taking over the entire body". 

   Dad puts his hands over his face, "Doctor there has to be something else you guys can do to help? I mean this is the 21st century don't get me wrong. You guys should have some kind of medication that you can give our son please? Please! Do something please do not just let him die like this! God dammit if you do not do anything we are sewing this god damn place"! Dr. Drake sits down in his doctor chair and ruffles through his papers and frowns as he is looking at one of his papers, "Oh I am sorry to break this to you, but, I am afraid at the rate of how fast the cancer is spreading, your son, well he doesn't have longer than a week to live.. I'm sorry". Dad grabs moms hand and looks her in the eyes and has a very sad look and sad smile on his face. Mom bursts out into tears and buries her face into dads shoulder. "I can't fucking believe this". Dad hugs mom even tighter. My eyes, my eyes suddenly slowly close, my breathing slows down and gets shallow. My heart rate slows down and the muscles in my body loosen up. The muscles in my face relax. My mouth hangs out and the heart monitor goes blank. Beeeeep. The heart monitor makes a loud long heart failed beep. Mom and dad both scream, "NO QUINTON"!  The doctor comes quickly and drives to revive my heart but it doesn't work the first, second or third time. Mom freaks out and starts shaking my body. No life, nothing paleness comes streaming across my face. "NO THIS CANT BE IT! YOU HAVE TO BRING HIM BACK! PLEASE DOCTOR HELP BRING HIM BACK NOW PLEASE! YOU CANT JUST LET HIM DIE ON US LIKE THIS YOU CANT! YOU JUST CANT! THIS IS NOT RIGHT YOU FOUL GIT! YOU IDIOTS DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU ARE DOING! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IMPORTANT QUINTON IS TO US DOCTOR PLEASE"! 

    Margo, the one and only girl that I love, her face comes into my mind. My spirit seems to take me to this perfect so called heaven. Or is this a dream? Her beautiful brown hair blowing in the wind. Her beautiful long pointy fingers direct me to come into this beautiful beach. "Quintoooooooon". She whispers under her beautiful breathe. She grabs my hand and leads me into this beautiful beach. She sits down next to me and lays her head on my shoulder, "Quinton, your going to be alright, you're with me now. There is no more pain, no more worries. No more of anything you need to be able to do, just sitting with me on this beach listening to the waves come crashing down on the shore. In fact take off your hospital robe. You're not going to be needing this". Margo smiles and helps me take off my hospital robe. She leads me down to the ocean. "Get in the water Quinton. Enjoy this because it won't be forever. You're going to back to you're mom and dad and enjoy the rest of your life, the time that you have left. Trust me Quinton when you come back I will be there when you wake up holding you're hand. Like I told you, I may be gone but I will always be there with you in spirit". Margo drifts off into the sea. "Quinton, Im drifting again. Its time for you to go back to you're parents who love you to pieces. You need to know who the people in your life really matter because sometimes I know you really do not realize how many things you're parents do for you". Margo suddenly goes under the water and now is out of sight. 

     Next thing I know, I wake up back in the hospital bed with mom and dad both sitting next to me. Mom on one side holding my hand and dad on the other side holding my hand. The heart monitor is beating the same. "Oh thank god"! Mom cries and buries her face in my chest and cries really hard. "Thank you Dr. Drake for trying to revive him back to life"! I pat mom on the back and hug her tight in my arms. "Mom"? I say as I am still hugging her. Mom looks up at me in my eyes and smiles, "Yes sweety"? I smile back at mom, "Lets go home. I want to enjoy my last week with you and dad". Mom smiles and notifies the doctor that we are ready to finally leave.