Once in a Lifetime

Chapter III

A few hours past after the 'post-trauma' but Ashley refused to leave my side. She knew she had duties and things to take care of but she refused. Even when I attempted to force to, she refused.

"Ashley. I'm fine, really! It was nothing."

"No Tessa, do you know how rarely that happens? Nobody sleeps then wakes up with random seizures and things. Okay, maybe a few but barely people in your age. Especially if they just got admitted into the hospital."

Ashley was lecturing me and telling me that something was wrong and she swore that she would find out, no matter what.

"Okay then, I do have something I've been keeping from you. Nobody knows about it, not even me. It came to me unexpected and I don't know if it has anything to do with my position. Swear you won't tell?"

From her face and her expressions, I could tell that she knew what I was going to tell her, or at least something along the lines of it.

"..." Nothing came out as she tried to say something. It must've been shock.

A brief awkward moment filled the air as the whole room was silent. I couldn't see if Alex was listening or not. He may not even be awake.

"I promise" Ashley whispered quietly.

"Okay, well here goes. Ever since I've been admitted into the hospital, something weird has been happening to my body or parts of it. Every time this happens, something goes wrong and the monitors beep furiously. My body starts to glow yellow or beige and something happens to me. I feel enlightened or spiritual when it happens but it also hurts me a lot. That's when the machines beep and all of you rush in."

I was sure that she was too shocked or scared to talk because nothing came out of her mouth. When she tried to speak, she went frantic.

"What? did you just say you started glowing? Bu-but- but that's impossible! How is it that a person glows?! When did this start? I'm sorry Tessa, but I can't keep this. It's important that at least Dr. Taylor knows about this. It's something we need to run tests for just in case it actually does have something to do with your tumor." Ashley was blurting things out that I never knew were words. She was going crazy just because I told her about my strange-ness.

"No! Please! Don't tell anyone! You promised! No! You can't tell anyone. I told you that you can't tell anyone! They’re going to run tests all over me and I'm going to be a lab rat! Please! Don't tell..." I trailed off as tears ran down my cheeks hoping that there would be kindness in Ashley's heart.

"I'm sorry, Tessa. I don't know anything about this and if you die because of it, it would be on my conscience forever. I can't let that happen. I just, can't."

Ashley scurried off trying to find Dr. Taylor or anyone that she could tell really.

"No." I whispered gently to myself.

I already had enough needles in my arms and I can barely move without hesitation as it is. It was already too uncomfortable to do anything and I don't want anything more in me. I knew I had to do something because I felt alone in this world.

6.00pm.

Dinner time was here already and after all this, it was only so soon. I knew that Ashley would bring my dinner into my room soon enough but I wasn't hungry enough to eat yet. I was sure that when she came in, she would sit by my bedside and ask me to talk about the 'glowing' thing.

"Tessa?" Ashley entered my room quietly as I pretended to not notice her.

"Tessa? I know you can hear me. Please don't be mad, I only told because it could ruin your life if you kept it in any longer. You've been here over 3 weeks now and if what you said was true, then you have been having these attacks well over 3 weeks ago. You know that I did it because I was worried. Please don-"

"I'm not mad." I rudely interrupted her.

"I'm not. I didn't want to tell anybody because I knew that this was coming. I don't want it to happen. none of this would happen if only tumors didn't exist. I kenw that if I told somebody about 'glowing' then they would've run away and gone off to tell a doctor. Even when they...”

"Promised." Ashley finished my sentence for me.

"Look honey, I know that I promised but you and I both know that I did this for the good of you. I talked to Dr. Taylor earlier today about your attacks and he said that he'd only run tests on you if you agree. They should be small tests so they won't discomfort you anymore than any other test would. Alright?"

"Okay." I looked down at myself. Was I really that abnormal?

Silence filled the air.

"Tessa? I know you're probably a little bit upset but do you want to eat? It's getting cold."

"Fine." I murmured.

"Alright" She smiled sweetly.

"I'll be back to check up on you later. Try to enjoy yourself for a bit. You're not going to be pressured into anything at this point unless if it's a life or death situation.

Something came over me when I tried to 'enjoy' my dinner. I felt like it wasn't there. I felt normal. Like nothing ever happened and I wasn't in this situation.

Over a half hour, nothing interesting had happened and I was glad that no one had checked up on me. Just because someone was in the hospital didn't mean that they needed special treatment. Treatment, of course for the problems but I didn't need a baby sitter.

All of a sudden, my mind came to a stop. Jumbled things upon my mind and nothing would ever stop it. It was like I was going crazy.

"Tessa? Tessa! "

I turned back to see it was only Ashley and accompanied her was Dr. Taylor.

"Tessa?" I heard her call for me once more but I couldn't bring myself to her. I couldn't speak or do anything. My body was in frozen mode.

I heard footsteps coming closer and closer to me and felt warm hands on my hips.

"Tessa? Why are you on the floor? Come on, lets get you back on the bed.

All of the things that were once attached onto my arms were now detached and left hanging around. I hadn't realized that I was on the floor.

"Tessa?" Dr. Taylor called.

"Tessa, Can you tell me why you were on the floor or at least how you got onto the floor? At your state you should be too sore to even move a muscle."

"I-I-I don't know how I got onto the floor. I thought I was still on the bed?"

I could hear people outside whispering and gossiping about how I got onto the floor.

"Tessa, You probably need to rest. You probably hadn't had much sleep these past few days so you need to rest. Ashley will check your vitals and we'll confirm if we'll start the tests tomorrow of not, okay? Don't worry yourself too much."

"Okay." I could barely hear myself because I felt so weak and useless.

Shannon must be enjoying herself so much right now. She didn't need me there for her; I was only her backup so that's why I'm so important the first few days. To her or to anyone else, I was a nobody.