"The Neigbour..."

Chapter 37 - "Should have Paid Attention..."

Chapter 37 - "Should have Paid Attention..."

Clara's PoV

'Avia would you leave me alone. Go and play' John said getting agitated as he readied himself for work.

'I feel sick' she said moping laying on the floor by his feet'

'Then go to bed' he snapped and walked out the bedroom. But she hoisted herself up and followed him to the bathroom.

'John she's not well' I said mainly because I've had her here at home with me for three days and she doesn't seem to have improved, and we can tell she's not right because she normally jumps around the room like an actual monkey.

John went back to work a week earlier than me which meant he had asked me if I would look after Avia, and since having been on the trip - we've actually become a lot closer.

'Yeah. Well I have to go to work. If your that worried book a Doctors appointment, and I'll take her' he said as he shrugged his coat on.

'But will you?' I asked as she literally followed him crying up to the front door.

'If your worried I'll sort it... But right now, I've got a wedding party coming in for 300, so later' he said kissing my forehead and leaving.

I sighed and looked at a pale child who was upset and sick: 'Come on then Monkey. Let's put you to bed' I said picking her up and placing her in bed.

'Appointments tomorrow at 11am' I mumbled as he wandered into the bedroom at the very earliest 2am. The late shift is pretty gruelling and after a wedding is even worse.

'I'm doing an early' he grunted as he kissed my forehead.

'But you did a late today? I thought you had tomorrow off?' I said sitting up.

'I did. But now I'm doing an early. If it makes you feel better, I'll finish at 10 and meet you at the Doctors' he said as he crawled in and looked at me through the darkness.

'You will come though right? She is your daughter and all she wants is her Dad'

'Everything will be okay. I'll sort it' he assured and fell asleep. There was not point doing anything else - he had to be up in 3 hours for work.

Not too much to my surprise he didn't turn up for the appointment.

I knew he wouldn't, which isn't fair on anyone because his daughter is far more sick than I thought and he needed to be here for her.

It annoyed me how a week ago he was so worried about her symptoms, and since coming back he hasn't taken the blindest bit of notice in the fact that his 4 year old daughter is sick.

I left a rather unkind voicemail for him and the one I left for Richard wasn't much nicer, but when they sent her for an immediate x-Ray and ultrasound... He had to know we were at a hospital instead now.

I was trying to keep calm, but that's not easy when your boyfriend won't pick up the damn phone.

'Dude... Have you listened to your voice mails?' Richard asked John at the end of his shift- which unshockingly finished at 12.

'No. Will in a minute, got to ring Clara' he said and Richard halted him.

'Listen to this one' Richard said and held the phone up to his ear.

"You tell him I don't care what he is up too and how many people are flooding that restaurant but that his daughter needs him now! She's been sent for an immediate scan at the children's hospital 45 minutes away. If he doesn't turn up an hour after this call... He's gonna have one cold shoulder tonight'

'I'd better go' John said un-phased.

'I'm looking for Avia Smith. 4 years old. I'm her Dad?' John said and the nurse pointed at where Clara was walking out the room.

'What did the Doctor say? Have you got the prescription?' John said and I could have slapped him so hard around the face but for Avia I'm staying calm.

'You dress her and you look after her' I said pointing a finger at him. It's not really his fault - these things can go un-noticed for months.

'She's almost 5 Clara. I don't dress her anymore' he said rolling his eyes.

'Oh but you do sometimes' I accused and John looked at the Doctor.

'What's going on here?' John said.

'Your GP found some unexplained swelling of her abdomen and since getting the blood tests back we've got some concerns'

'Like?' John said finally clicking into place and I took hold of his hand because what was coming next wasn't good.

'I have reason to believe that we could be looking at Leukaemia. It's inconclusive. We need to run some more tests, but the most immediate thing that we do is admit her and do a blood transfusion, because when we do that we'll see a massive change in her'

'Admit her?' John said worried now. I could hear the fear in his voice.

'Theoretically we already have. The children's ward is just down here. There's a nurse talking her through everything we just need your consent to run some scans'

'Okay' he said shakily and was led to some forms.

'Also we have tried contacting her mother to no avail. It's fine that Clara's here but her Mum should be informed--'

'Her Mum died last December' John snapped and I've never seen him like this.

'Calm down John. She's okay right now. She's playing with the nurse. Chances are that everything is okay and she just needs to have some tests' I said trying to assure him and he took in a deep breath.

'Yes. Your probably right' he said and I took his hand as we went to the children's ward.

'Daddy' Avia squeaked as he went through the door first and I could see the nurse hadn't actually started doing anything yet.

'We're going to give her a blood transfusion now and see if that makes any difference. We'll take a blood test first and then I just want to do an x-Ray. It could be a number of days before we get the full result'

John nodded taking everything in and went to sit on the bed with Avia.