Locked In

Chapter 4

Sorry this chapter took so long! Hope you enjoy it.
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Mia got back into her car at around 4pm and realised she was starving. She decided to go to a McDonald's drive through as it was the quickest way to get food and she had convinced herself that she felt like having a McSpicy. As she approached the intercom, she heard her phone go off in her bag. She continued to order and drive through to pay and collect her food. Then she parked in the McDonald's parking lot and reached for her phone.

It was Lyle. He had texted her asking if he could come over. She replied saying it may not be a good idea to meet at her house considering her mother might be there and asked if he wanted her to come over. She wanted him to be able to speak freely without the awkwardness of catching up with her mother. She began to worry as Lyle had usually just texted her to tell her how things went. He had never once asked to meet up.

He replied 2 minutes later saying he was closer to her place and that he could meet up with her somewhere. She texted him her location and placed her phone in her door handle, a habit she had picked up from her sister many years ago. Then she ate as she anxiously waited for Lyle to arrive. 15 minutes later, she had finished eating and Lyle still hadn't arrived. She decided to scroll through Instagram while waiting.

A while later, a car she recognised as Lyle's pulled up in the space next to hers. He got out of his car and came into Mia's car. He continued to look straight,unblinking while Mia adjusted herself to face him. She noticed tears start to well up in his green eyes, his bottom lip quivered ever so slightly and Mia held a shocked expression on her face as Lyle broke down right there in her passenger seat.

She reached over and pulled him into a tight hug, trying to comfort him by telling him it's okay and making soothing circles on his back with her palm. She didn't know how to handle situations like this very well. His breath caught as he tried to breathe normally and more tears streamed out of his eyes. She held him for a few moments and snarled at a woman who had walked past at looked at them with judging eyes. He finally composed himself enough to let go and Mia handed him a tissue from her glove compartment. His nose was red, his hair was plastered to his forehead and his face was shiny from all the tears he had shed. He had never looked so helpless. She thought he looked kind of cute and smiled internally.

"I sense it didn't go so well," she joked.

A smile tugged at his lips and he rolled his eyes at her. "Actually, it went great." He sniffled as he tried to hold back more tears that were threatening to spill.

She looked at him curiously. "Wait..what..I don't quite understand Lyle. Did something else happen?"

He nodded helplessly and cradled his head in his hands. Mia heart rate began to accelerate as she pondered what might have happened at lunch that could caused poor Lyle's to be in such a state. She waited for him to calm down again.

When he finally did, he looked out the window and heaved a heavy sigh. "They found a tumour on mum's brain," he began. Mia's felt her heart sink. She wasn't expecting that. She kept her face neutral so that her worry wouldn't add to Lyle's. She wanted to wait for him to give her all the facts before she reacted. It could be benign, although by the looks of it Lyle didn't have any good news for her.

"It's malignant and it's on her occipital lobe. She ignored the headaches and vomiting but realised something was wrong when she started experiencing vision loss," he continued. "The doctors are gonna try and remove it but she could lose her vision permanently, it could spread by the time they get in and not to mention the chemo and radiation therapy she'll have to go through."

"Oh Lyle I'm so sorry this is happening," Mia said with a pitiful expression.

"What if she they can't get the tumour, Mia? What if she goes blind? What if I lose her? I don't know what to do," he looked at her hopefully.