Perspective

Chapter 13 (Tyler)

1 HOUR EARLIER...

I wake up and find myself immediately running to the bathroom, straight to the toilet. I hold the rim, and I feel like I am going to throw up. What's wrong? I didn't eat anything weird last night. I don't throw up, but I stay there for a few minutes until this feeling is gone. I hear a knock at the door. 

"Tyler? Everything okay in there?" 

My mom freaks at the simplest things, like for instance, I have a small cold, she freaks. I have a fever, she freaks. I COUGH, she freaks. 

I respond. "Yeah, everything is fine. Just getting ready." 

"Alright. I made your breakfast. Your bus is coming soon, okay? I have to leave now. Love you!" She says from outside the door.

"Love you too." I respond. 

I grab a pair of khakis, a blank blue t-shirt, and I run down the stairs. I feel fine now. Maybe that was just a bit of morning sickness, I think to myself. I grab the eggs and bacon my mom left on the counter for me, and start to munch on it. 

I finish up my breakfast then grab my backpack as I see the bus pass my house through the window. The bus stop is just down the street at the corner by the stop sign. I run down the street and just catch it. 

When I get to school, I have something very important to tell Nathalie. Lately, all I've been thinking about is Skyla. I don't know why. I need to get her out of my head, and the only way to do that is to tell my girlfriend, that, I love her. I may not, but I NEED to get Skyla out of my mind. I have a girlfriend, and she is supposed to mean the world to me, and I need to seal the deal. I laugh to myself as I sit down near the back of the bus. 

I got a rose for Nathalie, and I'm prepared to make her feel like she is the most important woman in my world. We arrive at school after a few minutes, and I enter the school, going in the direction of my locker. I put my stuff into my locker but my arm gives out, forcing me to drop it on the floor. A teacher walking by asks me if I need assistance. "No, thank you." I say. I put my bag in with my other arm, until my chest starts to hurt. A lot. I close my locker, grabbing the rose and I start to walk to the bathroom. 

I get there, then I go into a stall and try to catch my breath. I start to cough bad, and then I feel a liquid coming out of my mouth. I wipe my mouth to get the liquid away, until I notice that my kleenex is red. Blood. I stand there staring at what just came out of my mouth, and I go outside to look at myself in the mirror. "What is going on?" I ask myself. It's 8:00, and I leave the bathroom, waiting around the corner for Nathalie. I don't want to tell anyone about what happened. It was a one time thing, and no one will see me the same again. They'll think I'm all weird and gross. Even more than I already am. 

I'll talk to my parents after school. I text Nathalie to meet me here, now. She replies that she will be here in a second. I turn my phone off and lean against the wall, and then, I can't breath. I see her turn the corner, but I collapse onto the ground.

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I lift my head, feeling a hand help me up. I open my eyes and look around, seeing a doctor, my mom on the left by my bedside, holding my hand as she cries, and my dad standing in the corner of the room, looking out the window. "Oh my god. Tyler." My mom says. I try to talk, but an oxygen mask is on my face. The doctor to my right slowly lifts the mask to let me speak, and I say, barely talking, "What is going on?" I turn to the doctor. "Tyler, you have a rare form of lung cancer. This may be one of the hardest things to cure. It is spreading all over your body, not just your lungs." He says to me. 

I stare at the doctor, not saying a word. There is nothing that I can say. I start to experience a shortage of breath, until the doctor carefully puts the oxygen mask back on my face. I have cancer. Out of everyone, the 8 billion people on this earth, I have cancer. I had my whole life ahead of me. I am smart, I have amazing friends, amazing family, great life. And this just ruined everything that I have ever worked for. But the worst part of all of this is, I didn't get to tell Nathalie that I loved her. 

I try to lift my weak arms to pull the oxygen mask off, but I can not do it. I nudge towards the oxygen mask, trying to inform the doctor that I want it off, and that I have something that I need to ask. He pulls the oxygen mask off and puts it on the bedside table beside me. "What do you need?" My mother asks. "I need Nathalie. Where is she?" I ask, very weakly. My mom looks down at the ground. "Tyler, she heard the news then immediately went home. She couldn't handle this happening to you. You mean too much to her." I sort of gasp. "She left?" I ask, angered. "Honey, she could not handle it, that is expected of her." My mom says to me. "No. If she loved me-" I start to lose my breath, and the doctor places the mask back onto my face to control my breathing again. "I will give you all some time to think. If you need anything, I will be in Room 25, which is right next door, with another patient." He bows his head and slowly walks out of the room, closing the white door behind him. My mother takes the mask off my face about a minute later, to let me finish the sentence I had started to say before. "She wouldn't have left if she actually loved me." "Tyler, she could NOT handle it. You can't blame her for that. You would have done the EXACT same thing if you were in her position." My mother says sincerely. My father has not said a word since I woke up. All he has done is look out the window, with his arms crossed in front of him. "Bill, are you not going to say a word to your son?" My mother asks as she stands up and turns around to face him. I watch his sad eyes as they start to fill up with tears. "I don't-" He chokes up and moves his hand to cover his mouth. "I don't know what to say." He says. He walks over to me and sits on the chair to the left of my bedside. "I wish this didn't happen to you." He says as he puts my hand in both of his. "Bill, that is obvious. What is wrong with you?" My mom asks him angrily as she paces around the room. My eyes start to fill up with water, causing a few tears to squeeze out of my face and drip down the oxygen mask. My dad just looks into my eyes until he finally notices the tears then lets go of my hand and stands up. "I'm sorry, Ty. I can't handle this." He starts to walk out of the room. "Really, Bill? You're just going to walk out? Seriously? Yes, because that is what Tyler really needs right now. BILL?!" My mother yells, but my dad does not come back, and I'm left alone with my mother in silence, until I motion to the mask, asking her to take it off for just a moment. She takes it off and looks and listens to me intently. "What do you need?" She asks me. "Please, I need someone here." She looks at me. "Yes, I'll call Nathalie, but sweet pea, I do not think she is going to come." I sigh. "I don't need Nathalie." She gives me a weird look. "Who do you want here, then?" She asks me. "I need Skyla." I say. 

AHHH!!! I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW!!! I wanted to make this chapter shorter, so that I could get to the point! Hope you all enjoyed this, and you all felt something in your heart for poor Tyler ;( Thank you so much for reading!!! Every single read means so much to me!! XOXO-Elizabeth