Charade

Vic

Lily was asleep when I arrived.

I watched her through the small glass pane in the hospital room door, her body connected to half a dozen machines and contraptions, breathing softly and steadily. The teachers had claimed she had been walking to her next class when she'd fainted in the hallway. When they got to her, her vitals were down, and she wouldn't respond. They called an ambulance to get her, but they couldn't get her to respond either, so they sent her here.

"I'm afraid Lily has reached Stage Four," Dr Faulks said quietly. "As you know, there is only one more stage now."

"But what about the treatments?" I interrupted, a begging note in my tone. "We can just increase the chemo and radio, can't we?"

"Mr Langley, we've already tried that. It seems that nothing can slow it down."

Then I heard his footsteps, quick and frantic, come running down the hall. Benjamin ran at us at top speed, before skidding to a stop right in front of Dr Faulks.

"Where's Lily?" He asked. "Is she okay?"

Dr Faulks, confused, looked to me.

"He's my oldest." I said.

Dr Faulks looked grim when she looked at Benjamin.

"I'm sorry, son. But your sister hasn't got much longer left."

"How much longer?"

"It's hard to tell. Maybe a few weeks. A month at best."

We both know Lily won't make it past October.

My knees buckled beneath me and I grabbed the door to steady myself. Benjamin clutched my shirt in his hands and held me up.

"Hey, hey," he said. "Take it easy. Sit down."

The words were so quiet, so distant. What did he say?

The next thing I knew, I was sitting in a waiting chair, staring at the ground. I looked up and Benjamin, teary-eyed. He was speaking to Dr Faulks. I couldn't let him do this by himself. This wasn't even his problem. I got to my feet again and Benjamin touched my arm.

"You alright?" He asked.

I nodded, shrugging him off.

"Doctor, what can we do? Is there anything?"

With her grave-looking eyes, she shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Mr Langley. Truly. We did everything we could."

We did everything we could.

Dr Faulks was already talking as if my baby was dead.

© A.G. Travers 2015