Brother or Victim

Chapter 1

Benedick waited patiently in the waiting room of the hospital and checked the watch on his wrist. How much longer would they be? He’d been here for roughly two hours and waited for a nurse or doctor to come over to him.

Many patients and members of staff had passed him. Some had been in wheel chairs, some had looked incredibly ill or the diagnosis of their reason for being here was obvious, and some were perfectly fine who had probably been visiting someone they knew.

However all of this hadn’t made Benedick feel any better. Benedick had finally gone for a walk around the hospital before finding his way back to his seat and waiting again. The walk had been to take his mind off the whole matter, but it hadn’t worked at all. He’d only seen more people, some who had much worse conditions.

It had only been a few weeks ago that his sister had been diagnosed with cancer. Alison was only eight years old. It wasn’t fair, thought Benedick as he rested his head on his hands. It just wasn’t fair. If she was eight days old then it would be nicer for her in a way as she hadn’t tasted life yet. But she had. She had enjoyed eight precious years of life so far and it was unfair that she had to go through with this.

Luckily it could be treated. Lots of other children were in much worse conditions. His little sister didn’t quite understand what was happening. She’d worn a confused look when their mum had tried and failed to explain the whole concept to her. Benedick had tried and he believed that he had shed some light on the matter to his sister.

                He’d taken her to the park, as his mum hadn’t been able to cope with her daughter not being able to understand. Benedick had also wanted to take Alison somewhere happy, hoping that she wouldn’t get too upset if she did understand her situation.

“Ben, what’s mummy crying about?” Alison had asked him as they sat in the park together.

Benedick searched the scenery for a kind and simple way to explain it to her. He watched the sun slowly beginning to set in the distance. “Mummy is crying because she’s worried about you.” He started. He looked at her to see if she understood that bit.

She frowned in that way young children did, scrunching up her face. “Why is she worried about me?” she swung her legs back and forth as they couldn’t quite reach the floor.

Benedick thought carefully about what he was going to say next. He didn’t want to upset her. “She’s worried because you’re ill.” He said slowly, making sure that Alison wasn’t going to start crying.

She stayed silent for a few moments. “Ill, with what? A tummy bug? She shouldn’t be worried because I recover from those very quickly.” She ended with a positive nod.

Benedick let out a sigh. “No. It’s a bit more than a tummy bug.” Alison tilted her head to one side. “You have cancer.” He finished.

This made a bit more sense to Alison as she had heard of cancer. Her school had raised money for children with cancer. “What exactly is cancer?”

Benedick almost understood why their mother had given up with his little sister. “It’s a disease.” He tried to explain.

Alison nodded. She knew what a disease was and knew enough that she didn’t want it. She listened as her brother continued his explanation.                         

“There are different types of cancer. You have one called Leukemia.”

Thinking again, Alison hadn’t heard of this one before; she’d heard of breast cancer. Her friend’s mum had it.

Benedick guessed from her confused look that he would have to explain it to her.  “There’s a lot of stuff about it that you won’t understand.”