Stellar Melodies

Chapter 1- The Dying Girl

Chapter dedicated to AverySummers for the awesome cover!

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When we first found the cancer, it was by accident. A sudden nose bleed that just kept bleeding. I'd passed out from blood loss before we even made it to the hospital, shortly after the school nurse called my mother in a panicked state and explained the situation. My mother told me I'd went through two rags, before the ambulance pulled into the emergency parking.

They packed my nose and ran a few tests while I was unconscious. I woke up two days later, exhausted and a newly diagnosed patient of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.

I know what you're thinking.

Don't.

I'm going to die, that in itself is inevitable. I'd come to this conclusion the day Patrick Dempsey's lookalike told me the terrible news. I had reasons to fight, of course. There was my father, newly divorced by my mother after the bills and the stress became too much for them to bare while living in the same house. I just think she wanted to get away from me, the dying girl. It does put a damper on things I'd suppose. Then there's Benji, my youngest brother, who's attached to me like a leech every moment he can get, and Jon, my eldest brother who stays out past curfew and doesn't bother to show up for breakfast.

Don't get me wrong, these people love me, and I love them. I just need them to be ready for when I'm no longer sitting at the dinner table flipping potatoes into Jon's hair.

"All right Interns, line up!"

I set my new journal onto the table beside me and sat up straighter in bed. Outside my small cubby of a room, my usual doctor stood dressed in a white lab coat, followed by students varying in age. They all peeked into my room curiously.

"I'll have one of you assigned to take care of Ms. Griffin." As he said the words, the students fell back and avoided eye contact with him. I rolled my eyes. No one ever wanted to take on a cancer patient. He nodded to one student with bright red hair tucked into a neat bun of the top of her head.

She opened her mouth in protest, but he ignored her and strolled into my room with a light tap on the door and an easy smile. "Here she is, my favorite patient of the day. But don't tell anyone I said that."

I grinned at him and sat up straighter, my eyes flicking to the pretty girl standing beside him. She seemed to be glaring at me over his shoulder, and my grin grew even wider. I winked at her and her face turned to one of shock. This was always the most interesting part. My mother scolded me too many times about my boldness, but I was never one to follow the rules.

"Dr. Griffin, fancy seeing you here."

My father smiled at me and clapped his hands together. "So," he picked up my chart from the end of the bed and handing it to the young red head. "Dr. Napier, as you can see here on this chart, Elodie was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. Can you tell me what these specific cancer cells do in the body?"

"The leukemia cells invade the blood and prevent the bone marrow cells from maturing properly. The immature leukemia cells continue to reproduce and build up, and since they are in the bone marrow, can spread to other organs through the bloodstream."

I wiped the sweat from my palms onto the thin blanket spread across my legs. I'd never been more turned on in my life. How could someone manage to explain my eventual death with such intense hotness?

"I'm back, don't worry." My little brother Benji barged in holding a sack filled to the brim with burritos and packets of sauce. He jumped up onto my bed and began rifling through the food, oblivious to our father and the beautiful woman beside him.

"Okay, so Jon was being a massive wad and wouldn't let me get the mild sauce because he said it was for pussys and cunts, but I told him to shove it, just like you told me to say."

I raised a brow in amusement, my eyes flickering over to our father. "Oh yeah? Where's he now?"

The boy shrugged, ripping open a packet and sucking out the contents. "He's still downstairs talking to a lady with really big tits, and I tried to tell him if he didn't get up here, we'd eat all of his food and not save him some because it wasn't our fault he was thinking with is willy and not his brain-"

I nudged the small boy and gestured to our father who stood with his arms crossed and his stern face glued on. "What did I tell you? Not now. Not. Now."

Benji kept his mouth closed and ate slowly. I took out a burrito for myself and chewed open a packet of sauce.

Dr. Griffin sighed, "Right. Well, the chart is here. She's good to go in a few days as long as the tube stays in place and nothing acts up. Ah, yes. And she has trouble with frequent posterior nosebleeds, normal, but very dangerous if she's sleeping. If that happens, make sure you-"

"Dr. Griffin. I'm sure I can handle it."

"Good. And if these two-"

Just then Jon came stumbling in, kicking the door open with a black trainer.

"Little sis," he gave me a light fist bump and kissed my forehead, something weird he'd started doing only recently. He was wearing a dirty hoodie and sunglasses. I raised my brow. The curtains were drawn and it was very clearly dusk outside. I didn't question him.

Dr. Griffin cleared his throat, "You two are not to stay here overnight anymore," he pointed to Jon, "I catch you sneaking in one more time, I'll-"

"Push us out of your lives, like mom?"

Shit.

Benji sniffled. The air became stiff with tension. The cute red head, Dr. Napier, awkwardly shuffled her feet.

"Now is not the time. Not. The. Time. Jon."

Jon waved him off and handed me a small duffel. "Thought you'd be needing this."

I nodded in thanks and shoved half of the burrito into my mouth. Ah, this is amazing. Better than hospital food.

The PA crackles to life, saving us from further embarrassment.

"Dr. Griffin, the front desk needs you. Dr. Griffin to the front desk."

He sighed and ran his hand through his greying hair. He opened his mouth to say something else, and I waited patiently, before shoving another bite into my gob. He changed his mind and instead kissed my forehead, before leaving the room.

"Alright, let's move on."

His posse of interns followed him down the hall whispering, most likely about his dying daughter, his rebellious son, and the cute kid with a pack of burritos.