The World Through Various Eyes

[14] And Just Like That, Suddenly (Leslie's POV)

I'm not sure what I expected when we first received the call. They said they would contact my family's home phone if I tested back positive, but part of me was hoping that it was some sort of notification alerting us of the opposite. Letting us cease our worries, for there was nothing to fear. I remember staring blankly, my breath caught in my throat and my eyes watering from not blinking enough. They bore into the phone that was resting on my ice cold marble kitchen counter, the phone that rang so incessantly.

"Just pick the damn thing up already," my older brother Colter bickered in passing.

I scowled, glaring at him as he grabbed his car keys.

"Wow, someone's insensitive today," was my only possible reply. I couldn't let a stupid comment bother me.

I was bothered too much already.

But he did have a valid point. I couldn't just let the telephone ring until it went to answering machine. And the call's message would not change by me ignoring it. Either I had cancer or I didn't. That call held the answer, and I wasn't going to let it go so easily, whether I really wanted to know the truth or not.

I reached for the phone and clicked "talk", pressing the device up to my ear to listen. Its static obstructed my ability to listen, but not to the point of it being impossible. This became especially clear when I heard the sentence that would come to ring in the back of my mind for many times to come.

"The minor, Leslie Anne Ellecks, currently under the care of Matthew and Caroline Ellecks, has tested positive for acute lymphocytic leukemia."

The automated message continued on, talking about scheduling follow up appointments, and how to handle this news, but I had already tuned out of the world by then. It couldn't be true. I hadn't heard that correctly.

Colter stopped in his tracks, his hand still on the doorknob and car keys swinging from his sudden halt. His shocked expression appeared more than remorseful, but at that point I couldn't care less about his previous irritable remarks. Funny how such a shocking turn of events made everything in the past almost negligable. Upon receiving this call four months ago, my life took a dramatically different path.

I moved, in search of a town with a better center for treatment. This took me to Willow Grove, the place of my father's childhood and my mother's birth. Though I had never lived there before, I was certain I would despise it. My previous town, Mapleton, was ideal in almost every respect and the only place I had ever known. I didn't want to like Willow Grove; I had left my friends in Mapleton and had to start fresh, with a new school, new place, new life... and new hospital with new doctors.

As much as I had hated going to the Mapleton Central Hospital and Care, it was preferrable due to the fact that I had already established a relationship with their nurses and doctors. The last thing I wanted to do was have to start from scratch, even if they were supposedly more experienced in the field of leukemia treatment and dealing with cancer patients.

But I wasn't just a cancer patient. I was a fifteen year old girl with a relatively normal life. I played the clarinet, enjoyed sewing and photography and going out with friends as any normal teenage would have. But I suppose all victims of cancer would argue that they weren't just a cancer patient as well.

Everybody had their own story to tell and I was merely one of the many. I scold myself to this day for thinking I wasn't special in any respect. It doesn't matter who you are when it comes to illness- cancer doesn't seek its targets based on your personality.

Cancer doesn't seek its targets at all. It just sort of happens. While there are things we can do to put ourselves more at risk for specific types of cancers, to a certain extent, somethings are out of our control.

A couple days after I got that phone call, Colter had gone missing. I was deeply concerned for what had happened, worrying that he had fled out of guilt of his actions from around the time of the event of me finding out, but my parents didn't seem the least bit worried.

"He's probably at Adam's house again," my father reasoned, referring to Colter's reckless friend of whom they disapproved of. Adam had always been doing hazardous and downright stupid things, often roping my brother into his schemes, so this response didn't exactly ease my worries.

Only hours later did he come home, his eyes bloodshot and long hair tousled in an unruly manner. Colter went straight up to his room, and stayed there until nighttime, when I heard soft words muffled by sobs as he tried to communicate something incoherent to my parents. I fell asleep to this uncomfortable noise.

As a week went by, I became more familiar with my illness. A brochure my mother had picked up from our new doctor's office stated that acute lymphocytic leukemia occurred when "a bone marrow cell developed errors in its DNA". This error would apparently tell the cell to continue to multiply and grow, when a normal cell would stop multiplying and die.

This would result in blood cell production becoming abnormal and the formation of lymphoblasts, also known as leukemic white blood cells.

The brochure was informative and all, but some paragraphs were more alarming than educational. Seeing things such as "the leukemia can progress quickly, and if not treated, can likely be fatal within a few months" did not put me at ease for having this condition. I guess I'm not supposed to be at ease, though. No matter what denial I tried to find myself in, the cold hard facts were undeniable.

I had cancer.

I could still die even if I received treatment.

And my life was about to change drastically.

Hey reader! Thanks for reading my latest chapter in "The World Through Various Eyes"! If you enjoyed it, make sure to comment your thoughts about the book's plot so far, and your opinions on it in general. Also, if you think it deserves it, make sure to vote for it! Thanks again!

~DistantDreams (Claire)