Life Is Too Short

Chapter Five

The two boys sat in the quiet, empty room. They had been waiting there for a total of 15 minutes and the doctor still hadn't shown up. Being the person that he was, Jax got bored really easily. He got up and started to paced around the room. Miles looked up from his phone at Jax and smiled.

Finally, after 20 minutes there was a knock at the door. Jax sat down and told the knocker to come in. It was his doctor, Dr.Morris. He smiled and closed the door behind him.

"Hello, I'm Dr.Morris," the man said with an extended hand. Jax reached out and shook his hand. Miles did the same. "Good to see you again, Miles."

Miles smiled. "You too."
The doctor walked over to the computer and typed something in. Jax looked over at Miles and grinned. Miles looked over and Jax immediately turned his head.

Dr.Morris made a few clicks and turned back around to Jax. "How you feeling today?" Jax smiled a little.

"I've been better, doc," Jax responded. Miles could tell Jax was trying to get out of his shell. And, it kinda wasn't working.

"Well, that's to be expected. Miles good too see you again." Miles nodded with an 'mhm.' "Let's talk treatment."

Jax nodded. "What chemo? Radiation? Surgery?" Jax asked. He was scared of death. Ironically, it could happen to him now.

Dr.Morris sighed. "Jax, due to the location and size of the tumor, surgery would be extremely difficult. If we were going to do surgery, we would have to shrink the tumor with chemo beforehand. It's too much of a risk."

Jax looked at the floor. "Tell me doc, what is my chance of living?" Dr.Morris stood dumbfounded. Miles grabbed Jax's shoulder.

"I'm not sure. It depends on how you respond to chemo." The doctor brushed around the truth. Jax breathed a sigh of relief. "Look, come here Monday, Wednesday, and Friday every week for chemo. It will probably take six months. Then we will reevaluate. Sound ok?"

Jax nodded. "Yeah sounds good." His leg was shaking. Miles could tell he was terrified. Miles spoke up. "What symptoms can we expect from chemo?"

"Of course," Dr.Morris replied, "You can expect to have nausea, body aches, vomiting, dry skin, weakened immune system, and the biggest of all, you will most likely lose your hair."

Jax looked at the floor and huffed a sigh. "That's, a lot." Miles wrapped his arm around Jax's shoulders. Dr.Morris looked at Jax, concerned.

"Not all of those will happen. It depends on the type of chemo," the man said, calming Jax down. The doctor kept talking, but Jax wasn't hearing anything. He was too focused on the thought of death. He wasn't scared if it, he just wasn't ready. The door shutting jerked Jax out of deep thought.

He stood up, grabbed his phone off the table, and headed towards the door. Miles grabbed his coat and followed behind. When Jax walked out the door, dizziness rushed over him again, causing him to grab onto Miles.

Miles held him up so he wouldn't collapse. Jax looked up at Miles with the twinkle in his eye that would make any heart melt. Jax pushed himself up off Miles, embarrassed. "I'm ok, Miles," Jax said with a lump in his throat.

Miles turned to look at him. "But what does that even mean? You have cancer, you could die and... that's not fine." Jax let out a heavy sigh and kept walking. They finally got to the check out window.

The receptionist was on the phone and held one finger. Jax waited for her to put down the phone. "Hello Jax," the lady said. He was shocked that she knew his name, but he just shook it off. "You go to school with my niece, Kit. Your next appointment is Friday to start chemo." She handed him a slip with the date and time.

He smiled. "Thank you," and he walked out. Miles looked over at Jax, shocked. Jax noticed his staring and chuckled.

"Dude that's Kit's aunt," Miles said putting the key into the car door. The car beeped and Jax opened his door. Jax nodded his head. Miles pulled himself into the car and put the key into the ignition.

Jax buckled his seatbelt. "Thanks Miles, for everything."

Miles grinned, "You too."

Sorry for taking forever to finish this chapter. I haven't really had a lot of motivation to do anything lately. Anyways, vote and comment so I can fix plot holes or something. ^_^