totally not typical

part 3

Everything was good until the doctors came and asked if they could see Em's dad in private. I assumed it was just about Emerson's esophagus and about the treatment.

But when I heard his dad cry I knew it was about something else.

It worried me. Was Emerson actually having something very serious going on that he didn't want to tell me or his dad about? Was he dying? What was going on?
My mind so busy with with possibilities when his dad came back in, I almost didn't notice.
"Finley?"
"Yes?"
"I um, i think you should read this." He handed me a clipboard, silent tears running down his face.

I looked it over.
Emerson Blakley James
Emitted for: Vomiting of blood
Treatment: clips through EGT
Causes: Extreme coughing
Notes: Black dot found in lungs when X-ray'ed for organ damage. Believed to be Squamous cell lung carcinoma.
"Lung cancer." He said, shaking.
"How bad?"
"They caught it really early."
"That's really good."
"Yeah.They said they were probably gonna try and do a Segmenta-something to remove the tumor next week."
"I hope he wakes up soon so we can tell him what's going on." I said, grabbing Em's hand.
"Me too."

It wasn't an hour until Emerson woke up. I had fallen asleep on his bed after trying to repeat "he'll be fine" over and over to try and calm myself down.

He shook me awake.
"Princess?" he mumbled.
I yawned, "yeah?"
"Can you tell me why I uh woke up with an iv in my arm and a weird feeling in my throat?" he questioned.
"Yeah, I found you next to the toilet with a mouth full of blood and I called your dad and we drove you here."
he nodded. I noticed his dad was gone.
"yeah. I should probably go get a nurse." I said, getting up.
he nodded again. "okay." he whispered between coughs.
"You're not going to get to leave the hospital though..they want to keep you till next week."
"Why?"
"I'm sorry Emerson." I said, starting to cry. "I wish it was anyone but you, but you have a tumor in your lung. They figured out that was why you were coughing so much." He put his hand on mine, trying to comfort me.
He had a blank expression for a bit, "Alright."
it was silent for a few minutes.

"So they want to keep me to fix it?" emerson said, running a hand through his slick black hair.
"Yeah. They said they were going to cut it out along with some healthy lung as well." I wiped off my face and sniffled.
He squeezed my hand, kissing my forehead, he I'll be fine, you should get some rest though. You look tired."
I conversed with Emerson a bit more and then his dad drove me home.

After that when Mr. James and I would visit Em, we would always notice everything. From mood changes, to habits, to skin color changes.
We noticed mostly cancer related symptoms, though.
Watching him go though that was scary.