brave//5SOS

1

Ashton

It had been a long and exhausting day.

Finally, I was doing my last rounds before I got a break, but only a break. It wasn't often that I wanted a day off from my job, but today had been too chaotic.

Quietly, I walked into the next patient's room, wary that others may be in there. Beeping echoed off the walls, but there was no other sound. The patient would be sleeping, as she generally was.

Anne Brown.

A terminal cancer patient. In a couple of weeks she'd be moved to a hospice, but for now our job was to keep her comfortable and out of pain. It was all we could do.

I walked in and checked the monitors, seeing her daughter sat in the corner of the room with homework. It pained me to see it.

Emily Brown.

The hospital grew eerier the later it got for the visitors, walls closing in and the smell getting stronger. In situations like this, with an almost unresponsive patient, it could be suffocating. I knew it was for Emily.

Actually, I'd known both of them for a very long time. I was a med student when I was first introduced to them, and since then I'd helped them both.

She too had been one of my cancer patients when she was six through till eight . Then again when she was eleven, but we eventually decided on surgery when she was 13 as it suddenly became extremely violent.

Then too, it had felt peculiar to be in the place at night- when you weren't doing rounds as a doctor, I could admit it wasn't pleasant.

Thankfully however, she hadn't shown any signs since. Occasionally she got some late effects but it hadn't even been a year yet; we didn't expect anything else.

Emily was one of the strongest and happiest people I'd ever met which was why I was concerned for her. Seeing her curled up, biting her nails and tapping her pen wasn't so pretty.

Worst of all, she was alone.

Their dad had left before she was even born,so it was just her mum, older brother and her. She wasn't close to her brother though- I'd heard a lot about him. Admittedly, I didn't think he was the nicest person to be around, hence why she was working on a Friday night.

She'd been coming to the hospital every night for the past two weeks to read, do homework and even watch Netflix. Apparently her brother and girlfriend, who she was staying with, kept arguing and it was too loud.

It was definitely also the fact that she was terrified about her mum.

As I sat down, I closed her books and took them off her.

"It's Friday! You need to relax Emily," I told her. She looked up at me and frowned- I couldn't help but notice how terrible she looked.
Dark circles.
Bloodshot eyes.
Pale skin.
The list could go on. She'd barely spent anytime at home.

I worried about her so much, we all did. Calum, Michael and I were all on the same team together and had seen her go through so much. Luke, her dentist, had too. We all worked together, and if we shared stories it could be quite upsetting. Emily was mature for her age.

It was torture for us, to see such a young life hardly grasping on at some points.

"It's too noisy at home... and I want to be here with mum," she mumbled.

I had no problem at all with her wanting to see her mum. It was when she was alone, clearly not sleeping, not showering, or doing anything except school work or watching Netflix on my phone if she could... that was when I had a problem.

"Hun, you say it's too noisy every time you're here. Have you tried talking to him yet? I know you don't get along but you really need the rest,"

She sighed and shook her head, resting on my body. Gently, I ran my fingers through her hair and couldn't help but notice how her forehead was burning, yet she was a ghost.

The monitor pattern changed for a split second and her head jerked away like a timid animal hearing a predator.

Sadly, her mum hadn't actually been diagnosed until it started to rapidly spread. We'd only been treating her for a few months and Emily was clearly struggling to cope.

It would be terrifying to see your mum in that position and I knew she felt guilty about putting her mum in her position when she was younger. In fact, her mum was in that position just 8 months ago.

"It's okay, she's okay. How did you get here today anyway?" I asked.

"I walked, from school," she said, looking down and picking her knees up onto the chair.

"Emily. Sweetie...you can't do that. It's not gonna help you stay well and it's not good for you to be walking that far. You have to call one of us or get your brother to bring you," I lectured.

She shrugged and looked straight ahead.

"How much have you been eating? Other than what I've been giving you because you know how weak your body is, and how important it is that you eat the right things. Although your cancer was about 8 months ago, it's so important you look after yourself,".

She ignored me.

"How long until you can't treat her anymore? Can I still see you? Do I still have to live with my brother because I really can do that Ashton," she groaned, clenching her fists.

I took them and waited for her to let her hand relax. I was annoyed she didn't answer me but she got the point.

"There's still two more weeks until that happens. You still have to see me at your appointments so there's no escaping me, but you know where my office is. For now, you have to live with your brother," I explained slowly.

She breathed deeply and held my hand loosely.

"Why only for now?"

"Well, we don't know yet who your mum has put your name under. Don't worry about it though because everything is under control," I assured.

She nodded slightly but jumped when my pager went off. That would be Calum.

"Ok, I'm going to have to go now but call your brother to pick you up, please. And you need to sleep otherwise I'm going to have to start taking this all a lot more seriously," I warned.

She sulked but nodded anyway before I went to join Calum. A patient had collapsed in the waiting area, and we had to get their vitals back to normal, as well as stitch a wound and do tests.

A couple of hours later, we'd controlled the situation. Michael had joined us too so we all headed back to my office for our coats and bags, the day finally over.

"Right, I need to check if Emily has gone home. Can you give the information over to the night shift workers?" I asked.

They nodded and followed me, making their own quiet conversation.

I could only hope she'd done what I said.