The Leaking Heart

Chapter Ten

Soon enough the holidays arrived and Jason always went with Lucy during holidays. They had the most amazing time together. The holidays flew by quickly when Jason spend time with Lucy.
Soon after they had to go back to school, where both Goose and Bobby were waiting for them.
"How are things in the love nest?" Goose joked as they walked up to the gate together.
Since they were a couple, Jason thought it to be his responsibility to take Lucy to school every day.
"Hey guys." Jason greeted.
"How was your holiday?" Bobby asked.
"Lucy and I were spending it together so it was quite amazing." He commented.
"You two are just too much for me." Bobby said with a smile.
They all walked together, talking about what they did during their holiday.
Jason and Lucy were so in love that nearly everyone, including the teachers, looked at them when they passed by.
"See ya!" Goose shouted as he walked off to class.
The day went by quickly and soon enough, Lucy walked next to Jason to his mother's shop across the street.
Jason opened the door for her as she walked in with her shocking pink stick.
"Good day Mrs. Clifton." She teased.
Jason's mother playfully smacked her arm before hugging her.
"It's Petunia, Lucy." She corrected with a smile as Lucy laughed.
"Hey mom." Jason greeted.
Lucy and Jason hanged around for a little while before she got a call on her phone.
"Hello?" She answered.
"You're a hard girl to find..." The voice said making her gasp.
The cold, hard raspy voice at the end of the line didn't stir doubt inside her.
She knew who she was talking to and the fear in her face made Jason nervous.
He immediately noticed her strange behavior and walked over to her.
"What do you want Clive?" Lucy asked a little frustratedassge sighed.
"Just to say 'hi' to you and see how you're doing." He answered.
Lucy snapped and walked out furiously.
"I had to get a restraining order against you Clive! You broke into my house, tied me to my bed and tried to kill me along with you when I refused to be with you!" Lucy yelled.
Jason feared something bad might happen once he heard all the de-stress in her voice.
He rushed out and stood behind her incase she needed his help.
"It's in the past baby, I -"
"Don't even go there! Enough's enough Clive, leave me alone."
"It's kind of hard to do that, when you're looking so damn fine from here." He said before hanging up the phone.
Lucy gasped and started sobbing uncontrollably when she dropped her phone.
Jason walked over to her and placed a protective arm around her shoulders.
"He's here!" She said and Jason frowned.
"Who is? Lucy, what's going on?" He asked.
"He's coming for me, oh God, he's coming!" She sobbed and buried her face in Jason's arm.
Jason looked around for anyone suspicious, but saw nothing.
He took Lucy to Nick's house and calmed her down with a nice cup of hot tea.
"It's not safe here he'll find me and then it's over for me." She said with a little gitter as she held onto the cup of tea.
Jason placed a hand on her upper thigh and looked her in the eyes, even though she can't look back.
"Tell me what's going on Lucy, if I know, I might be able to help-"
"No! It's my past and something I have to deal with alone." She said with a deep breath.
"When are you going to get it through that thick skull of yours? You're not alone and even if your past comes back to haunt you, I'll stay with you and go to war for you or beside you. Either way I'll be there and there's nothing you can say or do that would make me change my mind. Tell me the truth."Jason said softly.
Lucy sighed and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath.
"It happened three years ago. I was already blind, obviously, but there was this one guy who kept bugging me. He always wanted to know where I was going and what I was doing. I was getting annoyed by his actions and told him to leave me alone. He said he'd make me a deal... If I kiss him, he'll go away forever. Of course, it didn't work and only made matters worse. He followed me everywhere. I might not be able to see, but I sensed his presence and it freaked me out.
One night I was in my room when he suddenly spoke, laying on my bed. My parents came in, he said it was a mistake and that he knows me. At first it wasn't taken seriously, until it got worse. Once I told him that I didn't want him in my life, he attempted to kill me as well as himself. He said if he isn't good enough for me than no one will be. He wanted to offer himself to me and said that I should do the same. Things got out of hand and he was arrested, send to prison and I thought I'd never hear from him again. Clive was twenty at the time, but he was nice to me in the beginning. He was sentenced to eight years, so either he broke out or he was released,but that doesn't make sense. "Lucy explained.
Jason couldn't believe what he was hearing and just sat there staring at her.
"I can't believe Clive has attempted to contact you after what he did." Nick said with a heavy sigh.
"You knew about this?" Jason asked.
"Of course, I helped save Lucy from that maniac."
"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Jason asked as he took her hand in his and looked at those black glasses.
Lucy took a deep breath and sighed.
"It didn't matter until now, he is part of my past and you're my future. I didn't want anything to get in the way of that." She said as tears rolled down her face.
Jason felt her pain and the fear hidden inside her.
He gently placed a hand on hers and comforted her.
"Have you guys completely forgotten that I'm here?" Nick said and the two of them smiled.
"I'm only interested in love scenes if it involves two men." He said causing Jason to burst out laughing.
"I think I should take you home." He offered and held out is hand to Lucy.
She grinned sweetly as her small hand slipped inside his tender skin.
Lucy nodden slowly and walked with Jason to the door.
"Thanks for listening Nick." She said and hugged him.
"No problem." He replied.
Lucy walked with Jason and had this sad look on her face.
"I can't believe he found my number again. This is going to be the same thing, he's going to be all sweet and innocent and then he'll flip out over nothing." She said with a sigh.
"What do you mean flip out over nothing?" Jason wanted to know.
"Okay, don't freak out. I use to date him once and everything went smoothly regarding our relationship. He was a good person, in the beginning, but something changed. He was convinced that I was cheating on him so he investigated me and followed me around. He didn't even want me going to the bathroom unattended. So he stalked me and it got even worse when I was with him. So... Yeah that's the story of him being weird. "She said while they walked on the sidewalk.
"That's awful Lucy, why would anyone want to something so terrifying to another human being?" Jason questioned.
She lifted her shoulders and sighed while they walked together.
Suddenly she stopped and took hold of Jason's arm.
He stopped and turned to look at her.
"Jason... Something's wrong..." She said.
"What is it?" He asked and stepped closer.
"I don't know, get me to the hospital." She said as she clung to his arm.
"Jason... My chest... It hurts." She said.
He panicked and picked her up in his arms.
Jason started running as fast as he could to the nearest hospital.
Out of nowhere she started to cough while Jason ran with her.
"Jason... Stop!" She yelled and he looked confused as he sat her down on the ground.
"The hospital is far and you'll never-" She was interrupted by a strange feeling.
Suddenly Lucy threw up and there was blood everywhere on the ground next to her.
Jason panicked and crouched down in front of her.
"Is there anything I can do?!" He asked hysterically.
"Call the... Ambulance." She managed to say before throwing up again.
Jason's fingers were twitching and shaking as he dialed the number on his phone.
"Hello? I have an emergency." He said while crying.
"What's the emergency sir?" The woman asked on the other line.
"I don't have time to explain it, just get here and fast!" Jason shouted and gave them the name of the street as well as the area they were in.
"Aaaahhhh!!!" Lucy screamed, her glasses fell off and her eyes were shut tight as she moved on the pavement.
"Lucy, where is it hurting?" He asked but she just kept on screaming until the ambulance arrived.
"Sir, we need you to step back." The man said as two men came running towards her, carrying a stretcher.
"Is she going to be okay?" Jason asked in a shaky tone.
"We need to sedate her so that she can't feel the pain." The man informed as the other two carried her on the stretcher to the ambulance truck.
The doors closed and Jason stood there looking at the truck as it drove away.
He immediately went home after that and told his parents that he was going to the hospital because something is wrong with Lucy.
"What have we got?" One of the doctors asked as the paramedics came through the hospital doors, with Lucy on the stretcher.
"Caucasian girl, about seventeen. Terrible cough, unbearable pain and throwing up blood." The paramedic informed and the doctor nodded.
He took the stretcher and rolled her to a room.
He gave instructions to a few nurses and called her parents.
Jason arrived at the hospital just a few minutes after her parents.
Lucy was laying in a room with a drip.
Jason's eyes widened once he saw the state Lucy was in and how helpless she looked while laying there.
"Mr. Adams." Jason greeted.
Allison, her mother, were in tears.
"Thank you for coming Jason." He said as he shook the boy's hand.
"Did you speak to the doctor yet?"
"No, they were running a few tests, we're waiting for the results." Allison said.
"Listen son, before we tell you anything further... There is something you should know first." Mr. Adams said.
"I can't listen to this."Allison said as she walked away in tears.
"What's going on?" Jason asked.
"You are still in school and we don't want to interfere with your education by this whole situation regarding Lucy, but you really seem to care for her so this can't ve withheld from you any longer."
Jason's face looked serious as he swallowed and looked at Mr. Adams.
"Lucy fought off cancer a while back and-"
"Yes, I know, she told me."
"We think that cancer is the reason she's in the hospital right now." He said.
Jason's face went pale and he sat down on a chair next to him.
"How bad was it?"
"At first it was in her eyes she had-"
"Intraocular Melanoma." Jason interrupted.
"Yes, but then she had a tumor in her brain, it went away with treatment but now... I don't know what she has." Her father said.
Jason's breathing was unsteady as he sat there.
Jason called his mother and told her he'll be at the hospital for a few days.
"Hi, I'm Doctor Hilton. Doctor Shelton will be meeting you later, for now I'll keep you informed on your daughter's case." A woman with long hazelnut hair said as she smiled.
Jason was just listening from a distance while Hilton talked and explained.
"We'd like to do and MRI and look for anything causing this problem." She said before walking away.
"It'll be alright honey." Bill comforted his wife.
Jason couldn't take the deviation and walked out of the doors.
Suddenly he saw Goose and Bobby walking hastily towards him.
"Hey what are you guys doing here?" He asked, they both said nothing and just hugged him.
"Your mom called us and told us what's going on. We decided to come here." Goose said and Jason hugged back.
"Thanks guys... It's suffocating in there." He replied.
"Jason! It's Lucy!!" Allison yelled and all three of them ran through the doors before rushing over to her room.
She was having a seizure and throwing up.
Nurses came in the room and closed the blindes along with the door.
"I came in two minutes ago to ask how she was doing. She said she had a migraine and then this happened." Allison said with a raspy voice as she cried into Bill's shoulder.
"Miss Adams, has your daughter ever had migraines this bad before?" Doctor Hilton asked.
"Yes, she complained about them regularly, which is why I gave her-"
"Asprin twice a day?" The Doctor confirmed and Allison nodded.
"We'll let you know what's going on after we did all the tests." She said and walked away.
Doctor Shelton came to introduce himself a few days later after the test results came back to give them the news.
Goose and Bobby wanted to know as well, but Jason said that he'll inform them later so they should wait outside.
"I'm Doctor Shelton and I'm leading your daughter's case, her results came back." He said.
"Is she going to be alright?" Allison asked.
"I'm affraid the test says otherwise."
"What does she have?" Her father asked doctor Shelton.
"It's not good and I'm afraid the news is going to be rough to handle."
"What is her diagnosis!?" Jason asked loudly.
"Who are you sir?"
"Doesn't matter, just tell us!"
"He's her brother." Allison covered for him.
"Adopted." Mr. Adams finished.
"She has cancer." Doctor Shelton said.
"Oh God." Allison cried.
"I'm afraid it's not just one type of cancer."
Everyone looked confused and interested at what the doctor had to say.
"What else can she possibly have?"
Jason asked.
The doctor looked down with a heavy sigh.
"One cancer that is known world wide is  Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma." Shelton said.
"What is that? She never experienced a cancer like that before, we've monitored all her symptoms and everything she experienced. This is far from it, why would she have it now?" Bill Adams asked.
"Cancer is a very unpredictable illness and there is more to-"
"No Bill's right, I mean how can this happen? We watched carefully and even after she got that check up, we told her to be careful." Allison explained.
"When was the check up?" Doctor Shelton asked.
"A few months ago, she tested positive for weak immune system due to the weight loss. The doctor told her it might've came back, so he prescribed some medication to help her." Allison finished.
"I remember that day she scraped her knee and I took her to the hospital. She told me everything was fine!" Jason raged.
Allison placed a calm hand on his shoulder and looked into his blue eyes.
"She probably didn't want to upset you." She said softly.
"What happened when she scraped her knee?" Doctor Shelton asked.
"What do you mean?" Jason asked as if the question offended him.
"I mean, did she fall? Trip or-"
"A driver almost ran her off the road." Jason answered.
"Are you sure?"
Jason nodded.
"Well, I'm sorry about all the bad news and I'm afraid I've got nothing good to offer you. She's also got Pancreatic Cancer, it's cancer that attacks the pancreas. It begins in the tissues of the pancreas, which aids digestion abd metabolism regulation. It was more like a shot in the dark, difficult to detect because it often progresses steadily and regularly. "He explained.
"So you're saying that it was developing for a long time and now it's giving problems?" Allison asked and the doctor nodded.
"We've discovered a tumor in her brain, which is causing swelling and pressure on the brain, it explains why she complained of headaches." Shelton said and just watched gow ger parents nearly crumbled to the floor.
"She also tested positive for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in her liver, it affects the lymphocytes, it's a type of white blood cell, and is characterized by larger lymph nodes, fever and weight loss."
"All of this means nothing if you can't try something!" Jason yelled.
"Are you saying that our daughter is struggling against four different cancers?" Bill asked.
"Yes."
"What's the treatment? Name it and I'll do it, anything!" Jason jumped in.
"This is where is gets really bad... The cancer is terminal, I'm very sorry." He broke the news.
All that could be heard is Allison's cries as she hugged her husband.
"My baby..." She said while sobbing.