Coming Home | muke au

04.

PLEASE DO NOT SAY THIS IS LIKE THE FAULT IN OUR STARS BECAUSE THIS IS NOT. I DID RESEARCH AND THIS IS COMMON.

--

It's almost four in the morning when a doctor comes out and stops in front of Luke and Michael's mum.

"Ms. Clifford, may I speak to you?" She nods, and then follows the doctor and Luke wishes he could follow along but he can't. He needs to know if Michael is okay. What if Michael died during surgery? Luke's heart speeds up as his hands grow clammy. Luke wishes he still smoked, but he stopped when Michael was diagnosed.

He needs fresh air.

That's how Luke finds him in the elevator, waiting for it to ding and then he can get off. He rushes out when it does, he's glad no one is around to bother him.

He pulls his jacket closer to him as the cold Oregon air hits him. It was the end of November but it was already snowing. Snowing. Cold. Frozen. Just like his heart.

Luke sees a girl off to the side smoking, puffing away at the little stick. He watches her breathe it in and then exhale. Luke really wants a cigarette.

But that tiny stick was the reason Michael was in the hospital. Michael smoked more than the average person, and having cancer being a common thing in his family, Michael easily caught it.

But standing there, watching that girl inhale and exhale into the cold emptiness, made Luke really want a cigarette.

--

"What happened to Michael is common with Lung cancer. It is what we call, "Pleural effusion" which is the buildup of fluid between the outer lining of his lungs and chest wall. He was also coughing up bloody sputum..." Ms. Clifford watches the doctor pause and take a deep breath. "Michael is showing signs of the next stage of his cancer. The chemo isn't working, we're probably going to have to try something else."

"But..." She pauses, her eyes wide as tears start to form.

"If you're worried about the price, Ms. Clifford, the Church has been donating money to the hospital recently, and I'm sure they would love to help."

She nods, hugging herself as she thinks of her baby boy.

"I'll talk to them tomorrow." She whispers, low enough for the doctor to hear. "When can I see him?"

"Right now he just needs all the rest he can get. Why don't you go home and we'll call when he wakes up?"

She nods, thanking him.

Soon she's walking past a smoked filled Luke, with a dazed look on his face.