Author's Note: A bit of research has been done to write this. If there are any important details that are missing, please feel free to tell me.
I also did a quick change and put a chunk of Markos and the Underworld, that was in the last chapter, in here. So if you've read it in the previous one, yeah. I changed the placement.
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[Year 2002]
In the spring of 2002, around Persey's 11th birthday, she had another lingering illness. She was very prone to infections and fever, she would never finish her meals, and she complained that she was sore all over. We brushed it off at first, thinking it would go away in a week or so, but it stuck around for a couple months. My mom and I took her to the doctor, not expecting anything big at first.
Persey had a new pediatrician named Dr. Bishop. He was a stout man in his fifties, with steely gray hair and hard blue eyes. Despite his harsh appearance, he was remarkably nice to Persey. He was one of the only adults that she seemed genuinely comfortable around.
The appointment started out with a physical test. The doctor took Persey's blood pressure, measured her heart beat, examined her skin color. Then he checked for little lumps around her neck, jaw, and armpits.
"I think I'm going to have to run a few blood tests," Dr. Bishop said, after he was finished.
"Really?" Persey said. "Is there something wrong?"
"Oh, no," he said. "Just as a precaution. Since you've been sick for a long time, this might not be a normal fever. I just need to make sure so I can give you the right treatment."
"Oh, okay." Persey seemed reassured, but Dr. Bishop shot a troubled glance at my mom. My heart nearly plummeted in my chest when I saw it.
"Now, this is gonna take a really long time, Persey," the doctor said. "Just to start off, are you tough enough to get your blood drawn?"
"Sure."
Before he started, Dr. Bishop pulled my mother out of the room so they could talk alone. This only worried me more, but I tried my best to hide my anxiety from Persey. There was no point in making her nervous if I didn't know what was going on.
It took two exhausting hours until all the tests were done. We even had to go to the opposite side of the hospital, so he could take a blood and tissue sample. My mom and I waited anxiously, hoping that he wouldn't find anything malignant or deadly. When the doctor finally finished, we were expecting a direct answer to what Persey could have, but instead, we got:
"We'll have your results in around three weeks."
"Really? That long? What are we supposed to do until then?" my mom said.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Methusael," Dr. Bishop said. "But examining her blood cells is going to be a very long and thorough process. I'll have to bring in a pathologist."
"So, what should we do? What should we tell her?"
"I wouldn't say anything until we can make a proper diagnosis," he said. "Until then, just take care of her, like you normally would."
So we took his advice, and we continued to care for Persey. Those three weeks were very rough on me; I couldn't help but wonder what he said to my mother. What was so important, that he had to keep it away from me and my sister?
Near the end of the three weeks, Persey came into my room before she had to go to bed.
"Zander? Can you read me one of your stories?" she said.
YOU ARE READING
Through the Acheron
General Fiction[Formerly Persephone's Death Wish} Zander was seven years old when his little sister Persephone was born. A few weeks later, he had to go to his first funeral. His first experience with death left him mystified and overwrought, fearful that when h...
