3,101 Miles Apart

Chapter Two ; Youtube

As he sat there, all work assigned to him complete, he found himself typing in her first name and her sickness. He didn't know why, but he had to know her. He had to know her story, her life, and help her understand that she needs to live for herself instead of living for her medication. He clicked on a video and turned his volume up, "Hello Youtube!" Zephyr.

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"Alright, alright. AffloVest for thirty minutes more and you're practically set to go. While I'm in here and free, anything else you want me to get you?" The vibration of the vest was loud, I had to speak up for Darling to hear me. For those who don't know the Afflovest rattles my chest and loosens the mucus in my lungs, so I can therefore cough it out.

"How about a shamrock shake and a vanilla pudding cup?" She rolls her eyes and smiles down at me, my voice vibrating along with the vest itself. "C'mon Darling, don't look at me like that!"

"What? Along with a nurse, CPS, I'm also a maid and room service for the lovely Zephyr Yates?" We laugh together.

"Gotta take advantage of the perks, my friend." I cough into my arm, and spit out the mucus that comes out with it into the tub I was given. Most call it gross or disgusting, and yes that hurts. I cannot help the way I was born, and what comes along with that. Everyone that's ever called me nasty things to do with CF, I tend to hide from. Not because I'm ashamed of myself, but because it hurts. When it starts to hurt, that's when I become ashamed.

"Good girl, get it out." She rubs my shoulder, and smiles as I continue to cough out mucus. "There we go! Alright, I'll see you tomorrow?" I try my best to nod and she turns to leave.

"Bye Darling," I cut myself off my coughing and she smiles before turning to leave. I question how she deals with me most times, I'm a lot to handle and I practically live here. But no matter what, she's never said she's sick of me. And that means the most.

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He takes his medication and cringes at the taste of the pills that are running down his throat, minimizing the pain he's in. His mint green hair is messy, it hasn't seen a brush or a comb in hours. He sits there, watching and listening. "Like all kids born with Cystic Fibrosis, I was born terminal. Which doesn't necessarily mean I'm gonna die tomorrow? I could die tomorrow, anyone could die tomorrow. I just have less time than anyone else." If there was anything Toby understood, it was being terminal with an illness.

His cancer grew and grew, reached different stages before he could even blink. He was contacted about a job here at the same time as the drug trial, he took it without hesitation. A job abroad, all while he has a chance to live longer. Of course he took it. The tumour in his spine was painful, it was a pain he had never felt before. He walks through it daily, pretending it doesn't exist. It does. It taunts him daily but he appears that he doesn't care but he does. He has things he wants to do, people he wants to meet, places he wants to visit. The tumour is holding him back from living, and that's the reason he cares.

"My lungs are at about fifty percent function right now, so... Dr. Schwartz says that I'll probably need a transplant by the time I'm a junior in high school." The Zephyr on his computer screen laughs. "That'll be fun." The video ends and he clicks another, intrigued. Zephyr is whispering now. The video starts with a shot of the NICU. The doors saying 'Neonatal Intensive Care Unit'. "Hi guys! Shh- I'm at the NICU... because I'm obsessed with babies. And Darling! The beautiful Darling is giving me permission to come in here by myself." He smiles at the video, at her smile. He thought everything about her was, perfect.

He clicks through videos upon videos, "As most of you know by now, Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease which basically makes my body produce a shit ton of mucus. Now fun fact, I have to be extremely careful around other people with CF, the rule is we're not allowed to be within six feet of each other because we could end up catching each others bacteria." He lays down, the pain from sitting up becoming too much to bare with. Due to the fact that Toby is part of the drug trial here, he has his own room just like Zephyr. Except his is a few doors down. "What most people don't realise is that new lungs last about five years which, is okay actually, 'cuz most of us are just trying to stay alive long enough for a new treatment to come out."