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[ 𝐢. rainbow sprinkled donuts ]
KOLBEN RIVER was tired, bored, and hungry. His fingers tapped against the thick material of his jeans, his leg involuntarily bouncing up and down as he grew restless of sitting in the same position for almost fifteen minutes. His earbuds were plugged in, and he paid no attention to the conversation his parents were having with Dr. Jenkins.
He assumed they were having the same conversation as two weeks ago: "Are you sure there's nothing we can do?" He wasn't sure how many times he's heard that sentence since he was thirteen. Couple hundred, maybe nearing the thousands. He couldn't blame his parents, though. Knowing that their first-born son was slowly dying truly broke them.
He wasn't quick to accept it at first. When he was younger, he somehow convinced himself that if he took his medications, and stayed on the healthy diet he was forced to go on, he'd make the situation go away. Back then, his parents completely accepted it. Now the roles were reversed. Kolben was the one who was accepting his fate, and his parents were in complete denial.
Snapping out of his thoughts, the fifteen year old boy glanced up, and stared at his doctor. Clearing his throat, he politely interrupted the conversation. "Excuse me, uh, can I go get something to eat? Candy, donuts, something?" He asks, pleading with his eyes to be let out of the room to stretch his legs out and catch a moment to breathe.
The woman sweetly nodded, and pointed at the door. "Go ahead. I heard they restocked on rainbow sprinkled donuts: your favorite." She gives him a wink, to which he grins at in response. "Hell, yeah." His parents give him a pointed look, and sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. "I mean, heck, yeah."
With that, he quickly exited the room, closing the door behind him with excitement. Kolben had never been more desperate to leave an appointment since he was thirteen. He rushes towards the elevator, making sure that it was empty before stepping inside. He didn't like being in an enclosed box with a random stranger inside. He was never good with small spaces, and feeling like he was crowded inside of an elevator would probably trigger a panic attack.
After making his way into the lobby, and slowly trudging towards the donut place (he never really paid attention to the name of the store), he rolled up the sleeves of his flannel to make his hospital wristband visible. Could you blame him? If he was going to die, he was going to die with a lifetime supply of free donuts.
That was probably one of the only perks of having a terminal lung disease. The boy could do whatever he wanted and still get away with it, simply because he was sick. He took advantage of it a lot. He only ordered two donuts, knowing that his parents wouldn't really want any, and his sister was at her friends house.
