Six Months to Live

Chapter Twelve

'So she should be waking up within the next few hours, are you going to stay with her?' Dr Charles asked.

'Of course I am,' Toni said, caressing Cheryl's head.

He left the room, Toni and Cheryl were alone. Penelope had to work so she'd left Toni at the hospital.

'You gonna wake up soon babe?' Toni mumbled. The doctor said she might be able to hear what's going on, so she thought it was worth talking to her.

She reached for her girlfriend's hand, giving it a little squeeze. She felt something that she hadn't felt since Cheryl had her seizure; she'd squeezed her hand back.

'Cheryl? Can you hear me?' She asked, wondering if she'd just imagined that she'd squeezed back. But she hadn't. She felt it again, stronger this time.

Toni ran out of the room and found Dr Charles.

'She squeezed my hand, I asked if she could hear me and she did it again,' she told him excitedly as they both walked to Cheryl's room.

'Yes, she probably did, small things like that are the first signs that someone is waking up, that's great news that her brain is still functioning well,' he explained, checking Cheryl's vital signs.
'Let me know if she does anything else, but this is a great first step,' he said, leaving the room.

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'Toni?' I heard a small, weak voice say. I must have fallen asleep. I opened my eyes to see Cheryl awake and alert looking at me in the chair by her bed.

'Baby,' I said, quickly moving to her side and reaching for her hand, 'you're awake.'

'What happened?' She asked, her voice slurred. She seemed to be struggling to move the left side of her face.

'You had a seizure then they put you into a coma to stabilise you, Dr Charles said that you'll struggle to speak and you'll be paralysed from the waist down,' Toni told her, scared to see her reaction.

'Okay,' Cheryl said, pulling Toni down to her face. She attempted to kiss her but her face wouldn't do it. Cheryl was so frustrated.

'I'll go get the doctor,' Toni told her, running out of the room.

When he saw Cheryl, he reexplained what Toni had already told her. He also said that he'd phone Penelope, that she should be here.

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'Hey Cheryl, how are you?' Penelope asked as she walked in the room.

'Okay,' she said weakly, keeping the left side of her face still. Her speech slurred really badly, but you could tell what she was saying if you listened close enough.

'I love you Cheryl,' her mother told her, reaching for her pale hand.

'Love you mumzy,' Cheryl replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

Her other hand reached over the side of the bed towards me, so I put my hand in hers and she put them both on the bed.

'Love you TT,' she said, very slowing, her eyes closing. She appeared to be going to sleep.

That was until the heart monitor started beeping, the line that was supposed to be jagged was flat.

'Help, someone help!!' Toni shouted, running out of the room.

A team of 2 doctors and 2 nurses rushed into the room and began doing CPR.

'One and two and three and four,' a male nurse said, pumping down on her chest.

'Go and get doctor Charles,' one of the doctors told a nurse, who went running out of the door.

The other doctor wheeled a big machine into the room, Toni soon realised that it was a defibrillator.

One doctor placed the pads onto Cheryl's chest.

'Charge to 100,' he ordered to the other doctor. 'Everybody clear, shocking.'

Toni and Penelope stood in the corner, neither were crying, they were just numb.

Dr Charles came into the room and headed towards them as Cheryl's chest lifted off the bed with the shock of the machine.

The nurse checked her pulse. He shook his head to signify that there wasn't one.

'One and two and three and four,' he counted again, going back to aggressively pounding on her chest.

'Toni, Penelope, why don't you step outside?' Dr Charles asked as the other man continued giving CPR.

'No, I want to stay,' Toni said forcefully. Penelope left with him, leaving her alone with the nurses and doctors trying to resuscitate the love of her life.

'Charge to 120,' the doctor said again. 'Everybody clear, shocking.'

It was like it was any other day at work for them, they worked like a well oiled machine trying to bring life back to this young girl.

After about 20 minutes of CPR, the doctor who'd taken lead of the resuscitation spoke.

'Does anyone have any objections to stopping?' He asked.

No one said anything.

'Time of death, three fifteen pm, well done everybody,' he said, leaving the room.

Toni felt her legs collapse beneath her, sinking to the floor in a puddle of tears.

How had she let this happen? She should've tried harder, she should've told Cheryl that she loved her more often, because now she'd never have the chance again.

Penelope walked into the room after about ten minutes and went to see her daughter. Toni was still on the floor in the corner sobbing.

'Rest in peace,' the older woman said, planting a single kiss on Cheryl's forehead before leaving the room.

Dr Charles walked in soon after.

He went up to Toni and lifted her off the ground, pulling her into a hug.

'I'm so sorry that there was nothing more we could have done, I know how much you loved her,' he said as Toni's tears soaked into his shirt.

'Love,' Toni corrected, 'its present tense, I will always love her,' she told him in a somehow strong voice.

When he left the room, Toni walked over to her girlfriend and looked at her, taking her pale hand into her own. Her body was still warm to the touch.

'Cheryl, I love you baby girl,' she began to sob, 'I will always love you, we'll be together again some day, maybe a long time from now or maybe sooner than we could ever know, but I will see you again. This is not a goodbye, this is a see you soon,' she choked on those last words.

Toni raised her hand to the other girl's face and stroked her hair for the very last time. She tucked it behind her ear, noticing the way her curls still held their shape.

She leant down to the bed and planted one final kiss on the girls lips, almost disappointed when she didn't kiss back, as if she could bring her back to life with a kiss alone.

'If love alone could have saved you, you would have never died,' she whispered, pulling away from her lips. She let go of her hand, leaving it to sit lifelessly on the hospital sheets beneath it.

She stood up and walked towards the door, once she reached it she took one final glance backwards, the last time she'd ever see the face that meant so much to her. She was beautiful. Actually no, she is beautiful.

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Author's Notes:

RIP Cheryl 👼💗
Please vote and comment ❤️❤️
I honestly don't know what else to say except don't hate me for killing her.