That Boy

Just a close call.

Mrs. Walker got ahold of my mother eventually and informed her of what happened. After school my dad came and got me to go to the doctors office. Of all the days to retake an MRI it would be my first day of school. Halfway there my phone started to ring. I saw it was John and picked up the phone.

"I'm coming back." That was the first thing he'd gotten out when I answered the phone.

"No John. You don't need to come home. We retook the MRI and they said it was just a trick of the eye. I promise everything is fine. Don't come back, stay at college. You shouldn't worry about me." The lie was hard and my dad glanced over at me. 

"Are you sure I shouldn't come home?" He sounded genuinely worried.

"Yes John. Stay at college." I hung up the phone before more could be said. 

"Why did you lie to him?" My dads deep voice was full of disappointment from my lie. 

"Sorry dad, he needs to stay at college and if lying does it, then so be it. I'll lie a little." I didn't look over at him, just out the window.

"You don't want mom or I to tell him anything but that your fine right?" He sighed one of his big disappointed sighs.

"Yes dad. I'd like that." I sighed too. 

An hour later we sat in Mrs. Harpso's office, after the MRI. She usually has us in her office because I was one of her special cases and her favorite patient, not that she's picking favorites but I know she does. She walked into the office with my scans.

"So we looked over the MRI scans and didn't find anything. It just happened to be a trick of the eye but that doesn't mean it can't come back. So for the next week we are going to put you back on your medicine, just a lower dosage of it and just one pill a day. We really want to make sure to nip this in the butt and make sure it's truly gone." She smiled as she sat down, leaning back in her chair.

My dad loudly sighed in relief and pulled out his phone getting ready to call my mother. He stood from his chair and walked out of the room, his phone to his ear.

"John called the office asking about you? He said something about not trusting what you said." What she said caught me off guard. "Before you get excited I haven't called him back. What do you want me to tell him?" 

"The truth. That I'm perfectly fine. If he ever calls again, even if my cancer is back tell him I'm doing fine." I tried to sound determined but my voice shook a little with effort, "college is too important for him to come running back to me cause I have cancer."

"If that's what you wish for then it will be that way. I want to set up an appointment in a month and a half with another MRI scan. We'll do regular check ups every month and a half and every other check up we'll do an MRI scan to make sure your cancer hasn't returned. I don't know when we'll stop doing them or if the appointments will thin out a bit. I'm going to assume in about a year and a half they'll be less frequent, just until then." She stood up in her chair, "Come on, lets get you out of here. We'll see you in a month and a half."