Since You Been Gone

Since You Been Gone: Chapter 20

Dawn almost choked for breath as she thought about the words Aubrey just uttered to her. She couldn't think she couldn't come to reality of thinking that what Aubrey had said was true. Nothing was wrong with her baby!

"Hello.....Hello." The sound of Aubrey's voice rang out from her Blackberry on the floor somewhere around her.

She didn't dare look for it and the droning of Aubrey trying to get her to come back to the phone only made her cry more. Cancer. That's what a tumour meant to her, cancer, practically death if it was in her brain. Dawn didn't know what to think and she could almost feel herself about to throw up. How could she tell Que? His baby. The one person he seemed to care more for in the world than anybody else. Their precious little girl.

Dawn pulled over to the side of the road and ran her fingers through her hair. The tears poured out of her eyes non-stop and her breathing was almost non-existent. She remembered this feeling, her body shutting down and almost choking on the breath that she knew was there. Dawn was having a panic attack. No one really knew she even had them since her childhood days except for Que. He found her in their bathroom one night after Destiny had screamed herself to sleep. She remembered that she was so tired, so exhausted, and so frustrated. Que had sat there on the cold bathroom tile making her breath slowly and steadily, holding her tightly and telling her everything would be fine. But she couldn't do the same for him this time; she couldn't sit there and pretend that everything would be okay in front of Que's face.

Dawn could barely hold herself together thinking about Destiny's fate. Dawn rocked back in forth telling herself not to panic she could breathe...and she could fix this. Somehow her half-heartfelt words cured her panic attack.

Dawn wallowed in sadness for a few more minutes before her phone rang out loudly snapping her back into reality. A special ringtone she had picked out for Que rang out and she hesitantly picked her phone up from up underneath her feet. Her tears ran down her face, leaving streaks of sadness along her face as she looked at her screensaver. A picture of Que and Destiny with cake all over their faces from Destiny's last birthday flashed on the screen. She pressed the talk button, swallowing her fears in one gulp of breath

"Hel...Hello." Dawn whispered into the phone. Her voice cracking still despite her low tone of voice.

All she heard was crying the sound of choking breaths and slurred phrases. Someone had already told him. Dawn began to cry into the phone listening to Que cry on the phone with her.

"Dawn...Dawn....what are we going to do.....Damn it not my little girl......." Que cried into her ear.

Dawn stunned by Que herself merely returned his much distorted words with cries of her own. They stayed on the phone for almost 15 minutes crying until finally Dawn spoke up.

"Que.....Que....where are you?" Dawn said into her phone, the obvious sound of previous crying echoing in her voice. She leaned back against the headrest feeling a headache coming on as she waited for Que's response.

Que sighed into the phone and replied with his voice cracking, "I'm at the hospital Dawn. I couldn't drive so Rob and Drea came and got me. Now I'm waiting for the doctor to come back with Destiny and some answers. They said they want to run more tests to find out everything they can before..." Que held back a little sob that Dawn heard about to take release in his voice, "Before they can make a diagnosis for sure and send her to her specialist."

Dawn sighed and listened to Que as she heard him sob some more. She cried a little herself and then swallowed her fears a little more, pushing them down into the depths of her stomach. "Que... I'm coming now..." She didn't even wait to see what else Que had to say. She couldn't bare anymore cries because she needed her strength to focus on driving and getting to the hospital in one piece at that very moment.