Strip

Chapter 11

Climbing up the stairs I made my way into my dads room, thankfully he stayed true to his letter and didnt run off again. Although I must admit ever since that day hes been happier, he smiles alot more and even ventures out of his room now and then to spend time with jason and I.

Whenever I ask him what he spent his day doing he would just wink and walk away as if saying 'none of your business' he looks alot better too, I always nag him about going to the doctors to find out whats wrong with him but hes too stubborn and thinks the doctors dont know anything he doesnt or google for that matter.

I walked in to hear him in the middle of a coughing fit

"dad, are you awake?"

"yes sweetheart, come in"

I walked in and sat on the edge of his bed; I saw his handkerchief covered in blood. Stroking his cheek I felt his high temperature he was getting worse and there was nothing I could do.

"Dad I know you dont believe in doctors but you need to get checked out, you're getting worse!"

"ahh i'll be fine sweetheart, dont worry about me"

I couldnt help but worry though he looked so pale, his lips were chapped and he was coughing up blood again I thought he was getting better but apparently not. I felt the tears prick my eyes and felt my dad grab my hand

"sweetheart dont cry, if it makes you feel better we will go to the doctors okay?"

I nodded and couldnt help but smile. I was finally going to be able to see what was wrong with him.

"Tomorrow morning I will book an appointment and we'll go in together"

I gave him a hug and made my way to my room, I was so exhausted but it took me a while to fall asleep I was so anxious about what was going to be said it had me tossing and turning.

~•~

"Princes gate hospital susan speaking, how may I help you?"

"Hi, I would like to make an appointment for my father"

"okay certainly, whats his name darl?"

"Norman Andrews"

"is 10:30am fine?"

"perfect, thankyou"

"okay see you then"

I hung the phone up and ran to get dressed I woke dad up and waited as he made his way into my car.

"are you ready?" I asked before backing out of our driveway

"as ready as i'll ever be"

I looked at him again inspecting his face for doubts but he just looked out the window with a nonchalant expression. Sighing I knew this was the best for him I knew it wasnt what he wanted but I needed to know.

We arrived at the hospital a quater past 10 and made our way inside. The lady at the reception smiled as we entered the big sliding doors.

"Hello dear, how may I help you?"

"my father has an appointment for 10:30"

after typing away at her computer for a few minutes she looked up and smiled

"not a problem, take a seat over there please the doctor will be with you shortly"

I linked my arms with my dad and sat down. I looked around at all of the patients in the waiting room, there was a little boy around the age of 5 with a massive cut on his arm he was on the ground playing with a toy truck and cradling his hurt arm I had to admire the fact that he wasnt crying or moaning. His mother was reading a gossip magazine and noticed me staring at his arm

"Do you have a problem? you think I done this to him huh?" She said while pointing to his arm

"No, I didnt. Um, im sorry"

She glared at me and I wondered what on earth was her problem, It made me wonder how he did get that cut she seemed a bit defensive.

"urgh I hate the smell of hospitals!"

I looked at my dad confused

"dad, they just smell like disinfectant"

"exactly but not any disinfectants, I can handle the ones at home but these smells are sickly they make me nauseous"

I couldnt help but roll my eyes and chuckle, he was such a drama queen at times.

"Norman Andrews?"

"here" I replied while pointing to my dad. The doctor looked up from his clip board and smiled

"this way please"

We followed him into his office and sat at the two seats he allocated us

"so Norman, what seems to be the problem?"

"nothing."

I rolled my eyes as the doctor looked at me confused, obviously wanting an explanation

"he has been very unwell for a while. Hes been coughing up blood, having high temperatures, hardly eats and gets really pale"

"ahh I see. Well I can suggest we do a blood test and a few other small tests to see if we can pick up any form of sickness"

I nodded willing him to continue.

"okay norman, have you been getting headaches recently?"

"now and then but its nothing I cant handle"

"do you struggle to keep down food?"

"yes"

"when was the last time you vomited?"

"last night"

"okay well I will do the small tests now quickly"

He grabbed his stethoscope and pressure kit and made his way over to dad

"okay well im just going to wrap this around your arm could you please lift your sleeve up"

after checking his heart rate, his eyes and ears with a torch and his tongue with a popsicle stick he retreaded back to his desk and grabbed a syringe and a tube to proceed with the blood tests. After marking his blood in the tube he explained that it would take a few days to process due to courier and that he would call us when he has results.

"see it wasnt that bad now was it?"

Dad just rolled his eyes and scoffed

"you werent the one getting poked and prodded"

"lets go and get some lunch shall we?" I laughed as I saw his facial in the corner of my eye.

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