To the moon and back

Chapter 15.1

Chapter 15.1

If driving home after dropping off Annika was a sight then it could have been one not to see. All the happiness about everything had vanished, devoured by disappointment and sympathy. I noted that the suspicion Mr. Smartz had was on target after seeing the way Annika had been helped into her home. While there was no denying my knowledge of her sickness, despite the sadness it had made me wear, i cared more about wanting to hear her telling me what she was failing to due to the circumstances she was meeting.

Early into the daylight of 26th November i knocked on her home's front door having a strong desire to check on her. There was something i did not wish for to be there. I had grown tired of it and finding it there simply meant that there was not going to be any answer. Silence it had been, silence it was. Neither did Annika nor her mother respond to me. There were not there it seemed to me. I did give Annika a call before i had given up knocking. Her phone rang but never got answered. I in the end, before i had left her home, just sent her a text message asking her about where she was.
Less than a day into the month with Christmas and Boxing Day i got called to Klacont hospital in the afternoon. Jennifer wanted me there urgently. Using my mother's phone she had called me.

"You need to be here right now" she gushed after the hellos had been said. "I don't care about what you are doing."

"But i was there the whole morning" i nagged as i got up from my bed. "Why do you want me there right now?"

"Because doctor Maynards has some great news to say to me and i want you to be here with mom and me as usual" she said. "Do you have any more questions?"

"No."

"Good. Now get over here. Don't make me say please."

It wasn't just great news doctor Maynards had for his patient. It was extra huge with hands that touch hearts and a paralyzing effect that stops speech without warnings. It was good news. The tumor inside the head of Jennifer had reduced in size by 89 percent and because of that the teenage lady was to be discharged from the hospital in the next few days.

A week not clocked after doctor Maynards had shared his good news Jennifer walked out of the hospital. A small party was held for her by the doctor and a few nurses who gave her gifts and a standing ovation as she walked out of the hospital. Before that had come to pass my grandparents, Allan and Jeannie came to see her and on one evening i got a call that turned my world upside down. I answered it while i was at work, doing my duties as Bennis also did hers. I was left petrified when the call was over. I was in so much shock that i lost contact with the world for some minutes. Bennis had to snap her fingers at me for me to notice that she had brought her presence close to mine. It wasn't just once she snapped her fingers. She did it more than that.

"Are you okay?" she asked me. "It seems like you have seen a ghost which has talked to you."

I stared at her.

"I have to go" i drawled. "Cover me up. I have to go."
Running i left the shop, leaving Bennis in it confused.

Running, i entered Klacont hospital. Like my first time there i went to the reception for directions as if i didn't know the ways in the hospital. The receptionist was very helpful, she sent me direct to where i was going although it wasn't straight forward to the exact location i wanted. There was another reception there too and it was from its receptionist i knew exactly where i had to go, room 8 of the women's cancer ward. Finding it happened very quickly. I got into it without knocking. Good thing it was with gentleness i did so. The patient, in it, Annika, was alone, laying on her bed and looking at the ceiling as if it was a mirror. She saw me as i walked to her and forced a smile. I took a seat on a chair that was on her left, so close to her bed.