Six Months To Live

Chapter One

I always hated hospitals, even though I knew they were there to help people, I always had a bad feeling in my gut whenever I had to visit one. There was one hospital that everyone in my town went to. The hospital itself was not too big, on the front of the all brick building a marble engraved sign read:  Harper saint’s Healthcare facility.  Harper Saint was a man who founded this hospital back in 1968, I was told he was a very kind man but lived alone. He had made smart investments in his life and the results were about 17.6 million dollars to his name.  One day he had suffered a stroke and was rushed to a hospital in a nearby town since none of the hospitals nearby had any room for him. He was stabilized, and spent the next three weeks going through physical therapy. We were told he hated the hospital he was in. An absolute ramshackle place built almost a hundred years ago and was falling apart.  After the completion of his therapy he knew that his health problems would only get worse, he wanted to leave something behind he could be remembered for, so about two months later, the construction of a new hospital under his name began. It took only about six months for the hospital to be finished. The amount of money it took to build it left Harper with next to none of his original wealth. But He didn’t care, he was happy to know that soon people would be treated for illnesses and injuries in his new facility.  He died about a year later from a fatal hemorrhage in his head. He was in a coma for about a week before he passed, and during that week, he laid on one of the beds at his hospital, truly a final tribute to him and all of the accomplishments he had done in his life.

 I had personally been to that hospital three times; the first was for a broken arm that I got while playing basketball at my school. The second was for some vaccinations from measles and mumps, and the final time was when I had accidentally overdosed on my mother’s painkillers in the cupboard when I was three. I know the last one seems a bit extreme, I almost died that day, but luckily the doctors at Harper managed to expel most of the drug out of my bloodstream. Afterwards I got a big lollipop from the main counter and my parents drove me to my favorite ice cream parlor in town.

It was Monday morning, about 6:30. I finished brushing my teeth and went downstairs to eat my breakfast. My mom was already dressed to go to her job, and Dad was on the couch watching CNN on the glaring TV set. I knew my mom hated when he watched the news every morning because she thought that it was too early in the morning to turn on the TV, because once the TV was turned on, it stayed on until it was time to go to bed.

“Good morning” mom greeted me.

I said nothing because my head doesn’t turn on fully until I have my morning coffee.  I scuffled to the coffee pot and poured myself a fresh cup, it was a Hawaiian morning blend and I loved it to death. I took my first sip and felt the warm liquid go down my throat making every nerve in my body tingle with pleasure. After a few more sips I turned and faced my mom and asked:

“What time will you be back from work?”

“Around six, I have to stay a little bit later to help with all the paperwork for my clients.” She replied.

At this point my dad had turned his head around and said:

“Those clients are asking too much from you, you’re only paid to give them financial advice, not hold their hand as they write the date for their tax return.”

“They’re old friends of mine” Mom replied. “They asked me for a favor and I told them I would do it”

“If you say so” Dad laughed “if they asked you to tie their shoes as well would you do it?”

“Shut up” Mom snapped.

At this point my dad and I started laughing hysterically. He was definitely the man of comedy in the house. He could always make any situation appear funny.  I don’t think I have ever seen him have a sad moment in his life. We always had something special between us, a father and son bond that couldn’t be broken.  He worked at Home on his laptops with the stock market. Even from the start he was good with that kind of thing, at sixteen he had made his first account and from there just kept making money. He’s rowdy, but also knew how to comfort me and my mom when we needed it. He didn’t drink, has been sober for the last ten years of his life. As for my mom, my mom was a very kind and loving woman. Tall, about 5’9, and very fit since her gym membership she bought a few months back. I tended to fight more with her than my dad since she’s so over protective, but I still love her with all my heart and I don’t know what I would do If I lost her.

I finished my cup of coffee and walked out of the kitchen and back up to my room. I wanted to make sure I had everything in needed for school today. I checked my homework, I made sure I had some extra pencils, I made sure I had that bag of weed still in my secret compartment, and zipped it all up. Yeah, I smoke weed. Not a lot maybe once or twice every couple weeks. I do it mostly since my friend’s brother deals the stuff at our school and he gives it to me for next to nothing since He knows me well. My parent would send me off to military school if they knew I smoked, that’s why I’m extra careful around them. I always have mints on me and keep my grades up so they don’t have a reason to suspect me for a thing. Any way it was 6:51 already so I got my jacket told my parents I was heading out, and began walking to my bus. Bus usually came around 7:00 but that was always iffy so I made sure to come a bit earlier to be safe.

When I got to the stop I saw my two friends Carlos and Sebastian.  I knew Sebastian since third grade, and he was the one who’s older brother frank sold weed at our school. Carlos I met about a year ago, we actually didn’t like each other at first but resolved our differences when I found out his older sister got cancer. He needed someone to talk to and I happened to be around. She’s been fighting it for the second year now and it been back and forth. Sometimes when I see her she’s running around chasing after her other 2 little brothers and greeting me. Other times she would be bed ridden, cheeks shallow and bald spots on her head from the chemotherapy and radiation. It’s been hard on Carlos, I could never imagine going through what he is.  He doesn’t show it though, he’s tough. And he hasn’t let it affect him as badly as it could have.

“Yo, what’s good?” Carlos said.

“Not much bummed out that we have our midterm in chemistry today, didn’t study for it at all.” I replied.

“Same” Sebastian agreed. “We’re so fucked for the year.”

“Speak for yourselves” Carlos laughed “I studied my ass off last night and I got a friend to send me a picture of the test paper we’re taking”

“Are you serious?” Sebastian asked. “Better share that with us.”

“Nah, I think it would be better to see you two struggle, it will make you want to try harder next time.” He replied.

I laughed, “That would be something you’d do to us.”

“Actually I change my mind, you can have it and Sebastian can struggle for it.”              

“Asshole” Sebastian said.

We all laughed and right as we were we heard a grumbling sound that could only mean our bus was pulling up. The bus opened the doors and we got on. As we were sitting down Carlos asked:

“Did you bring the weed for the party tonight?”

“Yeah”

“Good” he said “were gonna have a lot of fun tonight at my place”.