"Ms. Caldwell?" Doctor Paxton entered his office, holding a few papers in his shaky hands. "Hello, Ms. Caldwell. The results..." He glanced at the woman that stood before him, wearing a short, pastel-colored dress and a plain white sweater. Silver earrings hung from her elvish ears, and a complementary necklace circled her neck. She looked especially glowing this morning. You could tell she thought she was going to be alright. The doctor frowned. He would hate to prove her otherwise. 1
2
The girl made herself comfortable in the doctor's leather couch. "I'm all ears," she said, grinning at the doctor. 3
4
He nodded and looked away from her. It's best to do this now, he thought, it'll only be worse after. He swallowed hard. "You've got pancreatic cancer, Anna..." he finally said.5
6
She closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands. The smile faded away. A flood of tears rolled down her cheeks. God, the doctor thought, I hate my job. He took a seat next to her and patted her back. "It's okay..." he muttered, even though he knew it was not.7
8
"How bad is it?" she asked, whimpering. 9
10
"Stage four." He answered, looking down at the floor once again. 11
12
"And that's..." She began.13
14
"All you need to know is you'll be fine, Ms. Caldwell," he interrupted. 15
16
She shook her head in disbelief. She took a couple of paper towels from the doctor's desk and carefully wiped the tears from her eyes. "Thank you, doctor..." she said, attempting to smile. "I believe I should get going..."17
18
"Yes, please, do leave. I scheduled an appointment this Thursday..." he began.19
20
And before he could finish, the patient was out of his sight. Poor girl, he thought, there's no hope. 21
22
-----------------------------------------------------------------23
24
Anna swiftly walked out the building sobbing endlessly. She got in her car, lay her head in the steering wheel and turned the air conditioner on. Her eyes were overflowing with tears. She started asking herself all sorts of questions. Would she die soon? What had she done to deserve this? Would she be remembered after she was gone? I might even die this very day, she thought, and who would care? Nobody knew she was sick. Nobody even knew where she'd gone after 2006. "That's it," she told herself. "I have to tell somebody," But then again, who would she tell?25
26
Anna was never much of the friends person, and the few friends she had lived in faraway places like Moscow and Berlin. Anna was a writer, and she worked all alone in her basement, so she didn't have any work buddies that she could give a call to. College friends? Nah, she never really liked them. Anna sighed. Was there someone she could call that would actually care? And then, she remembered. Her mother.27
28
For a moment, she thought of whether she should call her or not. Most likely, she thought, she'll have forgiven me by now. And of course, she'd be glad to hear me. After all, I am her daughter. 29
She took her cellphone, and dialed the number she'd miraculously remembered, after so many years of not using it. After a few beeps, she heard the sweet voice of the russian, middle-aged woman she immediately recognized as her mother. "Hello?" She heard her say. Anna smiled. How great it was to listen to her voice.30
31
"Mother? It's me, Anna," she answered back, joyfully. 32
"Anna?" Her mother gasped.
"Yes, hello, mom."
"Anna? Why, it's been so long..."
"I know, mom."
"Anna... it's great you called, you know... you're sister will be getting married in a few weeks."33
Anna sighed. Her mother sounded so excited about this.34
"That's great news," Anna said to her, trying to sound cheerful.
"Yes... well, actually... she's been engaged for almost three months now. You remember Jonathan?"
"I remember Jon, alright, mom."
"Yes. He'll be a fantastic husband. Your sister seems so happy..."
"That's also great news, mom."
"Yes... your sister obviously wants you to come, but you don't answer your phone, and we don't know your exact address, so..."
"Yeah, I moved a while ago."
"Oh..."35
There was silence for a while. Anna didn't know whether to tell her or not. She didn't want to ruin her mother's day, and she obviously didn't want her to tell her sister, but after all, it was her mom; she deserved to know.36
"Mom..." Ana began.
"Mm?"
"Well... I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer."
"Oh, dear God-"
"Just please... don't tell Hellen. She's getting married, I mean-"37
There was silence.38
"What are you gonna do?"
"I don't know yet, mom."
"Oh God... you just found out?"
"Yes... you're the first one I told."
"How?"
"What do you mean?"
"How'd you get it?"39
Anna shrugged.40
"I don't think there's any way I can know for sure."
"Oh."
"Yeah..."
"Well, Anna... you should really come spend some time with us. I mean, you should really come to your sister's wedding... stay here a while. We haven't seen you in a bit."41
Anna nodded.42
"I miss you, mom."
"Me too, sweetie. I love you."
"I love you, too."43
She hung up, smiling. Yes, that was all she needed right now; her family. She missed them, and she wanted to go... right now. Yes, she had to go. She started the car and drove away. She half-opened the window, allowing the wind to blow her curls away, bouncing around in every direction. Ah, how she loved them. She carefully touched her light golden-brown hair. Would her prized golden locks fall off some day? And once again, seas of thoughts invaded her. Why? How? And once again, she broke down.44
45
Don't think, she thought, don't think. But more and more questions came to her mind each second. "Stop..." she told herself. She turned on the radio to try and get her mind off it. The song 'Across the Universe' by The Beatles was playing. She turned up the volume and lay back on the seat. I need my mom, she thought, I want my mom.46
Adding your comment:
I liked it!
