Anonymous Thu 05 Sep 2024 05:54:14 No.68882811 Report

Quoted By: >>68883043

>>68882789
Naser route. Nona's sick. He knows the diagnostic is bad but he wants another opinion. The diagnostic doesn't change and now he has to face the fact he might loose her. E4 ish?

Anonymous Thu 05 Sep 2024 06:06:21 No.68883043 Report

Quoted By: >>68883212

>>68882811

>The paper is unchanging, looking right back at me. Same prognosis, same condition, same chances. My hand involuntarily shake and quiver. Claws threatening to pierce the paper.
>I glance up to see Nona, eyes sunken in and looking frail quietly smiling at me. Giving her best. Trying not to make me worry. It just makes this all worse. Makes me furious at life itself. Someone so pure, so nice yet cursed with this.
>She slowly moves an IV'd hand over to stroke my forearm. Her touch shaky and ethereal, almost ghostlike. A thought strikes me that this might be the last time she can do this.
>A coinflip. She has to gamble her life, her existence on a coinflip. It's a joke. A cosmic joke pointed at her. If there's a god he's a cruel and merciless bastard, playing with people's fate like this.
>I finally relax my grip a bit as she continues to soothe me. I look deep into her eyes and see genuine happiness and hope. She speaks as I struggle to hold on.
>"Thank you for all this, Naser. I mean it." Her tone is one of finality. One of acceptance. I hate every single second of it. It makes me want to claw and fight. Pushes me to action. Of which there is no path.
>She keeps going as I feel no longer in control of my own body.
>"These last few months have made me really happy. Really made me feel like I was worth something, that I could be better. I'm sorry to have to do this to you."
>I want to tackle her. To weep into her and tell her it'll be okay, she'll make it. I can't lie to her. All I can do is hope. Rely on the professionals to do their job. God if this just waited a few years I could've been the one behind the scalpel. Would've been my steady hand to do this.
>I push the thoughts away. I live in reality and have to accept it. I can't just fall apart, break at the seams. I smile at Nona, finding a surge of strength in me.
cont.

Anonymous Thu 05 Sep 2024 06:15:52 No.68883212 Report

Quoted By: >>68883299

>>68883043
>Her eyes start to wet as do mine, the two of us pulling together for a small embrace. She's so thin it's unreal. I could snap her in half if I pushed even a little bit. Her warmth leaves an imprint on me, reminding me of every single moment of the school year we'd spent together.
>As she pulls away I make a promise to myself. I'll make absolute sure that no matter what she won't have a single step of this process where she's alone. Even if her parents are a no-show, even if the world is ending I will sit right here in this chair until the end. Be it betterment or otherwise.
>The first round of surgeries start a few days later, deep and invasive having to pull tumors and growths from everywhere imaginable. It's hours I have to wait in the operating room, worrying. This is the big one. If she can survive, recover, the survival rate skyrockets. Other treatments start. The rest of her life can begin. She can sleep in her own bed.
>I ring my hands bloody. Scales dripping wet after having been rubbed off in worry. I barely even notice.
>The seconds pass by like monumental pendulums of weight. Each second heavy enough to suffocate me. Crush my heart. Stomp out the fire in my soul. The only thing keeping me ready is the chance to see her face again.
>Finally the time comes. I look up to see the door open to a still fully suited doctor approaching me, moving to take his mask off.
>It's here and now. My world stands on tiptoes, the precipice before me. Am I pushed off or pulled back.

cont one more.

Anonymous Thu 05 Sep 2024 06:19:56 No.68883299 Report

Quoted By:

>>68883212
>As he opens his mouth I notice a smile. I'm hung on a single second.
>"She's going to be okay."
>I collapse. Nerves strung so paper thing they were on the cusp of snapping. Before I can even recover a single second he explains a bit.
>"She's quite tough, thought we may have lost her for a bit but she pulled right back in. You'll be able to talk to her tomorrow."
>I stand and threaten to hug the guy but settle for just a nod between the two of us as I march out. She's a fighter. I don't think I'll ever forget those words as they etch into my gray matter.
>The path is rocky and not without pitfalls but it's just that. She's a fighter. A hope springs in me. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. It's months out, months of suffering. It exists.
>I'd carry her if I could. Would make the trek myself but it's not mine to make. Hers. I can be there, can pick her up but can't walk it. I've never been more sure of anything. We're crossing that finish line together.
>As I step out into darkness, late night having coated the bluffs, I stare up into the stars. For a while they'd been cold, merciless witnesses of life. Yet now they twinkle with a gentle glowing warmth. Promises of a future. I shut my eyes hard and wish. Wish as hard as I can.

Fin.

>>68882820
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