Chapter 2: Revelations
“Mr. Dawn? May I please speak with you in the hallway? We don’t want to wake the patient…” A quiet, hushed voice came from the little nurse who had just finished injecting a shot full of Berrimine into his daughter’s arm. He leaned over, kissed her on the forehead, and set her stack of books on the small nightstand next to her bed. What happened? What happened, Oasis?
“Alright. I’m coming.” He followed the little nurse into a meeting room a floor down from Oasis’s, and stopped when the nurse turned around.
“You’ve been called in here today because Dr. Mirage, the doctor who will be taking care of little Oasis up there, asked me to explain the technicalities of Oasis’s condition. Then, she herself will be in here to discuss a more… sensitive topic.”
“Go ahead. Hit me with the bad news. I’m ready.” The nurse furrowed her eyebrows, realizing he was expecting the worst. It made sense, seeing as after one look at Oasis’s medical file, it seemed the worst had already happened.
“Mr. Dawn, you’re daughter’s going to be okay. She’s going to heal. All we have to do is continue with these injections of berrimine.” He was beyond shocked. He couldn’t believe it… she’s going to heal? How?
“What? How?”
“You see, sir, your daughter suffers from Berryberry because she has the inability to take in berrimine…orally. This is because of a strange abnormality in her stomach and intestines that doesn’t allow berrimine to reach her bloodstream. However, if berrimine was to be injected into her blood steam regularly, she would begin to heal.”
“Wait.” He began. He was shaking as he came to the realization. It hit him like a brick, knocking all the wind out of his lungs. “Do you mean to tell me… that my wife, who died of the very same thing, would have lived if they had just given her some stupid INJECTIONS?” He was shaking so hard that he could no longer force his voice to work.
“Y-yes, sir. I’m afraid so.” The nurse took note how pained he looked, started to back away, and she said one final thing. “Sir, your daughter should heal. With any luck, she’ll even be able to walk. I wish you good luck.” With that, she left to check on another patient, leaving Mr. Dawn all alone, in agony.
In the Children’s Ward…
I awoke to find myself sitting in a hospital room full of children’s toys. Beside me sat some of my favorite books. I eyed them, and titles like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and A Tale of Two Cities caught my eye, and letting me know that my Dad had been there. What happened? I began to sit up, noting that even though I had evidently had a panic attack, I was feeling stronger than usual. Odd.
My thoughts were interrupted my the opening of the door to my room. In walked a boy about my age, who promptly strolled across the room and walked right up to my bed.
“Well, hiya.” Then, with no regard to my personal space, he leapt over the foot of my bed and got comfy. I frowned.
“You know,” he continued, “You’re awfully old to be stuck in the children’s ward.” I simply stared, at a loss for words. “So, what’s your name, Newbie?”
“Uh… Why… Are you in here?” I was annoyed. What’s going on? Who is this guy?
“Well, nice to meetcha, Whyareinyouhere! My name’s Lion.” He laughed at his own joke, and my brain finally shifted into gear. If someone’s going to bother me, I might as well tell them my real name.
“Oh, err, actually, my name is Oasis…”
“Wow, that’s actually kinda pretty. A lot prettier than ‘Whyareinyouhere’ at least.” He laughed again, and smiled brilliantly.
I frowned back, still a bit peeved. This would probably be the first teenager I’d spoken to… ever, and I really wasn’t liking how loud my fellow teenager was. “Lion is a pretty interesting name, too. It seems to suit you.” He looked at me strangely, and I couldn’t help but smirk.
“How is it that you think the name ‘Lion’ suits me?”
“Lions are loud. You’re loud.” I stared at him, waiting for him to be offended and leave so I could sleep.
“Huh. That’s actually pretty true. But by that logic, your name should be Mouse.”
“Gee, thanks.” I was disappointed that my jab had no effect on him. Instead, he just kept smiling. Although he annoyed me and was way too loud for my taste, he was slowly growing on me. I thought I had hated everyone but my dad, but that might’ve been because I’d never really gotten to know anyone else…
“So, what’re ya in for?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Why where you checked in to the hospital? You don’t look too terribly sick…” I mentally kicked myself for not understanding what he was trying to say, however, in all fairness I really wasn’t myself that day.
“Oh. I have a hereditary disorder called Berryberry.” He looked quite surprised.
“Berryberry? I thought only people in Africa and stuff had that.” I laughed a small, sad laugh.
“Well, yes. It is prevalent in third-world countries like certain parts of Africa, because they don’t have any good way to take in Berrimine. However, It is also, albeit rarely, found in places like America as a heredita-”
“Okay, whoa, there.” Lion interrupted me and held his hands out in front of him, as if to tell me to stop. “Me no like big words. Big words baaaaaaaad!” We stared at each other for a moment, and then burst out laughing.
It seemed as though we talked for hours, me and this strange, annoying boy who I met in the hospital. We were total strangers, and instantly, he felt like my good (although overtly pesky) friend. He turned out to be a lot smarter than he let on, and I discovered that he had read most of the books sitting on the stand next to me.
“So, you’re telling me that you’ve never read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? You really need to! Its about these three men who become prisoners on-board a submarine named the Nautilus, and they go on tons of fantastic adventures with Captain Memo!”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s Captain Nemo, not Memo…”
“So you actually have read it?” He looked guilty, scratched his head and shifted his eyes.
“Yes. I just don’t like telling people…” At this, I actually smiled at him.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ve been sick so long I’m pretty sure I don’t count as a ‘people.’”
“That’s not true. Anyone who has any kind of independent thoughts is a person. I’m almost positive that your thoughts are independent.”
“I’m almost positive that your thoughts are annoying.”
“Touché.”
Meanwhile, in The Meeting Room…
Dr. Rose Mirage stood behind the father of her patient, Oasis, and waited for him to notice her presence. She stood there, running what she would say through her head. She had some very good news. However, she also had some very, very bad news as well. How Mr. Dawn would take it, she would just have to see.
Dr. Mirage cleared her throat, alerting Mr. Dawn of her presence. He quickly turned around, and she too a breath to speak. “Mr. Dawn, I called you here to speak with you today because I have good news…” She trailed off. “…as well as some rather unfortunate news.”
“Well, by all means, let’s hear it.” His tone told the doctor he was none too happy to be talking to her. The middle aged man turned back to the window he had previously been staring out of, and the doctor shifted her weight, feeling uncomfortable.
“You see, sir, the good news is that your daughter’s condition is perfectly treatable, and the doctors in Sugar Valley are completely incompetent.” She snorted. “Next time anyone in your family is sick, please, I beg of you, come to me. It will save you the heartbreak of their total inadequacy.”
“I knew that. The nurse informed me of the fact that her disease could have been avoided.” He said this with a grunt, and his jaw set almost immediately after he spoke.
The petite woman now felt extremely uncomfortable. His daughter was going to heal. She was, essentially, going to perfectly fine… physically, at least. Why was he behaving this way? It seemed as though he was grieving rather than celebrating.
“Uh, well, sir… I suppose I should tell you the bad news now…”
Another grunt. Why am I always the one to deal with the difficult parents…?
“You see, earlier, in the waiting room, your daughter seemed to have a panic attack. However…”
Suddenly, he felt rage burning through his veins, and he whipped around and yelled. “If there’s bad news, just get on with it, already!” He slowly turned back around, fuming.
“Mr. Dawn, your daughter’s panic attack wasn’t really a panic attack.”
“Well then, Doctor. What. Exactly. Was. It?” He seethed. She simply couldn’t understand why he was so angry, so furious. She swallowed the growing lump in her throat and continued.
“It was a lapse of her sanity.”
I cussed rather loudly when it was announced about the injections. Those berry holes at the old hospital never even tried? That's just AAARGH!!!!!!!!! -pants heavily- I'm ok. I am very glad Oasis will be okay. I don't think it really was a lapse in her sanity. At least, I don't think she's insane. I just think she's seeing things. Nothing crazy about that--if it is, then I'm crazy as are most the people I know. I really hope she's not put in a mental hospital. :(
ReplyDeleteLion's annoying. xD cute though. I'm glad she has someone to talk to, someone her own age. ^_^ I feel so bad for her dad though. I can't even imagine how heartbreaking it must be to find out his wife could have lived... T^T
I like Lion. Lion reminds me of.... well me of course :) Stupid doctors in Sugar Valley... grrrr. That makes me angry. It's good that Oasis is going to be fine physically. It sucks that her sanity is going. I don't know how that feels, but it sounds terrible.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that Oasis' condition can be treated and she'll heal but what a terrible thing for her Dad to find out after losing his wife to the same disease! I feel so bad for them:( What terrible doctor's they have in Sugar Valley.
ReplyDeleteI like Lion:)
It doesn't sound good that Oasis had a lapse in sanity, looking forward to what happens next:)
Hope you don't mind but I put your story on my blogroll:)
Thank you all for the wonderful comments!!! Thank you so much, Claireybear, of course I don't mind. :) (I thought I might add that I'm pretty attached to Lion as well. Haha)
Delete