Tyler's Hope
Chapter 3: I Wish I Could Tell You
The next couple of weeks went by very fast, but for one employee of the popular movie theatre "Movies Unlimited"; it went by too slowly. Tyler was in his room, contemplating on how to tell his friends and his father that he had terminal lung cancer. He could still hear the terrible voice of the doctor inside his head from when he went in for an appointment not too long ago.
"I'm sorry, Tyler. We did the best we could. But it's terminal. You have about 3 to 4 months."
But those thoughts were washed from him as he heard the pounding of his father on the other side of the wooden door.
Tyler, slowly and painfully, got up, opened the door and was met by a punch to the face.
"What the heck are you doing in here?" bellowed Danny loudly.
"I'm just or I was sitting here. Why?" inquired Tyler.
"Because I've been calling your name for the past 10 minutes. Don't you have ears boy? Get down here right now," said Danny and yanked Tyler out of his room and pushed him down the stairs.
When Tyler landed on the bottom of the stairs, everything started to ache. Before he could barely open his eyes to see what was going on, his father had him on his back crying.
"Don't be crying around me boy," said Danny making the poor boy cry more.
"Leave me alone dad. Please!" said Tyler wanting so much to escape from his father, but was unable to.
"I will never leave you alone boy, you understand me? You are my son. Anyway, I'm going out. Don't know when I'll be back," said Danny and he left the house.
Tyler just lay there, unable to move or even get up tears running down his face in torrents. Somehow he found the strength to get up and he crawled up the stairs into his room. When he got to his room, the first thing he grabbed was his mother's picture. He lay on his back on the bed
"Hey mom," said Tyler crying, "I have some bad news. I was just informed that my cancer is terminal. You know I tried mom. They said the cancer is just spreading so fast and chemotherapy won't do anything except make me worse. If you were here, you would be objective. Mom, I don't want to die. Not now, not this young. I wanted to do so many things with my life. You knew my dreams and my aspirations. I wanted to go to collage, become a teacher, get married. All I want is you mom. I don't know how to tell it to my father or my friends. The good part is, though, that when I do die, I'll be able to see you again mom. Oh, the doorbell is ringing. I'll be back," said Aaron laying the picture on top of the nightstand gently before going to see whom it was. However, when he got downstairs, he saw his father opening the door.
"Hello Mr. Connell, I was wondering if I could speak to Tyler for a minute," inquired Jaime.
"And who are you?" bellowed Danny.
"I'm Jamie Waite, one of Tyler's friends from school. He just hasn't been in school for awhile, and I was wondering if he was alright," said Jaime.
"He's fine. Just fine," said Danny holding fast to the idea that this boy would not get to see his son.
"Well, may I please see him," asked Jaime shocked at the man's rudeness.
"Well, you got your answer. What else do you want?" asked Danny.
Jaime was at a loss for words. How could this man start accusing him of something he didn't do? Out of the corner of his eye, Jaime saw Tyler very disheveled behind his father's back.
"Please. It'll only be a minute," said Jaime begging now.
"FINE, but only for a few minutes," yelled Danny and motioned for his son to come forward.
Tyler walked very slowly and cringed every time his foot hit the ground. When he got past his father, his father lay a hard hand on him and nearly shoved him out the door, making Tyler fall onto Jaime. Jaime, unfortunately, was not ready for Tyler's fall and if Jaime had not been as strong as he was, they would've both tumbled down the front steps. When Jaime got Tyler firmly on his feet, then did Jaime talk.
"Hey, I just wanted to talk to you," said Jaime sitting down, hopefully causing Tyler to sit down also. Tyler, seeing what action Jaime was performing, sat down slowly.
The first words out of Jaime's mouth were "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," said Tyler quietly, feeling himself getting teary. If only you knew.
"Are you sure? I mean, you've missed a week of school. Last week, you could barely keep yourself up, and you nearly fainted every time you stood up after class. Everyone is worried about you and we're all praying for you. Are you hiding something from me? If you are, you don't have to. You can tell me," said Jaime looking at Tyler's expressions.
"Ok, well, looks like you're not going to tell me. I just want you to know that if you need anything or if you want to talk about anything, you have my number. Feel free to call me day or night. If you need a shoulder to lean on, or an ear to listen, I'll be there. You are like a little brother to me. I care about you and I want to help you, but you have to let me first," said Jaime putting a comforting hand on Tyler's shoulder, and with that got up and left, leaving Tyler to drown in his own tears.
