In The Distant Future

By caramelapples

Chapter 4

Laura gripped the sides of the counter top to steady herself. Quickly, she glanced out of the kitchen window to see Bill working on the model of a ship he had recently started building with all the precision and care she had ever seen him give. As the wave of nausea and dizziness came to pass, she poured herself a glass of water and took a sip. She shot a furtive glance at the medicine cabinet near the door. Shaking her head, she returned to slicing the cabbage for the coleslaw they would have for dinner later. She didn't complete her thoughts. Bill needed to take more vegetables.

She felt a throb of pain and the nausea returned. The pain became so bad that it was making her hands shake. She dropped the knife and squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe one… She took the key that she hid under the flower pot and went to the medicine cabinet. She looked outside the window again and seeing Bill there, she fumbled with the lock, her hands trembling.

Bill went inside to grab a drink and found Laura leaning on the wall, a glass of water in hand. He startled her by walking in and she immediately went to close the medicine cabinet which had been left wide open.

"Laura?"

"Yeah." She grabbed a bottle and hurriedly placed it in the cabinet. Why won't this damned thing lock?! Lock damned it!

"What are you doing?" She was acting strangely, he thought. She was trying to hiding something from him.

Silence.

"Laura?"

She felt him grab her hands-she struggled to shut the cabinet-and pulled the cabinet door open, only to stare in shock at the contents. She let out a cry, a heart-breaking cry of frustration.

"Are you happy now?!" She screamed. "Why?! Are you happy now?!" She grabbed the bottles of pills and threw them at him, each bottle falling to the ground, lid coming off and pills scattering the wooden floor. "Now that you know, are you happy now?!" she screamed.

"Gods Laura… What's all this?!" He was trying to shield himself from the attack.

"Get out!" she screamed at him, shutting the kitchen door on him, pushing with all her might as he tried to resist. "Get out!"

Bill felt as though the world he knew was crashing down onto him. What the hell is going on? What are the pills she's taking? Gods, those bottles in the cabinet… Should've known that she was hiding something. The cancer-no! Not the cancer. Please not the cancer. "Laura, please! What's going on?!" he heard himself call out to her. "Please don't do this!"

He heard faint sounds of her throwing up and barged in to find her on all fours and vomiting. "Laura, we have to get you to the hospital," he said, urgently. She flinched as he touched her arm.

"Don't," she gasped.

"What's going on? You have to tell me, Laura! Tell me!" he said, his voice frustrated and his mind spinning with a dozen thoughts. Before he knew it, she staggered up and swayed dangerously before blacking out, almost knocking the corner of the table had he not caught her in time.

"Laura!"

Please, Laura. Please. You can't.

The hospital smelled faintly of disinfectant. Bill had always detested the smell.

"The cancer has advanced," the Doctor Roberts said grimly, without a hint of pity. It was professional and calm. Bill felt as though the wind had been sucked out from his lungs and he leaned back onto the chair. "Mainly because she delayed treatment during the first trimester but-"

"Come again?"

"She delayed treatment in her first trimester."

"That would mean she's pregnant?" Bill sat up straight. "She came to consult you?" She had known all this time? No wonder.

"In a small town, there aren't many specialists for things like these. However, when we detected her cancer, it was already in it's second stage but I couldn't give her chemotherapy because she was in her first trimester. Only weeks. It was advancing rapidly and it needed to be treated so when I suggested she abort the foetus so that I can give her chemo before it's too late since it was inoperable, she wouldn't hear of it. From what she told me, she had cancer a while ago but was cured."

Bill nodded. "The pills she's been taking…"

"Mild painkillers. I couldn't give her anything else or it might harm the foetus."

"How far is she?" Bill asked. "Her pregnancy."

"About eighteen weeks," the doctor said, clasping his hands on the desk. "However, any treatment that we give her will only give her about over a year and it will harm the foetus since the cancer is already advanced and radiation is most likely required."

"You mean it's a choice between Laura and the baby?" Bill asked, his heart pumping blood to his brain. No no no!

"Virtually, yes."

Bill hung his head and felt tears fill his eyes.

Oh Laura, sweet Laura…

To be continued…