Chapter 5
Hazel
I went home two weeks later after endless days of injections, and xrays, and feeling sick to my stomach, but the last three days I spent here were okay, so they told me I could leave. Now lying here in my bed attached to Philip, my oxygen machine that sounds like a dragon, the only difference form the hospital, is the smell, and the amount of people. Since I've been home the only thing I've been able to do is watch TV. I'm too tired to read, and my oxygen isn't portable anymore. Although the doctors said that after a while if I was doing okay, I could spend a few hours with the oxygen tank, a day. As long as I didn't tire myself out too much. During my time at the hospital, Isaac came to visit me pretty much every day, but then he got a cold and wasn't permitted to see me because my immune system was compromised. But now he lies next to me as we continue hour five of our ANTM marathon, and I can tell that even though he can't see he's doing all he can not to get up and leave. So I turn off the TV.
"So Isaac, how was your date with Kate last night?" I ask him and poke him gently in the side.
"It was great, we basically just hung out at home and watched movies and talked. She's a really great girl. Smart too." I smile
"Well, at least one of us has a life." I say, only half kidding.
"Hazel, you do have a life, and I'm not going to let you sit here, and spend the time you have left acting like your already gone." If he has eyes, they would be glaring at me for sure.
"Sorry, it's just hard to be told that there's no need to fight anymore and now all that's left to do is sit around attached to a huge air machine doing nothing till you die. That's all I meant." That signified the end of the conversation, I guess because he didn't say anything until I turned the TV back on.
"Kate is a really great girl Hazel, but having her won't make you dying any easier. I just wanted you to know that." I took his hand and squeezed as hard as my under oxygenated fingers would allow.
"You're like the brother I never had. And I love you for it." I tell him.
"Ya, well you're a pretty good sister, annoying too." He smirks and I pull my hand away.
"Hey! Is that anyway to talk to a girl who's dying?" I ask accusingly.
"Dying is a tragedy, not an excuse Hazel." He says.
"I was kidding! Now let's just watch the show!"
Isaac
I hear a knock on my bedroom door.
"Come in." I yell, turning off the TV.
"Hey. I hope this isn't a bad time, your mom let me in." I smile and gesture for her to come sit next to me.
"No it's fine, I always love seeing you." She laughs and leans her head on my shoulder.
"Me too." She says linking her hand in mine.
It's been two weeks since me and Kate started dating, and honestly I don't know what I ever saw in Monica (pun not intended). Kate intelligent and smart and funny, and one of the dorkiest people I've ever met, but all of those things make me love her so much more. To add to that, the survival rate, off her type of cancer is 90%, so I don't think she'll be Augustusing me anytime soon.
I push her hair behind her ears, and I feel her hand on my cheek, then I feel her lips on mine. We sit there on my bed, lip locked, for what seems like hours, but when I pull away and look at the clock, I realize it's been less than five minutes. I smile.
"You're amazing" I tell her taking her hand.
"And you don't even know what I look like!" I laugh, and she does too. At first going blind wasn't something I could joke about, but know, I've just accepted that fact that I'll never be able to see again, and the jokes don't bother me, in fact I think they're hilarious.
I lean my head forward and feel our lips collide again, and for a while, I forget about everything that has happened, and everything that hasn't happened yet, and enjoy myself.