Go Towards the Light
Author's Notes: Remember everyone, this is an AU type fic, so it's not going to follow accepted canon.
Chapter Two: Visit to the Doctor's
The next morning Don found himself having to suffer through school. He still had his stomach ache, so recess was out of the question.
Once class let out, Don and his friend Cassie were the last ones left.
Don was sitting in a desk, looking downright miserable, while Cassie was in the desk beside his, just coloring away.
After several minutes Cassie glanced at her friend, seeing the paleness in his cheeks and the way he almost seemed to guard his stomach.
"It's bad, huh?" Cassie asked.
Slowly Don sat up before glancing at his friend.
Don didn't speak, only looking at Cassie with tired eyes. Slowly he nodded his head in response to her question.
"Like you have to throw up?"
Again, Don nodded again, not really feeling like talking.
"That's what chemotherapy feels like too." Cassie said.
Wanting to change the subject, she got out a fresh piece of paper before grabbing a blue crayon.
"Look at this color! Isn't it pretty?" She asked, drawing Don's attention to the blue markings of the crayon as Cassie drew on the paper.
Don nodded his head once more as if to say 'yes it is pretty'.
"Do you know what it's called? Azure!" Cassie said, smiling at Don just then.
"Azure?" Don asked, finally speaking up.
"A-Z-U-R-E. It's my favorite!" Cassie said.
Don finally got a good look at his friend. She was his age, thin blond hair which she always kept covered. The main reason being she had cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy, so most of her hair was now either gone or falling out.
The door to the classroom opened and Margaret walked in to collect her son.
Walking over to Don she knelt down next to him, seeing his pale complexion. For once she was glad that Don had an appointment with his doctor.
"Hi honey!" Margaret said, only receiving a quiet, "Mom..." in response.
Margaret rubbed Don's back before she looked at Cassie who was still coloring away.
"How are you doing Cassie? Keeping Don company?" Margaret asked.
Cassie smiled at her before nodding her head.
"Yeah!"
Margaret smiled back at the young girl before turning her attention back on her sick son.
"Come on Donnie, let's go." She said.
Slowly Don grabbed his books and his pencil before sliding out of the desk and walking out the door; his mother following behind him.
Margaret watched Dr. Paxton test Don's reflexes before listening to his heartbeat.
Once finished he looked at Margaret with his usual matter-of-fact look.
"Well Mrs. Eppes I can't really be sure what it is until I run some tests, but I would say it's a virus, or given his diarrhea; a parasite."
"What's a parasite?" Don asked.
"A parasite is a tiny little microscopic bug that gets in to your system and causes havoc!" Dr. Paxton replied.
Don thought about what the doctor said for a few seconds before he asked, "What's havoc?"
Dr. Paxton looked surprised, not expecting to be asked to define the word havoc.
"Uh...havoc...is uh...when things get out of control."
Margaret looked at her son, reaching over to rub his bare back before looking at the doctor.
"Well, what can we do in the mean time? He's been running to the bathroom every half hour." She asked.
Dr. Paxton glanced back at Don, almost seeming to size him up like a piece of meat.
"Well, I can give him some antibiotics that should start to take care of that. Now, young man do you think that you can spare some blood?"
Don shrugged his shoulders, offering a feeble, "Sure," as a response.
Dr. Paxton smiled before going over to a cabinet; removing the required instruments so he could complete the blood drawing process.
"Which arm?"
Dr. Paxton didn't look up from what he was doing as he replied, "You choose."
Don chuckled for a minute as he pretended to pitch a make believe baseball.
"Left. My right arm's my pitching arm." He replied.
With a smile on his face, the doctor walked back over to Don before pulling up his stool and sitting down.
Taking Don's arm, he proceeded to draw some blood for the tests.
Four days slowly passed at the Eppes home.
Margaret and her husband Alan were packing up their things, to get ready for the big move next week.
Boxes were strewn in every single room, some full, some just half full.
Don lay on the couch watching tv. In the past few days he had just gotten worse. Now he looked very pale and weak. He hardly got up and did anything anymore except run to the bathroom.
Meanwhile, Don's cousins Tommy and Ben were full of energy. At the moment they were playing bank robbers with their cap guns.
In the kitchen Margaret was on the phone with Dr. Paxton, wondering what the test results were, and wondering why the medicine wasn't working.
"Dr. Paxton, Don has been taking the medicine but it hasn't been working. He still has the stomach pain and the diarrhea, and now he's developed some kind of a rash! He's lost ten pounds in the last two weeks and I am very concerned!"
"Mom! Tommy's dead he has to fall down!" Ben complained when his younger brother wouldn't fall to the ground after being shot.
"I don't wanna!" Tommy replied back, as he hid behind a box marked 'Living Room.'
Looking at the two children, Margaret leaned forward and scolded, "Boys please I am on the phone!"
Sighing, she apologized to Dr. Paxton for the interruption, but not two seconds later she heard Don's voice.
"Mom I can't see!"
In front of the tv stood Tommy, still firing his cap gun at Ben.
Ben kept shooting at Tommy who finally stomped over to a small mattress that was in the floor and noisily fell down on top of it, clearly upset.
While Ben was giggling, Margaret sighed and went over to Tommy, picking him up before returning to the kitchen.
"I am really sorry Dr. Paxton!" Margaret said in to the receiver.
Meanwhile the front door opened to admit Alan who had just come home from work.
Hearing the ruckus in the house Alan asked, "What's going on in here?"
Don laid eyes on his father for just a moment before shrugging his shoulders.
"Havoc." Don softly replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world to say.
In the kitchen, Margaret was still trying to tend to Tommy while talking with the doctor.
"Margaret I think it would be a good idea to take Don up to Children's Hospital and have them take a look at him. I know it's a long drive for you but I really think you should get him up there...today rather than tomorrow."
Hearing the doctor's voice, Margaret knew that something must be terribly wrong if he was requesting Don be taken to Children's Hospital.
"Alright Dr. Paxton, we'll leave right away." She replied.
Hanging up the phone she quickly gathered up the kids before she and Alan began the long two and a half hour drive to Children's Hospital.