Chapter Eight

MITCHELL POV

It was like my head was pounding heavily. I couldn't hear anything else that the doctor was saying. It was like the weight of the whole world was placed on me, I couldn't move for a long time. I froze on the seat where I sat, my eyes were fixed on the doctor but I wasn't seeing him. I felt cold inside of me, my belly churned and my heart clenched inside my chest.

My mom is going to die — That was the thought resounding incessantly in my mind.

I held the handle of the chair and pulled myself up from the chair slowly. I threw slow steps to the door and tears emerged from my eyes and rolled down my cheek. I fixed my wide eyes forward and folded my lips, my chin was trembling. My hands were shaking, I raised them like a weight on my hand and held the doorknob. I didn't want the doctor to notice my feelings, Iso opened the door and walked out.

As I walked out of the room still holding the doorknob I shut the door and pressed my forehead to the door and let out the tears. My mouth opened as it trembled, and my hands were raised and placed at the door. My weeping was silent at first, but gradually little voices were heard. I slowly lowered down and dropped my knees on the ground and let my cry out. I was ignorant about being heard by others or not.

I turned to the wall by the left side of the door. I sat down on the ground and buried my head between my raised knees. I couldn't think about anything at this moment, it was like everything I hold dear is threatened.

"Why? Why mom?! Why?!!" I said to myself while I cried out. I shook my head bent under my knees, "Why!!! I can't lose her, I just can't lose her," I kept saying while I sat there with my face buried in my knees.

I felt a touch on my shoulders, a hand wrapped around my shoulder. It was a female, I felt the body rest on me, the scent was familiar.

"It's okay, don't cry," Cassandra said; the scent and the voice proved she was the one. I pulled my face up from my knees and rested it on her shoulder as I wrapped my arms around her while I let out my cry to sound as loud as it could ever be.

She slowly stood up with me, rubbing my back. "It's okay, Mitchell. It will all be fine. It will all be fine."

I pulled away from her and cleaned my eyes. "Thank you for coming," I said in a teary voice. "How did you follow me down here?"

"After you told me your sister called you that your mother slumped and that you are going to the hospital I wasn't feeling okay the moment I got home. I just had to drop my stuff and come here at once."

My face was fixed on Cassandra, my mind was filled up with thoughts after what I heard from the doctor. I couldn't hold it back, I bit my lips and twisted my head to my side.

I turned away from her, pinned my back to the wall, and gazed up at the roof. "The doctor said my mom has Leukemia. That it had lingered for a long time and was unnoticed. That right now she is in the lethal state, that she has few weeks or a month to live."

"What? No, no, no, no. That can't be!" Cassandra said as she paced a backward bit. "You mean?... No! No! She can't die. Something must be done, at least she can still regain herself after some treatments, right?"

I took in a deep breath. "The doctor said she needs to undergo a quick surgery to see if the healthy cells can still survive and replicate for my mom to be well again."

"So? We have to do that! We have to do the surgery right away. When she takes some good medications she will recover with time, and we will have her with us. That's it!"

Your mom is going to live. Believe it! She can't just die and leave you and Denise, after everything."

"Yeah. You're right," I wiped the tears from my eyes and sniffed. I brought out my handkerchief and wiped my nose.

"So, let's go and check up on Denise and your mother, and then we go and see the doctor to know how we can go about with the surgery." She held my hand firmly and looked into my eyes, "Don't worry, girl. You will be fine, everything will be good soon. I know things looked like it's getting bad, but we just have to be strong. At least if not for anything, be strong for Denise. Okay?"

I nodded and smiled. Thank you CassandrYou're the best friend I've ever had. I can't repay all the kindness you've shown me since I met you."

"It's all fine, Mitchell. Save the gratitude for later, there will be more time for that."

"Yeah. This is the doctor's office I pointed to the door by my right. "Let's get to him about the surgery first before going to mom."

We got into the doctor's office and handed over seats for us. We sat down, I looked at Cassandra and she nodded at me to speak up.

I cleared my throat. "Good day, Doctor Mendy. I'm here to speak about my mother who you said had Leukemia. And you said something about a surgery that would help. Erm.. you said it is..." I tried to remember the term he used.

The doctor threw in the words my memory lapses, "Stem cell transplant."

"Yeah, Stem cell transplant."

"I want to know how it can be done. If that's what we need to do for my mother to recover again, I think we have to do it."

"Yeah. First and foremost, I will have to tell you the truth that her recovery is mainly dependent on the state of her healthy cells at the moment. However, a quick cell transplant before a month will help. If you have the bills to pay we can do it right away, such surgery needs lots of expertise and tools which needs financial aid. So we can't carry out such operation without the bills laid first, though we accept payment at installment."

"This surgery is a long-term therapy, if we start early we can prolong her lifespan and the weeks I told you can be extended to years till the therapy is over. And if her body responds quickly she will have a better chance of getting well." Cassandra turned to me with a smile on her face and held my hand. I became relieved, and the weight in my heart was lightened.

"Okay, I understand. So, how much is it?"

"The surgery cost ranges from $945,000 to $1.3.million dollars." My eyes went wide, the figure landed on my head like a dynamite exploded.

Nine hundred and forty-five thousand dollars? Where can I get such an amount of money?