I'm glad I met you

CHAPTER 15

I hear a knock on my door.

"Come in."

I hear the door open and Saoirse say, "Hey, Kal's in the hospital-"

I shut my book and get up. "What?!"

"Calm down, he's fine Aoife. He was just coughing a lot and was having trouble breathing. He's ok. I was gonna ask if you wanted me to take you to see him."

I rush to get my shoes on. "Yeah."

I grab my cane and harness up rogue and we hop in the car and leave. A few minutes later I feel the car pull to a stop and hear it turn off. I get out and let Rogue out of the back seat. We go inside and get directions to his room. 4th floor room 435.

We get there and I immediately call out for Kal.

"Over here Nick." I can hear the smile in his voice.

I follow the sound of his voice but in my rush I run into the bed and fall onto him. I don't  even care though. I just hug him. He let's a small laugh and hugs me back.

I cup his face. "Are you ok? What happened?"

"I uh, I went to go take a nap and I couldn't breathe. It was like I lost the ability or forgot how to. It was more scary than anything. I'm fine now. But uh, no extreme make out sessions now."

I shove his shoulder. "Oh my god Kal."

He just laughs and coughs a bit. I can hear Saoirse laughing a little too.

I sigh. "I'm glad to hear you still got a sense of humor."

"Why of course. How else am I supposed to joke and flirt with you?"

I kiss him. "You're and idiot."

He takes my hand and gently squeezes it. "But I'm your idiot."

I smile. "That you are." I squeeze his hand back. "Do you know when you're coming home?"

"In a few days. They said they want to do some more tests and see if certain treatments work." I can hear the sadness  in his voice.

"What's wrong?"

He sighs. "My parents were arguing over the costs and the hospital bill again. I hate when they do that. Mom's argument is, 'Let's just worry about now and whether he'll be ok or not.' And Dad's is, 'He's not ok. He won't be ok. Why are we even trying anymore? There's no saving him.' And I get his argument but it hurts you know? I'm not dead yet." He's crying now. I can hear it in the hitch of his breaths and the way his voice breaks.

I kiss his hand, tears forming in my eyes. "I can't lie to you or myself and say that you're ok. You're far from it. But that doesn't give him the right to say that. You're still with us. Who cares about some stupid hospital bill? God, I just want to punch him so bad."

Kal doesn't say anything. I take a shaky breath and kiss him. "I know you can't leave right now, but when they release you let's go do something yeah?"

I hear him cough a bit before answering. "Sure. What did you have in mind?"

I trace my fingers around his hand. "Maybe we could relax at the creek or something like that."

He coughs again but I can hear the smile in his voice. "That sounds great. It's a date." He starts coughing again. "I love being able to breathe," he wheezes out.

I hear someone walk into the room. "Excuse me sir, Kaladin has to do his breathing treatments now, you can visit him tomorrow if you wish."

I nod and give him a quick kiss before getting up and moving out of the way. I let out a small sigh as I get back into the car. Rogue whines and nudges my shoulder. I scratch underneath his chin.

"He'll be out in no time Aoife, just hang in there."

I nod and rest my head against the door. We get home soon and I unload Rogue. But instead of going inside I go for a walk to clear my head. As I walk I take in the cool September air. My birthday is tomorrow. Kal's gonna miss it. Rogue comes to a stop and won't let me walk any further.

"Rogue, forward."

He takes a step forward but steps back again. I finally hear why. A car passes by us at a fast speed. I couldn't hear it before.

I listen for a second and try the command again. "Rogue, forward."

He listens this time and we cross the road. We make it to the park and to a bench. I sit down and just listen to the sounds around me. Leaves rustling gently in the wind. Children playing and an occasional scream of excitement. An ice cream truck rolling by. People talking. Cars driving past. Water from the fountain.

"Aoife?"

I recognize that voice. "Camrynn?"

"Yeah, how's it been man?  I haven’t seen you in a hot minute." He pulls me into a hug.

"It's been better honestly. It's good to hear your voice though."

"Yeah you haven’t changed much since I left."

I laugh. "Probably not."

He's quiet for a second before speaking again. His voice is a little quiet. "I saw Andrew and Noam earlier. They told me Kal was in the hospital. I assume you know what for?"

"I think his lungs are starting to fail and shut down. His cancer is getting worse.."

The shock in his voice is as clear as day. "He has cancer?"

"..You didn't know?"

"No- I- He never told us anything about cancer. Since when did he have cancer?"

"He's been had it for a while now. I think he found out about it a bit before I met you guys. I can't believe he didn't tell you."

"And you said his lungs are shutting down? What does he have stage 4 lung cancer?"

"No.. Stage 4 PDC. Peaceful Deficiency Cancer. It attacks all of his cells and shuts everything down. It doesn't hurt him though. Not until the last bit of it. That's what he tells me.."

"So he's basically withering away." There's anger and sadness in his voice.

"Yeah.."

"Was there anything that could've been done? Any treatments for it?"

"He was on medicine to help slow the cancer down for awhile but he stopped taking it."

"What? Why?! It was helping him. Why would he stop?"

"Because all it did was give him barrowed time. He didn't want to drag his death out. He was going to die anyway and there was nothing that could save him." I'm trying my hardest not to cry. I'm mildly succeeding.

Camrynn's voice cracks. "I can't believe it." We sit in silence for a bit before he says anything else. "This is just a really bad nightmare."

I let out a shaky laugh. "Tell me about it. I had hoped we could spend forever together. Get married, move out and get our own house, Grow old together.. I don't think that's happening now." I lose the fight to cry as the reality of it sets in again.

Camrynn rubs my back.

I sniff and wipe my eyes. "Sorry. I think it's about time I head back home. Sorry you had to get some super crappy news and I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you."

He hugs me. "Don't apologize. I'm glad you told me. Tell Saoirse I said hi yeah?"

I nod. "I will."

He pats my back. "I'll see you later then. Happy early birthday by the way." I hear him leave and I sigh.

I go home and go straight to my room after letting Rogue out of his harness. I don't come out. Not for lunch. Not for dinner. I just lay there and eventually cry myself to sleep.