The Last 30 Days [Inactive]

"Hey, babe, it's alright," he whispered even though he wasn't sure of his own words. He hugged her close, kissing the top of her head. "And you wouldn't have to look at the scans," he told her, "You wouldn't need to see how big it is."


Honestly, Blake hoped she'd agree to go to the hospital, or at least to someone who knew what they were doing. Seeing Isabelle like this only made Blake's feelings worse, and he was only feeling a third of her fear.
 
"I'm scared if I go that." She paused, the fear was sinking in as she admitted her fear. "I'm scared if I go they'll bump up the surgery date." This was her true fear. She still had more than half of the month before she had to go back to the hospital. That was enough time to go to the beach, see the stars, and do what she needed. She wasn't ready now.


"I don't know." She shook her head. "Do you think I should do it? Go?"
 
Blake sighed as he listened, staring down at his feet. His toes were cold, no longer covered by the blanket put pressed against the hardwood flooring. With another sigh he looked up once again, cupping Isabelle's face with both his hands.


"I'm not an expert, I can't make this decision for you. I want you to clear your head, think past your fear and think logically. What's going on right now, your balance, is it going to cause a problem, worsen your condition?" He spoke slowly as though to a child. "Are you better safe than sorry by going to the hospital, because I swear if there really is a problem and you're more sorry than safe, I am going to kick both of us so far up our asses we will taste our regret."
 
"That sounds disgusting." Isabelle smiled for a second, and returned to the current situation. "It won't worsen anything, but it is a symptom. Meaning, it may have already gotten worse. If my eyes look funny, if the pupils aren't the same, then it's for sure."


She reached up and cupped her hands around his. He was right. They should go. Isabelle knew they should.


"It's probably not good." Her eyes teared up. "We should go, then."
 
"Woah, don't cry, Isabelle," he pleaded, taking his hands from her face. He didn't dare look for the different sized pupils. To distract himself he stood up and helped her into her pants. "We'll go to the hospital, you won't look at the brain scans and everything will be fine and we'll come back and we'll kiss lots."
 
She'd only just shrugged her pants on, not even bothering to button it, and she hugged Blake. Her shoulders heaved as she sobbed, but she hid it as best she could. She only needed the quick moment before she turned around and buttoned her jeans. Isabelle carefully walked over to her bag and rummaged around for her wallet. Inside was all of her personal information, as well as her insurance card.


"Okay." Isabelle said quietly. She followed him out to his car, holding on to his hand for support.
 
Blake helped her into the truck and went over to the drivers side. He shrugged on the black hoodie he grabbed on his way out before turning the key in the ignition and backing out of the driveway. He drove in silence, concentrating on the road to the hospital. Before they knew it they were there, slowly walking to the emergency's door with Isabelle hanging off Blake's arm for balance.
 
Isabelle checked herself in. She actually recognized the nurse from a previous visit. It wasn't too busy, so they were escorted to a room. The nurse helped Isabelle up onto a table and took her temperature along with her blood pressure before checking all of her other vitals. Saving it for last, she flashed a light in her eyes.


"Hmm." The nurse hummed. She kept the light on Isabelle's right eye for a long time, until the girl had to close her eye in response. "Slower dilation." She mumbled to herself. "You have a slight fever, but don't worry, you couldn't have known. 99.4, sometimes you can't tell, with tumors. I won't explain the mechanics of it."


Isabelle was starting to panic, and she looked to Blake for comfort. The nurse only served to poke and prod. She left in a hurry, and let them know someone would be back to take her for an MRI. Isabelle did not like this news at all. The machine was often quite busy, and she had silently hoped it wouldn't come to that.
 
Blake had been seating in a chair near the door but seeing the panic in Isabelle's eyes he stood up, taking the two steps it took to get to her side quickly. He took her hand in his and offered a what he hoped looked like a reassuring smile.


"Just remember, you don't need to see the scans."
 
Isabelle nodded but didn't say anything. She hated the sterile environment. White walls, white floors, white coats, it was all so clean. It was eerily empty, and it made her uncomfortable.


Next thing the two of them knew, a new nurse came in the room and handed Isabelle a plain white hospital gown. "When you're changed, follow me please." Was all he said before shutting the door. Isabelle slowly jumped down from the table and turned around so Blake wouldn't see. She quickly changed and folded her clothes into a little pile. The only thing of hers she had on was her socks.


Isabelle grabbed Blake's hand and squeezed it once before opening the door. She wasn't sure if he could come with.
 
The nurse turned around and looked from Blake to Isabelle, shrugged and said, "Follow me," before leading them down a series of hallways. On every wall there was a coloured strip and every once in a while the colour would change as they changed hallways but Blake wasn't able to find a pattern to the colours. It wasn't until he looked up at a passing sign with different unit names written in different colours that he realized the colours told them where they were and where they were going.
 
Isabelle recognized the door in front of them. If she could, she would'e shrunk back into the wall and stay there. The nurse opened the door and Isabelle had to let go of Blake's hand. "Please go in that room, sir." The man said, pointing to a small glass walled room to their left. Inside was another man, sitting silently in front of a monitor.


It wasn't long before Isabelle had herself situated, the nurse took out her earrings that she'd forgotten about and put them in his scrub pocket for safekeeping. He made a horrible joke about not wanting them to rip her ears off. She didn't think it was funny. At all.


She couldn't even look to Blake for reassurance this time. The nurse left, and the machine whirred to life. Isabelle closed her eyes and breathed, to keep herself sane.
 
Blake stood silently behind the MRI technician where he could clearly see the monitors. Soon he'd see Isabelle's brain, see the tumour in white surrounded by bright reds,oranges,yellows, and blues.


Now Blake wasn't sure he really wanted to see the scans but he stayed put, feet like lead.
 
Isabelle was surrounded by the white of the machine, from inside, she couldn't hear much besides the MRI itself. She started to panic when a voice came through, it must have been the technician.


"Isabelle, you're okay, I'm right here if anything goes wrong." He said. It only helped a small amount.


From the small room, Isabelle's brain started to come into shape on the screen. The technician opened a folder, Isabelle's records, and started to compare the new image with the old one.


Blake had a clear view of the mass that ran from the back of her head down towards her spine. He and the technician alone knew that it had indeed grown in size, and the technician sighed. It wasn't much bigger, but it had grown. He jotted something down and started to release Isabelle from the machine.


The male nurse from before handed Blake Isabelle's earrings, not wanting to forget them in his pocket.
 
Blake's gaze fell from the screen to the earrings in hand and he examined them closely, admiring the simple design. Finally he sighed and looked up at the screen again, and although he did want an answer, he muttered to no one in particular, "It grew, so is the surgery date changed?"
 
The technician scratched his head, and with his pen he pointed to a small area on the screen. "See that? The cerebellum, at the base of the brain. Isabelle's tumor is mainly attached to this area. It has control of motor skills, coordination, and just above that is an area that controls eyesight. Although it grew, there's really not a need to change the date. That'll be up to Isabelle."


He started at the screen for a few more minutes, checking for any abnormalities.


"Unless she has serious problems in the next week, she should be alright. I'm going to go talk to her now, if you'd like to come out. Then you can both leave." He said. "I'll need some time to analyze this before we have anything conclusive."
 
"Um, she doesn't want to know if it grew. Do you have to tell her that?" he asked, biting down hard on his lower lip. He tasted blood but he didn't let go. Motor skills, coordination, cerebellum, he knew all these words but it was like he couldn't put two and two together. Later it would sink in and hit him hard.
 
"Well, it's rather important." The technician furrowed his brows, pen still in hand as he tapped it on the table. "I think she might want to know, especially if she feels like she should move the surgery date."


In the end, he shook his head and sent a copy of the image on the screen to a small printer. He handed the sheet of paper to Blake after tracing the shape of the previous size on it.


"My pen is the previous shape. This is the new size." He explained. "If she wants to see it, just give her this, okay? I won't tell her if she doesn't want to know. I really should tell her though."


He stood up, and opened the door, waiting for Blake to come out with him. Isabelle sat patiently at the edge of the machine, ankles crossed, she twiddled her thumbs to distract herself.
 
"Yeah, she doesn't want to change the date either. We talked about this before coming here," he mumbled, doubting the guy would care about what he was saying. Blake folded the paper neatly and stuffed it in his hoodie pocket and followed him out the door.


Blake walked faster to where Isabelle sat and pulled her into a hug. "You're okay," he whispered in her ear.
 
She buried her face in his chest and kept it there, nodding a few times. Isabelle hated this place, she wanted to get out as soon as she could.


"Alright, Isabelle?" The technician had her folder in hand, but he held it back slightly so neither Blake nor Isabelle could see what was inside. "We'll call you, let you know if we find anything. But can you walk here for a second?"


She pulled away from Blake and did as she was told. Just like earlier, she wobbled and had problems finding the next spot to put her foot down.


"Alright, well, you really are fine. You just need to rest, but I'll have a nurse give you a cane to help you walk." The technician said, then jotted something down in her file.


"A cane?" Isabelle asked, somewhat confused. She could walk, but she wouldn't argue the man.


"Your clothes are back in the room, my friend here will show you out." The technician smiled and held his hand out for Isabelle or Blake to shake before they left.
 
They were back in the bright hallways with the stripes of colours and Blake held on tight to Isabelle's hand. He wanted to say something, anything, but nothing came to mind and they were silent the whole way back to the first room. A nurse came and fitted Isabelle for a cane and then they were ready to go.
 
Isabelle changed back into her clothes, this time not bothering to turn any which way to hide herself. She was in a daze, she wanted to leave. A nurse poked her head in and propped up a cane against the wall.


"We found this one for you, if you don't like it, we can refer you back and get you something else." Then she shut the door.


Isabelle put her shoes back on and the reached for the cane, somewhat appalled at the idea of using it. She glanced over at Blake before she reached out and grabbed onto his sleeve. "Can we please go?" She asked quietly.
 
He nodded, opening the door and grabbing a hold of Isabelle's dainty hand. They walked out to the truck in silence, both prisoners to their own thoughts. Blake regretting the decision to go to the hospital, now they were both in bad moods and he knew the truth about how bad the tumour really was.


"Do you wanna stop somewhere for lunch?" he asked, looking around the busy street they were driving down. "We can get Chinese or something."
 
Isabelle shook her head and quietly replied, "I'm not hungry, but if you want something, I'll get something, too." She stared out the window, sorry Blake had to come with.


She'd been down this street so many times she could recite the buildings in order. Today was different though. As they passed, she didn't recognize anything, her mind was elsewhere the whole time.
 
Blake didn't stop anywhere for food but he did take the long way home. Why? He didn't know the answer, but still he drove until finally the gas light turned on he drove home. He sat in the driveway for a few moments, his lip stuck between his teeth.


"Let's go to the beach now. Do you wanna go to the beach now?"
 
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