Tumors And Hearts

Xx-nikki-xX

I woke up to a noise I didn’t recognize. It was a long beeping noise that reminded me of something, but I couldn’t remember what.

I felt like shit. I was groggy and my head was aching really badly. I groaned and opened my eyes, expecting to see the ceiling of my bedroom in my apartment in Chicago.

My ceiling wasn’t solid white, there were supposed to be swirl-like designs in the white paint. Why was there a giant florescent light hanging above me? And I could tell I wasn’t in my own bed either, this one was harder and I didn’t even own a set of plain white sheets… And… wait… was I wearing a hospital gown?

I tried to move my head, but couldn’t. My arms and legs weren’t listening to me either. All I could do was move my eyes.

What the hell is going on?

I took in as much as I could with my eyes. From what I could tell I was in an operating room at a hospital. I had no clue what I was doing there. I was trying to figure out what happened when two figures suddenly appeared standing over my motionless body. If I had had control of my body I probably would have jumped in surprise.

They were doctors. They were wearing white coats and had masks covering their noses and mouths. I guess that would make sense if I was really in the OR of a hospital.

“She’s dead.” one of them said looking down at me. “We did everything we could, but the tumor finally got her.”

I was dead?

The long beeping noise that I had woken up to suddenly got louder and I realized what it was. It was my heart monitor doing that one long beep it does when someone’s dead.

I was dead.

“We better make sure.” the other one said.

He slowly pulled out a knife that should not have been in a hospital. As he lifted it up the doctors’ masks suddenly disappeared and their faces changed. Their skin was a dark gray color with black specks on their cheeks and they were missing their noses. Their eyes were blood red where they should have been white and the pupils and irises were jet black. They were smiling down at me in a very creepy way and I saw that their teeth were pointed, silver, and very deadly looking.

I tried and failed to scream out as he brought the knife down and into my heart.

“Nikki!” someone was yelling my name and shaking me. “Nikki wake up! Nikki!”

Someone was screaming when I finally woke up and opened my eyes. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was me. I could feel the cold sweat that drenched my body as I sat up in bed.

“Are you okay?” Shannon asked. He looked very worried.

“Y-yeah.” I said breathing heavily. “It was just a dream… it was all just a really bad dream.”

“You scared me.” he said hugging me to his chest. “I thought it might’ve been your tumor or something.”

But in a way it was.

“What was your dream about?” Shannon asked.

“Nothing.” I said. “It’s not important.”

“Well, at least it was only a dream.” he said stroking my hair.

But I wonder just how much of it will come true?

He leaned over me and grabbed his phone off my bedside table. “I guess we should start getting ready now.” he said looking at the screen. “We’re going to have to leave soon.”

“For what?”

“Your doctor’s appointment.” he moved my sweaty bangs and kissed my forehead. “They have that new treatment they want to try out on you.”

“Oh.” I would dream of something like that when I have to go see the doctor today…

“Come on,” Shannon said rubbing my back. “Let’s get up.”

x-later-x

“Nicolette Carter.” the nurse said.

“Ready?” Shannon asked.

“No.” Why did I have a bad feeling about this?

“You’ll be fine.” Shannon said lightly squeezing the hand he was holding.

We stood up and followed her through the door and into another room.

“You can change in here.” she said. “There’s a gown on the bed for you.” she turned to Shannon. “You’ll have to wait out here.”

He nodded and she left. I rolled my eyes before heading into the room.

“Everything will be fine.” I told myself as changed. “It was just a dream. It doesn’t mean anything.”

I finished changing and headed out into the hall. Shannon was talking to my current doctor, who would be treating me.

“Ah, here she is.” Dr. Wilson said smiling at me. “And how have you been Nicolette?”

“Nikki.” I corrected for the billionth time.

“Well, I’ve just filled your boyfriend in on what we’ll be doing today.” he said smiling. “We plan to-”

He cut off as a nurse appeared and told him there was a patient demanding to see him. She said he wouldn’t leave until he saw him.

“You’ll have to excuse me for a moment.” Dr. Wilson said walking away.

I turned to face Shannon. He didn’t look very happy.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Do you know what he’s going to do to you?”

“No.”

“In less fancy terms, he’s going to try and electrocute that fucking tumor.” he said sounding pissed off. “He wants to try and kill it and he isn’t even worried if it’s going to hurt you in the process.”

“Shannon, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that.” he muttered as Dr. Wilson reappeared.

“Sorry for the interruption.” he was way too happy. “Now if the two of you will follow me.”

I grabbed Shannon’s hand as we walked down the hall and squeezed his hand lightly. There was no way I was going to let him know I was nervous. He would just be more against the treatment.

To be honest, I didn’t care if it hurt me. I just wanted to get rid of this tumor. I really didn’t want to die now that I had found Shannon. I would go through all the pain in the world to be able to spend a long life with Shannon Brian Moore.

Dr. Wilson led us into a room I had never been in before. There was a weird looking machine next to the bed and I knew right away I wasn’t going to like this treatment.

“Please, sit down.” Dr. Wilson said gesturing to the bed.

I sighed heavily before hopping up on the bed. One of the nurses had followed us in and was showing the doctor something on her laptop. They were talking in hushed voices that didn’t help my nerves.

The nurse nodded and set the laptop down on the desk. She came over to me and started hooking cords up to my head.

“You’ll be fine.” she said noticing my shaking hands.

I hope you’re right…

When she was done Shannon came and grabbed my hands. I squeezed them as tight as I could in an attempt to make them stop shaking.

“Nikki.”

“Hmm?” I looked up at his face.

“I love you, but you’re cutting off the circulation in my hands.”

I looked back down at his hands and saw that his knuckles were turning white. “Sorry.” I said letting go of them.

“It’s okay.” he grabbed my hands again. “You’ll be fine.”

Dr. Wilson finished typing something on his laptop and came over to us.

“Well, Mr…?” he directed at Shannon.

“Moore. Shannon Moore.”

“Mr. Moore, I need you to let go of Nikki’s hands and step away from her.”

My eyes grew big and I looked up at the doctor with a pleading look. “But-”

“You’ll be fine Nicolette.” Dr. Wilson said. “But I don’t want any interference during this treatment. It’s highly dangerous and we don’t need any distractions.”

“But not dangerous enough to actually go through with it.” Shannon sounded pissed again.

“We wouldn’t be permitted to do it if it was too dangerous.” Dr. Wilson said, not even looking at Shannon.

“I’ll be fine.” I whispered to Shannon.

He sighed heavily. “I hope so.”

Shannon kissed me on the forehead and let go of my hands. He went and leaned against the wall next to the door with his arms crossed. He glared at the doctor’s back.

I clasped my hands together as they started shaking again. I tried to concentrate on Dr. Wilson as he set up the machine. There were tons of buttons and dials on the front side and a red meter at eye level with the doctor.

He grabbed a clip board off the desk and checked something. He nodded to himself and turned to face me, completely ignoring Shannon now.

“Let’s get started, shall we?” Dr. Wilson said.

I took a deep breath and nodded.

Dr. Wilson smiled. “We’re going to start out with the levels very low.”

I couldn’t speak, so I merely nodded.

He flipped a switch and turned a dial. There was a slight stinging feeling about where my tumor was.

“How’s that feel?” he asked.

“It stings a little.”

“Okay, we’re going to go up the next level.”

Xx-shannon-xX

I watched the doctor turn one of the dials on the machine. A look of pain crossed her face and Nikki closed her eyes tight.

“We’re going up another level.” I heard him say.

Nikki’s eyes shut even tighter and I could tell she was in a lot of pain.

“And another level.” the doctor said.

“It really hurts.” Nikki said as he turned the dial again.

“That’s okay. It’s supposed to hurt.” he said.

I wanted to punch him so bad. The nurse I had forgotten was still in the room shifted uncomfortably.

The doctor turned the dial again and Nikki started crying.

“She’s crying.” I said. “Maybe you should stop the machine.”

“She’ll be fine.” he said. “The tumor isn’t even reacting to it.” he muttered to himself.

Nikki screamed out in pain as he turned the dial again. She grabbed the cords that were attached to her head and tried to rip them off. The doctor quickly grabbed hands and pulled them away.

“Please stop!” Nikki screamed, struggling to get her hands free.

“You have to give it a chance!” he yelled.

“Stop the fucking machine!” I yelled. “Can’t you see how much this is hurting her?”

“But the tumor isn’t-”

I grabbed his shoulder and whipped him around to face me. I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in close.

“Stop the fucking treatment or I’ll break your fucking face.”

“Dr. Wilson, you really should listen to him.” the nurse said. “If you go any higher you could kill her.”

He jerked himself free of my grip and straightened his stupid lab coat.

“Fine.” was all he said.

He turned to the machine and finally shut it off. Nikki slumped forward and started to fall off the bed. I rushed forward and caught her up in my arms.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

The nurse rushed over to Nikki and started removing the cords from her head.

“My head.” Nikki moaned.

“You’ll be fine.” the nurse said as the doctor left the room. “Just go home and rest for a few days and hopefully you’ll be okay.”

“Hopefully?” I raised my eyebrows at her.

“I didn’t know he would do this.” she said. “He should have known better than to try something like this. Nicolette’s not strong enough and her tumor’s too big. This treatment was meant for small tumors.”

“If I see that doctor again…”

“I’m sorry.” the nurse said. “If you follow me I’ll get you her clothes and then get you out of here.”

I nodded and situated Nikki so that I was holding her bridal style.

“Shannon?” Nikki muttered trying to look up at me.

“What?”

“Are we going home?”

“Yes honey, we’re going home.”

“Okay.”

“Hey Nikki?”

“Hmm?”

“First thing tomorrow we’re finding you a new doctor.”