Post by Christopher Kane on Jan 26, 2019 9:48:58 GMT -6
(Off-Camera)
“You stay here and be a good boy ok? I’ll be back super soon” Harry, the Corgi puppy Britt bought her a few days ago was sitting on her bed, looking at her with his head slightly tilted to a side and his tiny velvet tongue sticking out. Cassidy leaned forward and picked him up, bringing it to her chest and kissing his head, before gently putting him down. She couldn’t help a chuckle as he rushed out of her room, drifting on his small legs and as he ran down the hallway.
But then, when she was left alone in her room, the look on her face suddenly changed. She sat back on her bed and let herself falling back on the soft mattress, sighing deeply and closing her eyes. “Why can’t I just sleep?” She thought to herself. “I’m so tired, I woke up so early and the flight sucked and…” A light knock at the door, despite it being open, drew her back from her thoughts. She didn’t have to open her eyes to know that it was her cousin, Christopher Kane who was calling her.
“Yes.. Yes.. I’m coming…” She huffed and puffed, pulling herself up and dragging her feet all the way to the door, her head lowered and the stance of someone who’s been dragged in chains against her will.
Christopher looked at his phone before turning his attention back to the door. “I know you don’t want to go, Cass, but you’re always tired and it’s gotten me worried,” he said with a sigh following. “We can get you something to eat after, okay? My treat and everything.”
He felt he had to bribe her today. After all she had been through in the last few months, it was the least. Chris felt like he owed it to Cassidy to be there for her. Despite how appealing the idea sounded, her love for junk food was already well known amongst her new family, despite having moved in less than two weeks ago, the look on her face remained serious.
“I hate doctors…” She said with a pleading tone, almost as she wanted to convince him, to change his mind. “I know you’re worried but I swear I’m fine! I’m just a little tired is all. I don’t sleep very well at night…” Cassidy had always been an awful liar. It was simply not in her, and everytime she said a lie, even the most innocent, her cheek would turn red. This time was no different.
Chris cracked the door open just a little bit to peek inside and see that she was ready to go. He saw that her cheeks were red and shook his head. “Cass, I know you hate doctors, but you know why you have to,” Chris said with a disappointed expression. “It…” He took a moment to clear his throat. “It might be back.” He nearly choked on those words as they came out.
She stared at him, freezed on the spot, terrorized at the idea that he might be right. That thought had scared her for the past ten years, and sure, she had considered the possibility every time she didn’t feel good. But she always pushed it back, in the most remote corner of her mind. Hearing her cousin, the only one to know beside her own mother, mentioning that it might be back had a devastating effect on her. Paralyzed, babbling, she wanted to say something, maybe even just shake her head. But her body wasn’t responding to what her brain commanded. Her eyes started tearing up, locked on Chris’ “I… Chris…”
He completely opens the door and gives her a giant hug. “Look, Cass, I’m sure it’s not that, but we can’t rule anything out. Maybe Britt is just keeping you up too late at night” He forced a smile to calm her down. “Plus, if something was super wrong, Harry would pick up on it and let us know.” Another attempt to calm her. “In fact, I know Harry would bark at Britt if you were that sick, and he hasn’t, has he? No, he’s too busy running away with dirty clothes!” Another hug for his little cousin.
He could hear her light chuckle breaking the sobbings. The image of her new pup running around the house with Britt’s panties in his mouth, chased by her cousin and herself always made her laugh. Holding tightly onto him, she looked up in his eyes once again, sniffling and wiping off the tears from her eyes. Nodding her head, she finally pulled back. “Sorry about that…” She said, indicating the wet spot she left on his shirt. “I’m such a baby, I’m too grown up to cry… It’s just a doctor visit, I had so many already, this is nothing different.” And it was true.
She was seven years old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Nine when, after various chemotherapy cycles, the doctor said that the cancer was finally defeated. Ever since then, it was a never-ending series of visits, periodic monitoring, blood tests and checkups, every single time with the unspoken fear to hear the doctors saying that it was back.
Christopher smiled and paid no mind to the wet spot on his shirt. “No big deal, Mel makes bigger wet spot…” He cuts himself off before finishing that thought. He motions Cassidy out of the guest house and to one of the garages to get into his car, a 2016 Honda Civic. Music blares out but he turns it down, knowing his cousin loathes cursing in about any form. “So, got anywhere in mind to eat after we get you looked at? I heard you ate three burgers the other day at Red Robin.” He chuckled and smiled again, trying to make her feel comfortable.
“Haha, I did!” She laughed. “Not doing it again though, I had tummy ache all day after that.. I only did it because we made a bet…” She smiled, turning to him. Then she turned once again serious. “Do you think we should tell Britt? About… it i mean…” No matter how hard Chris was trying, and momentarily succeed, to keep her spirits up. Inevitably, her mind always fell back on the condition that affected her as a child. And even now that she was eighteen, eleven years later, she wasn’t able to call the disease by its name. It always made her uncomfortable, cared her even, That’s why she always called it… it.
“I don’t think she needs to know until it’s vital that she needs to” He said with a serious tone in his voice now. Chris wanted to keep Cassidy’s mind off of it, not on it. He glances over to see his cousin looking out of the window. “I promised Freya I wouldn’t tell anyone about it. I never even told me dad or uncle about it. I think when Freya knew it was time for her to…” He took a slight pause before going on. “For her to do what she did, she called me and said it was my job to look after you now. So that’s what I’m going to do. Look after Cassidy Kane to the best of my ability.”
“I miss her…” She said, her voice breaking with emotions. She turned her head, looking back at Christopher with watery eyes. “And I miss Tifa. I don’t want to... “ Cassidy took a deep breath, struggling to say those words. “I don’t want to die like my sisters… I’m scared Chrissy…” Tears started running down her cheeks, with nothing she could do to stop them, despite the promise she made minutes ago. She wanted to be strong, she tried to. But at the end of the day, she was still a young girl, understandably scared.
While at a red light, Christopher digs his phone out of his pocket, he’s a safe driver, and presses a few buttons and pulls out a picture for Cassidy to look at. It’s her with her two older sisters and older brother. “Look, Cass, did you know that Freya sent me that photo? Look at your smiles.” He tries not to tear up himself as the light turns green. “She said that was one of the best days of her life when all four of you spent a day together. Just the four of you with no one else. She was proud of your fight, Cass. Said you were the strongest out of all of us, and why she didn’t talk to Spike after he faked his cancer for wrestling. Was furious at him.”
He took another pause and let her hold onto his phone. “You won’t die like them, Cass. If you were going to die young, it would’ve been when you had it, not now. Not today. Not when I have to look after you.” Chris began to drive again and kept going. “Kinda wondering if you have depression after I read up on a few things this morning. That can mess with your sleep cycle. So maybe that’s just it, you know?”
Cassidy raised her legs, bringing them up to her chest and hugging them, curling up on the passenger seat. She shrugged her shoulders, burying her face against her knees. “Because of what I said about my dad?” The sound of her voice came out muffled, but Chris could distinctly hear a tone of deep sadness in her voice. “Freya said that I didn’t need him, that I was better without knowing him but… I dunno.” She lifted her head, glancing outside the window, watching the landscape scrolling fastly before her eyes, veiled with tears.
“With the way dads are in this family, you really are better off.” He said with a straight face. “My dad beat me. Spike faked cancer. Freya’s dad is an insane asylum. Tifa’s dad wasn’t known and neither was Alexander’s.” Another red light. “Knowing who your dad is, isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. I wish I didn’t know mine, or just kinda only knew him as a wrestler like Britt did. She didn’t have to see what I saw with mine, Cass. Freya was right, you didn’t need him. You turned out amazing without him.”
Cassidy nodded, maybe not fully convinced but at least somehow comforted by her cousin’s words. She was about to say something, but seeing the hospital at the horizon choked her on her words. The car slowed down, swerving and entering the parking lot. She held her breath when Chris stopped. Wiping her eyes, she started taking deep breaths, trying to find the courage. That was when she felt his hand reaching out and resting over hers. Slowly, she turned and looked at Chris. He was smiling as he lightly squeezed her hand. Cass nodded, forcing herself to curl her lips in what was the closest thing to a smile she was capable of in a moment like this. “I’m ready.”
Chris gave her a smile, a warm smile, one that was trying to give her confidence to get through today. “No matter what happens in there today, I’ll be there to fight whatever is causing this with you, okay?”
She threw her arms around his neck, pressing her head against his shoulder for a moment. “Thank you.” She whispered, before pulling back and opening the door. Christopher walked next to her down the walkway leading to the hospital entrance. Cassidy stopped a few steps away from the sliding doors, taking a deep breath. He put an arm around her shoulder, offering her a soft smile and some reassuring words before stepping in.
“Everything will be alright”.
“You stay here and be a good boy ok? I’ll be back super soon” Harry, the Corgi puppy Britt bought her a few days ago was sitting on her bed, looking at her with his head slightly tilted to a side and his tiny velvet tongue sticking out. Cassidy leaned forward and picked him up, bringing it to her chest and kissing his head, before gently putting him down. She couldn’t help a chuckle as he rushed out of her room, drifting on his small legs and as he ran down the hallway.
But then, when she was left alone in her room, the look on her face suddenly changed. She sat back on her bed and let herself falling back on the soft mattress, sighing deeply and closing her eyes. “Why can’t I just sleep?” She thought to herself. “I’m so tired, I woke up so early and the flight sucked and…” A light knock at the door, despite it being open, drew her back from her thoughts. She didn’t have to open her eyes to know that it was her cousin, Christopher Kane who was calling her.
“Yes.. Yes.. I’m coming…” She huffed and puffed, pulling herself up and dragging her feet all the way to the door, her head lowered and the stance of someone who’s been dragged in chains against her will.
Christopher looked at his phone before turning his attention back to the door. “I know you don’t want to go, Cass, but you’re always tired and it’s gotten me worried,” he said with a sigh following. “We can get you something to eat after, okay? My treat and everything.”
He felt he had to bribe her today. After all she had been through in the last few months, it was the least. Chris felt like he owed it to Cassidy to be there for her. Despite how appealing the idea sounded, her love for junk food was already well known amongst her new family, despite having moved in less than two weeks ago, the look on her face remained serious.
“I hate doctors…” She said with a pleading tone, almost as she wanted to convince him, to change his mind. “I know you’re worried but I swear I’m fine! I’m just a little tired is all. I don’t sleep very well at night…” Cassidy had always been an awful liar. It was simply not in her, and everytime she said a lie, even the most innocent, her cheek would turn red. This time was no different.
Chris cracked the door open just a little bit to peek inside and see that she was ready to go. He saw that her cheeks were red and shook his head. “Cass, I know you hate doctors, but you know why you have to,” Chris said with a disappointed expression. “It…” He took a moment to clear his throat. “It might be back.” He nearly choked on those words as they came out.
She stared at him, freezed on the spot, terrorized at the idea that he might be right. That thought had scared her for the past ten years, and sure, she had considered the possibility every time she didn’t feel good. But she always pushed it back, in the most remote corner of her mind. Hearing her cousin, the only one to know beside her own mother, mentioning that it might be back had a devastating effect on her. Paralyzed, babbling, she wanted to say something, maybe even just shake her head. But her body wasn’t responding to what her brain commanded. Her eyes started tearing up, locked on Chris’ “I… Chris…”
He completely opens the door and gives her a giant hug. “Look, Cass, I’m sure it’s not that, but we can’t rule anything out. Maybe Britt is just keeping you up too late at night” He forced a smile to calm her down. “Plus, if something was super wrong, Harry would pick up on it and let us know.” Another attempt to calm her. “In fact, I know Harry would bark at Britt if you were that sick, and he hasn’t, has he? No, he’s too busy running away with dirty clothes!” Another hug for his little cousin.
He could hear her light chuckle breaking the sobbings. The image of her new pup running around the house with Britt’s panties in his mouth, chased by her cousin and herself always made her laugh. Holding tightly onto him, she looked up in his eyes once again, sniffling and wiping off the tears from her eyes. Nodding her head, she finally pulled back. “Sorry about that…” She said, indicating the wet spot she left on his shirt. “I’m such a baby, I’m too grown up to cry… It’s just a doctor visit, I had so many already, this is nothing different.” And it was true.
She was seven years old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Nine when, after various chemotherapy cycles, the doctor said that the cancer was finally defeated. Ever since then, it was a never-ending series of visits, periodic monitoring, blood tests and checkups, every single time with the unspoken fear to hear the doctors saying that it was back.
Christopher smiled and paid no mind to the wet spot on his shirt. “No big deal, Mel makes bigger wet spot…” He cuts himself off before finishing that thought. He motions Cassidy out of the guest house and to one of the garages to get into his car, a 2016 Honda Civic. Music blares out but he turns it down, knowing his cousin loathes cursing in about any form. “So, got anywhere in mind to eat after we get you looked at? I heard you ate three burgers the other day at Red Robin.” He chuckled and smiled again, trying to make her feel comfortable.
“Haha, I did!” She laughed. “Not doing it again though, I had tummy ache all day after that.. I only did it because we made a bet…” She smiled, turning to him. Then she turned once again serious. “Do you think we should tell Britt? About… it i mean…” No matter how hard Chris was trying, and momentarily succeed, to keep her spirits up. Inevitably, her mind always fell back on the condition that affected her as a child. And even now that she was eighteen, eleven years later, she wasn’t able to call the disease by its name. It always made her uncomfortable, cared her even, That’s why she always called it… it.
“I don’t think she needs to know until it’s vital that she needs to” He said with a serious tone in his voice now. Chris wanted to keep Cassidy’s mind off of it, not on it. He glances over to see his cousin looking out of the window. “I promised Freya I wouldn’t tell anyone about it. I never even told me dad or uncle about it. I think when Freya knew it was time for her to…” He took a slight pause before going on. “For her to do what she did, she called me and said it was my job to look after you now. So that’s what I’m going to do. Look after Cassidy Kane to the best of my ability.”
“I miss her…” She said, her voice breaking with emotions. She turned her head, looking back at Christopher with watery eyes. “And I miss Tifa. I don’t want to... “ Cassidy took a deep breath, struggling to say those words. “I don’t want to die like my sisters… I’m scared Chrissy…” Tears started running down her cheeks, with nothing she could do to stop them, despite the promise she made minutes ago. She wanted to be strong, she tried to. But at the end of the day, she was still a young girl, understandably scared.
While at a red light, Christopher digs his phone out of his pocket, he’s a safe driver, and presses a few buttons and pulls out a picture for Cassidy to look at. It’s her with her two older sisters and older brother. “Look, Cass, did you know that Freya sent me that photo? Look at your smiles.” He tries not to tear up himself as the light turns green. “She said that was one of the best days of her life when all four of you spent a day together. Just the four of you with no one else. She was proud of your fight, Cass. Said you were the strongest out of all of us, and why she didn’t talk to Spike after he faked his cancer for wrestling. Was furious at him.”
He took another pause and let her hold onto his phone. “You won’t die like them, Cass. If you were going to die young, it would’ve been when you had it, not now. Not today. Not when I have to look after you.” Chris began to drive again and kept going. “Kinda wondering if you have depression after I read up on a few things this morning. That can mess with your sleep cycle. So maybe that’s just it, you know?”
Cassidy raised her legs, bringing them up to her chest and hugging them, curling up on the passenger seat. She shrugged her shoulders, burying her face against her knees. “Because of what I said about my dad?” The sound of her voice came out muffled, but Chris could distinctly hear a tone of deep sadness in her voice. “Freya said that I didn’t need him, that I was better without knowing him but… I dunno.” She lifted her head, glancing outside the window, watching the landscape scrolling fastly before her eyes, veiled with tears.
“With the way dads are in this family, you really are better off.” He said with a straight face. “My dad beat me. Spike faked cancer. Freya’s dad is an insane asylum. Tifa’s dad wasn’t known and neither was Alexander’s.” Another red light. “Knowing who your dad is, isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. I wish I didn’t know mine, or just kinda only knew him as a wrestler like Britt did. She didn’t have to see what I saw with mine, Cass. Freya was right, you didn’t need him. You turned out amazing without him.”
Cassidy nodded, maybe not fully convinced but at least somehow comforted by her cousin’s words. She was about to say something, but seeing the hospital at the horizon choked her on her words. The car slowed down, swerving and entering the parking lot. She held her breath when Chris stopped. Wiping her eyes, she started taking deep breaths, trying to find the courage. That was when she felt his hand reaching out and resting over hers. Slowly, she turned and looked at Chris. He was smiling as he lightly squeezed her hand. Cass nodded, forcing herself to curl her lips in what was the closest thing to a smile she was capable of in a moment like this. “I’m ready.”
Chris gave her a smile, a warm smile, one that was trying to give her confidence to get through today. “No matter what happens in there today, I’ll be there to fight whatever is causing this with you, okay?”
She threw her arms around his neck, pressing her head against his shoulder for a moment. “Thank you.” She whispered, before pulling back and opening the door. Christopher walked next to her down the walkway leading to the hospital entrance. Cassidy stopped a few steps away from the sliding doors, taking a deep breath. He put an arm around her shoulder, offering her a soft smile and some reassuring words before stepping in.
“Everything will be alright”.