1 The News (2/2)

I suddenly felt nervous when she said that. Did she beat someone up again? Is she the one who has been beaten up? I do not know. This worries me. She is the one that usually gets in trouble that is why I and Emma have to find a way to get her out of it. She usually gets involved in doing illegal stuff, doing drugs and as such. We are trying to remove her bad habits. She was not like this before, but because her parents had an annulment, she is not getting enough guidance from them.

”What have you done this time?”

”Nothing!”

I felt a bit better when she said that. I am finally assured that she has not done anything that could possibly put her in jail again. But, something struck me. If she is not the one with the trouble, why is she in a hospital? Did she overdose on drugs again?

”Then what happened? Why are you at a hospital?”

”Look, Emma is here in the hospital. She is confined here because she felt an extreme abdominal pain. Her mother called me to come here. Please, you have to be here. I am worried about our girl. She is at St. Patrick's Medical Center. Please, you have to hurry.”

What in the name of earth is going on? Earlier, she called me about her engagement, and now, she is taken to a hospital? What is going on with her? Due to what I heard from Eloisa, I almost dropped my phone when I heard the news. I went down the bus I was in to ride another bus that has a route that goes to St. Patrick's Medical Center. As the agonizing minutes pass, I am silently praying the rosary for the health of my friend. God help her. She is too young to be taken away from us.

After the five decades of the rosary I prayed, the bus arrived just in time at the hospital. Did she never tell us that she is terminally ill? How could she lie to us then if my suspicions are true? I can feel my vision dimming just thinking about the idea. As I enter the hospital, nobody seems to be frantic. Rather, everyone is calm and collected. I asked the nurse about my friend and she gave me her room number.

Her room was on the sixth floor. As I walk the silent halls of the hospital, I could feel the sound of my heels echoing through the halls of this grand hospital. As I knock on the door, my heart trembles out of fear for the worst. Eloisa opened the door for me, and I saw my dear friend lying on a bed. Her health has dropped so much. I have not seen her for months for I had been busy doing what I can to survive.

When I saw her parents crying a pool of tears, I feel like something bigger has happened. Eloisa is too unstable to talk to right now because the amount of tears that she is crying right now is bigger than the number of tears her parents are crying combined. I approached the doctor inside the room. He looks like he gave a bad news. He looks like he is a veteran doctor because of his white hair and eyeglasses. On his nametag, it reads as ”Dr. Orlando Sebastian.”

I resisted my tears. I had to. I am no woman for sentiments. Maybe, it is because of my dragging eyes that I cannot bear to shed a tear, but I do know that whatever the doctor has to say, the news has to be grave.

”Doctor, what is the state of condition of my friend?” I ask hesitantly because I fear for the worst.

”My dear, your friend has reached the end of her line.” The doctor says while trying to avoid making an eye contact.

The doctor cannot even look straight into my eyes. That was the point where I felt that there are already tears coming from my eyes. I understood what the doctor meant, but I cannot believe the reality.

She was only smiling through a summertime, but now that autumn has come, her happiness and life faded away as the sun has done.

With my teary eyes, I had to ask him the question. ”Doctor, what do you mean? I hope it is not serious as I think it is. Please, answer me with your direct and honest statement.”

I can see that this doctor tries his best to sympathize with me, but it proves to be difficult. He sighs and hesitates before he speaks.

”My dear, your friend has Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. I would say she only has a month to live. I know I am not the powerful Lord above us, and I have no rights to say when an individual will cross the great divide, but I have to give my deepest apologies. She lived a great life.”

All I can see is darkness. He gave the honest statement I asked of him. I never thought it would be this way. Five decades of the rosary is not enough to save her. I trust that the Lord is always with her. She served as a church pianist for six years. She was sixteen back then when she first started. She was a little prodigy in everything she does. My dear friend is fast asleep on her bed unaware of all the agony we feel for her fate. The doctor gave us space to mourn for her. I resisted every single tear that drops, but when Eloisa embraced me, all I could do is break down.

Alas, poor friend. Her father despises my presence here, but he cannot ever send me out. Eloisa and I are her daughter's closest friend. And right now, we could do nothing to help her.