Page 47 of Colors and Curves
Daisy agrees with me, holding my hand. “Chance has survived the worst… He can get through this too.”
I pull my hand away and start rubbing my thigh. If anything happens to him, I know I’ll break.
We finally arrive, and Cameron’s pacing in front of the building. I throw money at the driver and jump out of the car. Once he sees us, he runs up to us.
“How is he?”
“I—I don’t know,” he responds with a shaky voice. “They won’t tell me anything. They’re waiting for you.”
I run through the entrance and talk to the receptionist. She takes me to a separate room. Daisy comes in a few minutes later without Cameron. After speaking to him alone and seeing how upset he was, she told him to go home. She’ll call him later with an update.
“What the fuck could’ve happened?” I growl. I pace the room. The receptionist wouldn’t tell me anything. Just as I’m about to rip the door off the frame, someone else comes in.
“Where’s Chance? What’s happened to him? I want to see him.”
“Hi. I’m Dr. Janskin. Are you Julius Levi?” He reaches out his hand to shake mine.
“Yes.” I shake his hand and probably squeeze it a little too hard. “Where’s Chance?”
“Has anyone told you what happened?”
“Just that he collapsed!” I exclaim with frustration.
“Julius, settle down,” Daisy urges. “Let him talk.”
“From what your friend told me,” the doctor says, “they were at a dog park. Chance was running around like normal, then suddenly he collapsed. When he woke up, he was very lethargic and whimpering. Cameron brought him here immediately. I took some bloodwork and did an X-ray.”
“And? What’s the problem?” I want to shake the information out of him.
“He has a large tumor on his liver and one on his spleen. The one on the liver ruptured while he was playing. His liver is severely damaged, and he has a lot of internal bleeding.”
“So will he be okay? Can I see him?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Levi.” He’s silent for a moment. My heart stops. “There’s nothing we can do. His vitals are dropping, and he’s in a lot of pain. We’ve given him a high dose of painkillers.” I hear the doctor say that he’s recommending we put Chance to sleep.
I stop listening. He doesn’t stop talking.
“Mr. Levi, is that what you want to do? I need your consent before I proceed.”
I close my eyes and pray that this is a dream and I’ll wake up any second. But I don’t. This is reality. Why? Why him? A hand covers my shoulder, and I twitch.
“Julius, you know what we have to do.” Daisy’s voice cracks. “We can’t let him suffer. It’s the best thing for him.” I yank my shoulder away.
“Mr. Levi, what should we do?” He asks very slowly, but directly.
It takes everything in me not to break down. I can hardly breathe. But I nod to the doctor because I can’t speak. Daisy picks up on it, and answers for me. He explains the process and tells us we can be in the room with him. They’ll take us to him in a minute. After the doctor exits, I fall to my knees. Daisy wraps her arms around me, and we cry together.
I don’t know how much time passes while we wait. Our phones have been ringing nonstop and I know it’s Skylar. We turn them off.
The doctor returns and tells us to follow him. He explains the procedure again. “He’s in here. We’ve made him as comfortable as possible. Talk to him. I don’t know if he’ll respond because of the medicine, but he’ll know you’re both here.”
He opens the door. I squeeze my eyes shut and tears fall down my cheeks. Behind me, Daisy gasps. I open my eyes and see him on the table. He’s facing the door, but he doesn’t respond to our presence.
The world spins out of control. My body shakes like a leaf as I cross the room. There are two chairs placed next to the table, one at the head and one at the side. I stop.
Daisy wraps her arm around me and nudges me forward. I stand behind the chair and look at his little body lying on a blanket. His chest moves up and down slowly. How could he be dying? Hours ago he was running around like he always did. There had been no signs that he was sick.
She pulls out the chair for me. My heart pounds in my chest, and I sit down slowly. She moves to the other seat at the head of the table. My hands shake profusely as I reach over to pet my dog. My friend. Daisy strokes the side of his neck.