The Heart of It All (HeartSick Series Book 1)

by Weston Mitchel

  Although quite solidly a daddy’s girl, she was a freshman, which meant Layla didn’t want her dad anywhere near the school. The thought of him yelling out her name and whooping out in excitement in the gym with every other student there in attendance was embarrassment overload. So like any father in this same position his response to her pointless pleas was try and stop me.

  When Sammy’s Google Calendar alarm went off reminding him of his appointment today, it made him slap his forehead with his palm. He knew the appointment was today, it wasn’t a process one easily forgets about having to go through.

  He also knew the pep rally was today and had it circled on the calendar with the words “woohoo” written in red next to it. The threat of embarrassment making her eyes roll and a murmur of a hushed scream every time Layla looked at it when she opened the fridge.

  He knew both of these were happening today, he just didn’t realize they were both happening today. Just another piece of evidence showing how lost he was without Nora. Throw in his illness on top of everything else he was slowly losing control of, and Sammy felt like he was drowning in life.

  Sammy still hadn’t found a way to tell his kids that he might not always be around. Of course this is just a fact of life for any parent but his fact was a looming presence that had a finite date on it rather than an impending someday. The advanced stage Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma that was found in his system was aggressively beginning to wreak havoc in Sammy’s body and life.

  The energy he used to have even in his failing at handling the kids everyday needs had been steadily dwindling away. Sammy found himself feeling just like he did when he went through his wife’s illness. Although now it wasn’t from the depression keeping him down, it was his own body letting him down.

  The first transfusion he had at his last appointment gave him a bit of his energy back, a bit of his color was regained in his sallow cheeks. It also made him less susceptible to getting infections. If his immune system kept up it’s job from this next transfusion then Dr. Madison said she would feel comfortable beginning the chemotherapy needed to rid him of this nasty disease.

  That first one had been a month ago, and that feeling of refurbished life that came back to him only lasted about a week. He had known this process wasn’t going to be a cure, it was a treatment, a way to delay the eventual outcome while they worked on finding a cure or at least a different treatment plan.

  The head nurse felt his pain as he explained his pep rally predicament. Normally if you showed up early that just meant you got to wait longer for your appointment to start, otherwise the rest of the day was thrown off. It helped that one of the patients from the morning was a no show so they were already a bit a head of schedule. Even without that though she probably would have let him skip ahead in line, being a mother of two kids in high school herself.

  The transfusion from before lasted just over 2 hours. Even with his 30 minute head start he was going to be cutting close to make the pep rally. In his hurried state, it seemed like everyone around him, especially those helping him were all working in slow motion or purposefully taking longer than they should. When in actuality they were all moving at their normal pace.

  Once the blood started dripping through the tube, all human interaction ceased and it was all left up to the machine. No one to hurry or press for time, all he could do now was wait for the equipment to do it’s job.

  After his last treatment it took almost a full day after the process for him to feel any sort of effects, besides being sore that is. An hour into today’s transfusion though Sammy could have sworn he already felt better. Not completely healthy by any means, but he didn’t feel as drained as he normally did, like all of his energy had been sucked out through a straw before he even got out of bed each day. His cheeks felt flushed and warm, like he just sipped some hot chicken noodle soup after playing in the snow as a kid.

  Three quarters through the procedure now, and he no longer felt the anxiety that was so overwhelming as he walked in to the Cancer Center. His body was relaxed, letting the machine do it’s work while his mind still raced without the side effects to his body.

  The transfusion now over Sammy calmly thanked the nurse and walked out to his car noticing he only had twenty minutes to make it to Hayden High. Looks like I’ll make it easily, watch out Layla, Daddy feels a woot or two a-brewing. The way Sammy felt right now he thought he might even do a sort of victory dance as the announcer called his daughter’s name. Never know when I’ll get to embarrass her like that again.

  Samuel Ybarra drove to the high school, smiling at the thought of seeing his daughter’s horrified face after seeing his dance moves break out. He let out a chuckle and tried to remember the last time he laughed.

  Luckwell Part 2

  Luckwell, Texas - 2 years ago

  James had just made it work when his cell lit up with a number he didn’t recognize. Normally he ignored these calls thinking it’s another collection agency shrewdly demanding money. This call however, felt different. From the moment the phone was in his hand, looking at the screen he knew he needed to answer this call.

  “Hello?”

  “Yes, is this James Kyle I am speaking with?” Spoke a calm voice, with a storm of action audible in the background.

  “This is him,” James said, his knees already getting weak and pulse quickening.

  “Good, this is Katie with the Luckwell County Memorial Hospital. I need to inform you that your son, Austin, has been in a vehicle accident and is currently being treated by our doctors,” she says in an almost emotionless robotic voice that she had to use more times than she could count.

  “Oh my God,” James says as he looks around the room, searching for something that isn’t there, answers. Running his left hand roughly, nervously through his greying hair.

  “Is he ok? Tell me he is ok!”

  “Sir, all I can tell you right now is that his vital signs are poor for the moment, it would be beneficial to get here as soon, and as safely as you can sir. The Doctors can fill you in with more information when you arrive. Is there anyone else you would like me to call and inform for you?”

  Not in the way you just informed me that’s for sure, he thought.

  “No, I’ll take care of it. I’m on my way,” He said.

  James was already running to his car leaving work without telling anyone where he was going when he hung up.

  Come on, Austin, stay strong, you can do it, he thought over and over and over again on his drive to the hospital, in between calling his wife and having to tell her that their son was lying in a bed being worked on by doctors and to meet him there as soon as possible. He could feel his heart thumping in his face and along his arms. With each pulse he was willing his son to pull through, and he hadn’t stopped until his son opened his eyes four days later.

  “I’m here son, it’s ok, it’s all goin’ to be ok,” his dad said grasping Austin’s hand gently, as he had so many times over the last 94 hours, scared to squeeze too tight for fear of hurting him but at the same time wanting to squeeze so righteously hard that Austin had no choice but to wake up, and give him back his boy.

  “I’m texting mom now, she went to grab us some lunch, we’ve both been here since the accident waiting,” tears started to stream down James’ face, “praying for you to come back to us.” The tears turned to muffled laughter as he wiped the vertical rivers away.

  “Prayed?” Austin asked as he let a tiny chuckle escape his chest that caused him to wince in agony. He knew his dad wasn’t a religious man, often overhearing him and his mother debating whether or not there was a God. He always had something else to do or somewhere else to be on Sunday mornings when Mom dragged Austin and Brooke to First Southern Baptist.

  His father wanted them to make up their own minds on whether to follow a certain religion or none at all instead of it being force fed down their throats.

  “They’re just kids,” she would always respond, ”they don’t know no better.”

&nb
sp; “Well,” his dad responded with a laugh of his own, “we needed every bit of luck and help we could scrounge up. So… I prayed.”

  Still wiping tears from his cheeks with the back of his hands and sniffing up trails of snot, he added, “I let your mom do most of the out loud stuff, but I was there right along thinking it.”

  Even though there were still more surgeries looming for Austin, and more healing and scarring for everyone, James knew right then, his boy was going to be alright.

  Minutes later the door opened and his mom came rushing into the room, and almost dove for the bed. Hugging Austin in the most fiercely gentle embrace only a mother could give.

  As his dad backed off to give her a bit more room he said, “Ya know, once you’re all better, you do realize you are gonna be mowing the yard for the rest of your life to pay me back for all this, don’tcha?”

  His dad playfully put his right hand over his heart, then placed two fingers on his left wrist acting like he was checking his heart rate, “And I don’t just mean the money either. I don’t think my heart will be able to withstand too much after this.”

  Austin’s mom turned and gave dad a stern look as if to say “not funny!”, but Austin and his dad both let out a strong laugh, leaving Austin cringing in pain, and earning dad another look from mom.

  1st Donation

  Present Day - Austin, Texas

  Brian and Austin laid back in recliners while squeezing foam balls that looked like a smiley face emoji every few seconds to keep the blood flowing into bags hanging beside them. This room was a lot bigger than the office they were just in, and eight other recliners comfortably fit alongside one another, five on each side of the room.

  They must have had higher expectations when this all started out.

  “So how do you not know your own blood type?” Austin asked, finally having something to give guff to Brian over instead of the other way around.

  “I dunno man, how do ya even know yours anyway?” he responded deflecting with well-practiced ease.

  “Long story,” he replied deflecting right back to him, “but, seriously your mom never told you, or a doctor or anything like that?”

  Austin could tell this was getting under Brian’s skin a little more than he intended to with this last push at an answer.

  “Look dude, it never came up alright? Just fuckin’ drop it already.”

  Brian let out a loud, frustrated sigh and turned his head away from Austin, towards the T.V. that had the volume muted but the captioning was on so the words were scrolling across the screen.

  “Check that shit out, betcha five bucks ol’ dude is bout to have a baby mama,” Brian said.

  Just like that, Brian was calm and cool again, sloughing off whatever was bothering him seconds before like a pumice scraping dead skin off of a foot, that easily back to normal.

  Austin looked past Brian’s turned head at the T.V. and saw that Maury was about to reveal the results of yet another paternity test, just after this next break. Just as the ads started playing on the soundless screen, Izzy the lab tech reappeared.

  “Ok, boys, all done,” she said and started unplugging the tube attached to Brian’s arm first and then wrapping gauze over a small bandage, and around the forearm. She then moved to Austin and did the same.

  Austin knew without having to watch after the commercial break that one of the arguing parties, either the man claimed to be the father if it was false, or the woman claiming him to be the dad if it was positive, would be running around the set and back stage and into the audience screaming “I told you”.

  “Damn, guess we will never know,” Brian said standing up a bit woozily, trying to find strength in his wavering knees and having to place his hand back on the arm of the recliner to regain his balance.

  “Whoa there Cowboy, sit down for a sec,” Izzy said as she let Austin’s bandage fall to the floor, rushing to Brian’s side, helping him to sit back down. Once he was settled she pulled out another bandage and wrapped up Austin’s inner elbow with ease and spouted “lemme bring y’all some sweets real quick. Donuts and OJ okay with y’all?” They both nodded in agreement and rested their heads back on the padded recliner.

  Scarfing down the donuts, Austin had a chocolate glazed while Brian picked out the biggest in the box, a bear claw, they watched in silence as the skinny pale man in sagging pants jumped around the T.V. laughing and pointing at the paler skinned woman as she ran off stage with her face hidden behind her hands.

  Brian craned his neck back to Austin and said grinning with bits of dough and cinnamon apple pie filling covering his teeth and tongue, “We never shook on it.”

  On the way back to his apartment, Austin must have exchanged roughly fifty or so texts with Mia, much to the annoyance of his walking partner. Brian kept asking questions about what they were talking about, sneaking a peek for himself every block or so, pestering Austin to ask her if Ashley had said anything about him. When Austin finally made the query for his friend she had responded with:

  5:01pm Mia: well she thought enough about him that she wants to see him again tonight

  5:01pm Mia: u know, I could do with a lil more of u as well

  5:02pm Austin: I wont argue with that

  As he was sending her a rose emoji, Brian elbowed him rather hard in his left bicep saying “dude!” tilting his head with raised eyebrows urging him to include him as well.

  5:02pm Austin: Brian is smitten too

  5:02pm Mia: if he is too that means u r as well, right?

  “Seriously bro?” Brian said as he pushed Austin off the curb with one hand, while grabbing his phone away with the other. Austin whirled his arms in the air trying to regain his balance, failing miserably, then pushing himself off a parked car hoping the alarm wouldn’t go off as Brian thumbed furiously at the tiny keyboard on the phone.

  When Austin caught back up with him Brian said “Here dumbass,” shoving the phone into Austin’s chest playfully but forcefully.

  Austin looked at the screen hoping that whatever it was that was just sent wasn’t too embarrassing but all he saw was:

  5:03pm Austin: I meant to say that Brian is handsome and cool with whatever

  Austin was about to send another message but he got one from Mia and deleted what he had written.

  5:03pm Mia: Im guessing Brian texted that lol

  5:03pm Austin: Yeppers

  5:03pm Mia: Tell him it’s ok to show some emotion every now and then, girls like that sorta thing

  5:04pm Mia: Also tell him that Y’ALL need to meet us at the same spot as last night at 7:30, Ash will drive

  Austin knew that the y’all in all caps was a dig at his accent, an accent he didn’t realize that he had until meeting her.

  5:04pm Austin: And just where will she be taking us?

  5:04pm Mia: u will see

  She added the winky faced emoji with its tongue sticking out.

  So it looked like for the second time today he was about to head somewhere and have absolutely no idea where that somewhere would be.

  Why do people keep doing this to me today?

  Now Brian was standing right behind him, peering over his shoulder and gave him a slight shove in his back and said “What are ya waiting for, tell her it’s on for shits sakes.”

  5:04pm Austin: We’ll see you there!

  Waiting on Girls

  Austin and Brian stood in the exact same spot where Austin had biffed it the night before when Mia came to his rescue. Brian was wearing the same pair of jeans from yesterday but had on a borrowed t-shirt from Austin that was a tad too tight but didn’t look too horribly bad on his frame.

  Austin had his best, and cleanest, pair of jeans on along with a blue and white plaid short sleeved shirt with the top two buttons left undone. Both of them hadn’t said a word since they reached the meeting point, just staring off in the distance, nervously awaiting the girls’ arrival, scanning the horizons like passengers on a life raft, desperately hoping for the sight of smokestacks b
obbing up and down in the air or the loud “bwwrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaahhh” from the horn of a passing freight-liner.

  Every time he saw a blonde and a brunette walking together his spine straightened a bit and his gut sucked in an inch. Not that there was much to suck in, but he still sucked it in just the same. Once he realized they weren’t the droids he was looking for, the hunched over slouch returned and his abs relaxed again.

  7:35pm Mia: Change of plans Mr, we’re parked in front of the Potbelly, meet us @ car

  Brian, once again peeking over his shoulder reading the text, then said “Damn women,” giving an exaggerated rolling of his eyes.

  “Well, they definitely know how to keep us on our toes,” Austin said with a shrug and began walking west towards Guadalupe.

  7:35pm Austin: On our way!

  Austin and Brian did away with the nervous silence, and replaced it with an uneasy banter. Wondering out loud what the night’s future would behold. Musing about where they were actually going, in the physical world and in the one consisting of their new relationships with these two girls.

  Brian shattered the image of two men walking, romanticizing philosophically with his question “So, just how the fuck are we supposed to know which car they’re in anyway, huh?”

  With the eerie timing that only the universe could concoct, a succinct double honk blared at them from down the street, beep beep. Austin stopped in his tracks immediately, his heart giving him a double thump in return as if trying to match the beat of the horn, startled from the bright sound that screamed at him from mere feet away as they passed the front wheel well of the brand new all white Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with their dates giggling inside.