IT: An Original One Shot

It was rather hard for him to understand at first. To sit there, on a stiff, white bed and hear the words that were coming out of that man's mouth Well, in all honestly, James found it hard to take in. He began to second-guess every noun, verb, and adjective that gracefully leapt from the sharp-tipped tongue of the man before him. Mentally scoffing, James wondered if the white-coated physician thought the PhD which hung on his office wall made him any better than James.

The young man looked upward, studying his elder eagerly. His eyes took in every inch of the mans curved face, searching the creased skin for an answer. Truly, it seemed to lay in the lifeless laugh lines that were gently folded on the outside of the doctors eyes. The serious expression draped upon the man's face betrayed the good humor James remembered... He suddenly couldn't recall if he had heard his doctor laugh before. In that moment, it didn't seem as if he ever had.
James could feel his mind picking up speed as he tried to convince himself that there failed to be any proof - that he did not possess any of the symptoms the doctor was rattling off. Just because he felt tired... Didn't everyone feel tired?! And his weakness... Weren't all humans just the same? What made him any more susceptible to the disease the doctor was pointing to?
He couldn't seem to justify a single word the doctor said. James felt triumphant suddenly, feeling as though he had proved the doctor wrong... For there was no way he could be right. Where had he found these simpleton answers, anyway? Had the nurse stumbled upon them while she had been prodding James tongue with her vicious thermometer? Had the results flashed across the digital screen while they were taking his blood pressure - some sign, a miracle of sorts, sent from God?
Or could it have been elsewhere? They had only taken his blood... A few small ounces filling the smallest of tubes. Had it been hidden there? Away from James and the concerned eyes of his family. He had never seen any of this coming; besides a few stray things, he had never felt completely out of control. There was simply no way the diagnosis was right...

"Treatment has progressed over the years, son." The doctor tried to force a smile, but it was so horribly acted that those clever laugh lines failed to even respond. "You're a young, strong man, James. You have nothing to worry about."
"Nothing to worry about?" James echoed softly, his mouth slowly forming around each word. They seemed chunky and fat; they were just as hard to say as they were to swallow.
Placing a hand on James shoulder, the doctor gave a brief squeeze. And then he said the words that would prove to be each man's undoing. "It is only cancer."

James looked up at the doctor, eyes burning with finalized realization. "Its only cancer?"
This time, it truly was written across the doctors aged face - he knew in that singular moment, that those had been the wrong words said to the wrong person. Hand frozen in its supportive stance, James could feel the fingers turning cold.
The doctor slowly retracted his hand, tiptoeing away from the wick he had just lit - a wick which was fatefully attached to a ruby red stick of dynamite.
"Only cancer?" James wanted to stand up, punch the horrible doctor in the face, and tell him to shove his cancer bullshit up his ass. But he didn't... He was too tired. Simply exhausted, he stared into the expecting eyes of an old man.
As if it was calling attention to itself, his heart gave a few justified thuds. The organ seemed to be beating diligently against his ribcage, probing his conscious as the watery blue eyes of a wronged doctor turned over with sympathy.
James hand gripped his knee tightly as he repeated, "Only cancer," to himself. The words felt softer this time... More believable.

He wouldn't let it ruin his life.

continue


Haven't updated in forever.
Super sorry.
Please enjoy.
It's something different, right?
Love - Caitlyn